Cone 6 soda tests

Now that my ever extended planting of  two gardens is at an end, with only maintenance at hand,  I've been spending time in between hard garden work, cooking and cleaning up picture files in computers and backing up hard drives with only two fishing trips to break up the schedule of the past two months.

Looking at these cone 6 soda tests that were fired in John Britt's little soda test kiln five year ago, is getting me intrigued once again.

Earthenware has not captured my heart, sorry to say. I love the look of it, but I just can't get past the lack of durability or the fact that I still really miss soda firing, Even if it  only means doing a couple of summer and early fall soda firings in my little Olympic soda test kiln, that would  be enough to satisfy that itch. In view of that, it just makes sense to switch to a cone 6 white stoneware or porcelain that I can use for cone 6 oxidation in my larger kiln and the soda in the much smaller gas kiln. 

Of course that means that I have to get back into the studio soon and finish up all those earthenware and cone 10 soda pots. That may take a while since we are determined to enjoy ourselves this summer and get out and about a bit more than we have in the past two years when the focus was just getting settled after the move and seeing to  a lot of work that needed to be done on the house, setting up the studio and creating some semblance of a garden in the midst of all the concrete in the back yard.

Now that garden work is easing up, I should be able to at least get started on wrapping up those earthenware and cone 10 soda pots.

Here's some photos fo some of those Cone 6 soda slip and glaze tests.

CONE 6 SODA TEST TILES:
ABBREVIATIONS FOR CLAY BODIES ON THESE TESTS:

BW - a white stoneware from Axner's.
H - Helios porcelain
LG - Loafers Glory a white stoneware
MW - Moon White stoneware
PH - Phoenix stoneware
P5 - P5 porcelain

GROUP #1 CONE 6 TEST TILES, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP ROW:

 #5891 Grolleg flashing slip on MW (I think.Tile was broken)
#5891 Grolleg flashing slip on PH
#2993 Bauer flashing sip on BW
#2519 Jane Hamly dark blue slip on BW


2nd row down, from left to right:

#6254 Blair red flashing slip on BW
#6254 Blair's red flashing slip on P5 porcelain
#6031 Tudball black slip on LG
#5898 Hamlyn Green on MW

3rd row down , from left to right:

8407B Tudball Green Rutile cobalt slip on LG
8407  Tudball plain flashing slip on P5 porcelain
8403 Version 5 June Perry flashing slip on LG
6626 Water color on BW


4th row down, from left to right:

#8683 Helmer flashing slip on BW
#8600 June Perry Celadon on PH (not enough reduction but nice satin finish)
#8455 GOES slip on MW
#8407C Tudball rutile slip on LG

 GROUP #2 CONE 6 TEST TILES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP ROW:

#8941C Show Saver Light blue on LG
#8941B Show Saver leaf green on LG (much nicer color than photo shows)
#8941A Show Saver bright lime green on LG (much nicer color than photo shows)
#8880Version 2 Ruggles and Rankin #6 Tile slip (clay body unknown.Tile broken)

2nd row down,from left to right:

#9166 Linda's Yellow slip on PH
#9166 Linda's Yellow slip on P5
#8996  Randy's flashing slip on PH
#8941D Show Saver on LG (beautiful turquoise green)

3rd row down, from left to right:

#9762 Crackle slip on LG
#9607 #6Tile slip on LG
#9593D June Perry Celadon (nice, fat mutton fat celadon, but under reduced)
#9283 June Perry 1/2 and 1/2 slip on PH



GROUP #3 CONE 6 TEST TILES FROM EFT TO RIGHT, TOP ROW:

#9930 Gay Smith's Helmer flashing slip on LG
#9887 Helmer flashing slip on BW
#9844 Matt Long flashing slip on porcelain? either P5 or Helios (very promising)
#9775 Peachy shino on H (not reduced enough, but surface looks good for cone 6

2nd row from top, from left to right:

#10124 Mark Peter's Helmer flashing slip on PH
#10124 Mark Peter's Helmer flashing slip on LG
#9976 Fish Sauce slip on PH

3rd row from top, from left to right:

#10260 June Perry honey on LG (nice butter surface. May need more reduction.
#10259 June Perry green on LG(very dull. I need to play with this some more)
#10253 Shino on LG (not reduced but surface nice and smooth)
#10251 Temmoku on LG (under fired. I have to check my recipe and recipe sheet and see if there's an error in either one)
 =