Monday, November 16, 2009

Run Glazes!! Run!!

Ok, so my kiln load that I pictured in the last post came out wonderfully! No lost pots, nothing out of the ordinary. This could be largely due to the fact that I had easy stuff in it--cups, mugs, bowls. The second load was all of the harder stuff to glaze--large vases, big bowls, a casserole and a platter. Oh yeah and six cream and sugar sets.

So.

This load was not so much of a success. I sprayed my new blue glaze for the first time. My other glazes all like to be sprayed on good and thick to get the affect that I like. So what did I do? I sprayed it on good and thick. Apparently, this was a bit of a mistake. I am so fortunate that I put the pots that had glaze runs on the very few shelves that I actually have kiln wash on.

See--a while back, I said to my self, 'Self, your glazes don't run. Why are you screwing around with kiln was all of the damn time?' So I quit washing my shelves and haven't looked back. A couple still had a decent amount of wash on them and fortunately those were the ones that got the crazy ass glaze runs. I say that I had about a 75% failure rate in this firing. The worst load I've ever had since I started making pots. With some serious grinding I may be able to salvage a couple of the pots, but there are a bunch that are done. I have two of the six cream and sugar sets are saleable. And three of the vases. Everything else will be unsaleable for one reason or the other.

So.

Without further ado, here are some of the results of this wonderful firing.


This vase is gorgeous! Except for the crazy glaze drips. I'm going to grind the bottom and get it looking good again. It may not be saleable, but it is going to look good on my shelf :) Silver lining.
This one left a bit of itself with the shelf. I didn't even touch it. Just came right off like this. Bah!

Son of a bitch!


I remember thinking after my last batch of lidded pots, 'why don't you start wadding your lids like you did for soda firing so that they release ever so nicely?' But did I remember this wonderful advice to myself--Hell no!

Sorry about the blurry picture, but I'm too disgusted about this one to go back and get a better one. This shows the drips on my casserole that I would be able to grind, but the damn thing has a small crack in the bottom as well. Damn.

3 comments:

  1. So, so sorry about the glaze runs. A crystal potter I know told me about using a torch to heat up glaze and once the glaze gets hot, then breaking it loose from shelves. I tried this with two pots stuck together and it worked without cracking the pots. Hopefully you'll never need to try this technique though.

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  2. Thanks for the tip Linda! Hadn't heard that one yet!

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  3. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my decision to not kiln wash only to be reminded by a new glaze of why kiln wash is our friend. Other than the missing pieces and sharp glaze pools, they colors look great.

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