Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play |
Always good to see the code! Especially when you’re doing a bisque kiln full of your student’s fragile tulipieres!!! Always safer to have the fragile pieces bisqued than sitting around in the greenware state. Now they just need to glaze them… before adding real flowers!!!
One final glaze kiln. Four final letters.
Cool, unload and then it’s off for a Merry Christmas!!!
I’m making my list, and checking it twice… and there is still a lot of things to finish
in the next few days!!! ...did I mention LOTS?!!!
Just checked my kiln… so far so good. Always a sigh of relief to see that CPLT!!!
When my tile-making friend Mike Skiersch found out I was firing a cone six kiln… he was eager to “squeeze in” a few new glaze test tiles! Little did I know they would be so large, so perfect and so many. No worries… I’m always anxious to see some new glazes. I just hope a couple of these new recipes work out perfect… and that Mike is willing to share the recipes with me?!
Glazing more bowls & pots for a quick cone six kiln this weekend…
just in time to replenish the shelves for next weekend’s
“MUD & METAL” Holiday Home Show!
If all goes well, these bowls will be a beautiful green!
It’s always fun to take the front door brick off the kiln. Too finally see what happened during the soda firing. Hoping to find some new treasures inside the kiln… and from the looks of the front stack… I’m pretty confident there’s more inside!!!
Soda mixture inserted. Cone ten dropping… and done.
Gas & air turned off. Damper closed. Done for the night.
All that’s left is a beautiful glow between the bricks.
Kiln firing going smoothly. Just taking a peek through the peep to see a soft cone 8
starting to bend. Gonna start adding the soda mixture soon.
As expected, it took me more than “a few” hours to load the soda kiln. Shelf by shelf, pot by pot, layer by layer. But I got a LOT of pots into the kiln… and tons of tiles filling the small spaces. Bricked up the door late last night and went home for a quick “nap” and a shower… and now I’m back at the studio firing the kiln! Gonna be another long day!
Back stack…
Front stack…
And the front stack from a groovy angle!
Another quick bisque kiln… not my tightest packed kiln, but I’m racing towards my next soda kiln! Trying to crank out enough work to fill the kiln to get ready for my Holiday Home Show which is coming up in just over two short weeks!!! Always the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving!!!
Kiln Layer 1 – bowls & mugs
Kiln Layer 2 – bowls, mugs & oval vases
Kiln Layer 3 – oil lamps, & mugs
Kiln Layer 4 – oil lamps & oval vases
Fire fast… cuz’ I gotta get some glazing on!!!
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Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Lillstreet Studios ∙ 4401 North Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ∙ 773-307-8664 gary@firewhenreadypottery.com |