Alright, after a week full of thinking and having silent conversations with myself, I figured that nothing is going to happen until I actually DO something. And just DOING seems to do the trick. I'm not good at planning things out, making drawings, even templates, etc. I rather sit down and do what comes to mind. I am going with the flow and that is how it's supposed to be.
I made 2 bowls and am now seeing what I can do with them. I am playing with the porcelain, different textures, different techniques adding clay, taking clay away , and so on. I am pretty satisfied, so far and am hoping that both will survive the firing - without stuff falling off! I 'm going to leave the pieces covered in plastic and let them dry slowly, simply because I have porcelain at different stages of dryness. So keep your fingers crossed :)
I forgot my camera again and couldn't take pictures, but I'll go in again today and hopefully I will remember to get some images up here.
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I've been thinking of getting a small kiln for low firing. At the College we mostly do high firing, but I would like to apply some low-firing glazes after wards as well to my pieces. Unfortunately I have no clue about firing... If somebody knows a good reference, please let me know. I think I have a book here, but with our house being under construction for the past year, I have no idea where it might be...
I made 2 bowls and am now seeing what I can do with them. I am playing with the porcelain, different textures, different techniques adding clay, taking clay away , and so on. I am pretty satisfied, so far and am hoping that both will survive the firing - without stuff falling off! I 'm going to leave the pieces covered in plastic and let them dry slowly, simply because I have porcelain at different stages of dryness. So keep your fingers crossed :)
I forgot my camera again and couldn't take pictures, but I'll go in again today and hopefully I will remember to get some images up here.
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I've been thinking of getting a small kiln for low firing. At the College we mostly do high firing, but I would like to apply some low-firing glazes after wards as well to my pieces. Unfortunately I have no clue about firing... If somebody knows a good reference, please let me know. I think I have a book here, but with our house being under construction for the past year, I have no idea where it might be...
Hi Mel, I got a used Skutt for $75 - I still can't believe it. And I have a confession, I got it connected up by the electrician, but I have yet to fire it - I am going to have to bite the bullet because I have to bisque my ware before I do the barrel firing. My friend just picked up two used Kress for $150 from Craig's list.
ReplyDeleteMy college does high fire too and I'd like to apply some lusters to some of my pieces (which I have yet to make - but I have a vague idea in my head). For some reason I missed this blog of yours. Wow, your carved bowls are great, would love to see how you glaze them.
Yeah you can check craiglist for sure. I have also seen kilns come up in the newspaper. If you belong to an art center or association, that's also a good place to look for used kilns. People might post them for sale on their bulletin boards. There is also a yahoo group where pottery equipment of all kinds also comes up for sale. ..potters barter (?) ..or something like that. I found it through clayart some time ago. lemme look into that. I'll post again.
ReplyDeleteAs far as references on how to fire, check your local library. Look for Nils Lou's book "the art of firing". Its an excellent reference and a good one to have in your own collection if you don't already have it.
thanks so much for the suggestions, you two!
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