Sunday, June 17, 2007

Firing the Fish and The Maui Fish



I saw this fish in a gallery in Maui, it is made of quarters and what appears to be paper currency. I was so fascinated with it I asked to take a picture of it, so here it is. Personally I don't understand any symbolism by the use of money except perhaps the cost of ahi at some of the local restaurants.

If you give a man a fish he will eat for a day, if you teach a man to fish he'll feed himself for a lifetime. True or not there is an element of truth...

Continue the fish story: If the fish you made is now dry and you have signed it and there are no sharp edges it can be fired. I fire to cone 04. This is called the bisque firing. After the kiln has cooled the fish can now be glazed. Check the glaze you purchased or made - to see what cone it is designed to be fired at - pay attention to the zeroes..if there is a zero in front of the number it means something, there is a huge difference between 04 and 4. Get a book on ceramics and study about this if so inclined but be aware of a difference! Glaze your fish as desired, I nearly always use at least 3 coats of glaze because I do not like a glaze-starved look on a fish, makes it look sickly I think. Fire to the cone stated on the jar of glaze. After experimenting with the process a few times you can get bold and try over firing a bit for different results.

I am looking forward to raku firing in a few weeks, always dramatic and risky. One year all of my raku pieces broke in the raku firings because I bisque fired to a higher temperature to make the pieces stronger (I thought) but they just crumbled when removed from the kiln because a raku firing requires an open bodied clay - not one fired to maturity. I need to remember this sorry and sad disaster.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohhh that is sooo interesting! Thanks for sharing it with us! I love it! OUTSTANDING! What do you think was used to put it together? That really looks kewl!
*HUGS*

Anonymous said...

I've done that with raku firings early on - for the same reason. Some things just defy logic. Am getting better at getting things all the way through, but any control over the glaze? Ha!

the said...

I think this fish saw you and was trying to give you a hint that fish need money to be happy too.

sheilabythebeach said...

Roll around laughing!
Yeah - I never seem to get it, too busy thinking about me!!!