Wood Firing

Just a quick note, Pottery West and their wood stack. I wonder how often they fire up the wood kiln? I haven't done a wood firing since about 1982....

Life is Good Again+

I said a little prayer over the kiln (honestly, I DID) as I turned it on low, low, low, I fired it on low for the longest time to properly banish the water from the ware. My electric bill is going to skyrocket this month. Greenware inside the kiln, shhh, be quiet, greenware can turn on you if you don't treat it right. See, that was the trouble all along, I am so impatient I hurried the firing the first time and cracked some things and warped the rest. This time I filled that puppy to the gills and said that prayer and started the 14 hour (or so) firing. Viola - good bisque upon opening the kiln.

Glaze, glaze, glaze, load kiln, fire, fire faster, glazed bisque is not as picky. The glaze firing ended about an hour ago and I am already itching to open the kiln. BUT - BUT - BUT glaze fired ware is picky about leaving the kiln before it cools so patience, patience, patience.

This is day # 23 of the 50 days, I am caught up but not everything is glazed and fired so I'll just keep praying over the kiln, keep firing and pay the bill when it comes. What else can I do?

Friday evening is a gathering at Sanchez Art Center, the artists will come and we can discuss our joys and sorrows I guess. Sanchez started a Google group to discuss on-line and I was invited but the moderator won't let me in, so, oh, well...I can only ask 3 times, that's my limit. Besides I can concentrate on working instead of visiting, I can visit in person!

Let's Fire Up Our Mazda's

I had this book/magazine once. Once is the operative word. Wish I could see that photo again. Filled with pots this group of wild?, crazy?, fun?, dangerous?, subversive?, drunk?, stoned?, sober?, pyromaniac? potters lit fire to a Mazda. Ya, ya, you heard me, used it like a kiln, fired the pots right inside the Mazda. It was a sight to behold.
I kind of like the idea of doing things like that, me, a grandma and everything.

I looked for the event recorded someplace on the Internet but found only this photo of a burnt Mazda, I don't think it's the same one but I wonder if that's what it looked like after the firing was complete.

This wasn't a Ceramics Monthly story, no, they don't look kindly upon that kind of behavior in Ceramics Monthly. You must have a studio and be serious about your "work".

Long Time Recovery

This Whipple procedure was a real ordeal and the recovery process is so slow...sometimes the days just drag by for me and I'm sure they do for him as well. It feels like years since life has been normal - normal, hmmm, not sure what that is really! It all started 10 February and hasn't stopped, normal is now different for us. I am gaining weight while he lost nearly 25 pounds in the hospital for a month....the nursery rhyme about Jack Spratt keeps surfacing.

I do, however, have high points and the gas kiln firing was one of them - although it occurs to me to make something more than dragonflies....

I Can Shop Here All Day

Buying handmade things or finding retro vintage kind of things on line can become addicting to me. Etsy is one of my favorite sites and I recently saw this fun dress; it appeals to the road trip side of my personality! And I found this hat to go with it. Would it be too much to wear these red cowgirl boots too? It would for sure but I couldn't find the perfect shoes to pair with the dress and hat.

On a more serious side I have to say how much I am drawn to this art. Her name is Caren and her shop name is Caren Loebel-Fried. On my wishlist is one of her hand painted tree of life linocuts as I have uploaded to my blog today. I need more wall space!

Ok, one more I must mention is Ferrarioriginalbeads and her Saturday nite specials or she sometimes calls them Sunday specials are really special. Her beads are even prettier in person that the camera can capture. I don't need as many pretty beads as I have but I simply can't resist! This group she has called Zen makes my heart pound! Imakefish says, "Check them out".

The work I did yesterday on my minigama should be ready to build upon so if all is right I may even almost finish it up today. Well, not all of the way, I still need to make peepholes, etc.

I was thinking about my Barbie manifesto which is how I started my blog; who knew I was so wordy and that I would still be blogging about stuff I do? I surprise myself sometimes.

Slowly I Build My Minigama

I revised the back area where the flue is. I had it so large, and why? So I cut away a lot and made it smaller. I need the clay for other areas anyway. Going to Berekely for more clay isn't on my list of favorite things to do. And who will be the strong men that will tote the minigama around for me when it becomes too heavy for me? Also, in the front I took a wooden spoon and started to beat the clay into shape, making it obey me. I saw that it was too wide so I am doing what I can to correct it. I did beat it pretty hard, this clay is amazing and stubborn, it is NOT dry or even leatherhard but it already has a mind of its own.
In the meantime I decorated a little rattle; they are much fun to make and embellish!

Wonky Looking Minigama

It's good to take photographs as I go along; I didn't see just how wonky this minigama was looking. I read The Girl With the Pearl Earring and how he took photos of his work to see them with new eyes. My husband helped me today too since I couldn't decide how big some things should be and was it time to start building inward??? I see I made some pretty big errors but they won't affect the performance of the kiln - just wasted space. As I look at the picture here it makes me sort of worried that it will fail somehow.
I plan to bisque fire it first to cone 04 and then it should be ready to use. I hope to fire a small item in the chamber using either charcoal or wood or possibly a combination of the two. I'll get some cinder blocks to place it on and fire it with some friends while we are doing a raku firing probably.
I can see the flue area in the back is just waaaaay too big and that I made the front of the kiln too large too. As heavy as it is going to be.....I cannot dream of ever leaving in behind if I should move. Never say never, but OMG - I hope that *someone* would fire it and at the very least take pictures for me to see. Josh, who has left a couple of comments in the previous post said he did this. Nearly makes me cry to think of it!

My Minigama Continues

My Minigama Continues
Originally uploaded by sheilasthings

The walls are still growing. I've decided that I am making the walls too thick. What made me think they should be super thick? So, I am thinning them out as much as I can. My progress is so slow, the weather is chilly and overcast. It feels like a supreme effort to go outside and work in the cold. Oh, to have a studio. Wait a minute, I do have one it just looks like a greenhouse and the heat isn't turned on....
I am thinking about how I'll finish the outside, this should be fun!

The teapot exhibit at the de Young Museum was outstanding, outstanding, outstanding!!! What talent; I was in awe. One process I am always drawn to is unglazed porcelain decorated with black underglazes; as if it was used as a sheet of paper and the black looks like charcoal....there was a teapot there that had been decorated like that. Mmmm, nice. And I am a real sucker for the workhorse type of teapot, big and sturdy, no nonsense kind of guys. There were a couple of them too.

Let The Minigama Begin!!!

MyMinigama 002
Originally uploaded by sheilasthings

Yesterday I started to make my minigama. It will be a little wood (or charcoal) fired kiln; big enough for just one sake cup. I think a sake cup must be the size of a wine goblet. I purchased a book that was translated from Japanese to English by a nice Japanese person that I think speaks English as a second language. But I have always had trouble following directions anyway. Thank goodness the pictures that have been drawn explain it - well, most of it.
The book begins by letting me know right away that the dimensions are approximate; whew for that!!! I am wondering if the firebox area is going to be too big - will the fire draw properly......
This clay I am using is amazing, I am not dainty and it just loves me back anyway. I don't remember how to spell it but it is something like Tokie Raku Sculpture Clay from Leslie Ceramics in Berkeley. Tiffany Schmerier said it would be the best clay for what I am attempting. Er, not attempting - what I am making (who was that power of positive thinking guy?).

Falling for Peace Cranes

Another artist that I have been looking at; Nancy McNally: localcolorist. Her peace cranes are eye candy, I think I will be purchasing some for stocking- stuffers and for myself too. Imakefish says, "Check it out".

We are having a potters sale at my community college, I have been making so many different things - I'll put some of them into the sale....like the clip-on watches, even though they are mine, I really think they are cool...I don't wear a watch since they bother my wrists. I put these on my purse or belt loop.
Next years goals are to build a small wood burning kiln and to hone skills on the wheel and design skills at the same time by pursuing the art of making teapots. I have found that if I put something into my blog I feel accountable. I am not putting into my blog that I will lose 10 pounds - even though I would like that!!!