Sunday, May 8, 2011

Chun Red Results (and a little more...)

This post is primarily about my "test" of Michael Coffee's Chun Red recipe.
You can find the recipe HERE.

A little set up first.
You can click on the firing log image to see it enlarged. The red line is the reduction.
Everything was single-fired to cone 11 in my 7 cf propane updraft kiln.
I used a couple of shelves at the top, about 2" below the flue opening to sort of contain the flame and hopefully encourage reduction. I finally had to back off the redux because I was not able to get to cone after 13 hours or so and needed to go to bed.

I had to make a change to the recipe and I am not sure if that effected the results.
I didn't have any Potash Feldspar, so after some research of the ClayArt archives, I substituted Neph Sye.
I'll be talking about the specific flaws on the pieces in hopes of some insight from you all.
Click on any pic to enlarge it.


The Hakeme Bowls 
OK, so I have 8 bowls here. All are an iron rich clay body.
The inside of each was coated with a porcelain slip and then "Hakemed".

The outside of each bowl was dipped in a satin black glaze.
The Chun glaze was poured into each bowl and swirled around twice.
The glaze was mixed fairly thickly and heeding Michael's notes, I tried for a medium thick coating.
The overall effect of the glaze was pretty spectacular, if not exactly what I was expecting.
Michael's example is a lovely deep, even red that breaks on the rim of the cup.
You can see, I got an almost verigated effect between the red and the celedon.  I wonder why...
I really like it, though I think its too much over the Hakeme texture.


However, it crawled like crazy.
On some pieces, its very obvious and just blech.===============>



<=========On  others, I kinda
like it and think it works.



And then there are some where its just enough to turn an otherwise
lovely bowl into an ashtray =============================>




FWIW I should mention that I do rinse all my greenware before glazing it.
Its dust-free and bone dry when glazed.
Anyway, its these little bare spots at the bottom of the bowl, where the glaze is pretty thick that puzzle me the most.

Here are a few more pics of the Hakeme bowls before we move on to the other things:












The Big Bowl...
So, satin black glaze was poured into the bowl.
On the outside, the glazes were sprayed.
The top 1/3 was sprayed with a yellow glaze that tends to run like an ash glaze. It pinholed something crazy.
The lower 2/3 had the Chun Red sprayed on it. I sprayed a thin-medium coat and then resprayed the middle 1/3. Wanted to keep it fairly conservative because I know this glaze can run when thick.

I guess I could have gone thicker overall.
While I guess I don't call whet the glaze did on this piece actually crawling, it is really thin in places.
I don't know if that bothers me or not, or if I should even consider it a flaw (though I feel it is).
I think its just sort of too much going on on the surface.
This bowl was dead center in the kiln, with ware above and below it, and extra posts all around it to sort of create a bit of sagar effect I suppose.



Now the rest of the load...





Kitty Dish...
OK, this is kind of interesting and something I need to play with more.
This is the Chun Red over Malcom Davis Shino.
The shino was sprayed on fairly thinly (I like that peachy mottled look), and then the Chun was double-dipped on the rim. It breaks nicely on the edges and is a deep, oxbloody red without being too irony red looking.



Soap Dish...
This dish is butt ugly!
I was just really lazy in glazing this - its Michael Coffee's Nuka over Ohata Red. But, I went back and brushed the Chun on the swirly bit and it just crawled on off. Wonder why...




Lint Feeders...
These make great test tiles sometimes ;)
So this one has that satin black on it and before I put it n the kiln, I decided to dip the part around the opening in the Chun.
I applied it really thickly. I knew it would run, but that was OK - just wanted to see what would happen.
Since it hangs on the wall, it looks sorta cool. But again, that crawling!


 Funny - all three of these lint feeders were on the lowest shelf. I would have expected much more reduction.
This one has Malcom Davis Shino on it. I like!






And a little Tenmoku.
Thought I might get some tea dusting as I did a bit of slow cooling at the end of the firing, but no.
That's OK...its still a nice piece, with some subtle hares fur going on. It will look great in the sunlight!




And lastly,
I've been watching ShyRabbit talk about firing pieces multiple times. Last load, I had some little cups, in a shino glaze, that were just blech. I decided not to kill them and just set them aside. So, I pulled one out, dipped it again in the shino and threw it in the kiln this firing. It is much improved and show's some interesting flashing. I don't know that I like the cup any better, but it sure was fun to see the results! And the inside is that nice peachy color.







So, there ya go.
Some will admonish me for not testing the glaze first, but, well, I did - just on bigger pieces. All I'm out is some propane (nothing to sneeze at BTW), but I'll sell the lint feeders and that will pay for the firing, so...

Now, I'm hoping you will all give me your invaluable thoughts and insight into what happened here. I am liking this glaze enough to want to keep playing with it, but could use a little direction.
And I want to thank Michael for being so generous with his recipes and knowledge and time!

CMCK

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Big Step Forward

I gotta say, I'm pretty excited.
Did a rather methodical ware firing Jan 24th and reached several milestones.
First, I completely cleaned and washed my kiln and shelves - ground the shelves down to bare shelf, vacuumed out the kiln, ground all the posts clean and level...


I worked with 2 main forms - yunomi and 3-sided bowls - and 5 glazes:


Crystal Matte

Neph Sy  50
Dolomite  20
EPK  20
Bone Ash  10
Copper OX  1.5
Rutile  5


Matte Black

Barnard Slip  80
EPK   10
Custer 10
Cobalt Ox  1


Oharata Red

Ball Clay   6
Custer Spar   48
Silica   22
Talc   6
Whiting   6
Bone Ash   12
Red Iron Ox   10
Bentonite   3


Tenmoku

Whiting   20
Custer  35
Ball Clay  15
Silica  30
Red Iron Oxide  10


Nuka

From Michael Coffee
Custer Feldspar    36
Silica   30
Whiting   22
OM-4   6
Wood Ash (unwashed)   3
Talc   2
Bone Ash   2


Everything was single-fired, and the kiln was held at 500f  and 1800f each, for one hour. Reduction was started after the 1800f soak and carried out to cone 10/11. The kiln was then slowly cooled of about an hour to 2000f and then shut off.
I used an iron rich stoneware clay from Quyle Kilns.

I had some issues with glazes running and sticking to the shelves, but I think that's surmountable.
This is the first load I've fired that had NO breakage, no S-cracking, no warping, and no real glaze flaws (ie: pinholing, crazing, shivering...).
This is also the first firing that I am excited about - I mean really excited about!
I see lots of potential in my glazes - so much so I can't wait to get back to throwing so I have something to put said glazes on!

I did have some unexpected results, but I think I understand why.
One other thing...I'm playing with photographing my ware for Etsy and these are shot on my mantelpiece. I'm not trying to present them as something particularly grand or special, just wanted to experiment a bit.
Lets get to it shall we?



Tricerabowls

Like everything in this load, these are lined with the Barnard slip-based Black Matte.
The outside was first brushed with a thinish coat of Oaharata Red, and then sprayed with the Crystal Matte.

I tried to be sparing with the second glaze near the bottom - spraying it lightly twice, while spraying the rim area 3 times and fairly heavily.

Regardless, I got lots of running and shelf-sticking-to. The bowls were all placed in the middle and upper part of the kiln. I've never had the Oharata run, and I did have a bit of running with just the Crystal matte on testing, so I need to see about stiffening it up (I thought the Oharata might do that. In the glaze tests, there really wasn't much difference between the tiles with or without the Oharata. Also, in the glaze testing, the crystals were turquoise, which I assume is because they were not reduced as much? Anyhow, I'm really excited about this glaze!



Bowl

Lined with the Black Matte, this 3-cup bowl was brushed with a thin layer of Tenmoku and then a single, fairly thick layer of Nuka was poured over it.

I'm really pleased with this!
I'm not getting the lovely all-over blue loveliness  that Michael Coffee showed, and I'm hoping one day I can get that, but hey - there's nothing wrong with this result!





Yunomi
Is the plural of yunomi yunomi or yunomis???
Sooooo...
Lets start with the Nuka ones.
Nuka over Tenmoku


Again, lined with the Black Matte.
I sort of was anticipating some dripping on these, so there's an area on the lower portion of each cup that just has the Black Matte on it.


Well, its drippy and fun and has lots of interest.
I personally am not a fan of drippiness in glazes, but this one's getting lots of ooohs and aaahs amongst my pals.


Both the Tenmoku and Nuka were brushed on.


Nuka over Red Iron Oxide


This is more interesting and eye-pleasing in real life.
I just wanted to see what would happen.
Its a little pinholey - probably because it was brushed on a little too sparingly.
Its not pleasing to the touch.


Nuka over Oharata


Yeah - I think this is my favorite.
Love the mossy green with the turquoise rivulettes (hope I spelled that right - my spell checker doesn't know).


Hardly any dripping.
Crystal Matte over Oharata Red


Wacky huh?
This is the exact same glaze combo and application technique as the bowls at the top of the page.


The only difference is that all of these were on the lowest kiln shelf, and the shelf above them was pretty big and may have created something of a saggar atmosphere on this shelf.
That's the only thing I can think of.


There were about 8 of these on that bottom shelf - all pretty well packed in.
Maybe 3/4 of an inch of space in between each of them.
Or perhaps because they were all crammed together there on the bottom (where my burners come up through the floor of the kiln), they didn't get the advantages of a nice slow cool and so didn't form crystals?


But why so shiny when the bowls were such a lovely matte?


Its a puzzle to me.
I don't hate them, but I sure don't love them either.
I do think they are trying to teach me something though...






Soap Dish

I'm SO inspired by Keith Phillips!

This little soap dish surely echoes his work, but hopefully I've made it my own.

This is the Crystal matte sprayed over a sloppily applied Oharata Red.


It was on the topmost shelf of the kiln, with a small shelf between it and the flue opening.


So there ya go!
I'm back at the wheel tomorrow. I think I may be finding my voice!
Thanks for stopping by...you know your comments are always appreciated.


CMCK

Monday, January 10, 2011

18 Glazes!

Wow!
I'm spending January working on developing a glaze palette that is consistent and feels like my voice.
I almost feel like when I have it nailed down, I may shift my form a bit to follow it.
Bass-ackwards I'm sure.

I have about 4 good, consistent glazes now - a crystaline gold, a lovely Tenmoku, an iron red and both a glossy and matte white.
I just want a little somethin' somethin' in there too.
Anyway, this test was 18 different glazes, at cone 10 reduction.
Everything was single-fired, and the kiln was held at 500f  and 1800f each, for one hour. Reduction was started after the 1800f soak and carried out to cone 10/11. The kiln was then slowly cooled of about an hour to 2000f and then shut off.
Each glaze was applied to 4 tiles (in the order they'll appear in the photos):

  1. over both Red Iron Oxide and Rutile washes
  2. 1/2/3 dip on white stoneware
  3. 1/2/3 dip on iron rich stoneware
  4. over iron red (Ohata) glaze.
Unless otherwise indicated, all glazes started with the following base
 (from "the Potter's Palette" by Constant and Ogden):
  • Potash Feldspar                  50
  • Dolomite                             20
  • EPK                                   20
  • Bone Ash                           10
Click on any image to see it full size.
As always, comments and input are greatly appreciated!

Glaze #1a

Base Glaze plus 1.5% copper oxide.




Glaze #1b

Base Glaze plus copper oxide 1.5% and rutile 5%



Glaze #1c

Base Glaze plus copper oxide 1.5% and tin oxide 5%



Glaze #2a

Base Glaze plus cobalt oxide 1%



Glaze #2b

Base Glaze plus cobalt oxide 1% and vanadium pentoxide 3%



Glaze #2c

Base Glaze plus cobalt oxide 1% and tin oxide 5%



Glaze #3a

Base Glaze plus rutile 15%



glaze #3b

Base Glaze plus rutile 15% and chrome oxide .25%


Glaze #3c

Base Glaze plus rutile 15% and tin oxide 5%



Glaze #4a

Base Glaze plus vanadium pentoxide 6%



Glaze #4b

Base Glaze plus vanadium pentoxide 6% and red iron oxide 3%



Glaze #4c

Base Glaze plus vanadium pentoxide 6% and rutile 5%



Fire Yellow Redux

From ClayUtah forums.

Custer Feldspar           50
EPK                           50
Dolomite                     25
Whiting                       10
Tin Oxide                     5.5
Bone Ash                     8
Red Iron Oxide            1
Rutile                           2




Blindingly Bright Green

(from ClayUtah forums)
Oh dear - this is just so wrong. Looked so good in the pic too! But I see I left out one ingredient, so I'll try it again...

Ball Clay                                     10
Whiting (accidentally omitted)      20
Silica                                           20
Custer Feldspar                          40
Copper Carbonate                       .5
Chrome Oxide                             2




Choy Celedon

(from John Britt's "The Complete Guide to High Fire Glaze")

Custer Feldspar                 50
Silica                                 28
Whiting                               6
EPK                                   4
Barium Carbonate             12
Red Iron Oxide                   2



Barnard Slip


Barnard Slip        80
EPK                   10
Rutile                  10











Shaner Oribe

(From John Britt's "The Complete Guide to High Fire Glaze" )

Custer Feldspar          31
Whiting                      22.1
Silica                          25.3
EPK                          12.6
Talc                             7.9
Bone Ash                     1.1
Copper Carbonate       5.2




John's Red

(from John Britt's "The Complete Guide to High Fire Glaze")
Not sure what happened here, except it called for frit 3134 and I only had 3124.

Custer Feldspar     48.2
Whiting                  13.6
Silica                     15.5
EPK                       5.5
Frit 3134
(subbed 3124)        9.1
Talc                        3.6
Zinc oxide               4.5
Tin oxide                 1.2
Copper Carbonate     .8
Bentonite                   1



Well, there ya go. Some complete failures, but some really exciting possibilities too!
Next week, I'll be testing the same glazes, and maybe a few more, in an oxidation firing.
Stay tuned...
CMCK

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Nov 19 Firing and Glaze Tests

Well!
I finally had some good results!

Lets get to it shall we?
This was a cone 10/11 reduction firing (maybe not reduced enough).
All ware was single fired white stoneware from Quyle Kilns. Glazes were primarily sprayed.
Kiln was held at 500 F for 1 hour and again at 1800 f for 1 hour. Reduction started at 1800 f, after the soak.
At 2200 f I added some wood for extra reduction, and then held the kiln in reduction at the top for about an hour. Cooled to 2000 f over about 1 hour and then shut off.

First the glaze tests, then the ware.
I decided to give examples of how I was taught to convert formulas to small batches.
Maybe some of my struggles lie there? I am NOT a math person...

Click on any image for a larger view, and, as always, comments and input are appreciated!


Tenmoku

From the Nov Ceramics Monthly.
Not sure what happened.
Not enough redux? Not enough Iron Oxide?
Maybe I put 10 grams of RIO instead of 100?

Whiting.....................20  (200 grams)
Custer.......................35  (350 grams)
Ball Clay...................15  (150 grams)
Silica.........................30  (300 grams)
Red Iron Oxide.........10  (100 grams)









From left to right:
1/2/3 dip || Rutile wash, over/under || Iron Ox wash over/under || Over Malcom's Shino || Over Shaner Yellow || Over Bone Ash White

Vanadium Green

From the book "The Practical Potter" by Josie Warshaw.
I didn't get the results I expected, but I'm really excited about a couple of these!
I may play with the colorant numbers a bit.

Neph Sy......................................................31  (310 grams)
Whiting........................................................31  (310 grams)
Fire Clay  (subbed with Hathorne Bond).......14  (140 grams)
China Clay...................................................12  (120 grams)
Copper Ox....................................................2  (20 grams)
Vanadium Pentoxide......................................8  (80 grams)









Left to Right:
1/2/3 dip || Rutile under/over || RIO under/over || over Malcom's Shino || over Shaner yellow || over Bone Ash White

Willie Helix

Again, not at all what I expected.
Some potential, but not what I'm looking for (what I'm looking for is something like the examples in John Brit's book).

Neph Sy ...............................42.9  (429 grams)
Whiting..................................20.4  (204 grams)
Silica.....................................24.5  (245 grams)
Kaolin...................................12.2  (122 grams)
Copper Carb...........................5     (50 grams)
Bentonite.................................2     (20 grams)










Left to Right:
1/2/3 dip || under/over Rutile || over/under RIO || over Malcom's Shino


Left to Right:
over Shaner Yellow || over Bone Ash White || over Matte Black || over Vanadium Green


Some Pots...



European Butter Dish



I got a request for a square, 2-stick style butter dish.
this was what I came up with, though its a little too small so I will have to make them about 10% larger next time. Also want to add some texture to the surface.

This would also make a great cheese plate I think.
I like this glaze combination too...




Little Yunomi


 Again working with Gary's Gold and Bone Ash White.
Playing with the rim a little.
I'm just happy with this little guy.
More exploring to do...





Some Bowls

Again, playing with altered rims.
This is simply Gary's Gold inside and out. Its a little too much of that glaze for me personally, though it is one of my tried-and-trues.
This bowl's bigger than it looks...maybe 4.5 cups volume.

Then there's this smaller tri-lobed bowl. My friend calls them Wave Bowls - nice.
This one has a Bone Ash White liner.
Its about cereal bowl sized...2.5 cups?
I'm really liking the over spray of the gold onto the white inside this.
Need to play with overlapping glazes in the spray booth!

I have a request for a set of these.
I'd like to do something nicer with the glaze.
Maybe I'm just bored with the gold...






Mugs!


Yep!
Wanted to make some mugs for some of my favorite guys.
These are Bone Ash White. The inside is just that.
The outside is over a Rutile wash.
These were really fun to make and I'll definitely be making more and playing with glaze combinations on them.
These 3 are personalized with the guys' initials on the handles.
They're nice and big, and I like a generous handle that you can get a really good grip on.

I need to make a larger, tankard-style one for beer,
After all, one can only drink so much coffee right?

Well, that's about it.
I had a couple of kitty saucers in the kiln too, but there's not at all exciting, so I didn't include them here.
That's pretty much a full kiln load for me.
I dream of a larger kiln, but for now, this will do.

CMCK

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Electric to Propane/Wood Kiln Idea

I'd appreciate any input from the experts on my idea here.
I recently picked up an old Skut 3-ring electric (non working and I'm not into electric firing).
Its the same size and configuration as my current high fire converted kiln, but in better condition, so I'm going to switch them out.

That leaves me with an extra kiln to play with and this is what I'm thinking.
I toyed with the idea of soda, but have decided instead to play with woodfiring.
I LOVE the results, and thought this might be manageable.
Don't know any more about woodfiring than I do about soda (nothing), but I figure a kiln is the logical place to start.