Raku firing

Well Saturday was the big day. The weather was nice, although it was a lot colder than it has been lately. We got some sprinkles around lunchtime, but otherwise the biggest issue was the wind. It made it a lot colder feeling.

I got to Matt's about 9 and started glazing my work. (and adding slip resist for that method too.) I had wanted to get the pieces that were to have slip and glaze on them slipped earlier in the week, but Matt had already transferred them to his house before I got to the studio to do so. I think that was an issue for me, since everything I tried that technique on exploded in the kiln. I think that the glaze on the slip acted as a barrier between the bisqued clay, and the not fully dry slip so there was trapped moisture there... creating problems. SO.. the slip/glaze penguin had a blowout on it's belly and I think it made the resist penguin crack in the "fallout" We pulled them from the kiln and chipped the slip off them both and ended up crackle glazing their bellies as a reconnaissance mission. (the Heart box I did in that technique popped like popcorn, so there was no saving it.) The first vase in slip resist was in the other kiln when the penguins had their mishap, and that one came through allright, so I was able to use that technique for the rest of the vases. (I'll post more on them later, when I take some photos of the completed pieces) The straight Raku that I did had great results, and here is a photo of the Raku (white Crackel Glazed) Penguin.



I'll write more later, but I'm trying to get a bunch of Christmas things done today, and so I need to run.