Awaiting The Oven

This is a snapshot of four of my Primitive Faces From Ancient Places, having already been dipped in a vat of ash glaze, and awaiting their time to get cooked. The one of the far right has already been fired, once, but didn't get a good firing, so I've touched some spots up and he's ready to go again. That's the original very first one that I posted, that used to have long braids. The braids broke off before it even got glazed, so looks like it'll have to go bald. The one on the left is the one I posted, before, that I said looked like my dad. I made a few adjustments to him, however, and he doesn't look quite as much like him, as he did, but I still can't wait to see how he turns out. The two in the middle, well, we'll see how they turn out, too. They are actually sitting in the kiln, as we speak, having been through a 28 hour firing on Monday and Tuesday. Just waiting for the kiln to cool down. As you can see, the one that has already been fired has a greenish tint. That's the natural color, no colorant added to the glaze. It's a reaction between the ash, sand, and clay glaze mix, along with a reaction to the type of clay used to make the pieces. This type of pottery can be anywhere from yellowish, to greenish, to brownish, and sometimes with specks of blue, depending on many variables.


















This is how Baby Pan turned out, once fired, but he had a few problems, too, so he went back in the kiln, along with the others, and I hope it took care of the issues with that one. I hope I will have some successfully fired pieces from the kiln, this time. We've talked about making a raku kiln to fire them in, but so far it's just talk. I fired a couple of pieces in an electric kiln, but my partner painted them with a really shiny glaze when I wasn't looking, and they look just terrible. I had actually painted them with an under glaze, as an experiment with the electric kiln firing, because you can't use the natural ash glaze in the electric kiln. It will melt, roll off, and stick to the kiln, never reaching a high enough temperature, in the electric kiln, to turn the glaze into glass. I do believe I am already attached to the wood-fired look, but I still have some experimenting to do. I had wanted to just stain them, after the initial under glaze, but Gary informed me that no self-respecting artist would use a stain. He also informed me that I could not leave them in their natural bisque fired stated, that turned out to be terra cotta colored, in the electric kiln, for whatever reason because, "They will turn out to look like garden gee-gaws," he had said. What does he know? Anything would have been better than this mess, lol. See below.















I don't think he'll do that again, lol, but he was only trying to help, and thought it was what I had intended. I had not. Who knows, I might try firing their little selves up in the wood fired kiln, next time, to see if I can get rid of that high gloss shine. Couldn't hurt, that's for sure. I'm still trying to get it right, with these little faces. I'll post more photos, later, when the rest are out of the kiln. That is, if they turn out. We've been having quite a few problems with the kiln reaching max temperature, which is not at all unusual with a wood fired kiln. Practice, practice, practice. Adjust, adjust, adjust.







This is the Christmas Tree that was outside the pottery shop.














This is the same tree, beautifully reflecting through the window next to our shop.
























And this is my Potter Babe, as seen through the shop window, one late night during the Holiday, the same night I snapped all of the above pictures. That's also one of the beautiful orchids that he raises, gracing the shop window. I kinda like the warmth of this one. The Christmas tree photo, as well as this one, remind me of the warm, yet very cold Christmas season that I experienced in Europe, specifically, Germany. I can almost taste the gluwein, which is a hot seasonal drink that you can find on the streets, at any Christkindlmarkt in Germany, throughout the season. However, in this pic of him, I almost expect Pinnocio to be peering out the window, which would take us to Italy. Gotta have an imagination, I suppose.

Hope you enjoy.