small steps

I unloaded the kiln this morning. Not as successful as I had hoped—but some interesting pieces and some good information on the new glazes and combinations of glazes. I had tried to duplicate the error I had made that produced such a nice dark forest green with lots of texture in it (the Burgundy from June Perry) but got a much lighter color—almost a light turquoise but also with nice variation in it (mug on extreme right). Perhaps the most curious bit of information was the mug I fired with Paul Northway’s ‘Burgundy’. When I had mixed up his recipe and fired on a test tile it came out very purple—very close to the eggplant purple I have—when I showed it to Paul he was convinced I had not mixed it properly. So he gave me a tub of his glaze to test. I put it on a mug (mug on extreme left) and it came out the same purple I had on the test tile! So it is something to do with the firing. Paul showed me a piece he had fired with the glaze and it was very burgundy—almost pink burgundy. Interesting. I guess that the most successful bit were the mugs. I am happy with them—the shape, the handle. I like the ones made with 1 pound of clay best—the 3/4 pound were too small.