Glaze kiln results

I got some glazed pieces out of the kiln. I'm not 100% happy with the results, but I've got some interesting directions to go in from here. I definitely have to do something with that construction orange glaze! I hate it. I have to find a way to tone it down. I think I'd like it better if it was more of a sherbet color. It's a commercial glaze, so I'm not sure whether I should just try layering it with other glazes, or mixing something else into it. I guess I've got yet another use for the latest batch of porcelain test tiles I made.

Wax resist cups

Wax resist bowl. Definitely not digging the bits of glaze I couldn't wipe away.

Interior

The owl rattle

Slip trailed black underglaze over faux celadon

It turned brown and ran. Definitely not something I want when I'm trying to get precise lines, but it's a cool effect! I definitely want to play with this a bit more. They kinda look like spooky ghost cats.

Celadon dripping into Floating Blue Woo glaze

Pinch pot cup

Interior

Detail shots

I'm becoming more and more disatisfied with these flat glossy glazes. They're really kind of lifeless, aren't they? I love bright colors, but I think I need some more depth, or translucency, or variegation, or something. So much to do! I just wish I had unlimited time and resources so I could spend more time on glaze testing for myself. One of these days I'm gonna have to put together a Kickstarter or something.

Bloggy blog pt. 1

 My lesson on glazing went pretty well this week, I think. I felt a little awkward teaching from a real planned out set of notes. People are going to start thinking I'm a real teacher! I thought sure my students would be bored to tears with this stuff, or would feel like they knew it all already, but many of them asked lots of questions and seemed to find the info helpful, so that's good.

I did majorly screw up this week with the bisque firing. It always seems like I can't make a mistake without destroying something I've worked hard on. Once again, I placed a thick beginner piece right next to my piece, and it exploded. I thought sure I fired the kiln slow enough for the thicker stuff to be safe, but I guess the 3 hr hold at 180 wasn't quite long enough. And I did change it from 6 hours, because I didn't want to wait! My impatience is going to be the death of me. 

I tried to fix my girl, but the pieces didn't quite fit, and the bisque fix isn't sticky, so they wouldn't hold together. I'm wondering if I can make a new piece to fix it using paper clay. Does anyone know of a clever way to fix broken bisque? I'm not ready to give up on her!

Bisque fix fail:(

Layers of wax resist and glaze

I demoed a lot of wax resist decoration, which I've never tried before. No idea how it's all going to turn out. I've been playing with black copper oxide wash too, to bring out some depth in my flat glazes. Hoping to fire it all today, and have new pretties to post by the weekend. 

Glazes over black copper oxide wash

 Going to do a second post later today, to make up for my slackerness!