I was so pumped about this latest gas firing of my kiln!  I had new burners and I thought that this would solve all my problems!  As of late, I’ve been experiencing 14 hour firings and in some cases, I haven’t reached temperature!  So…new burners! Problem solved!  NOT!!!

I know that I’m being overly critical of the results, but after all this time, I would have hoped to have consistently good results.  So I’ve had to take a good look at what is happening and make some adjustments.

Firstly, I’m still TESTING!!! That is ok and a necessary evil, but not on every piece that I put into the kiln!  and the overlapping and combining of glazes that I have no idea how they are going to respond! I have so much glaze on my kiln shelves it is pathetic!

As a result, I did a huge culling of the 36 plus pails of glaze that haunt me.  They call to me, USE ME! and I do and I’m always sorry.  So they have gone in the tip.  I can always make more glaze.

Glazes ready to be binned!
Glazes ready to be binned!

Resolutions for glazing:

1.  Only one glaze on the back side of a piece.

2.  Only use known glazes on the outside of pieces.

3.  Keep overlays to a minimum.

4.  Be consistent in my making and glazing until I have good results, then move on.

Sounds so basic and easy when I write it down, but, believe me, I have created monsters out of my clay work!!!

Here are some photos of the results! Be sure to click on the small pic to enlarge it!

All that said, I made a new piece today…NEVER say DIE!!! I will conquer the GLAZE MONSTER!!

In conclusion, I made a new tray...don't give up!
In conclusion, I made a new tray…don’t give up!

Peace out!

Marian