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Marian Williams Pottery
Marian Williams Pottery

Gas Kiln: The First Firing

FiringFiring a Gas KilnGas - ReductionKilnsResults
This is a picture of my husband, Ronnie, and I with the gas kiln firing and in reduction!!!  It was our first effort firing a gas kiln, so we were pretty stoked that we could get it firing, into reduction and up to temperature!

To begin with, I decided to do a first firing of my fibre-lined gas kiln to cone 5 (mid-fire) as I have unfortunately used a variety of clays and due to my lack of record keeping can’t remember what types of clay I used (rats!).  As I knew that some of the clays are mid-fire, I didn’t want to chance taking them too high and the cone 5 will work for all the pieces.  Much of the clay that I “inherited” when I purchased the gas kiln was mid-fire, so it was good to see how it fires.

I decided to only mix up two mid-fire glazes, both Greg Daly glazes-MF 20 & MF 26.  So not much of a selection, but it is safe!  I decided to spray most of the pieces, as I was trying to make the glaze go as far as possible as I only mixed up 1000 grams of each.

My first job was to pack the kiln and although I’ve packed electric kilns, I had never packed “my own” gas kiln-very exciting!

The bottom shelf was huge – as wide and deep as the kiln – and I completely filled it with lots of small, short items.  This proved to be a mistake as the low shelf with another right on top of it, didn’t allow for enough air flow, thus resulting in under fired pieces on the bottom shelf.

So, the kiln is packed and I’m good to go!  I now know (hindsight) that I should have waited til I had a full kiln load, as firing half a kiln load is inefficient, but also the firing is not as good.  Also, I made the first shelf very low and that is a no-no!  I’m learning, ok!?

A funny, little clay kiln god came with the kiln, so I fed him some Twisties (Aussie Cheetos) and shut the door.

The set-up for the gas burners coming into the kiln is really inconvenient.  My wonderful husband, Ronnie, was such a help as you have to light the gas torches from under the kiln.  Both openings are on the bottom of the kiln, at the side, with the chimney at the back of the kiln -perhaps a poor design?

Lighting the kiln was easy – much like lighting the pilot light on a hot water heater or gas dryer-yes, I’m showing my age here!  The thermacoupler at the top of the gas torch must be in the flame and get hot enough to keep the flame going or it will go out.  So we were lit and cooking!

We had to be constantly crawling around on the floor to look at the burners!  Pretty much tortuous for me!  So….Ronnie came up with a genius idea!
By placing a mirror under the kiln, directly under the burners, we could see the flames and what was going on!  Brilliant!  Also, this is Samantha Scout, our wonderful pottery dog!
This pic shows the mirror and the view we had of the burners – which worked great!  I was afraid that the heat would be too intense for the mirror, but it was surprising cool under there.
As I wanted to try for reds in this firing, we started reduction at 850 degrees Celcius and maintained that til we turned it off.
The kiln got up to 1192 degrees which is about Cone 5, but we could never reach 1220, which I was going for.  After 11 hours of firing, I called off the firing and we turned off the gas and closed up the kiln.  All of this was done with lots of reading, but there is no good step-by-step manual for firing this kiln.  I did try to go by the firing schedule that came with the kiln when I bought it and also used the firing schedule in Oriental Glazes by Bailey (see page 17 & 18- Look inside for “A copper red glaze firing”).
The hardest part of any firing is NOT opening the door too early!  So the kiln is shut tight!  This kiln wouldn’t close tightly due to broken clasps, so my husband devised a clever clamp system to shut it and keep it closed tightly.  I managed to wait til the kiln cooled to 200 degrees C before opening it!
Here is the kiln as I opened the door.  Not bad!  Nothing blew up!
But…as I said, the bottom shelves were too close together, without enough air space between.  Another mistake was not using enough cones or enough cone packs.  I later learned that I should have them on each shelf, front and back, until I learned how my kiln fired.
Here are the results of the firing.  There were a variety of clays used, but only a couple of glazes.

I did get some reds!  Wahoo!  Reduction on the otherwise copper green glaze!

Many of the pieces could have used more glaze.  The results even looked a bit “wood-fired” as the clay got a nice toasting in the reduction!

Setting Up A Pottery Studio: Phase 2

Setting Up A StudioStudio and Equipment
  
The second phase of setting up my pottery studio involved adding more equipment.  I had settled into my “room”-decorated with Aboriginal art-chinese kites-tables, chairs and, of course, lots of inspirational photos of other people’s pottery that I admire.  I had my most eclectic menu of music on my iPod player, a sweet breeze, and a mini fridge filled with diet coke (of course) and water – no chocolate though as I can’t be trusted.  Out front, there were benches and fantastic hammock swings for relaxing and having those soul-searching moments.  It was awesome!
And…then..Brad at Picasso’s Ceramics told me about a fibre-lined gas kiln that was for sale!!! Exciting!!! I had always “wished” for a gas kiln (as I believe that only gas can give you the flow, colours, and depth of glazes that I coveted), but never dreamed I would be able to have one of my own, let alone learn how to use it.  That is when the evolution of my studio started.

Originally, my studio was completely housed in the lower part of this building (seen in the photo above) which was the offices for Griffith Tablecraft.

Behind the front office, there is a huge barn (or shed  in Aussie speak), where the furniture was made.  It is enormous!  In fact, according to the picture of the building of the pole barn, it is the largest one in the world!  But, I’ve heard since it is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
So when we bought the fibre-lined gas kiln from a lovely lady who was moving into assisted living, we also gained the remainder of her studio-all of her tools, equipment and  old clay.  Lucky me! but I needed more room, so my studio space then expanded into the big barn.
Moving the kiln, pug mill, wheel, and years of other equipment and tools was no easy task, but what a find!  My studio just moved from quite adequate to simply amazing!  I had no experience or knowledge of this type of kiln, so I was in for a learning curve-but a fun one!  It was in good nick and required only the attaching of some fibre around the door.
In addition to the kiln and pug mill, we also got a Venco wheel, all of her chemicals for glazing, tools, kiln furniture and shelves and heaps more!  Now the task to make pots is set!

Setting Up A Pottery Studio: The Beginning

Setting Up A StudioStudio and Equipment
Setting up a studio begins with a wheel (in my opinion), shelves, and a few tools.  All the rest will fall into place over time.  This space used to be a laundry room, so although small, it is cozy, with great light, and secure doors- snakes are a problem here!  I bought a used Venco wheel from Picasso Ceramics

So I began small and never could have believed the treasures that could be found in Australia!
The studio was pretty basic – no frills, but I didn’t really care – I could throw a pot on my own time, anytime I wanted!

Inspiration: Bulldog Pottery-turquoise on shino!

Glazes and Glazing
I like shino, but I often find it too monochromatic-even when it ranges from white to orange.  So I’m constantly looking for ways to make my glazes (and especially shino) more interesting, more colourful, and fluid.  I came upon these cups on the blog posting by Bulldog Pottery,

Around and About with Bulldog Pottery: Bulldog Pottery Holiday Weekend

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the addition of turquoise to the shino.  The combination really pops and adds life to the pots!  Can’t wait to try this combination!  Good turquoise glaze too-need that recipe.

Color Crush: Sydney Fireworks 2012

Color CrushGlazesMusings

I was so amazed by the fireworks in Sydney on NYE!!!  It reminded me of the effect of color on our senses and emotions.

This link explains how color affects us.

Achieving amazing results in glazes on ceramics is my quest.  Wishing you all the best and great success in all your endeavours this new year!

Lusting After Lustre (Luster): Greg Daly’s New Book Is Now Available!!

Amazing PottersGlazesLuster/Lustres
 
 
 

Greg Daly is the master of lustres on ceramics and his new book is now available!!! Very exciting!!!  Greg Daly’s New Book on Lustres!!!  His workshop on Lustres in Coffs Harbour was amazing and I’ll post more on that later.  For now, get the book!!  Yeah!  Can’t wait to get mine!  I checked Amazon in the USA and it is listed but not available quite yet-keep checking!

Inspiration: Alex Solla

Amazing PottersInspiration
 
 
 
My daily perusal of blogs, websites, and the internet in general will often allow me to stubble upon some inspirational and wonderful stuff.  Alex Solla’s blogpost today definitely “wowed” me! Love his photography and the work of Renata Wadsworth.  Great form, colour and design- now go make a pot!

Color Crush: Greg Daly Workshop

Amazing PottersGlazesGlazes and GlazingGreg DalyLuster/LustresWorkshops
 

I suppose my move to Australia from the USA introduced me to colour – vibrant colour, not subtle in any way,  In Australia, the flowers, trees, birds, houses, beaches, fish, and people tend to be more colourful.

This bombardment of colour seems to have produced in me a desire to create those colours in the glazes on my pottery.

 
 
 

I’ve always loved blues (OMG!!!) but I when I first saw a book on the glazes and work produced by Greg Daly, reknown Australian potter, I was gobsmacked (Australian for flabbergasted!).  I had never seen colour used so beautifully, intricately or interestingly.  It was vivid colour as well!  Not the typical “pottery” colours that so many of us are used to.  So I was motivated to learn how to do this myself.

Fortunately, the Coffs Harbour TAFE and the Coastal Claymakers were hosting a workshop by Greg Daly and I purchased a spot.  Greg’s workshop was fantastic!  He is such a generous, knowledgable, inspiring potter/teacher/man.

The first day of the workshop was centred around lustres and how to formulate, fire, and use them on pottery pieces.  His slide show was impressive, especially in that he could focus in on a small portion of the glazed piece to show an incredible interaction and how it was achieved.  The ability to look at glazes in minutia is key to the development of interesting interaction of colour in glazes.
 
 

Greg Daly showed how to mix glazes (as described in his book) so that you can test line blends and then see the results and develop new glazes.

These test tiles show a few of the colours achieved by using this line blend technique.  Although I would love to merely have a great, reliable glaze recipe for a particular colour, the process of developing the glazes is very educative and interesting.

 
These test tiles are examples of some of the colours that can be achieved through this process-pretty exciting!
 

Applying glaze to pottery is an art in itself and Greg Daly was great to show us how he layers, waxes and applies various glazes to a piece.  For example, this bowl had five glazes, waxing, dipped glaze and painted glaze.

I’d never seen anyone plan so intricately for glazing a piece.
 
 
 

I’ve only begun to dip my toe into the crazy world of colourful ceramic glazes, but I’m having a bit of luck and can’t wait to see what I can come up with!  This bowl was in the third firing of my fibre-lined gas kiln cone 10 reduction.  The base glaze is Royal Blue.  The bowl was then waxed in a criss-cross pattern with Greg Daly’s formula of mixing baby oil and turpentine with wax so that it flows better and “paints” on.  However, it is very important to wear a protective gas mask while using this type of wax.  The piece was then sprayed with Cone 6 Copper Red from the book, Oriental Glazes by Bailey.

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