Monday, September 5, 2011

tenmoku






TENMOKU:
Custer 62
Silica 325m 19
Spanish Red Iron 8
OM4 9
Whiting 10
Glaze Rite 3

The above pots were fired in a Train wood fired kiln for close to 36 hours.

here are a few close ups of some pots i fired last week. the firing was super weird, to say the least. i've never seen the front stack so dry.. and we'll probably be debating why it was like that for some time to come. but i think a lot of it had to do with a super tight stack in the front, and not enough secondary air to really super heat that coal bed, not to mention not firing long enough. oh the ins and outs of the wood-fire.

as far as the pictures go.... i've been having a fun time firing this glaze on porcelain in any kind of atmospheric firing. mostly though i've been getting it in wood kilns or wood/salt kilns. the slower the cooling..the more it does what these pictures show-a moving, drippy and crystalized glaze.. if the cooling is quick and in an oxidized atmosphere.. the more glossy and black it is. I'm still a big time novice to this type of glaze..and what it can do.

The yellowish areas are due to the soluble salts and ash flowing through the kiln during the firing.