CleanMud

Raku Red

2012-01-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is about the only thing I have accomplished the past month. I've been working too many overtime hours at my paying job and haven't been able to fire anything, but this has a lot of potential.
It is actually a low-fire commercial red glaze that is dinnerware safe. I brushed two coats of the red on the tea bowl and then brushed a layer of commercial low-fire black over the red.
What I would like to experiment with is adding an opacifier and some magnesium carbonate to this red glaze. I'm hoping to tone-down the translucency a bit with zircopax and create some crawling with the magnesium carbonate. The end result, I hope, will look like a high-fire crawling shino. Will mix up some test glazes this week and will raku fire some more tea bowls onnext Saturday, weather permitting.

New Plan

2011-11-27T04:32:00.001-08:00

New plan. I had originally planned on installing a Skutt electric kiln in my studio but changed my mind when I found out how much it would cost to run the 240V electric into the room.
I had this old Cress electric in the basement but it needed a new lid and new elements. I think I'm going to re-build this kiln but make it smaller, but that is another project. Back to the new plan.
The new plan is the Cress is being moved out and the Skutt is coming down stairs. I have 240V already wired and all I need to do is take the cone sitter out of the Cress and install it into the skutt.

Moldy Porcelain

2011-11-15T05:48:00.001-08:00

Ok! So I mixed up a bunch of reclaimed porcelain and bagged it all up and set it in a sunny corner of my studio. I probably should have put it in a covered container because now all my bags of porcelain have been attacked by this lovely green colored mold that smells AWFUL!
Any ideas about killing this lovely green colored mold? I was thinking about trying some bleach. Thought that should do it but Have no idea how much to use.
Anybody out there have any ideas?

New Addition to the Studio

2011-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Newest addition to the studio. Looks a little rough on the outside but it only cost 50 dollars and I got a lot of nice kiln shelves and boxes and boxes of all kinds of kiln furniture. The inside is in great shape and the only thing I need to do is replace the kiln sitter tube assembly. I need the tube, the firing gauge and the cone supports but I have an old kiln in the basement that I can scavange these parts from.
I plan on installing cement board in the corner and then I need to have a 240V line run to that part of the studio.

Torso Lamp

2011-11-02T06:51:00.001-07:00

With a little help from photoshop I have come up with what the finished product is going to look like. I think it is going to make a fantastic lamp.

I think I am going to go with a jet black gloss glaze. Not sure about the lamp shade yet. We'll have to see what kind of shade I can find in La Crosse. My mother said this was a silly idea and said "who is going to want a lmap like that?" Well, believe it or not I've already had two people say they're interested in it. So HA!

Torso Sculpture

2011-09-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Started a new project a few days ago and things are going well. I wanted to make a torso sculpture in the round just to see if I could do it. I can do it. I'm not sure what made me think of it but from the start I had planned on making a table lamp out of this sculpture. We'll see if it makes it through the firings and then I'll buy the lamp shade.

Oh! Still working on the kiln. I ordered some ITC and a couple of venturi burner/mixer pins from Laguna Clay last week. Should have been here by now. Once I get that stuff I'll have a propane tank delivered and get the gas works hooked up. Getting there but going too slow for me.

Still At It.

2011-09-15T06:49:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure the "how or why" of it but there were some small gaps between the soft brick on the interior of this kiln. I am thinking that it has been this way since the original owner built the kiln. There was some fiber in a few of the gaps but I pulled it out and decided to plug all the gaps with new fiber. I cut 1 inch fiber into 2-1/2 inch strips and then kind of peeled the fiber apart into thinner pieces. I then used a plastic flexible putty knife to tuck the fiber into the gaps. Worked real well but was hard on the knees.

My friend Darrel also ran the copper gas line for me, about 50 feet of 1/2 copper and buried it about a foot deep. Next step is to order the 120 pound propane tank and set that in place. Still at it but getting closer.

Insulation

2011-08-30T02:32:00.001-07:00

I had a bunch of fiber from old raku kilns so I used it up. This is a well insulated roof. On the top of the arch brick I laid down an inch layer of fiber. Then I laid down two rows of 3-inch soft brick around the edges. I then leveled it off with crushed pieces of insulated fire brick. And finally, on top of that to level it all off I put down another inch layer of fiber. To finish it off I will cover it with metal.

Burner Pins

2011-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

HELP!
I need to find two of these GACO burner/mixer pins for my venturi burners. I can find them for 1/2 base but I need 3/4-inch screw in base. Can any of my friends/readers out ther point me in some possible directions on where to find them.
Thanks.

Burner/Mixer Pins

2011-08-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the burner mixer pins has definately been the easiest part of getting this kiln into operation. Just going to polish these up with some WD-40 and a small wire brush. Will unscrew the orifices and clean them with the proper sized torch head cleaner.

During the moving of the kiln we accidently broke two of these mixer pins from the burner system. Just a minor set back but I still haven't found the replacements yet, but think I moight have found a company in New Mexico that sells them. If not, I'll just make my own.

Burner/Mixer Pins

2011-08-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Separating the burner mixer pins from the venturi base plate wasn't an easy job but made much easier with the help of a big-ass pipe wrench, a vise, and some WD-40.

Once I got the base plate broke loose from the pin I sprayed the WD-40 on the pin and worked the plate back and forth with the wrench until I could turn it and spin it with my hands.

Kiln Burners

2011-08-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

To clean the burners I completely disassembled them and then used power tools with wire brush attatchments. This really knocked the rust down and smoothed them up real nice, inside and out.

Slow Going

2011-08-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Everything about getting this kiln into operation is slow going. I suppose its because after I work a ten-hour shift at my "paying" job and by the time I get to the studio, I don't feel like working more than an hour or two.

I wanted to finish the top of the kiln yesterday but this is as far as I got after an hour and a half. Although I had previously crushed the IFB, they were not crushed into small enough pieces and I had to crush them again. Two beers later and when I took this photo all I kept thinking about the song lyrics "breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won."

Working overtime at the "paying" job today and tomorrow but hope to have the crushed IFB done today. And hopefully tomorrow I can finish the damper/flue bricks. I need to sand them down a little bit so that they're flat and even.

Nuts!

2011-08-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

I'm working on the kiln's burner system now. There are ten of these venturi burners and all of them were filled with nuts. Somewhere out in the woods is one pissed off squirrel.

Once the nuts and other debris was cleaned out of the burners I put a round wire brush on the end of an electric drill and cleaned the hell out of the inside and outside.

The otherday I removed the pilot ring and cleaned every pilot hole, 187 of them.

During the move we accidently broke two of the mixer pins, (the threaded piece at the end of this burner), so I'm trying to hunt down two replacements. Also will need a new thermocoupler. Once I get that done I'll reassemble everything and set it up under the kiln for operation.

Kiln Insulation

2011-08-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

Laid down the fiber, one-inch 8lb. density. I had a bunch of replacement IFBs for an electic kiln so I decided to place them around the edges. Had enough to go two rows on each side and they seemed to fit together well so I used them up.

I cut the center flue bricks out of K26 IFBs and set them in place. I had to order some kiln cement so I'll cement them in place when that arrives.

I plan on filling in the rest with an even layer of crushed IFB and will eventually cover the top with some 16 gauge sheet metal.

Fixing Up The Kiln

2011-08-11T03:15:00.001-07:00

A little bit of work needs to be done to the top of the kiln. Will be putting a layer of brick around the flue holes first. Then I was thinking about putting down an inch layer of fiber over the arch. Not sure yet but I have bunches of broken up IFBs and was considering covering the fiber, to the left and right of the damper, with that and evening it out to the top of kiln.

Free Kiln For The Moving

2011-08-05T08:48:00.001-07:00

This is about an hour into the project. The first step was to demolish the structure that the kiln was in. Once all the debris was moved aside it was time to fork it and move. Didn't happen that way. The damn thing weighed 3,ooo pounds and the skid steer couldn't lift it. So the door was removed to make it lighter. Even then the skid steer could barely fork it. It was pushed to its limit for sure.

The Tough Part

2011-08-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

This was the tough part and when I really thought we might loose the kiln. I really thought it would roll right off the skid steer. Although it might look like the skid steer has this kiln off the ground a good deal, it isn't. The damn thing was too heavy. Instead of just forking and driving the kiln up the hill we lifted the kiln up a couple of inched and slid boards under the metal base of the kiln and then pushed it up the hill. Slow going but it worked like a charm.

Loaded

2011-08-05T08:37:00.001-07:00

Finally loaded (the kiln). Beer Break! Only took about 3 hours. Now its just a short five mile trip to the studio.

Needs A Door

2011-08-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Needs a door but not before a quick beer break. One of the several people who made this move possible. Thank you Greg Gerke, "the Crazy Carpenter."

Kiln In Place

2011-08-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the kiln is in place. A million thanks to my friend Darrel and his buddies who spent all afternoon moving this beast. Next step is to work on the burner system. Needs a good cleaning and looks like it needs a new pilot igniter.

Kanna Trimming Tool

2011-07-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of my newest trimming tool. It is a Japanese style trimming tool called a Kanna. This one is 8-inches long with a wooden handle.

The blade is just 3/4-inch steel strapping band that I cut with tin shears and then bent in a table vise. I used a Dremmel tool with a stone tip to shapen the edges. The two halves of the wooden handle are oak, which were glued to the metal blade and then stained and polished.

Tea Bowl Profile

2011-07-15T02:15:00.001-07:00

I really hate cutting pots in half but it does provide some good insight. My facebook buddy and tea bowl sensei Cory Lum asked me to post this picture so he could see how my carving/trimming skills are.

I was really really suprised that this bowl was thrown and trimmed so evenly. After I trimmed it with the new kanna that I made, I held the bowl in my hands and I just had a feeling that this bowl was "good." It just felt good.

I didn't have any bowls wet enough to cut in half with a cut off wire so I used a hack saw blade and gently cut the leather hard bowl in half. I was pleasantly suprised. In fact so much more I even sawed some more tea bowls. I think I'm at a point now, after examining the profiles of these bowls, that I will not have to saw any more in half.

A Different Foot

2011-07-15T02:12:00.002-07:00

I kind of like this hand carved foot. Its different. Kind of reminds me of a sea shell, and its kind of interesting. Once I carved the circular line to the center, I used a kanna to recess the the center of the sea shell shape.

Foot #1

2011-07-15T02:12:00.001-07:00

I used a kanna to trim the foot of this bowl and then used a serated metal rib to finish the interior or the foot. I like this type of foot.

Foot #2

2011-07-15T02:11:00.001-07:00

My feet are getting better. Hand carved, smooth on the bottom and rough in the center.

Foot #3

2011-07-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

I'm getting much faster at trimming my feet.

Chawan Halved

2011-07-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is the way my bowls start out. I asked my FaceBook friend Cory Lum to give me some pointers and critique my work and he gladly accepted my plea. Cory asked me to post a few photos and here they are. So, basically this is for Cory and to help him out check out his video of making and trimming a chawan as well as his etsy site.

Still Carving Kodai

2011-07-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on carving the kodai. Like I said before, it either makes or breaks the piece. I carved this foot last Friday. Since then I have thown a bunch more chawan and have improved my carving. Will post more photos soon.

Hand Carved Kodai

2011-07-13T07:01:00.001-07:00

Chawan

2011-07-08T03:42:00.000-07:00

I've been throwing tea bowls (chawan) lately. I've mentioned in earlier posts that its easy to throw a cylander that is round with a smooth even lip and a perfectly trimmed foot but in reality the pot or form itself has no character. Here is a link to some of my earlier thrown tea bowls. Yeah, they're nice wood fired pieces but I feel that the only interesting thing about them is the glaze.

This is one of my latest tea bowls. Initially wheel thrown and then altered. The base and foot were hand carved. This is much closer to what I would call a chawan. I think it has character. It pleasing to hold and interesting to look at. Plan on making a bunch more today.

The Kodai

2011-07-08T02:33:00.001-07:00

The kodai, pronounced "koudai," is a very important part of the chawan and contains a wealth of information when looked at closely.

For instance the hand-carved foot reveals the skill and spirit of the potter. It also is the only unglazed spot on the piece that reveals the nature of the clay body. The only other thing I can say about the kodai is that it ultimately "Makes" or "Breaks" the piece. If its "bad" even an idiot will know it.

I'm still carving kodai and a lot of them look like shit as far as I'm concerned but I'm keeping the pieces to test some glazes on. The kodai pictured here is one of my better ones. I'll keep practicing.

Chawan

2011-07-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

These are my latest tea bowls (chawan). I am quite pleased with this last batch. In the past all my tea bowls have been too "anal," according to other potters. I can throw bowls to a set dimension with perfect smooth interiors and exteriors but that is not a chawan. Plus, they really are uninteresting forms with no character. Throwing "loose," as other potters call it, has always been difficult for me. I don't know why. Thanks go out to my FaceBook friend Cory Lum who posted a video of how he throws chawan. It helped me a great deal. Now I just need to practice hand-carving the feet. They're not bad (maybe they are) but they still need some work.

Pinch Pot Fish

2011-07-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

I got a little bored this weekend in the studio. And I remembered that I recently saw a YouTube video of some guy making a pinch pot fish. Just thought I'd give it a try. They don't take long to make and would be a great project for little kids. Actually, its a fun adult project too.

Didn't get my kiln moved into the studio yet but I did throw tea bowls on all three wheels that I made.

Finished Product

2011-06-28T05:21:00.001-07:00

Well, it took a long time but I finally finished my kick wheel. I'm not really sure of the "proper" name for this style of wheel. I would call it a "kick wheel." I have heard others refer to it as a "Korean Style Kick Wheel." And, I suppose if you make pottery on this type of wheel in the Onggi tradition it would be called an "Onggi" wheel. What ever the proper name, this wheel turned out much better than I could have ever imagined.

I was going to try it out yesterday but just couldn't bring myself to throwing a bunch of clay on this beautiful wheel so I threw some pots on my stand-up treadle wheel.

Yes it is pretty but I made it to use so today after work I'm throwing some mud on it.

Korean Style Kick Wheel

2011-06-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

I finally got off my dead ass and had the local machine shop fabricate the shaft and baseplate for my Korean Style Kick Wheel.

I did make some changes to the wheel design. I did keep the 1-inch flange bearing on the underside of the wheel head but decided to go with a 1-1/4-inch flange on the bottom.

The baseplate is 22 inches in diameter and I had the machine shop cut the 3/8-inch steel plate round just because I thought it would look better.

There is a 6-inch square steel plate welded to the base. A hole was drilled through both plates and the shaft was inserted and welded into that. The square plate was added just for strength. For my next wheel I am not going to weld the 6-inch plate to the base. I will have holes drilled and tapped to accept stove bolts to attatch the shaft to the base. If you decide to build one you'll see why.

Anyway, this wheel is pretty sweet. The last thing I have to do is re-drill the hole in the bottom of the wheel so that it will accept the 1-1/4 inch shaft. Originally it was built for a 1-inch shaft.

If you hadn't read all the previous posts about the building process of this wheel and are interested in building your own wheel, just search my archives on this blog.

Clay Extruder

2011-06-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

I decided my studio was too small to mount this big beast on a table top so I decided to buy a piece of straight pipe, drilled some holes in it, and mounted it to the wall. Worked out very well.

I'm also going through the process of giving my studio a make-over/remodel job. Basically about the only things I want in this room are my three wheels, my two work tables, A shelf for ware and a bisque kiln in one corner of the room.

Under the tables I'll keep basic tools, some clay buckets, and low fire glazes and underglazes. All my bucket glazes were moved to the basement. Actually a lot of stuff was moved to the basement.

I moved out an old pot bellied stove that was in one corner of the room to make way for the kiln. Next step is to put up some cement board and a venting system and get it wired.

Plan on finishing the paneling and doing some trim work around the windows and doors. Also have s little bit of insulation to put up and will do a little bit of painting. Probably a lot more work to do but this will at least give me a nice space to work in without bumping into anything. I posted a photo album on my facebook page of the mess I've created. One look at it will reveal why I had to do it.

Gonna' miss the beer fridge, but it won't be too far away.

Clay Extruder/After photo

2011-06-08T02:32:00.000-07:00

A little bit of elbow grease, a can of spray paint, ($3.79), and 2 new bolts, ($0.79).

Not a bad. This extruder is supposed to be mounted to a table or work bench but I am going to make a new mounting bracket and secure it to a wall in my studio.

Clay Extruder

2011-06-08T02:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Ryan gave me this old clay extruder. I thought maybe it was due for the scrap yard but after examining it more closely I decided to knock the rust off, clean it up, and add some new pait to it.

Sitdown Motorized Potter's Wheel

2011-06-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Well, after hours of internet image searching I found a picture of the "unknown" potter's wheel. At least I'm pretty sure this is the wheel. Still don't have a name for it yet but did find out it has a variable speed, pedal operated, Dayton split phase motor. Still seeking more information and comments about it.

New Old Wheel

2011-05-31T02:14:00.000-07:00

A new addition to my studio. This is a really cool table top potter's wheel that was given to me by my friend Ryan. I think the only things missing from this wheel is the manufacturer's name plate and the motor. Can anybody out there tell me anything about this wheel. Would love to know who made it and the approximate age.

I'm thinking this is just a simple table top motorized potter's wheel but perhaps it had another function. There are 4 screw holes along the top of the rim that I have no idea what their purpose is. Kind looks like steel rods or pins can be inserted into the holes and then there is a set screw on the outside to secure the rods or pins. Anyway, any information on this wheel would be greatly appreciated.

Ceramic Adhesives

2011-04-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

Ok! I finished my adhesive testing, and no I didn't sniff them. Some potter friends of mine told me to use epoxy. Non-potter friends but who are extremely talented in their own industrial occupations told me to use E6000. I researched the E6000 on the internet and everything I read said there wasn't anything that this stuff wouldn't bond. The propaganda was just too good so I bought a tube of it to try thinking this was the stuff. I do have to say it is damn good stuff for certain applications and I do believe E6000 will bond anything together but if you looking for something with load bearing weight capabilities, don't use use it. As you can see in the photo to the right, it can't take the weight. After 4 minutes this hanging cement block crashed to the floor.

The other adhesive was Gorilla Epoxy. It was the only epoxy WalMart had so I bought it. It set up in 5 minutes and when I hung the cement block up in the air., it was rock solid. In fact its still hanging. I'm sure regular epoxy will work just as well, but I'm sticking with Gorilla Epoxy to mount the hardware to hang my wall sculpture.

Getting Closer

2011-04-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

Getting a bit closer to firing although it seems like it is taking forever for this sculpture to dry.

I made the decision to raku fire this. Don't know how I'm going to do that since this torso will not fit in my fiber raku kiln. I guess I am going to have to try to fire it in my brick kiln and hope it survives and comes out the way I planned.

Oh, the way I planned..... I painted the body of the dancer with black underglaze. I wanted this completely black and if I raku fire this I wasn't sure if the post reduction firing would make it as black as I had in mind. This will take care of that. The leotard dance suit will get a coat of Ferguson's Turquoise Raku Glaze, which should turn out a brilliant gloss turquoise and after a post reduction firing should have a very nice raku crackle pattern. Anyway, thats the plan. Will figure out the firing details in the next couple days.

Another Torso

2011-04-19T05:21:00.000-07:00

I finished another torso this weekend. The second torso sculpture went quite fast. I think I only have about four hours into it at this point.

The torso on the left is actually a dancer wearing leotards. The torso on the right is just a naked torso. I think I am going to use slips and underglazes on both.

The big problem I have now is how I am going to display the torsos. Originally the plan was to make them as wall hangings but they are kind of large and heavy and I didn't thing I could make anything out of clay that would support the sculptures. Now I am thinking about trying epoxy glue and some wire and picture frame hardware. The torso on the right I would like to try to mount it to a brass pole that is attatched to a thick square piece of marble, so that it stands upright. Once again I'm thinking about using epoxy. If anyone has any suggestions for me I'm very much interested in hearing them.

Torso II

2011-04-11T05:34:00.001-07:00

I finished the torso sculpture this weekend. Right now it is 31 inches tall. I need it to shrink at least another inch to fit in my bisque kiln. Two inches would be better. Was thinking about making this a wall hanging piece to be Raku fired in my wood burning kiln. Planning on using a Turquoise crackle glaze on the body suit and either a clear crackle or maybe just black glaze on the skin. Will fire it in my brick wood burning kiln that I made last fall.

Need to finish the fiber lid for my brick kiln and get this fired and finished by May 1st. I'm hoping to enter this piece in an exhibit at our local Regional Arts Center. If it does well there it will go on to a State Exhibit later this year.

Torso Update

2011-04-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Haste makes waste. Alas, poor torso is dead. I should have waited for some help. I was turning my sculpture over so I could do some work to the other side and it slid right off my plywood board and flattened itself out all over the floor. Damn! Now I have to start all over.

Gettin' Muddy Again

2011-03-29T05:34:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted. It has also been too cold in my studio to tackle any new pottery projects but I did get my hands muddy again this past weekend.

This is my newest project. Pretty ambitious but all is going well. This torso is about 36 inches tall and I was thinking about making a wall hanging out of it. Plan on cleaning it up a bit today after work and we shall see what happens.

In my last post I was restoring an old book press. Thought I could press clay tiles with it. Since it was too cold to throw pots I started carving lino-prints and even a couple wood blocks. Figured that book press would work great to press those prints. My carving skills need some work but I did a pretty good job. Never seen it done before but thought I'd give it a try. Need to buy some ink and some paper and then I'll press some prints.

I guess I've just been too busy with work and too busy dealing with all this crappy winter weather to post anything. As far as the torso, I was thinking about firing it up in my raku kiln.

Tile Press

2011-01-28T05:31:00.000-08:00

This is my latest project. I don't know what this is but my buddy Darrel thought if I cleaned it up I could use it as a press to make ceramic tiles.

Sounds good to me and by the looks of it will work quite well. I think the only thing I need to do if I want to make large tiles/slabs is to get two pieces of steel about 36 inches long and the width of this press, one for a bottom base and one for the top.

We'll find out how it works once I get it all cleaned up. Stay tuned.

Treadle Wheel

2011-01-04T01:54:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend cleaning this stand-up treadle wheel with a wire brush, sand paper, and spray paint. I used red and gray paint because they were the original colors.
I don't know much about it. It appears to be home-made and there are no signs or marks on it that would indicate being manufactured, but it seems pretty dang smooth. I did try throwing some clay on it when I first got it. All I can say is it is going to take some practice. Does anybody have some helpful hints for me?

Before

2011-01-04T01:53:00.001-08:00

Haven't Posted For a While

2010-12-29T08:18:00.001-08:00

Actually, I haven't posted for a long time. I guess I've just been too busy with work, writing for my other blog, Coulee Region Art, and shoveling snow. I haven't made any new pots for a couple of months and am itching to throw some clay and burning to fire a raku kiln.

I am also currently building a website jeffguin.com. Right now I am just figuring out how I want the site set up so I am creating pages and links and adding photos of pottery that I have made in the past. The site tends to change every day but hope to finish it up soon.

Outside of my activities stated above, I plan on finishing the fiber lid for my brick wood burning kiln, clean and tune-up a treadle wheel that is sitting in the studio, fire up the fiber raku kiln, clean the studio, throw some pots---Well, lets just say I'd better get to doing and stop the "planning."

Wood Kiln

2010-08-31T02:05:00.001-07:00

The wood kiln is nearing completion. It is looking pretty good and I'm pretty happy about it so far. Here are a few random thoughts about the kiln building process to date.

Plans are good but don't count on following them to "the letter." It ain't gonna happen. My original plans that I drew up don't look like this kiln at all, except that it is 8 feet long and the walls are about 24 inches tall.

Fire bricks are not the same size. They might look like it and might stack nicely on pallets but they definately aint the same size.

Assume from the beginning of the project that you're going to be a brick short. That goes for mortar too. If you're cutting brick, you're going to cut a bunch of them wrong. In fact, just think that you don't have enough of everything on the purchase list to complete the project.

The next step for this project is to purchase some insulating material for the arch and the sides of the kiln. I am thinking about about a home-made mixture of Diotomaceous Earth and Fire Clay, four parts to one.

After work today I am going to light up a fire in this puppy and see how it works. Basically I am just going to play around with the inlet flues and see how the chimney drafts.

Tapered Chimney

2010-08-10T06:01:00.001-07:00

It doesn't look like I got much done yesterday, looking at this photo, but at least the taper of the chimney is complete. Well...maybe. right now the opening is 7 inches deep by about 15 inches wide. I'm thinking about adding one more tapered layer of brick to make the interior measurments of the chimney approx 12 inches by 7 inches. I'm not sure how tall the chimney is going to be and I have a few options.

Option 1: I could just use more fire brick and build a nice looking stack. Option 2: I could build up a couple more courses on the chimney using brick and then just place a chimney flue on top of that. The chimney flue is 24 inches tall. And Option 3: I have a 6 foot piece of stainless steel pipe that is 10 inches in diameter. I like the brick idea best but we'll have to see how tall I need to go to create the necessary draft for this kiln.

Anyway, the weather was miserable yesterday, about 90 degrees and wicked humid. I think the dang heat was making me stupid as I cut a lot of bricks to the wrong sizes and even mortared on layer of the chimney without tapering it. Nasty weather. The next step on this project is to start on the insulation on the outside walls.

Wood Kiln Chimney Flues

2010-08-09T06:10:00.000-07:00

I'm getting closer to finishing the mortaring. Here is the chimney and flues. One mistake I made was that I did not tie in the first layer of bricks that sit atop the flue brick into the walls of the kiln. I say "Just deal with it."

The measurements at this point are: inside is 23 inches wide and 18 inches tall. The chimney is 8 inches deep and 23 inches wide. This is the point where I am going to start tapering my chimney to get to a 9 by 9 inch hole.

The flues are 7 inches tall. The center flue is 2.5 inches wide and the others are 1-3/8 inches. I didn't follow any principles from any books regarding flue size and intake holes. I just built them based on photos I've seen of other kilns and figured better too big than too small.

Today, if the rain holds off, I hope to finish the tapered chimney and the front of the kiln.

Wood Kiln Construction

2010-08-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

Changes, changes, changes. I spent the last two years bugging people about kiln design and construction, looked at bunches of books, plans, etc.....and have come to the conclusion--If you want to build a kiln "JUST START BUILDING!"

I'm serious. Nothing goes according to "plan" and if you stick to that plan and are convinced to follow that plan and make it work---well, more power to you. Its just a big headache. In fact its just a pain in the ass. Have an idea and just start building and solve the problems as they come up.

In this case I've finally started mortaring the brick. Mix is one part sand, 2 part fire clay. I've never really mortared brick before so I took it slow mixing up very small batches in a 5 gallon bucket, although I only mixed about 1/2 gallon of mortar at a time when I first started. Stuff drys fast and I was by myself--a true tyro.

As I was saying. Just build it. The dimensions have changed everytime I put them on paper. Once the bricks were stacked and mortared my dimensions are: 32 inches wide and 81 inches long (outside dimension). Ware chamber is 18 inches tall in this photo but will be 20.5 inches, and 23 inches wide when complete, (approx 9.5 cubic feet). And its 35-1/2 inches long. The fire box is 24 inches long by 23 wide by 20-1/2 inches tall.

I'm still planning on one-inch thick kiln shelves for the roof, layered with soft brick and fiber on top of that.

Still working on the front part of the kiln. Right now I am going to tie-in all the brick and create a door with some air holes in the front.

I should mention that the base is 36 cinder blocks and on top of that a bunch of house brick, then the fire brick. The exterior of the kiln will have a 2 inch layer of insulating material of some sort. Oh! and I did incorporate 2 peek-holes on each side. One in front of the fire box area and one higher against the back wall. I plan on using soft brick to fill these holes.

I'll post some info on the chimney and flues in my next post. But this is where I'm at, at the moment, But, everything is subject to change.

Mouse hole/Grate system

2010-07-30T02:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I decided that the coffin kiln needed a modification. At first the fire box was just a box with a flat floor. Now it has a mouse hole and a grate system. The bricks in the grate are spaced 1-inch apart and the dimensions of the firebox will now be 29 inches long and 17-1/2 inches tall. The ware chamber is now 34 inches long and 20 inches tall. The walls are one brick thick but I'll be adding a layer of home made insulation to the exterior walls and then adding another course of brick. I hope to start mortaring it together tomorrow.

Wood Kiln Number One

2010-07-27T06:15:00.001-07:00

I finally got all my brick laid out for my wood fired kiln. It took the whole weekend playing around, stacking and unstacking, and just getting things "better." Here it is, although I will be making a base of 36 cinder block to restack it on.

Ok, the dimensions: Total length is 8 feet long. The fire box is 18 inches wide, 20 inches tall, and 31 inches long. The ware chamber is 18 inches wide, 37 inches long and 20 inches tall.

The top of the kiln will be spanned with 1-inch thick kiln shelves and covered with a layer of soft insulating brick. I might place a piece of 1-inch fiber on top of that.

This photo shows that I have started to add a second layer of fire brick to the outside walls but I will be replacing this second exterior layer with some red house brick. A friend of mine has a couple pallets of brick that he built his house with so I am going to place these bricks on the outside.

Don't know what else to say about this kiln. I'm just going to fire it up and see if I can get her to cone ten. We'll see how it fires. If it works I'll just buy some more brick and start on a permanent anagama.

The chimney portion is bacically 9 inches deep by 18 inches and it is tappered to accomodate a 6 foot tall stainless steel pipe, 10 inches in diameter.

I used a variety of fire brick that I have collected over the past couple years. There are some Rockspar, Empire S, AP Green Empire D, Warco XX, Mex-R-Co Mo-rex, and some fire brick with a PCE rating of 29 that I have purchased over the years.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm also on face book and have a photo album there of this kiln.

Ramona Raku Kiln

2010-07-08T07:29:00.001-07:00

This is my fourth garbage can raku kiln I have made since 2006. I have the complete steps with photos posted on this blog dated Jan. 2006. My first kiln lasted about 2 years. It seemed like I was firing it up every weekend all year long and it also sat outside in the yard. I called it Rusty Raku. One day I forgot to plug the hole and some critters got in and tore up all my fiber. So I built another.

The second kiln lasted about a year but was taken out by a major flood, the kind they say happens once in 100 years. Nothing to cry about. I built another. Less than one year later that once in a 100 year flood struck again, although not as bad, but it still took out my kiln. That was was my fault though because I had a hasty trip to make to the west coast and I forgot to bring my kiln into the studio. Anyway, I built another and am getting pretty good at it.

I call this one Ramona Raku. She is lined with two layers of one inch fiber which is held in place with a combination of sodium silicate and ceramic buttons that I made from heavily grogged raky clay. Looks great and I'm sure it will fire a lot better than my previous kilns, as they only had one layer of fire. Once I clean up my burner I'll fire her up and post some photos. Stay tuned.

Incense Bottle

2010-06-11T03:53:00.000-07:00

Raku fired incense bottle, approximately 12 inches tall. What is an incense bottle? Well, you burn incense sticks in it. The end of the wooden stick is placed in a round clip, the incense is lit as normal and then dropped into the bottle. The round clip sits in the neck of the bottle. The incense burns upward and the smoke comes out of the top of the bottle neck. All the ashes fall into the bottom of the bottle. A very safe way to burn incense and I have recently found that there is a big demand for them.

The top of this bottle was glazed with clear crackle raku glaze and then lightly dipped in Green Apple raku glaze. The bottom was glazed with Green Apple as well.

Some New Pots

2010-06-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few of the many pots that I've been working on the past month. The vases on the lower shelf are for gladiolas. Two of them are cone 04 majolica glazed and the other two are cone 10 stoneware reduction fired. Top shelf has a couple more majolica pieces. The green porecelain bowl was made by my friend Ryan Meyers and fired in an electric kiln to cone 6. Next to that is a raku fired bowl made by my friend's daughter Natalie. The three bottles in the back are incense bottles. The one in front is an olive oil dispenser/bottle. They were all fire in and electric kiln to cone 04 and glazed with commericialy bought glazes. And the others are just some of the many raku pieces I fired while my electric kiln was baking away.

Pit Fire Colors

2010-05-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

I had problems replying to a comment posted on the "Pit Fire" post so I thought I'd answer it in a regular post. I have found that I get my best colors in the barrel kiln, which I fire completely uncovered until the fire burns itself out. In the pit firing I cover it when I can see the pots through the hot coals. And, it is loosely covered so that it can still get plently of air circulating around the pots. To create colors I sprinkle generous amounts of copper carbonate and miracle grow around the pots. Consistent beautiful colors every time.

Pit Fire

2010-05-05T06:43:00.001-07:00

Last Friday I helped students from Viterbo University with Alternative Firing. The get together was held at the instructor's house and we utilized his back yard fire pit for a pit firing. In this photo we have already lined the pit with sawdust, loaded all the pots, piled wood on top of the pots and lit the fire.
The pit was only about one foot deep so we stacked some brick up to increase the depth to about two feet. I also brought my barrel and we did a barrel firing as well. All the pots around the pit are just pre-heating because we fired my raku kiln non-stop, load after load, till 1:30 in the morning. Once the top pots were removed from the top ledge of the pit and raku fired we placed a loosely fit tin cover over the pit and let it burn itself out. I'm guessing we had about 50 pots in the pit. Some were wrapped in tin foil saggers, some had terra sigallata finishes, and some were just plain bisqued pots. We also sprinkled copper carb and some other "magic dust" around the pot to create colors. The good news is everybody had at least one piece that they were extremely happy about but all the pots looked great to me and we had no breakage. All in all I think we fired the raku kiln about a dozen times and between the three kilns fired about 150 pots. We're in the process of taking photos of the finished pots and when that
is done I'll post a slide show of some of our favorites. All I can say is that it was a fantastic and successful event. Stay tuned for the slide show.

Homemade Pottery Tools

2010-04-08T02:46:00.000-07:00

I've been making a bunch of pottery tools lately. These are just a couple. The strips of wood are slab rolling strips 1 inch wide, 24 inches long, and 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch thick. Of course the sponges are just sponge sticks. Easy to make and fun to use, as are all my homemade tools, because I made them. I also made a bunch of wooded trimming tools and a bunch of cool textured paddles. I posted photos of those on my other blog Coulee Region Art. Check them out.
Anyway, if I'm not getting muddy in the studio, at least I'm getting dusty.

A Few Raku Pieces to Fire

2010-03-28T03:53:00.001-07:00

Just a few raku pieces that need to be fired. The two figures were made last year. The little one was carved out of porcelain. The other one was just my regular stoneware clay body. Both were glazed with clear crackle raku glaze. The covered container was dipped in clear crackle raku glaze and the top portion and lid dipped in a "mystery" scrap glaze. The masks are porcelain and were made from plaster molds. They're fragile right now. I'm not sure how they'll handle the raku kiln. All three were dipped in clear crackle. The two tea bowls are glazed with clear crackle and the rims dipped in different "mystery" glazes. I also have some other tea bowls to fire. Two of those are glazed with TAK White raku glaze. It is supposed to be a thick fat white glaze but the first time I used it it came out as a smooth glassy opaque white, not very "fat" at all. This time around I applied it super thick. We'll see what happens.

For the past two weeks I've been glazing a lot of pieces that I fired in the electric kiln yesterday. I fired to cone 05 and it took me 6 hours start to finish. It probably would have taken less than 6 hours but I noticed that two of my elements are either burned out or not working properly. Anyway, I'll open it up today and see how everything came out. I haven't used any of these glazes before. They are Amaco matt and gloss glazes that were given to me because they were "old." Yeah, they must have sat on the shelf for a few years or more, probably more. They were all brand new, never opened, but the water had evaporated and I had to spoon out each glaze, reconstitue, and run it through the sieve a few times. It took a lot of work, but they were free.

I have a few olive oil bottles, some coffee mugs, some incense burners, a spitoon, a yarn bowl for my mother, and a bunch of other small stuff.
I'm out of clay so hopefully I'll sell this stuff real quick, buy some more, and get back to kicking the wheel.

Raku Firing Video

2010-02-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

I posted an awsome video of my last raku firing on Coulee Region Art Blog. Check it out. Many thanks to Allen for shooting the Video, Brian V. for editing and Brian S. for all the rest of the help I needed.

Barrel Kiln

2010-02-02T05:44:00.001-08:00

Time for a new barrel kiln. One of them is snowed in at the back of my friend's property, one is just plain old and rusted out, and the other one was run over by a wild man on a skidsteer. And No, that wildman wasn't me. Anyway, I threw some vases and some other pots last weekend and I thought a winter barrel firing party was in order. Planned it for this coming Saturday so I had to get cracking on the new barrel.

I have discussed the making of the barrel and my method of firing several times before on this blog but have learned a couple new things that make things a bit more easier and more efficient.

First of all, drilling holes was a pain in the butt on the last three barrels. Even though I used a brand new metal drill bit, I had to use a punch, create a mark, and then start drilling. It was a chore and it was hard on the drill batteries. On the next barrel I used another brand new metal drill bit but used an electric drill. It was still a chore. The end result was I did not drill all the holes that I wanted to. Tip #1---use a "Uni-bit" or a stepped up MultiCutter bit. This type of bit is the cat's meow, the bee's knees, and makes drilling into a brand new barrel a breeze. As you can see in the photo I drilled holes 5/8-inch in three spots on the barrel spaced 4 to 5 inches apart. I didn't measure. I just eye-balled it and drilled.

Tip #2---Don't drill holes in the bottom or the floor of the barrel. The reason I say this is because I believe that it creates too much draft or air into the base of the kiln which tends to cause the saw dust to burn up too quickly. I like the sawdust in the bottom because it seems to give better blacks and better flame patterns on the pots. I'm not positive on this but it just seems so.

Oh, one last thing. If you need to cut the lid off the barrel a sawzall works great. It rattles you around a bit but works really well.

I'm going to soak-up the left over oil in the barrel with some sawdust, dispose of it "properly," and light a small fire in the barrel to burn up any left over slime. Will be firing this kiln this Saturday.

Little Rocketman Kiln

2010-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I haven't posted anything for a while but Happy New Year and here is this year's first post. I have been keeping busy. Besides my paying job I have been doing a lot of stuff at the studio and stop everyday, although I haven't been making any pots. My newest project is the construction of a wood burning kiln that I am calling "Little Rocketman." It is a smaller version of a kiln that was designed by Mike Weber quite some time ago. I found a photo of it a few weeks back on Dave Zdrazil's website and thought to myself---"Too Cool! I can make a smaller version of this and start the fire this Spring."

My first experience with wood firing was with Tony Ferguson in 2005 and his kiln is the same design, but bigger. In Fact, I think both David and Tony were students of Mike Weber. Anyway, I'm just now starting to build the form for this wood burning, cantenary arch, tube anagama.

It took me a while to come up with the shape and final size of this Little Rocketman. All I knew is that I didn't want a kiln the size of Tony's, as it would take too much time and effort, not to mention money, to build and fire that dragon. Dave's kiln looked like the best fit for me but I ended up drawing my own plans based on standard firebrick brick sizes, and kiln shelf sizes. What I came up with was a kiln that I could afford to build and also one that I thought I'd be able to fire by myself in relatively a short amount of time (anything less than 24 hours). So I came up with these dimensions: 6-feet overall length that would incorporate approximately 36 square inches of flat kiln shelf space in the rear of the kiln, 36 flat square inches of firebox/ash pit area, and with interior arch dimensions of 36-inches wide by 31-inches tall. These measurements allow me to crawl into and out of the kiln for loading and unloading without it being too much of a pain in the ass. I know because I created a cardboard template to test it out. I came up with the cantenary arch by cutting out a bunch of wooden templates of standard straight bricks, #1, #2 and #3 arch bricks. I played with these wooden cut-outs until I came up with something I liked. Stay tuned for more info on the construction process. Next step is building the form.

Korean Potter's Wheel

2009-12-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finished the wood/carpentry work on my Korean potter's wheel. This is about 45 pieces of cherry wood, 5 pieces of black walnut, and 4 pieces of pine (the four supports) all glued together and sanded. I've got to say--It is really pretty--REALLY Pretty.

The hardest part was placing the four support dowels and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend Darrel--He is the the "Wood Man," and it was his shop where I did all this work.

Anyway, this wheel, whether you call it an Onggi Style Potter's wheel, or a Korean Style Potter's wheel, is 17 inches tall. The wheel head is 18-3/4 inches in diameter and the flywheel is 19 inches in diameter.

The next step is having a machine shop weld my 1-inch cold rolled steel to a round piece of 3/8 inch steel and when that is complete I'll be making pots on this beauty.

Handmade Pottery Tools

2009-12-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made a bunch of new pottery tools from scrap wood laying around the shop. I made the two ribs (upper left) out of a piece of pine molding that I cut to size and sanded . They're each about 5-1/2 inches long.

I also made a bunch of different types of trimming sticks. I made them out of left over cherry wood from my Korean kick wheel, which I'm still working on. The trimming sticks are about 10 inches long. I really like the size of these and have come to the conclusion that the ones you buy are too short and not as comfortable.

The bigger tools are my "Onggi" tools that I plan on using when I start throwing on my Korean Kickwheel. The calipers are about 10 inches long and made out of oak. These are really sweet. Nice looking, nice and smoooth, and feels good in the hands. I used a galvanized wing nut on this pair because it was the only thing I had handy at the shop. I'll replace this with a brass wing nut and use brass in all the future calipers I make. No particular reason for the brass other than it just looks better.

The Korean kick wheel is coming along. I now have the flange bearings for the wheelhead and the flywheel and tomorrow I'll get the the piece of 1-inch cold rolled steel for the shaft. The next step is to drill a hole in the center of the flywheel and then drill and set the dowel rods which will connect the wheelhead and the flywheel. Hopefully I'll get this done this weekend. Stay tuned.

Korean Kick Wheel

2009-11-24T05:34:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my new wheel. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours hand sanding the outside edges of both the wheel head and the flywheel. I'm actually not done with the sanding and I'm hoping that I only have another hour at it. I'm using fine grit sandpaper now to eliminate any remnants of the bandsaw. It is also really making the wood grain pop out and man is it smooth.

Both the flywheel and the wheel head have been tapered, or "shaped" to change the profile. Not neccessary but I thought it added a lot to the wheel as a whole. The name of the machine used to make the tapers is called a "shaper." Basically it is an oversized upside down router.

I'm still waiting for a friend of mine to give me some 2-inch diameter dowel rods. I am going to use these as the supports between the wheel head and the flywheel. When I get the dowels, we won't need the bucket and I'll post a photo when the next step is complete. Once I complete the wheel I'll post a complete materials list and the final dimensions.

Onggi Wheel

2009-11-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

I made a lot of progress this past weekend. I finally got all my pieces glued together and sanded smooth. I had to spend antoher $4.18 on more glue. I now have about 12 and a half dollars and about 18 hours into the project.

The wheel head is stacked on top of the flywheel in this photo. It is 4 layers of cherry wood. The bottom layer, the fourth one down is about an inch smaller in diameter than the rest of the pieces.

The flywheel was originally 4 layers thick but I added another layer to the flywheel to make it approximately 3-1/2 inches thick. Once the boards were all planed they were a little thinner than I had originally planned on. So, I used a piece of walnut, not only to add some more weight to the fly wheel, but also to give the wheel a little more character. I thought it would make a nice contrast once oiled up and polished between that and the lighter cherry wood.

The next step, I think, is to add four round 2-inch dowel rods. These will be used as supports between the wheel head and the flywheel,. They will be drilled into each piece approximately 1-1/2 inches and glued in place.

Although I do have a drawing that I am working from, I'm basically just building this off of images and bits of information I have found on the internet. If anybody wants to share any information they have about this type of wheel I'd love to hear from you. I am still keeping a photo-diary of each of steps of this building process on my facebook page, if you're interested.

Korean Kickwheel

2009-11-03T05:35:00.000-08:00

I have about ten hours into the kickwheel now and have spent 10 dollars on Elmer's wood glue. In fact, I need to pick up some more glue after work today. I should mention that I did not have to pay for any of the cherry wood I have used. I would guess that if I had to buy it, select cherry wood would cost about 300 dollars.

Anyway, I have cut all the rounds out for the wheel head and the fly wheel. Here I have glued the pieces together. After this I will have to glue these two pieces together. The wheel head will be a little over 3 inches thick.

After I planed all the pieces for the fly wheel I decided to add one more layer of wood to make it about 3-1/2 inches thick. I dedided to use walnut and add it to the middle layer of the flywheel. I think the contrasting colors of wood will really look nice. I'm keeping a good diary and posting step-by-step photos on my facebook page. Seems like I'm making some good progress now.

Korean Kick Wheel

2009-10-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

I started building a Korean style kick wheel a couple weeks ago. A friend of mine gave me about 25 board feet of cherry wood and I started cutting it up. I have all the pieces glued together now and am going to be planing each layer this week. I've run out of photo space on blogger but if you are a facebook member you can follow my progress in my Korean Kick Wheel photo album. When I get it all done I'll also post the photos somewhere else for public viewing.

Homemade Studio Equipment

2009-10-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I built some new equipment for my studio. I built a mini slab roller that works really well, I made a couple plaster reclaim slabs, a nice photo shoot table and even threw some coffee mugs on the kickwheel that I built. I posted photos on my other blog site, Coulee Region Art. If you'd like to see the photos just follow the link and then click on the photo of me at the wheel.

Black Coffee Mugs 1992

2009-09-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Who is the person that has a neighbor that has a set of black coffee mugs with unglazed bottoms and is marked Jeffrey R. Guin 92? This comment/question was posted on this post last week. I would love to find out where the mugs are today. You can email me at jguin@wkbt.com
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Raku Kiln Fire Box

2009-09-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well here is the fire box for my wood burning raku kiln. This picture does not show the roof but the roof will be a piece of 1/4 inch stainless steel plate. I found it in a scrap pile and it happened to fit pretty well. I'll try it and see how it works.

Anyway, the box is made out of hard fire brick laid on a base of cinder block, which sits upon a slab of concrete. I used half in rebar for the grate. I've decided to add a few more bars spaced about two inches apart. Next step is to build the firing chamber. Stay tuned.

Homemade Pottery Wheel

2009-08-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the finished product. A homemade pottery wheel for under five dollars. Except for the stainless steel drain hole in the upper right hand corner of the table top the entire wheel was constructed with recycled or reclaimed found materials.

This was a really fun project, so much so that I am going to build another wheel with a slightly different design.

If you would like to see additional photos of the building process you can check out my slide show at my other blog that I write for work (my paying job), Coulee Region Art.

Build Your Own Potter's Wheel

2009-08-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

The potter's wheel works. This wheel was constructed out of materials found lying around the shop. The only thing that was purchased was a stainless steel drain hole that was mounted in the right hand corner of the table top to make cleaning easier. I'll post some step by step photos of the construction a bit later. There is still some tweeking to do. It still needs some paint and a spring operated footpedal for the motor assist but otherwise the wheel is done.

Raku Vases

2009-08-05T06:20:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of raku fired vases that I fired about a week ago. These are slab constructed and I used a wax resist technique in the leathaer hard stage to create some interesting texture. Click on this link to see a photo of the wax resist in the leather hard stage. I used black underglaze on the vase on the left and then glazed it with a clear crackle raku glaze. The vase on the right was glazed in an unknown glaze that I had in the studio, but it is very similar if not "reynolds wrap raku glaze."

Kids Day

2009-08-01T07:20:00.001-07:00

Friday was kids in the studio day. Natalie made a small bowl on the wheel all by herself. Pretty amazing for a first day on the wheel. I can remember learning to center--took me quite a bit longer. She just did it on her own with no help or direction. Anyway, today is "clean up the studio day."

Will also be firing up the raku kiln. Both Natalie and I have a few things to fire.

Barrel Fired Bottle

2009-07-21T06:04:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of one of the bottles from my last barrel firing. This bottle was burnished with a metal spoon while it was in its leather-hard state. Burnishing with a spoon takes a long time to do. Too long. I'm going to have to try terra sigalata. I've heard this will buff up to a nice high sheen real easy and real fast. Once again, no glazes on this bottle. the colors come from a mix of miracle grow and copper carbonate, which I sprinkle throughout the bottom of the barrel prior to firing. I think the next barrel firing I do I'm going to have to try firing a piece or two in a saggar.

A Successful Barrel Firing

2009-07-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had a very successful barrel firing, or at least one that I was very happy about. This is one of the hand constructed vases that I fired. All the pots had the exact same colors, the red, the pink, black and white, but had different flame pattern markings. Two of the vases I fired did break which isn't that uncommon. I do pile about two hundred pounds of wood on top of the pots.

I really like these hand constructed vases. I've got to get some more clay and start cranking these forms out. I plan on raku-firing a couple that I didn't put in the barrel last Saturday. I have one barrel fired vase that didn't have the markings I was happy with so I plan on refiring it in the raku kiln. I am going to glaze it with a clear crackle glaze. I'm interested to see if the red will stay on the pot. I'm sure the blacks will burn out but I just want to see what happens.

I also learned some new tricks with this last firing and will reveal them after my next firing.

Barrel Firing July '09

2009-07-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

I think yesterday's barrel firing went well. It just felt good. Cool Photo huh? My friend Allen Kantowski took the picture. You can see one of my vases in the center of this photo. I fired four vases and one large bottle form. They're all under the wood and buried in the hot coals.

Anyway, I did a few things different this firing. As usual I filled the bottom of the barrel with about six inches of sawdust. I like black interiors rather than light colored so I packed the vases and the bottle with sawdust. Once that was done I placed the pots in the bottom of the barrel. I layed the bottle on it side, placed two of the vases in an upright position and leaned the other two at an angle against the inside of the barrel wall.

Then I sprinkled quite a bit of copper carbonate around the pots and then a bunch of generic Miracle-Grow type fertilizer. I used a variety of wood for this firing. I used a lot of scrap wood from the wood shop. There was some oak, there was some cedar, pine etc... Some of the pieces were 2 by 2, some were 2 by 4inches, and some were like board shelves, all in lenghts of about 1 to 1-1/2 feet long. I loosely placed this wood around the pots and then stacked up a little pyramid. Then I loosely filled the rest of the barrel with some pretty big honking slab-cut logs with the heavy bark still on them. I filled the barrel to the top and then lit it on fire using my propane raku burner. It didn't take long to get it started with the burner but I only lit the tops of the top pieces.

It was a pretty quick firing. The photo above was taken about 2 hours into the firing. Another thing I did differently on this firing is at the point where the photo was taken I sprinkled more copper carbonate and fertilizer around the pots and then sawdust on top of that to add some flame. At this point you could see the multi-colored flames swirling around the pots.

I'll find out the results of the firing later today when I drive out to the studio.

Wax Resist Vase

2009-06-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

In my last post this same vase was pictured, the only difference is that in this photo I used black underglaze and painted the recessed areas. This vase is in its leather hard stage.

Oops. I suppose I should explain about the wax resist. Once the vase was leather hard I used hot wax and dripped it over the pot. I used a cheap 2 inch paint brush to accomplish this. Once the wax was dried I used a wet sponge and rubbed over the unwaxed parts of the vase. This created the recessed areas. I didn't know how I was going to fire it. The next day I was looking at it and I thought to myself "black underglaze," so I did that.

I still don't know how I'm going to fire this piece yet but I'm going to try this method of wax resist and "sponging" on another vase or two.

Handbuilding Again

2009-06-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

For the past couple months I've been caught up carving my tea bowls. Now I'm moving on and getting back into handbuilding again. Here are a few of the vases I've started.

I've made my own little slab roller and I roll out a slab for the cylander and the bottom. The final cut measurements for the cylander are 12 inches by 8 inches. I then use a piece of 3 inch pvc pipe that is wrapped with a single page of newspaper and then roll the slab around the pipe. The ends are slipped and scored and pressed together. I then set the cylander upright and pull out the pvc pipe. The newspaper is carefully removed from the inside. I cut the bottom to fit, slip, score, attatch and now I have my basic vase form.

I've learned a few little tricks while making these and they're actually getting easier and faster to make. If anyone has any questions just ask and I'll answer. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fire these vases but I think I will try firing some in my barrel kiln, raku some and even fire some with commercial glazes in my electric kiln. Anyway, that is what I've been up to lately.

Oh! I also want to put a plug in for my other blog, Coulee Region Art. This is the one that I write for WKBT News Channel 8. Please check it out. There is all kinds of interesting information and resources on it, and I'm also trying to post another month of growth in viewers/readers--8 months in a row. It is really gaining a loyal following. Thanks.

W.R.A.P. Honorable Mention 2009

2009-06-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

These are the three pieces I entered in the Wisconsin Regional Art Program Exhibit at The Pump House Regional Art Center.

Of course I was hoping for "Best of Show." They actually paid a cash award for that. But, I did win #1 Honorable Mention. That recognition was bestowed upon the raku fired tea bowl on the left.

This was actually one of my favorites when it comes to tea bowls. I loved the exterior metalics/lustres and the interior crackle pattern was outstanding. This piece also sold for 45 dollars to a person from New York. The gallery took 40 percent but it still felt good selling a piece from the exhibit.

Wisconsin Regional Art Program - La Crosse

2009-05-30T10:10:00.001-07:00

This is one of my entries for the WRAP exhibit here in La Crosse, WI. It is a tea caddy to compliment my two raku fired tea bowls. This piece was barrel fired. Anyway, back to the Wisconsin Regional Art Program.

WRAP was establisheded in 1940 and encourages Wisconsin citizens with a serious interest in art to make art purely for the love of it rather than fame and fortune. Its main purpose is to encourage nonprofessional artists to develop their abilities by providing workshops and exhibits.

This regional exibit is being held at The Pump House Regional Art Center, here in la Crosse. The Wisconsin Regional Artists Association (WRAA) co-sponsors the statewide exhibit and conference in Madison in September. One third of the regional entries will move on to the statewide exhibit.

Sneek Peek 2

2009-05-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

I really had a hard time picking out two tea bowls that I wanted in the WRAP show. I fired my raku kiln for a week straight I bet. I ended up with a lot of bowls. The good news is I kept track of how many firings I can get to a twenty pound propane tank--8 full firings and I still had enough in the tank to light-up my barrel kiln the other day. Anyway, I decided to put this tea bowl in the show because it was a great example of my carving abilitiles, it had the perfect clear crackle pattern on the inside, and the exterior glaze was just too good to pass up. Unfortunately I do not have the recipe for the exterior glaze. I had two small buckets of dry glaze mixed up, but over the course of the winter the recipe tags disappeared. I didn't want to waste the materials so I mixed them together to see what came out of the kiln. I'm actually really happy with the glaze because I can produce a few different colors and effects depending how I fire and reduce. But, once the glaze is gone, its gone.

Barrel Firing Again

2009-05-29T03:06:00.001-07:00

Yes! I'm barrel firing again. I think it has been a year since I last lit a barrel. I've been lighting-up my gas raku kiln almost everyday for the past week and I've had some pretty awesome results. You can see a few of the tea bowls on my flickr site. I'll post a few more next week.

Anyway, back to the barrel firing. I'm participating in Wisconsin's Regional Art Program Exhibit, which starts in a week. I need to drop off three of my peices to the Regional Art Center tomorrow morning. I have picked two of my raku bowls but really wanted to include a piece of my barrel fired pottery. I've been anxiously waiting for a day to light it up but the weather has not been too cooperative the past two weeks. If it wasn't raining it was too too windy . Yesterday was a bit windy but the deed had to be done.

I started right after work. At 2:45pm I filled the bottom of the barrel with about 4 or 5 inches of sawdust, placed the pots in the bottom, sprinkled my magic dust around the pots, and loaded the barrel full with an assortment of really nice wood from the wood shop. There were lots of scrap pieces of oak, cherry, maple, birch, you name it. The best part about the wood, outside of the fact that it was free, was that it was clean and free of dirt.

Usually I fill the barrel full of wood and then build a pyramid with more wood that sticks up about 24 inches above the rim of the barrel. Because it was a bit windy I didn't stack a pyramid and loaded the wood about 6 inches from the top of the barrel. The Fire was lit with my raku torch at 2:15pm. At 6:15pm there was very little flame and the barrel was half full of glowing coals. The coals will burn through the night and die out. Friday afternoon after work I'll see what the burn has produced.

Hand Carved Tea Bowl

2009-05-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite tea bowls that I have made. First of all I carved it out of a solid round of clay. I've been carving all my bowls lately. It took quite a bit of time but there is something about the process of carving and actually visualizing a tea bowl in the solid mass of clay. It is also one of my favorites because it just feels so good in the hands. The glaze is Soldner's Clear Crackle, 80% gerstley borate, 20% nepheline syenite. I have a few other new tea bowls that I have posted on my flickr site.

The Kodai

2009-05-28T03:11:00.000-07:00

The kodai or the footring is said to reveal a whole lot about the potter who made the bowl. What does it say to you? I can see a lot of me in this hand carved kodai. I signed the bottom with a gold pen. I never really liked signing my work. I'm not sure why. When I first started ceramics I made a small plaster stamp with my initials JG on it. I loved the stamp but people who wanted to buy my work always wanted me to sign it. I can't even read my signature so I know other people can't. Oh well.

Remember Me?

2009-05-20T02:33:00.001-07:00

Remember me? Uffda! It has been a long time since I first started this porcelain mask. I'm thinking last October, and it sat around on the drying shelf until now. This mask made it through the raku firing just fine. It is broken in half because of my stupidity. Oh well. I'll start another one soon and do it again. I did post a short slide show of my raku firing process on the blog that I write for work. Just click on the link to view the post. Raku Firing Process.

How To Make A Chawan

2009-04-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to say in this post but this is step one in how I make my chawans (teabowls). I start by wedging up about 3-1/2 pounds of clay. Once that is completed I pound and shape it into a nice round disk approximately 5 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches tall. I also gently roll the clay disk on its' side, on my canvas covered board, to get a nice round form for the exterior of the teabowl. I also have another piece of clay ready to carve covered up in the plastic once I complete this bowl.

Tools Of The Trade

2009-04-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

This bowl is really coming along and I'm almost done. In this photo you can see what types of tools I use to carve my chawans. I need to thin-out the walls a little bit and then carve the footring, called the "kodai" in Japanese. Even though the kodai is hidden from view until after the tea has been drunk, it is a key element of the chawan and can reveal many things about the maker, such as skill and mindset. Since it is the only part of the bowl that is not glazed it also reveals the "tsuchi-aji" (clay flavor). You can see the tru color and texture of the clay by examining the kodai,

Hand Carved Chawan

2009-04-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

I started carving this chawan last weekend and just finished up yesterday. I probably have about eight hours into the bowl but I think it is the best tea bowl I have made to date. I definately have a lot of heart and soul into this chawan and can't wait to fire it. There is just something about it. First of all it looks good and when you hold it in your hands it feels good. I'll end up raku-firing this but I don't know what type of glaze I am going to use. And speaking of firing, I'm going to have to wood-fire this. Something about this bowl just says "wood-fire me."

Classical Birdfeeder

2009-04-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

This birdfeeder has been sitting on our deck for the past six years and over that time I never gave it much thought. It was almost like it wasn't even there. Quite often it didn't even have bird seed in it (sorry birds). Yesterday I happened to take a closer look at it and thought to myself "Hey Man! This is really a cool birdfeeder." Anyway, on to the story behind the feeder.

When I got back into clay, after a 10-year hiatus, this is the first thing I made. I still had all my clay tools but had no clay, glazes or underglazes, so I got on the phone and ordered some materials to get me back into clay. Kind of odd because although I ordered the stuff to start making things, I had no way of firing them. I didn't even think of that. I must have been caught up in the excitment of getting muddy again.

Ok. The stuff was ordered and it would take a week to deliver. In that time I was constantly wondering what I was going to make. Not only did I not have a kiln, I also did not have a potter's wheel so I was going to be limited to handbuilding whatever project I decided to tackle. I sat on the deck trying to sketch out some ideas in my sketch book and realized we didn't have a birdfeeder to feed any of the birds chirpping about the deck rails--Tah-Dah! A Birdfeeder was going to be the first project.

Still at the sketchbook, nothing seemed to be working for me and eventually I ended up looking at drawings of a pitched roof with four supporting columns. Thank goodness the clay gods stepped in and I had an epiphany--The Parthenon of Ancient Greece! Unfortuantely, after looking at a photo of the temple, it seemed to be too big of an unertaking for me so I started looking at other photos of Greek Temples. Turned out that all of the temples seemed to intimdate the hell out of me so I looked at my last drawing, the one with four columns and a pitched roof, and said I'll just make this simple but "Greek-like." And, it worked.

Once I had created my temple I still had no way to fire it. A couple months later I ended up enrolling in a pottery class at the college, fired the feeder and a bunch of other projects, and the rest is ancient history.

The birdfeeder is made out of a lowfire talc clay body and I used a red iron wash for the roof and and used a more diluted soultion for the base. I then brushed three coats of lowfire clear glaze on everything but the top part of the roof. It has been outside in the elements ever since and gets better looking with time. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see that lichen has started to grow on the feeder making it look even more "ancient." Well, thats the story. Hope I didn't bore you, but I really thought the whole thing was worth documenting.
Cheers!

Chawan Is Looking Good

2009-04-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

This bowl is really coming along and I'm almost done. In this photo you can see what types of tools I used to carve this chawan. I need to thin-out the walls a little but and then carve the footring, called the "kodai" in Japanese. Even though the kodai is hidden from view until after the tea has been drunk, it is a key element of the chawan and can reveal many things about the maker, such as skill and mindset. Since it is the only part of the bowl not glazed it also reveals the "tsuchi-aji" (clay flavor). You can see the true color and texture of the clay by examining the kodai.

Making a Chawan, Step One

2009-04-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to say in this post. I am working backwards as far as posting so my blog post go in order from step one to completion.

I started my chawan by wedging approximately 3-1/2 pounds of clay. Once the wedging was completed I pounded it and shaped the ball of clay into a small form that was approximately 5 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches tall. I also rolled the ball of clay over my canvas covered board to get a nice round form for the outside of the bowl. The piece of plastic to the right of the ball of clay is another wedged and rolled out piece of clay for my next teabowl.
I wanted to start carving right away so I left the first wedged round of clay out on my board overnight. This made the clay hard enough but yet still moist enough to carve with my tools.

Back In The Studio Again

2009-04-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The weather is starting to feel and resemble Spring again and therefore I've been spending more time at the studio. I've even started a few new projects and am finishing up a few older ones. I'm almost done with my "American" version of an ancient South American stirrup jar.

The clay body is lowfire terra cotta and It is really sucking-up my underglazes. This has proven to be a pain-in-the-butt to paint. I've forgotten how many coats of white underglaze it has taken me to cover up the red clay. All I can say is, I've got a lot of time into this piece.

Today I'll paint three coats of clear gloss over the piece and hopefully fire it this coming weekend. Will post a photo of the finished work when I get it done.

This past weekend I also started hand carving a few Chawans, (teabowls), which I think are my best to date. If all goes well, and weather permitting, I'll raku-fire these this coming weekend. I'm hoping to have some firing company as well. More info to follow.

Raku Kiln Number 3

2009-04-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

As most of my friends know, last years' flood took out my raku kiln. Here is a description of how I built raku kiln number 3.

I was too poor and cheap to buy a new galvanized garbage can so I used one that had been previously used as a post-firing reduction chamber.

I had just recently purchased 50 square feet of kaowool fiber from E-Bay. I thought it was a steal at 120 dollars, that included shipping. It was 1-inch thick, 8 lb. density, and 24-inches by 25-feet long.

I also found a box of homemade ceramic buttons that I made over a year ago and a package of high temp wire. Its amazing what you can find when you clean up the studio,
(It was Spring Cleaning Time). I'll get to the buttons a bit later. Ok, on to the construction description.

As you can see in this photo I traced a 5-inch circle on the bottom of this can. Then I drilled a starter hole on the line and used some tin shears to cut out the hole for the burner port. Once the hole was cut out I used a metal file and filed off any of the sharp burrs left behind from the shears. I also did the same proceedure on the garbage can lid for the exit flue.

Next I rolled out some of the fiber and traced the bottom of the garbage can on the fiber with a black magic marker. Then I cut the circle out with razor-blade type box cutter. I cut two of these circles and placed both of them, one on top of the other, into the bottom of the can. The reason for two is because with two inches of fiber on the bottom, only one piece of fiber, 24-inches tall, is needed to line the kiln. It is a perfect fit.