W.R.A.P. Honorable Mention 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Ceramic Buttons

For my last two fiber kilns I used high temp wire and pieces of 1-inch by 1-inch fiber board to secure the fiber to the garbage can. About a year ago I read an article about somebody using ceramic buttons. I tried google searching for ceramic buttons and had no luck finding any. I probably couldn't afford them anyway so I made my own.

These buttons were made from a regular raku clay body. I rolled out a slab of clay about 1/4-inch thick and used a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut out the forms. I then rolled out a coil of clay, cut little pieces off and slip and scored them to the 2-inch rounds. Once they were dried I used a small drill bit to drill a hole through them so I could thread the high temp wire through the buttons.

The article I read regarding these buttons warned that sometimes these buttons would occasionally break due to the stressful nature of rapid raku firing so I made several extras just in case.

Raku Kiln Chamber

This kiln is not constructed with two layers of 1-inch fiber. The Garbage can is not a straight cylander, it tapers in towards the bottom. So rather than trying to taper the fiber to fit, I used a strip of fiber 1-inch by 3-inches and glued it to the trash can with sodium silicate. This made it really easy to use one piece of fiber 24-inches tall for the interior without haveing to make any "pain inf the butt" cuts.

I used three ceramic buttons with high temp wire to secure the fiber to the garbage can. I didn't use any at the bottom of the can but can add them later if needed.

Two holes for each button, slightly larger than the high temp wire, were drilled into the can and the buttons and wire were feed from the inside out. This proved to be a little challenging, patience helps. Once the wires were fed through the holes, the ends were twisted from the outside with pliers to tighten and secure the buttons.

Raku Kiln Lid

I'm not really sure if this lid is really "finished." I painted a thick layer of sodium silicate on the garbage can lid and then placed the round piece of fiber into the lid and used a rubber kitchen spatula to kind of tuck in the edges.

Once I fire-up the kiln for the first time I'll find out whether or not I need to add any additional buttons to hold the fiber in place. If any additional buttons are needed, I'll add them. Each button takes just a few minutes to install.

Finished Raku Kiln

The finished product.

I really like this style of a kiln mainly because of its portability. It is very light weight and remarkably durable. I once even transported this kiln, the small propane tank and burner, and all the rest of the materials to a friends' house for a raku party in the back of a 4-door Oldsmobile.

This is a large garbage can but a smaller can would probably be more than adaquate for most people or for beginning raku fanatics.

Sorry Natalie

My little clay partner Natalie has been to the studio. Sorry I missed you Nat. She is just dying to get her hands muddy again. It has been a long unproductive winter. I have been to the studio, but usually stop in after work, and that is before school lets out. Once again, sorry Nat. Hope to see you this weekend.

Jeff.

A New Raku Kiln

I know. I've been bad, naughty, and have not posted anything for two months. I have been putting a lot of time and effort into the art blog that I write for work called Coulee Region Art. This is a pretty cool blog site, although it is written for people in this immediate area. Each week I spotlight a local artist with a brief biography, post a photo of their work in a permanent slide show and also post a permanent link to their website if they have one. I also post things on upcoming events such as workshops and exhibits. I even put a slideshow of my first Anagama wood firing experience with potter and educator Tony Ferguson. Before I drift too far from intended topic, A New Raku Kiln.........

Yes, I'm building a new propane fired raku kiln. Winter has been dragging on too long and I haven't spent any time inthe studio making anything. The weather was about 50 degrees F yesterday. A good day to work. Anyway, last Spring our second 100 year flood in two years took out both my raku kilns. I actually found one tangled up in some tree branches but "Alas, poor kiln was dead." Too much mud and water ruined the fiber-lined interior. This kiln was the one that was fired from the bottom and sat atop a modified turkey cooker. I never did see any advantage using the "updraft" kiln and it was just another piece of equipment to haul around so I went with the standard garbage can kiln with the hole in the side and a hole in the top.

To save money I bought 50 square feet of 1 inch 8lb. density kaowool fiber for just over 100 dollars on e-bay. I had a pretty new 31-gallon metal garbage can in the basement and I am going to use a lid from the very first kiln that I made. I didn't get too far yesterday. I had to clean the inside of the can with a wire brush, cut the side hole, and layered two pieces of the fibre into the bottom of the can. I used two layers on the bottom because the can is 26 inches tall and by using two pieces I can use just one piece of 24-inch wide fiber to finish the interior of the kiln.

Well anyway, thats as far as I got yesterday. Planned on finishing today but we're expecting 6-7 inches more snow today and don't know if I want to drive to the studio. We'll see. Stay tuned to the blog as I will be posting photos of the new kiln building project.

Slide Shows

Maybe I haven't been posting as often on this site is because I am also blogging at work (my paying job) for a site called Coulee Region Art. I have posted two slide shows that I'd like people to check out. One is a mini slide show of some of my work and another is a slide show of some of the local area artists that I have been spotlighting in the blog.

Also, here are a couple more Raku Glaze Recipes.

Shroom Brown Raku Glaze Recipe.
Frit 85
Ball Clay 7.5
Calcium Carbonate 7.5
Add: Copper Oxide 1.50%
Add: Tin Oxide 5%

Tomato Red Raku Glaze Recipe.
Borax 50
Gerstley Borate 50
Copper Carbonate 20
Red Iron Oxide 5

Raku Glaze Recipes

I know I haven't posted anything lately. Actually I haven't been doing anything in the studio to talk about. Weather has been a burden on everything and my truck has been giving me headaches for the past two weeks. Worked on that all weekend and it is still running like crap. Might be time for some professionals pretty quick. Anyway, since I have nothing else to post I thought I'd continue with my Raku Glaze Recipes, but before I do I'd like to say thanks to Linda Star, Anna, and Ang. It is always nice to read comments that they post on my blog site. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Black Raku Glaze Recipe.
Gerstley Borate 80
Cornwall Stone 20
Copper Oxide 4
Cobalt Oxide 3
Iron Oxide 4

Black Magic Raku Glaze.
Colemanite 80
Custer feldspar 20
Copper Carbonate 10
Red Iron Oxide 5
Cobalt Carb. 1

Incense Bottle No. 2

Another barrel fired incense bottle. This one was burnished with crisco cooking oil and a metal spoon. Originally this bottle was about 18 inches tall. The neck was very thin and tall but I broke the rim when I was burnishing it. I decided not to to throw it out, cut the neck down and fired it anyway. When someone asked me if I had another incense bottle I said "yes I do. What do you think about this one?" Alas, the incense bottle is gone.

Thank goodness the weather is getting better. This week the temperatures could reach 20 degrees, and the sun was out yesterday. Hoping to get into the studio this weekend and do some work.

I've been posting some slide shows on the blog that I write for work, Coulee Region Art. Last Friday I started a weekly post called "Spotlight." It has become a big hit, literally, receiving lots of hits. Anyway, each Friday I am spolighting local area artists, briefly introducing them with a mini bio and then posting a photo of their work into a permanent slide show. I have also created permanent links to the artists individual web sites. There seems to be lots of interest as I am receiving referals and requests on a daily basis via email. The whole thing is actually very exciting as I am getting to meet several artists and getting to look at a lot of art. Anyway, check out "Spotlight."

Raku Tea Bowl

Nothing fancy about this teabowl. Thrown on the wheel, faceted, and hand-carved foot, but it sure feels good in the hands. I think the simplicity and plainess of this bowl makes it extra special. The glaze is Soldner's Clear Crackle-- 80% Gerstley Borate and 20% Nepheline Syenite. This one is also going to my mother.

I'm finally starting to get responses from local area artists in regards to my other blog site "Coulee Region Art." Each week I would like to highlight about ten local artists and create a permanent link to their web site. In addition to that I have created a slide show in which each artist is represented. The slide show links have been a huge success and have generated a lot of page views. The slide show of the anagama firing genereated almost 1,000 page views in just 4 days.

Not much else going on. I haven't made anything lately and have only been to the studio a couple times in the past two weeks. The MidWest has been hammered with lots of snow and seriously cold weather, minus 20 degrees the past two days. Warmer temps are on the way so hopefully I'll be able to get some work done in the studio.

3110 Turqoise Raku Glaze

This is one of my favorite raku glazes and it can produce a lot of different effects, most of which you can see in this tea bowl. The turquoise is a nice crackle glaze. Before glazing I splashed some hot wax on the tea bowl, as seen in the very front. The glaze did not stick to the wax and after the firing, in the post firing reduction phase, this area turned black. If you click on this photo the enlarged area will show the beautiful oxblood red around the edges between the black and turquoise. The heavy reduction in the kiln during firing also produced a rough bronze on the interior of the bowl.

I don't think I have posted a photo of this tea bowl but thought I'd better since this is being shipped out west to my best patron--my mother. The glaze I have posted before but here it is again.

3110 Turquoise Raku Glaze

Frit 3110 100

Tin Oxide 3

Copper Carbonate 3

Bentonite 3

Also, don't forget to check out my other blog "Coulee Region Art."

Barrel Fired Incense Bottle

I barrel fired this bottle form about a year ago and it has been sitting on a back shelf in my studio since then because I thought a little tiny hole had blown out near the base. I remembered it only because a woman at work asked me if I could make an incense bottle for a Christmas gift. I didn't know what an incense bottle was. I had never heard of one before. She emailed me some photos and then I remembered this long forgotten bottle. I told her I had one already made, showed her this photo from a previous blog post and she said it was "perfect." Well, it turned out that the hole I thought was there wasn't there at all. It was just a minor pop-out, perhaps from some loose plaster that was in the studio. Anyway I had to buy a 1/4 inch masonry drill bit and drilled a hole approximately 1-1/2 inches from the bottom. The drill bit cut right through it--No Problemo.

Anyway, if you're going to burn incense this is probably the safest and cleanest way to do it. Wedge the stick part of the incense into a split key ring. A split key ring is one of those key rings that you have to pry apart, place the key into it and then you keep turning it until it is locked onto the ring. The incense is then lit and placed burning end first into the bottle. The split key ring keeps it from falling into the bottle. As the incense burns, the ash falls inside the bottle. The hole that I drilled into the bottle allows oxygen in as the scent comes out the top. Although I don't burn incense, I think it is a pretty good idea.

This morning I also added a new blog to my blog list, River North Pottery. And, don't forget to check out my slide show on my other blog "Coulee Region Art."

Happy Holidays

Well, another Christmas and another day at work. But, I did get four boxes of pottery sent out to my mother in California. I haven't spent any time in the studio the past couple weeks just because it has been too cold and we've gotten too much snow. The La Crosse area might have the snowiest December in history this year.

I have a new post on Coulee Region Art. I'm actually still working on it but have posted a link to a slide show of an anagama firing. I still need to edit the descriptions for each slide to give a better accounting of the whole process but hope to have that completed sometime tomorrow. My original blog entry gives a good short description of the experience. Just scroll down past the first couple of entries.

A Couple Christmas Gifts

I promised my mother I would send her some pottery for Christmas gifts. Here are just a couple of my barrel fired pieces. The one on the left is a vase form and on the right is a lidded tea caddy. These are two of my most favorite because of the beautiful markings, but so far all of my barrel fired pots have had beautiful markings.

These two pieces were on Display at Viterbo University for six months and then they kind of disappeared. I believe they were placed in an office for safe keeping and they stayed there for several more months. I was lucky enough to find them yesterday. And, Yes Mom I'm packing them up today and shipping them out to you tomorrow. Oh, in addition to being on display they were also featured in Viterbo's Touchstone 2008 magazine. You can click on this link to see better photos. http://www.viterbo.edu/touchstone/72/Artpage1.html . Just click on my name at the bottom of the "art" column.

My Other Blog

I haven't done anything in the studio this past week. It has been pretty dang cold, we've had too much snow, and I've had to work a lot of overtime at my paying job. Speaking of my other job, check out "Coulee Region Art." I have been posting on this sight each Friday. http://art.blogs.wkbt.com/
Would love to hear any comments or suggestions people might have. Still snowing and still cold here in the Coulee Region.

Studio Projects

This is some of the stuff I'm currently working on and trying to finish up. The bottle and vase forms need to be burnished. I want to barrel these, Christmas gifts I hope. I'm also glazing the round and rectangular platers. Both the platters were made out of red earthenware clay and formed in wooden molds that I made. The black platter I've already discussed. The round platter is glazed with commercially bought turquoise, which will be fired to cone 05. I'm still cleaning up the lines on the 2 sculptures. Not sure how I'll fire these. The little one is porcelain and the larger one is stoneware.

Yesterday with a lot of help from my friend Darrel we did a lot of kiln maintenance. Not too long ago I bought a used Cress electric kiln from my old ceramics professor. It was firing-up real good last weekend when the weld securing all the kiln bricks broke. Thank goodness Darrel was standing in front of it when it happened. All the bricks on the bottom portion of the kiln shifted. Quick thinking Darrel grabbed some banding wire and we quickly wrapped it around the kiln in a few places and tightened it up real tight. It worked and shortly there after the kiln shut down. Total firing time to cone 05 was 8 hours. Anyway Darrel did the welding and we managed to get the thing back together. We also made a new level base for the kiln, that was a problem too. Now it is set up on a layer of hard fire brick covered with a layer of 1-inch 8-pound density fiber. Yeah, yeah, yeah......... Its always something.

Might as well post a couple more Raku Glaze Recipes. I've never tried this one but I like the way it sounds--Antifreeze Boil Raku Glaze. Lithium Carbonate 60, EPK 23, Frit 3124 20, Chrome Oxide 0.25

Another Raku Glaze Recipe that just sounds good is Bad @ss Alligator Raku Glaze. Gerstley Borate 8 cups, Bone Ash 2 cups, Copper Carbonate 0.5 cup, Cobalt Carbonate 0.25 cup, Cobalt Oxide 2%

Bears In The Night

I figured I might as well title this piece something, so "Bears In The Night" sounded good to me. I used a wooden form to create the shape of this platter and then used a church key (can opener) to impress all the diamond-shaped points around the edges. The platter is made out of red earthenware clay and once it was bisque fired I painted several coats of white underglaze in the center of the platter. Over that I painted 3 coats of black underglaze. Then I used a sharp pin tool and etched the bears through the black underglaze. To finish this piece I'll brush 3 coats of clear over the platter and fire it to cone 05. Although the black underglaze looks gray in this picture, once it is fired it will be a glossy jet black. The outlines of the bears will be a bright glossy white.

Newest Potter In The Coulee Region

Natalie is my little studio Buddy. This weekend she painted underglazes on one of the bowls she made, glazed a couple of my bisqued tea bowls, and glazed a few porcelain pendants I had on the shelves.

She is quite the little artist but pottery is her new medium of choice. Not only is she taking clay home to make things, she is also creating stuff at school.

I'll be posting photos of some of her finished works real soon.

Raku Glaze Recipes

I was searching through my sight meter and realized that a couple people were searching for a specific raku glaze recipe. One was for a White Crackle Raku Glaze and the other was for a clear so I thought I'd post what I have.

White Crackle Raku Glaze Recipes
#1 Frit 3134 85%
Kaolin 15%

#2 Colemanite 64%
Custer Feldspar 12%
Flint 12%
Ball Clay 6%
Zinc 6%

#3 Gerstley Borate 80%
Nepheline Syenite 20%
Add: Zircopax 10%

Clear Raku Glaze Recipes

#1 Called 1 2 3 Clear
Gerstley Borate 50
EPK 33.33
Silica 16.67

#2 Called 3110 Clear
Frit 3110 100
Tin Oxide 3
Bentonite 3

Nude IV In Progress

I have really been enjoying this sculpting stuff. This is where I am after a couple days of carving on my latest project. It is somewhat what I envisioned when I started but every time I take a bit off here or a bit off there the form starts to change and morph into its own being. Hopefully I can finish this up today and start on another.

I've added a few potter's blogs to my page. These artists post frequently and I really like their work. I still have many more to add but will get them added as soon as I can.

I want to fire-up my electric kiln this Saturday but I still have a large bottle form and a vase that I need to burnish. I plan on barrel firing those two pieces. If not Saturday, I'll fire it up on Sunday.

A couple more Raku Glaze Recipes.

Alligator Crawl Raku Glaze Recipe. Gerstley Borate 250, Bone Ash 125, Nepheline Syenite 62.5, Copper Carbonate 62.5, Tin Oxide 53.5

Green Lichen Raku Glaze Recipe. Gerstley Borate 70%, Frit 3134 30%, Add: Zircopax 10%, Add: Cobalt Carbonate 4%, Add: Chrome Oxide 2%, Add: Manganese Dioxide 3%

Sculpture Step One

Step one for my latest sculpture. I started this last Friday. Basically I just wedged up about 7 pounds of clay and then sketched out a rough drawing of what I wanted to sculpt. I started carving away with a wire cheese cutter and some old kitchen paring knives. It has come a long way since Friday and I hope to finish it up today.

Good news is that my friend Darrel finally finished all the wiring for my kiln. He ran a 240V line into the area of the basement where the kiln is located and then he connected all the wiring for the elements. I don't have a full load to fire but will fire it up 1/2 full this coming Saturday just to test it out and see how it fires.

Raku Glaze Recipes Of The Day

White Pink Raku Glaze Recipe

Frit 3134 90% EPK 10% Add: Tin Oxide 10%

Turquoise Crackle Raku Glaze

Gerstley Borate 80% Nepheline Syenite 20% Add: Zircopax 10% Add: Copper Carbonate 2%

Greenfield Village Kiln

Is this cool or what? Thanks to Kerri for thinking of me and taking this pic when she was visiting Greenfield Village in Detroit, MI. I think this twisting chimney is a work of art in itself. Man! I'd love to have a chimney like this when I build my kiln. I don't know much more than it was built in 2004. I "googled" it and found some more photos, not nearly as nice as this one, but thats about all.

I'm still sculpting. I finished Nude III yesterday, started another, and will get two more going this weekend.

I've neglected posting raku recipes. I know that there are some people looking at the recipes. I'm really just documenting them for myself but I love sharing so here are a couple more.

Deep Blue Ash Raku Glaze Recipe

Gerstley Borate 40%

Nepheline Syenite 10%

Wood Ash 50%

Add: Cobalt Carbonate 1.5%

Flaming Moondrops Raku Glaze Recipe

Lithium Carbonate 20

Magnesium Carbonate 40

Gerstley Borate 70

Chrome Oxide 0.3

Nude III

This is my latest sculpture, Nude III. Porcelain clay body, leather-hard state, approximately 8 inches tall.

My original plans for this sculpture was to have smooth curving lines throughout the form but as I was "getting into" the piece I realized that I loved the hard angular cubist form that was slowly developing. I kept the round curved line of the belly and decided to create hard angular lines for the rest of the form. I think its awsome and am going to try another similar sculpture but make it much larger.

Not sure how I'm going to fire this piece yet but will post a photo when it is finally completed.

Nude # 2

This is the piece that I accidently knocked over last week.
It broke right at the knees and it also knocked the head off. The piece was pretty much bone dry but I decided to try to salvage it since the breaks were so clean. I slipped and scored the hell out of the knee break hoping that if it worked I'd fix the head as well. It appeared to have worked quite well and I decided that I liked the form better without the head and I decided to leave the break mark "as is." Anyway, I really like the lines and I'm going to try a few more of these abstracted forms but make them larger.

I can't remember if I mentioned that I am also writing for another blog at work called "Coulee Region Art." Here is the link if anyone is interested. http://art.blogs.wkbt.com/
I really enjoy what little writing I do for that blog because each week it forces me to search out what is happening in art in the area in which I live. I didn't know there was so much happening in this little part of the Mid-West.

I still haven't gotten my potter's wheel built yet and I'm still waiting to get my electric kiln wired up. I'm waiting for a friend to run some 240 to the area where I have set the kiln up. But, that hasn't stopped me from getting muddy. This weekend the weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful so I think I'll sit in my studio and start on a few more projects like the one above.

For the people that are visiting my blog, I'd like to say thanks. When I started this blog it was really for the sole purpose of creating a diary of what I'm doing and documenting things for future reference. It was also nice to be able to share what I'm doing with friends and family whom I see too little of. But thanks again to the readers. I really appreciate the emails you send.

Might as well post a couple more Raku Glaze Recipes. I still have some more Soldner glazes so here they are.

Soldner's Runny Iron Yellow Raku Glaze.
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Red Iron Oxide 10%
Add: Rutile 3%

Soldner's White Raku Glaze.
Gerstley Borate 80%
Zircopax 20%

Bad Week In Clay

I have been working on an abstract sculpted nude for the past three weeks. It was looking good and I was only about five minutes away from sanding the last imperfection out of it. I get the Dumb Butt award for accidently knocking it over. In its leather hard stage the head broke off and the body was broken at the knees. Arrrg! Both were clean breaks. I actually tried to mend the lower half by slipping and scoring, but I'm not sure if the surgery will be a success. The head broke right at the neck and actually looks pretty good with no head and the clean break. I'll check it out tomorrow and see if it can be salvaged. If not I'll start it all over again.

Just getting back to Linda's comment about my nude torso--I started making the piece by rolling out a coil of clay that was slightly larger than the size of the torso I wanted to sculpt. I let that dry to a point where it was inflexible but still soft enough to use some carving/trimming tools to start sculpting out the form. It is a solid piece of clay but I did use a 3/4 inch drill bit to hollow out some from the bottom of the base. I drilled upward into the middle of the form approximately 3 inches. I did this because I was going to display it utilizing the dowel and a small marble base.

For those of you following my raku posts, I received a good article about Diana Pittis' raku fish sculptures. She describes her methods and also gives out a couple of the raku glazes she uses. The link is below.

http://www.ceramicartsdaily.org/feature/featuredetail/2008-10/gonefishingparttwo.aspx

Better get going.

Torso Sculpture

My first attempt at the female form. This torso is about 8 or 9 inches tall. The end result is that the form is much more abstract than originally intended, but I'm pretty happy with it. I think it would be easier to work larger. I'll have to try it again and see what I come up with. This piece isn't even bone dry yet and will be bisqued as soon as I get 240 wired to my kiln.

I haven't posted any raku glaze recipes for a while so here are a couple more.

Blue Copper Luster Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 82
Cornwall Stone 18
Cobalt Oxide 0.03
Copper Oxide 2.1



Buck's Revised Red Luster Raku Glaze
Borax 50
Gerstley Borate 50
Silica 17
Nepheline Syenite 15
Red Copper Oxide 10
Red Iron Oxide 10

I actually haven't done anything at the studio for the past few days because I had a couple friends visiting from Chicago. Always fun to see them but I left another sculpture project unfinished. I'll have to get back at it today.

First Plaster Cast

This is my first attempt at plaster casting. I bought a couple rolls of plaster bandages at the local hobby store, smeared vasaline all over my face, stuck some straws in my nose and applied the bandages to my face. I think it only took about 20 minutes. I can say that it would have been a lot easier if I had had some help.

I actually made the the plaster cast quite a few months ago but just got around to using it this past weekend.

I rolled out some porcelain with a rolling pin and then pressed the flat sheets into the mold. The porcelain dried overnight and then I carefully removed the mask from the plaster form. It looked pretty rough. The porcelain picked up every little detail from the goss banages so I just used some fine sandpaper to remove the unwanted texture.

I haven't bisque-fired this yet but will try to raku fire it with a clear crackle glaze when I have. One thing I forgot to think about was how I was going to display the mask once it is fired. My immediate thought was that I'd just hang it on the wall, but I hadn't planned ahead and did not put any fastening device on the back side of the mask. Oh well, next time. Can't wait to start casting some other forms.

Soldner's Copper Luster Correction

Thanks Anna from Aussie for pointing out my mistake. The corrected recipe for Soldner's Copper Luster Raku Glaze is:
Gerstley Borate 80%
Nepheline Syenite 20%
Add: Copper Oxide 2%
Add: Cobalt Oxide 1%
Add: Yellow Ochre 8%

I haven't done any firing lately but I have been trying my hand at sculpting. I decided to try taking on the human form, the torso to be more precise. I've actually made 3 small torsos this past week. Two were absolutely terrible and thrown into the slop bucket, but the third one isn't too bad. I'll have to post a photo of the one I kept tomorrow.

I don't have much raku clay left so I wedged up a bunch of porcelain. I haven't had too much luck throwing porcelain on the wheel but I'm anxious to try sculpting with it. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again to Anna for pointing out my glaze mistake.

More Raku Glaze Recipes

I know I haven't posted anything of great interest for a while. I am going to post a couple more Soldner Raku Glaze recipes. I can't believe I have so many. Anyway, here are a couple more.

Soldner's Copper Luster Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80%
Nepheline Syenite 20%
Add: Copper Oxide 2%
Add: Cobalt Oxide 1%
Add: Copper Oxide 3%

Soldner's Runny Green Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Cobalt Carbonate 1%
Add: Red Iron Oxide 5%
Add: Rutile 5%

I did fire up my cast iron kiln yesterday. I used wood and then finished it off with gas. Not much in it, just a few tea bowls. I did line the inside chamber with hard fire brick and that really helped with the firing process. This past weekend while searching the internet I also learned of a homemade refractory goo made up of furnace cement and perlite. The materials are cheap and the furnace cement is rated to 2700F. Its so cheap that I'm going to mix some up and experiment with it.

I'll also try to get some photos of my latest firing posted in the next couple days.

Clay Mixer

Hey Hey Hey!

Check this out. My buddy Darrel had this Mortar Mixer parked out in the weeds somewhere on his property and kind of told me "this will mix some clay, huh?" before I could say boo he had it moved into the basement. Well, of course it went through the flood and the gas motor is toast but Darrel is going to get rid of the gas motor and hook up an electric one. And, of course, I have a lot of cleaning to do. Actually the interior is pretty clean, a bit rusty, but pretty clean. The mixing padles will take some work and maybe a modification or two but pretty soon this puppy will be mixing some clay.

The basement is looking better each day. We've got half of it pretty much done and have even started moving stuff back into it. Not only the clay mixer but even have the electric kiln moved into place and ready to be wired up.

Due to this massive cleanup project I haven't thrown any pots or made anything out of clay in months. Hopefully this weekend I can at least fire some pots and maybe soon I can get muddy again. Better get going, too much to do and never enough time to do it all.

More Shoveling

Mud, Mud, and more Mud, and still more mud to shovel. This is what I shoveled yesterday after work. This stall is where I plan on putting my electric kiln once it dries up and I do a little more cleaning. Hopefully I'll get it moved in this weekend and have it wired up and ready to fire by the following weekend. So....if people have been wondering why I haven't been making pots, this is why.

Some other notes, thoughts...
The Viroqua Empty Bowls Project is coming up in about a month. I'll post more info when I get it. Hopefully I'll be able to work in someone elses' studio to crank out some bowls. Must get on that right away.

Another upcoming project will be a new blog, in addition to this one. I have been asked to start blogging about "Arts In The Coulee" (the coulee region where I live). I was thinking about featuring an artist or exhibit each week and post artworthy news and events as they pop up. Still getting all the details but stay tuned for the launch.

The only other thing to say is that I must try firing a small brick kiln this weekend that a little girl named Natalie stacked up. I'll have a post dedicated to that pretty quick. I'm pretty excited about getting my bisque kiln into operation. Other than that I'll just keep shoveling.

More Raku Glaze Recipes

Just a few more Raku glaze recipes.

Soldner's Flat Black Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Cobalt Carbonate 2%
Add: Red Iron Oxide 10%
Add: Rutile 10%

Soldner's Glass Red Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Red Iron Oxide 10%
Add: Copper Carbonate 5%

Soldner's Lava Raku Glaze
EPK 30%
Silica 20%
Soda Ash 50%

Its going to be another nice weekend so I'm planning on doing another wood firing. Last week when I was reading Clayart one of the topics was hillside kilns. I had remembered somebody telling me about a "coffin kiln." I think I'm going to try building one of these, a small kiln to fire some raku teabowls. Not sure how I'm going to build it yet. Will just have to dive into the project and get the fire lit. Will post photos next week.

Cast Iron Kiln

Well, here she is in action--My cast iron wood burning kiln.

Looks good, but unfortunately the kiln did not reach temperature. Not a failure though. I learned lots.

First thing and perhaps the most important for me is that if I'm stoking the fire, I'm not doing it on my knees or bending over. I'm going to add another layer of cinder block to the base of this foundation and raise it up.

Another thing is that this kiln is too tight. By that I mean it didn't have enough air or draft. First of all I need to take a piece off the back of my door. The damper works great but there is a piece of metal that restricts airflow. With the back piece removed you'll be able to see right through the four holes and right into the fire box.

Perhaps most important of all I need to figure out how to put a mouse hole into the firebox floor. I needed air hitting the ember pile during this firing.

I only fired 4 teabowls in this test run. They were placed on a round kiln shelf supported by three fire brick. This really reduced the size of my firebox. There was one inch of clearance between the tops of the tea bowls and my fiber board roof. I also used a couple firebrick as a grate system to hlod the wood up off the floor.

When I rebuild this kiln I am putting the ware chamber above the whole firebox. I am thinking about making a small fiber-lined chamber and setting that over the round portion of the firebox. I am also going to stack brick around the exterior of the cast iron firebox because it puts out way too much heat. Looking for some suggestions. Help Wanted.

New Kiln Project

Check this out. All kinds of new stuff for my wood burning kiln building project. One of my friends gave me a piece to an old coal burning furnace. Its cast iron, pretty thick and has a nice door. I am going to use this piece as it sits now. It is actually upside down from its original design but it looked to me to be a perfect fit for a small beehive type updraft kiln.

Plans are to use a layer of fine grog on top of the cinder block, level it out and then place a layer of medium duty hard fire brick on top of that for the floor of the kiln.

Next is to place the cast iron fire box on top of that. Not sure how I'll proceed after that. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants with excitement. I'm sure the cast iron will radiate a lot of painful heat so I'll probably layer up some red common brick around the exterior.

Not sure How I'll stack up the kiln ware chamber yet but I'll probably use a roof made of fiber.

My buddy also found some stainless steel pipe that will probably make good chimney material but I won't be using this big piece on this project. Better get to building. Weather is great today. Hope to fire tomorrow or Monday. Gotta run.

Soldner's Copper Red Luster Raku Glaze

Soldner's Copper Red Luster Raku Glaze

Gerstley Borate 80%
Nepheline Syenite 20%
Add: Cobalt Oxide 1%
Add: Copper Oxide 3%

Raku Crawl Glaze

I've been looking for a crawling raku glaze and this one was just recently posted on Clayart, although it is actually a cone 05 glaze from SDSU called San Diego State University Crawl. I'm going to try it this weekend in my wood kiln and will post a photo next week.

47 Gerstley Borate
31 Magnesium Carbonate
19 EPK
4 Borax


According to the person that posted the recipe, "The lower you fire it the more crusty it is (cone 07 or 06) and it is called "Lichen" at that point. And as you go higher it will melt more andbecome a "Crawl" glaze (05) and higher it will be a "Bead" glaze."

Wood Fired Raku Tea Bowl

Here is one of the bowls from my last firing. The interior is glazed with Soldner's Clear and the exterior with Hawaiian Blue.

The interior has really cool light blue speckles in it. Don't know where they came from but they certainly add a lot to the bowl.

The exterior is a dry matt surface with subtly changing hues of blue. Normally in my gas fired fiber-lined raku kiln this glaze comes out a deep glossy blue.

Wood Fired Raku Kiln

Well, I finally built my brick raku kiln and fired it up this past Saturday. I only fired four tea bowls but the main purpose was just to get the kiln built and learn about kiln design and the science of firing. No doublt I learned a lot, but I still have a lot of learning left.

I started with sixty hard fire brick, 10 soft insulating brick and about 50 red common brick. Inside dimensions were 13-1/2 inches wide and 16-1/2 inches tall. I had a small mouse hole that ran from front to back and 2 additional air holes on each side of the front of the kiln. For the roof I used a piece of 2-1/2 inch fiber board and used 4 soft brick to form a square exit flue in the back top portion of the kiln.

I was going to preheat the kiln with propane but found out at the last minute that both my propane tanks were empty so I started with a little bit of wood and some gas. I think I could have saved 3 hours of time had I preheated with propane. It takes a heck of a lot of time to heat those hard bricks and during this time, inbetween stoking, I decided to stack my red common brick around the outside of the kiln. This turned out to be a great idea as the exterior of this kiln, only one firebrick thick, became uncomfortably Hot. The second layer of brick really helped.

Another thing I learned was that a chimney really helps create draft and heat. Three hours into the firing I started to hear the slight roar of the fire. To see what would happen I stacked 3 more layers of brick on the chimney. Within minutes flame was jamming up and out of the chimney creating good draft and a nice roaring sound. I swear I could feel it as well as hear it. The addition of the chimney made it much easier to judge when to stoke more wood. When the flame and roar started to wane, it was time to add another piece of wood. You could actually determine when to stoke just by listening to the fire.

I also decided to experiment with a door in front of the stoke hole. I used a piece of broken kiln shelf. I learned quickly that seconday air holes are a must, but for this kiln a door is not neccessary.

I'm not sure if my mouse hole was designed properly as I frequently used a ram-rod and pushed it through the length of the kiln to keep air flowing through the embers. Will have to do some more research on that.

I used all kinds of different wood to fire this kiln. Some was cheap pine from wooden crates, some was old treated lumber from a deck, and some was a mix of good hardwood scraps from a cabinet shop. The wood was all cut into approximately 20 inch pieces and split into 1 to 2 inch widths. The kind of wood didn't seem to make much difference but the size did--the smaller width the better.

All in all it wa a good firing and a great learning experience. Got so fired up that I have stacked up another mini kiln of a different design. Need about 40 more brick to finish the chimney but hope to fire it this weekend. Stay tuned.

More Soldner Raku Glaze Recipes

Soldner's Dry Pink Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80%
Tin Oxide 20%

Soldner's Curdle Blue Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Cobalt Carbonate 0.33%
Add: Rutile 3%

Soldner's Copper Red Luster Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80%
Nepheline Syenite 20%
Add: Cobalt Oxide 1%
Add: Copper Oxide 3%

My Studio

Well, this is it. Doesn't look like much but it has a lot of character. It also doesn't help that the picture was taken during our winter thaw, last April.

Its a nice little place about 10 miles from my house and about 10 miles from the city of La Crosse, situated out in a wooded coulee that overlooks a nice trout stream.

The building itself is quite large and used to be a woodworking shop that built everything from tables and chairs to cabinetes. My studio is the "Log Cabin Gifts" gift shop area. In the back is a mini lumber mill with all kinds big machinery that used to cut and mill big trees. All in all its a really interesting place and a perfect environment for a potter.

Cleaned and Sealed

The studio does have a lot of natural light, although the windows could use a good washing. The studio already had a nice concrete floor but I wanted to seal it to make future clean ups easier. It was bone dry and sucked up three coats of Thompson Water sealer.

There is a cast iron wood stove in the corner. It actually came off a train caboose. Will provide some good heat in the winter but I think the owner of the building is going to put in some better heating.

Still lots to do but it will be a fun on-going project.

Pots On The Rack

Just a few of my pots. I have about a dozen biqued tea bowls. I'll be firing these in my wood fired raku kiln. Still hoping to do that in the next few days but it probably won't happen till Saturday.

I also have some high-fired stoneware coffee mugs that I fired in a gas kiln at Viterbo University. I think I've already posted individual photos of the mugs on my flickr
site.

The platters on the lower shelf were all made using slabs of clay and wooden forms that I made. Its a terra cotta clay body and I'll probably just use a simple underglaze decoration around the edges and then use a clear glaze over that.

Soldner Raku Glaze Recipes

I don't know where I collected all my "Soldner" raku glaze recipes from, but I sure have a lot attributed to him. Here are the first few on my list.

Soldner Base Clear Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%

Soldner Bisque Slip--Halo
Gerstley Borate 14%
EPK 57%
Flint 29%

Soldner Red Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 50%
Borax 50%
Add: Copper Carbonate 10%
Add: Rutile 10%

I finally did stack my brick this past week. I've made a nice little wood-fire raku kiln. I was hoping to fire it Sunday but figured I didn't have enough wood to finish the firing. I collected some more wood that day and Monday morning but got caught in a serious Thunderstorm about 11:00am. Now its back to work. Will fire and post some photos as soon as possible.

White Crackle Raku Glaze Recipe

I haven't been keeping up on the raku glaze recipe of the day. Anyway, here is todays.

White Crackle Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80
G-200 Spar 20
Add: EPK 5
Zircopax 10

Kiln Building Project 2008

Before the flood of 2008 this was a nice concrete slab about 10 feet by 20 feet. After an hour and a half of shoveling, in 90 degree heat, I uncovered the now unlevel and cracked slab.

I was hoping to start laying cinder block and fire brick as soon as I unearthed the slab--Surprise, Surprise! Now I have to level the pad and I'm not sure how to do it. Should I use sand, should I use dirt, gravel? Best source to get this question answered, or at least get some great advice, is WoodKiln on Google Groups. This is a fantastic site for people interested in wood fired ceramics.

I came across this group by accident and joined the same day. After posting an introduction to the group I also asked for some advice about the kiln I was building and questions about the firebrick I wanted to use. Within a day several people welcomed me to the group and I had a lot of great information about my kiln and the firebrick I planned on using.

I was also steered to a site called The Potters Shop which is a great site for books on pottery. I was told to get the book "Laid Back Wood Firing" written by Steve Harrison. In this book he has the plans and how to's about building and firing the kiln that I am planning on building. I plan on ordering the book today and can't wait to start reading it.

White Pink Raku Glaze

White/Pink Raku Glaze Recipe

Frit3134 90%
EPK 10%
Add: Tin Oxide 10%

Kiln Building

Building the Bourry Fire Box for my Long Throat Kiln. This is just the begining and I'm getting a feel for what it is going to take to build my kiln. This is the front of the Bourry Box. The mouse hole is in the middle at the bottom and the secondary air hole is above that. I'm definately going to need some more brick.

Front wall measurements are 36 inches wide by 25 inches tall. The interior of the firebox is 27 inches wide and I'm thinking of making it 22.5 inches deep.

Of the many diagrams of this type of firebox, most of them show the firebox door just above the mouse hole. For this kiln I am going to put it on the side of the firebox.

As for the firebox lid I was thinking about just using kiln shelves and kaowool fiber but now I'm thinking about using a cast iron hinged door from an old furnace. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet but I'd like to glue or attach soft insulated firebrick to the underside of the door. I think I'm also going to use 3/4 inch rebar rods instead of the hobs to hold up the wood.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the throat arch yet. I suppose the best route to go is use arch brick and then some castable refractory to square it off. But that costs money. Will have to ask some questions but I'm wondering if an arch is a neccesity. Maybey I can just use my standard bricks and build a square opening.

I'll be using Low Duty Hard Fire Brick that measure 9 inches by 4.5 inches by 2.5 inches. These are relatively inexpensive and I can buy them locally at a building supply company. Only problem is they only sell full brick and split brick. I'll pick up about 150 more brick next week so I can finish the fire box.

If all goes well I'll get the rest of my firebrick next week and finish the firebox on the weekend.

Yellow Crackle Raku Glaze

I almost forgot the Raku Glaze Recipe Of The Day.

Yellow Crackle Raku Glaze.
Gerstley Borate 80%
Cornwall Stone 20%
Add: Vanadium Stain 306%

Small Wood Fired Kiln

Yes, from this small pile of bricks I'm building a small wood-fired kiln. In this pile is approximately 50 hard fire brick, 75 red common brick, and some pavers and some other crappy brick I can't use.

I am still short of materials though. I need 8 cinderblock, which I am going to use as a base to build the kiln on. Bringing the kiln up off the ground makes stoking the kiln easier on the back and knees. Also I've been told that the kiln will heat up faster, as the ground won't be sucking up all the heat.

I also need some sort of smoke stack which I am going to use as a chimney. I am thinking about a 4-foot section of cast iron pipe which will be inserted into a square sleeve of red common brick. It would also be nice to buy about 20 more hard fire brick. I can buy them locally for $1.39 per brick.

Other materials I have on hand that I'll be using are 10 insulated soft brick, some kiln shelves for the top of the kiln, and some kaowool fiber.

I'm building this in back of my studio on a concrete slab. The area is covered with a coregated tin roof. The 6-inch layer of mud and sand is a gift from the flood which I haven't yet shoveled and hauled away yet.

Stay tuned for pictures of the evolving kiln.

Fired-Up

Three things noteworthy today that I had to share. First of all I'm really Fired-Up over one of the books my mother gave me for my birthday.

"Wood-fired Ceramics, Contemporary Practices" by Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson. Here is an excerpt from the inside cover. "In Wood-fired Ceramics, Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson briefly describe the development of the main types of wood-fired kilns used by today's potters. They then present the aesthetic aims, working practices and kilns of an international group of artists. Kiln-firing logs, clay, glaze and slip recipes, and kiln plans are also included. The work by over 60 artists, which illustrates the text, is representative of the diversity of styles in contemporary wood-fired ceramics. An Awesome book.

Anyway, I gotta build one of the kilns illustrated in this book. It is called a "long throat Bourry kiln" . Sandy Lockwood uses one and hers is based on a design by Stephan Harrison. The link I'm posting is actually Andrew Stewart's kiln but good photos of this type of kiln. I need to get some brick so I can start building.

Another book I recieved is "Ceramics of Picasso" by Georges Ramie. I've never been a big fan of Picasso's paintings but I'm really impressed by his pottery. Maybey I just think his artwork is better suited for pottery rather than canvas. Anyway, this book has 223 fantastic color illustrations.

Another neat item I came across is a product called Cerafiber Wet Pack. This might have a lot of kiln building and kiln repair applications. My friend John works with furnaces and boilers and he is the one who suggested it. It is a needled refractory fiber blanket that is packaged in a moist form. The flexible sheets can be easily cut and can be custom molded in complex shapes to a required size, shape and thickness. When the product dries, a hard rigid surface is created. Its refractory limit is 2400F. I contacted a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin named Fire Brick Engineers Co. Price is $44.00 for a 2 foot by 3 foot sheet, one inch thick. Seems a bit spendy but it might have a lot of applications. When I get some extra money I'm going to have to get some and see what I can do with it. Better get going. Will try to post some more Raku glaze recipes tomorrow.

Alkaline Blue Raku Glaze Recipe

Not much time to blog. Gotta keep it quick. Thought I'd post another Raku Glaze recipe. I didn't get my kiln built this weekend, but I did find my raku burner in the mud. Cleaned it all up, sprayed it with some WD-40 and it worked just fine. Also got a couple new books for my birthday, coming up on Friday. One is "The Pottery of Picasso." The other is "Wood-Fired Ceramics." Both look great. More on them to follow. Gotta' run.

Alkaline Blue Raku Glaze

Frit 3110 70
Gerstley Borate 5
Flint 10
Soda Ash 10
EPK 5
Copper Carbonate 3

Kiln Diagram

I'm pretty excited about this new kiln building experiment. My original Raku Wood Burning Kiln, based on Nesrin Durin's design, was loosely assembled (and I mean LOOSELY). I'm going to tighten everything up and change it into a downdraft kiln consisting of four main components--the firebox, the stack area, the damper, and the chimney.

If all goes according to plan here is how it is going to work. Wood is stoked into the firebox through the stoke hole and placed on a grate to burn. The flame and heat will naturally rise and circulate throughout the interior of the kiln. The construction of this type of kiln will force the flame back downward to be exhausted at the bottom of the kiln and up through chimney, which in my case is a piece of stove pipe about 4-5 feet tall. A mix of firebrick and red common brick will be used to construct the main part of the kiln.

I'm going to load my pots from the top opening of the kiln onto the kiln shelf, and then use kiln shelves to seal up the top. I'm also going to use a piece of kiln shelf, as a makeshift door, to seal up the stoke hole when I'm not adding fuel to the fire.

I haven't thought about peek holes yet, and pyrometers cost money. So.... I'll just wait and see how things go.

Raku Glaze Recipes

Blue Crackle Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80
Cornwall Stone 20
Cobalt Carbonate 6

Blue Patine Raku Glaze
Gerstley Borate 80
Bone Ash 20
Copper Carbonate 2
Tin Oxide 1.25
Cobalt Carbonate 0.25

Wood Burning Raku Kiln

Well, the flood is over and it's time to build some new kilns. Fortunately the flood didn't wash away the bricks I have been collecting and since I don't have any fiber to build another garbage can I might as well start stacking bricks.

I have about 50 hard fire brick and maybe 75 common red brick so I think I can make a few modifications to the kiln pictured here.

I built this kiln in June of 2006 and fired it a few times. It took a long time to fire but I loved the process and the final results. I got this design from Steven Branfman's book "Raku, A Practical Approach, 2nd ed.

I think I'll get rid of the cheap refrigerator rack grate I used to suspend the wood and use some one inch thick iron bars. In addition to that I'll enlarge the fire box and see if I can't incorporate a chimney of some sort for better draft. I guess I'll just have to start stacking brick and see what I can come up with. Stay tuned for a picture of what I end up with.

Raku Glaze Recipes

Thought I'd better get back to posting, at least something. Anyway, here are a couple raku glaze recipes.

Beads Raku Glaze Recipe
Magnesium Carbonate 31.25
Borax 25
Gerstley Borate 31.25
Flint 6.25
Zircopax 6.25

Black Widow Raku Glaze Recipe
Gerstley Borate 80
Nepheline Syenite 20
Black Copper Oxide 71.7