Korean Kick Wheel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.