The Happy Dance

I love it when things come out of the kiln just the way I imagined them while I was creating. I surely did the happy dance when I held these in my hand. There were a few other gems in this firing and I hope to get some more photos before things shipped off to their new homes.

The Race To The Finish Line

We have three deadlines to meet. Etsy orders to ship on Friday, Pottery for the Piedmont Craftsmen's show next week, as well as the local Celebration of Seagrove Potters show. We unloaded a bisque in the gas kiln and started glazing on Sunday, while we had another bisque load firing in our neighbors electric kiln. Since the move we have not wired our electric kiln. It may be time to get that done, although it won't be as easy as one would think, but that's a whole other blog post.

We had a lot of pots that needed to be sprayed with ash glaze. In reality, all the pots for Piedmont Craftsmen had to be sprayed. Jeff got started on some and I took over mid-afternoon. When I flipped the switch on the compressor it made some very strange noises and didn't produce any air. Thinking it had run too long, I shut it down and gave it a rest. Twenty minutes later and still nothing.

Jeff had to leave in two hours to do the evening shift at David Stuempfle's wood kiln.
The next day we would have another load of pots that would need spraying.
Thankfully, there is a Harbor Freight in nearby Asheboro!

I hopped in the car at 3:00 pm and at 4:30 arrived home with a new compressor.

It's a step up from the very old one and on sale, was under $60. While I was gone, Jeff took the old one apart and put it back together.

It's been working fine ever since.

At least we have a back up.

Glaze Tricks

 I had an order for a salt pig that was to be un-glazed on the interior and sprayed ash glaze over shino on the outside. I was in a quandary as to how to not get the ash on the inside, without have to meticulously sponge it off.

Of course Jeff came up with a solution!

A piece of sponge cut to fit, and wired with a handle to be able to pull it out after spraying the glaze. It sort of looks like we were torturing the poor piggy. Jeff's idea worked like a charm.

Creativity comes in many forms when you are a potter.

Ash Glaze Love

Jeff and I unloaded the kiln the day before I flew off to New Hampshire. I had no time to spend with any of my new pots. We unloaded, I sanded to feet of many piggy banks, then shipped them off to their new homes. When I came home my first task was to assemble pigs for the next round of orders.

This evening I decided it was finally time to photograph and take a closer look at my new pots.

I think I am finally getting consistent with spraying ash glaze. I was happy with all of the pots I sprayed. I think my bottle forms lend themselves nicely to the ash glaze.

 I asked Jeff to throw some of his wine coolers/spoon jars and let me carve them. I am really excited about these. Hopefully others will be too, so that we can do more!

 This mug was an experiment... one I am very happy with the results! I used the impressed leaf and slip resist that Jeff and I have both used in wood firing. The interior is glaze in tenmoku and the exterior is the sprayed ash. I am happy with the contrast, and can't wait to be able to do some with Japanese maple leaves... and not have to wait for a wood firing to finish them.

Spraying Glaze

We sure wish we had a spray booth, but we don't... so spraying glaze happens outside. We used to hang our spray gun from a tree when we lived at the log cabin. Now it sits in a cinder block in between sprays. You gotta do what you gotta do to get by!

 Jeff has had this adjustable banding wheel for years. It's super handy for spraying glaze. The oval dish is glazed with tenmoku on the interior, so I only had to spray the exterior. This is an ash glaze that when sprayed gives the pots a toasty color without obliterating the carving that wood firing often does.

When the oval dishes were finished, I moved on to bowls. I spray the underside first, then flip and spray the interior.

Tomorrow is firing day. Results should be in on Saturday.

Respirators and the Pottery Studio...

Strapping on that respirator should be second nature to potters, sort of like buckling your seat belt when we get in the car... but many of us have some bad habits.

Last month a company that makes face masks contacted me, via e-mail, after coming across this photo on my blog. They make a less cumbersome mask and if they sent me one, would I review it? I would never say no to free stuff, especially if it could be useful! The company is called RZ Mask, and when I went to their website I saw motocross riders, hmmm... do they know I am a potter? I explored the site and realized that they are expanding their market to industries outside of motocross and ATV riders.

This is what their mask looks like:

Smaller, lighter AND I can wear my glasses with progressive lenses while using this mask! When using my other mask, I have to switch to my old reading glasses and they still are not comfortable.

The mask is made of neoprene and straps on quickly with a velcro closure. The neoprene fits snugly around your face and doesn't get sweaty feeling like the rubber mask. Jeff tried it on and he thought the fit was good around his beard.

A replaceable filter attaches to the inside. The RZ mask rep sent me specs that said it will filter out particles as small is .1 microns. My Survivair mask filters out .5.

It even comes with a zippered storage case.

Since getting the mask I have used it mostly for spraying glazes and once for mixing a bucket of glaze. I really like how it comes on and off easily. I still felt a little claustrophobic wearing it but it was much better than my old mask.  The best thing was there wasn't a build up of condensation inside the mask (ick). I was a little concerned that it doesn't create as tight a seal as the Survivair, but I have to tell you that there have been more times when using my old mask, I would suddenly have fogged up glasses, which means I didn't have a tight seal anyway. I am constantly making adjustments with the old mask and it's a pain to put on and take off.

I will probably reach for this mask more quickly when deciding to do a little clean up around the studio. I will often times skip the mask because it's just a quick scooping up of some dry clay, and it's too much of a pain to put the bulky one on. I stupidly say I will hold my breath instead!

My old mask cost about $70 a few years back. The RZ mask is $29.95 and replacement filters are $6.95. They even have some cool designs to choose from! If you need to replace your mask or find you aren't wearing it as often as you should because of it's bulk, I recommend giving this one a try.

**If you are looking for more information about respirators in the pottery studio, here is a link to a Ceramics Daily article written by Jeff Zamek.