Some recent firings

It's taken me some time to get my act together and start doing some new raku firings. I've had to overcome one or two problems regarding smoke- from a neighbour who was concerned. It's one of the issues with raku or smoke firing I guess- especially living in North Essex, which is getting increasingly built up.

To this end, I sunk two post reduction bins into the ground, so that they might be lidded, and double sealed on top by a larger dustbin- to which I have grafted on a tall metal funnel. I was concerned this might add to the "draw" in the reduction bin and cause a burn out- but this fear proved unfounded. Apart from the usual initial burst of smoke before sealing- the ongoing post reduction smoke is piped - well - up up and away from the neighbours direction. I would say it's cut down on about 75 percent of the smoke. Of course I now put out the second hand wood shavings out with water- rather than letting them smoulder away. I think this was a big factor in the complaint I received about lingering smoke.

Anyway to cut a long story short- I am back in business with one happy neighbour too. Here are some of the first results of that firing.

Comments

Making and firing Raku tiles

I have just had in one or two orders and enquiries concerning Raku tiles. Making them can drive you to despair- what with their tendancy to warp, crack and shrink! It's amazing how something so simple is in actual fact so hard to make. It's also very difficult to lift a flat object out of the kiln with tongs from a red hot kiln. Well, with some prior experience, I've developed a firing system for tiles now which is now working pretty well. Quite simply, I lay each tile on a flat bed of ceramic fibre. That way each tile is raised slightly off the kiln shelf- and it's then easy to grasp the tile with tongs and drop into your reduction chamber/smoking bin. I stack two or three kiln shelves and can pack in about 20 tiles in one batch - depending on size. I do let the kiln cool slightly before carefully removing each shelf of tiles. I back off the gas- get each shelf of tiles out- then power back up to temperature and repeat till they're all safely ...

Early days with volcanic and crater glaze part 2....

I glazed a couple of volcanic/crater glaze tapered bowls recently. They almost "half" work- but I'm still not convinced I've got it right- although it's promising. I layered combinations of glaze but I'm having a slight problem with the thick layers of silicon carbide glaze crawling. Sticky fingers maybe? Lots more to come over the next few months, probably with the next recipe- Pinnel Strontium Crater - with a variety of glaze stain additions . It's a pretty reliable recipe so fingers crossed.

Good-bye for now see you around the internet!

As you no doubt have garnered I haven't been posting much on my blog as I would have liked this year. A combination of Covid, lockdown, and a double family bereavement have kind of lessened my enthusiasm this year for blogging. However, I am still potting, perhaps more so than ever and hope now that my work/life circumstances have changed I can devote more time to my passion for making ceramics. I've always potted in my spare time, so the only good thing to come out of this last year has been time and the ability to focus more on my ceramic work. I have some exciting opportunities in the pipeline which I'm sure I will mention when the time is right on other internet forums! In the meantime I'm continuing to make and fire raku work and develop work in textural high fired volcanics. I hope in 2021 to push the scale aspect of my sculptural work and return to some copper matte firings. I've enjoyed sharing what I do here on the blog. You can always track me down on f...

Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

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