As an avid reader of this blog (!) you will no doubt have read of my travails with glaze experimentation, specifically lava and volcanics. I have settled on a duo layered glaze - of a volcanic undercoat with a stiff white stoneware glaze on top. A dry barium blue or mettalic bronze is also used to create contrasts. It's early days. It seems to be working well on the textural teabowls, having more vertical side walls, the glaze combo holds up well. Thoughts are always appreciated. I have sent this small batch of chawan to the Buckenham Galleries in Southwold to test the waters. They are reminiscent of textural seascapes and rock pools eroded by water. They are very close to what I have wanted to achieve and I hope will provide a long term parallel partner to my work in Raku.
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 ...
Lovely creation,love to see more from your side.The color pattern looks cool.You can visit ,they have large varieties of pottery,decorative and gifting items
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