Kiln Opening

Sunday Morning-October 26, 2014

Made In Mud-Decorative Ceramics

Marcia Koski Finnerty

Arlington, Virginia USA

 

This is Firing #63:

A slow glaze firing to cone 5.

Well it has been a while, since I had enough art to fill up and fire this 10 Cubic Foot L&L programmable big boy!  

Here is a view of my kiln shed.  It is located outside, at the top of the steps, from my walk out, basement, studio. Very convenient as long as I don’t get a big snow storm and have to shovel out the stairwell before I hump all the green ware  and bisque up the steps.  I’m getting old!!!

As you can see the lid is closed.  I have not yet opened the kiln. I did not even take a quick peek!   Wanted to share the:  Excitement? Disappointment?  Frustration? Sadness? Glee? with all of you exactly as it happens. I let it cool to ambient temperature naturally. (around 70 degrees )

Absolutely beautiful fall day!  I did not use the down draft vent during firing as it is broken.  Does not seem to matter if I use it or not.  So being lazy and cheap….. I didn’t fix it.

  

First Look! 

SWEEEEET!

OOOOOOO! 

Mama Likey!!!!  

No explosions! No Glaze Runs

All Intact!  Colors look perfect! I’m really liking what I see!!!

I did LOADS of glaze and under glaze tests before I got to this point!!!

This is the top level and there are three more below.

These are textured slab plates which were placed over slump molds and have little feet rather than a foot ring.

Yes I did overhang the plates over the lower level.

Deep Breath! Remove and check the bottoms of each plate for cracks, and flaws. 

Close up of top level.  Unload to basement studio and remove kiln shelves.

Before I go to the next level below….. lets take a look at the  pyrometric cones.

Had a great firing.  This is Firing #63.

A slow glaze to cone 5.  No hold and no preheat. No forced venting.

Yes the cones were removed from the kiln for this photo, but this is what I see thru the peep hole during the final few moments and make sure kiln turns off.  Which it did. And Yes I keep detailed records of each and every firing in a notebook.  I use a “ ramp” method of firing.  I like a visual record and graphs to see rate of heating and temperature climbs. This helps me trouble shoot any heating/element problems before they get critical.

By the way I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, fire the kiln without a cone pack and always stay close by when the end of the firing is near.  So even if it is 2 AM, and 15 degrees below zero….. I am there to check the cones and turn off the kiln in case the automatic shut-off fails!!!!  Which has occurred but once!

I don’t want to burn the house down!!! 

So crossing fingers that the next level reveals equally nice results…….  

Here is the second level and the bottom partially unloaded.  Still looking good!  Hmmm some of the Xmas ornaments came out a bit darker than anticipated.  Colors look good on the plate???  I used the same under glazes on the ornaments as on the plate. Perhaps the lighting?? So far so good!! 

 

On to the next level below…..

The third Level:  Still looking good.  Colors rich and nothing exploded or runny.  I’m happy! The bowl is looking good and shades of blue and green as anticipated.  Tried making some ugly gnome Xmas ornaments.  I love a creepy gnome.  Not your traditional Xmas ornaments.  Can’t explain it.  Just playing in the mud and having fun.  Yes this bowl overhangs the kiln shelf over the bottom level items.  I made sure the glaze underneath , on the bottom of the bowl would NOT potentially drip onto the items below!!!!  Because I know this glaze well I was certain it was safe to overhang.  Otherwise I would not pack the kiln in this manner.  Experience!  Knowledge! The foot was entirely supported on the shelf.  Just so’s ya know.

And finally, the Last level.

The Right side is the Bottom totally unloaded and left side is the last bowl and some ornaments. 

Oh Dang!!!! 

This bowl has a big crack in the side where the fold occurs. (Around 11 O'clock).  This was an experimental piece.  I was trying to see how thin a slab I could make and then drape it over a slump mold.  Guess I got my answer!!!!  Well…… lesson learned is that for this method  the slab needs to be a little thicker. The crack did not show up in the bisque firing.  Absolutely no hint of a crack in the bisque piece.  Go figure????  Ornaments look OK.  These photos also help me understand what might be going on in the kiln and locating potential hot or cold spots. 

Next job is to clean and vacuum the kiln and do some clean up on all the kiln shelves.

Love to hear from you!!!   

Questions/comments send me a line. 

Fondest Regards, Marcia

Coming Soon Has Finally Arrived!

I know two months is hardly coming soon.

But I’m not a full time blogger-obviously…..

If I take time to publish and write these blogs……that means less time to make art and make beautiful music.  So to all those waiting patiently ..... many thanks.  Finally,  here for your viewing pleasure....more photos and descriptions.  

Theme Assignment for April 2014 shows:  Present a series of 5 related works of art.

Location:  Arlington Artists Alliance (AAA) Gallery Underground in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia

 Here is the Gallery Underground in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. 

Our dedicated gallery manager and Talented artist:  Sandy Parker at the desk.

For the Series Show:  I selected a study of perforated and pierced ceramic artwork. I already had two pieces made and then added 3 new works for my total of 5.  The announcement of the themed show did not allow sufficient time to make 5 entirely new pieces.  But I did want to re-visit and expand on the “pierced/perforated Theme.   

From my collection:  Item 1.  Pierced rim vase 

The first  is  a 10 inch diameter  extruded “Clover leaf” tube with a slab bottom.  I enlarged and worked the top portion and pierced only the rim section.  Only the top outside and inside was glazed.   Oxide stains are on the lower carved outside surface.  I find it interesting to be able to view the inside surfaces from the outside.  One of my favorite glazes Tin Barn Blue.  Additionally, the light reflects out thru the holes.  I was inspired by Geodes.

This work represents one of the first explorations of poking holes through perfectly good pots.   

Must say .....the “first hole” is the most difficult. I agonize:  “Do I really want to do that?” “Why am I doing this?”  “This is really stupid!”   As my hand hesitates with the hole cutter???? What the heck am I doing as first one hole and then another penetrates the wall.  Then the question arises:  When to stop?  I don’t know what compelled me to begin this folly but I just keep on going???

Item 2: 

 

This second  work is a double walled and perforated vase.  So even though you can see light passing through the outside portions…… there is a 1.5 inch tube inserted down the center  all the way to the bottom which holds water and is totally functional.  

 This is a slab built piece which was draped around one of those orange construction cones.  I attached a  slab bottom and inserted an extruded tube in the center. 







When poking the holes with the hole cutter I had to be extremely careful NOT to go to far or I would penetrate the inner extruded tube. 

This was not glazed on the outside because the holes would’ve been sealed.  Rather I used an under glaze when at the leather hard stage.  Yes,  the inside of the tube is glazed and waterproof.  It is totally functional as a vase. 

New Work:

The three bowls below represent the newest works for this themed show.  Same construction methods for all: 

Rolled out 24 inch x 24 inch about 3/4 inch thick .  I use recycled clay.  The  slabs are draped over a large  plaster mold.  An extruded foot ring is attached and then the rims are refined or left in the rough.  Each hole is individually pierced at least 3-4 times before the clay reaches the leather hard stage.  And YES!! It is very difficult to handle that amount of clay!!!! Sometimes it flops around, pulls apart, falls on the floor and has air bubbles.  And if you are wondering...YES I do have a mechanical slab roller. I don't make these slabs with a rolling pin. I use a Northstar 24 Inch slab roller.  I love it!!!  

 Item #3

 
 The largest-red bowl is approx 16” in diameter, 11 inches tall. The same mold was used for all.  Only the rims are different.   For the largest red bowl I smoothed the rim.   

 All three bowls had a black under glaze applied at the leather hard stage and then I used a very thin clear glaze which did not clog up the holes. 

 

 Item #4:
 For the Chartreuse Bowl I decided to leave the rim in a more organic state. 

 

Item #5:

 For the black bowl I smoothed the rim a little but left it raggedy.

All items were first bisque fired to cone 05 and then glaze fired to cone 6 in an electric L&L kiln. 

Feel free to leave your comments ask a question and share your reactions. I know my work does not appeal to everyone.  But I’m making this stuff to please myself and have fun. But this blog stuff is a challenge!!! And I'm  obviously not a professional photographer.  Marcia Koski Finnerty

COMING SOON!

 

A new body of work!

When I opened the lid to the kiln...... I looked down and to my utter delight....... saw the bowl I had worked on for days. 

It  does not happen very often....that what you visualize in your minds eye  ....... comes out of the kiln better than you had imagined.  It is thrilling! 

Ceramic artists are at the mercy of the kiln gods. 

A sample of my latest work includes an entirely new color palette. Before this final glaze firing I prepared over 20 test tiles.

 I tested and compared over 30 different under glazes, different application methods and different glaze firing temperatures. Additionally, I had to also test some new clear glazes applied over the under glazes.  For this I thank Virginia Pates at NVCC and her recipe for clear glaze. IT was the Clear winner (excuse the pun). Each color is hand applied.





Slab Built over Hump Mold Fired to cone 5 in electric kiln




Please share with me what you would like to see or discuss. 


Examples:  Studio set up? Types of equipment utilized? Glaze test results? What would you find interesting?

Need your ideas and suggestions.

Re-discovering your creative spirit!

Now that I am old enough …. (I hit the magic senior Citizen #)  I am able to register for classes for free at the local community college.  How kool is that.???  I also get a free parking pass for the semester. 

So needing a creative “kick in the pants” last February, I decided that a way to stimulate my creative juices would be to sign up for a ceramic/sculpture class with the new professor at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, VA. 

The situation that developed for having such a “Debbie Downer” attitude was due to having suffered a very bad fracture of my arm.  Several months previously, I had suffered a bad fall and broke my wrist requiring surgery a surgical implant, several screws and physical therapy.  Very frustrating!  So at my age getting back in the saddle was difficult and depressing for a time. This class provided the needed stimulus and positive reinforcement to start working again.

 
 

Virginia Pates provided that much needed creative environment in her ceramic /sculpture studio. Even more wonderful were the creative students in the class.  Working in a studio  with all that creative energy was like receiving  a blood transfusion .   Working alone in my dark cold basement is not conducive to healing or stimulating the creative process.  I have to give a lot of the credit to my fellow students as well as a wonderful teacher.  I owe them a great deal of gratitude,  they all helped me get out of my creative funk.  And I was able to accomplish something that I tasked for myself as a new challenge.  I hoped to make a sculptural piece of artwork on as large a scale allowable by the equipment in the studio.  That is the limiting factor for most ceramic artists.  I hoped to develop a knowledge base about how to make large sculptural pieces, be able to fit them together before and after firing and also provide for easy /safe transport.

So for the first time I attempted to work on a large scale. Totally out of my comfort zone or experience. My idea was to utilize Large Extruded Squares, but did not now how to put them together. And more important How to get them apart! So Virginia suggested creating an inner lip just like a lidded jar with a gallery .  So that’s what I did and it worked very well and at this height. 

At home I have a very large extruder.  I can extrude 10” x 10” hollow squares.  I extruded about 10 of these each 12 inches tall placed them in plastic covered bins and carried them to the NVCC Studio.  I Placed a damp sponge in each bin to keep the clay at a nice working consistency . Made a lip, was able to conveniently stack 4 sections on top of each other, and went to work.  One tip to share:  I discovered Tyvec house wrap works great between each block.  I placed strips between the gallery and lip so that tabs stuck out between layers.  Made for easy separation. This is larger than anything I’ve ever made. And was within the size of the studio kiln. But I miscalculated by about ½ an inch. Grrrrrrr.  My goal was to fire it in one entire piece rather than sections.

So I would like to introduce you to my new friend:  CLAY.

Virginia Pates Instructor at NVCC allowed me to set up my own spot in the communal studio.  I found an old desk chair outside near the dumpster.  I  removed the seat and securely attached a piece of plywood.  I made it level and used that as my portable work space.  The studio is used by ALL the ceramic classes as well as sculpture students so when you leave your work for the weekend /evening you have to anticipate the worst and cross your fingers. One of the other students in the class studying cartooning and animation helped give Clay some much needed personality and attitude.  Hopefully this would warn other students away with his menacing attitude????

Virginia Pates provided much needed guidance on methods/technical strategies about building stackable interlocking blocks for this sculpture/fountain.            Here you can see the little tabs of  House Wrap sticking out between each of the blocks.  There are 4 blocks stacked and interlocking.  The design blends between each layer of blocks.  The design is supposed to allude to fish swimming upstream to spawn. Heavy use of under glazes and all hand carved.

 

One thing I discovered in working this large is that it takes a long time to carve the entire surface!!!!  It takes focus and attention to maintain the momentum.  I did get bored but then it is time to STOP working and take a break. And that was good because it forced me to walk around the classroom/studio and interact with my fellow students.  It was important to stop, look, listen to see what they were doing. I gained more from them as I tried to understand what they found difficult, challenging and interesting.  Those conversations were transforming.  It was so good to be in classroom environment.   Also they would trickle over to where I was working and ask questions.  Good thoughtful and probing questions which really forced me to think about what, why I was doing what I was doing.  A rich exchange of information and fun.