Many a slip between cup and kiln

There are so many ways to accidentally spoil a pot, it's no wonder we lose so many along the way. A few in the last firing didn't come out well for various reasons, one of which was that the bottomless saggar didn't work as I'd hoped. Despite a thick layer of sand in the base, it still sucked some oxygen in, so there wasn't enough reduction.

The slip on two pots bloated again, and I really thought I'd solved that problem..it didn't happen with all the slipped pieces though. I'm starting to wonder if the extra heat from the combustibles in the saggar is creating localised hot spots, and over-firing some of the pots placed on top of the kiln shelf, which I use as a lid. Next firing will be without a saggar, so it will be interesting to see if it reoccurs. I hope it doesn't!

Well, here are the pieces I was most happy with:

Cup with slips and ash glaze, approx 3 inches tall

By the way, this little cup above was the one where I applied the white slip after bisque firing. Red iron and black iron slips were applied at leatherhard, then it was bisqued. The white slip was brushed on and then it was dipped in a transparent ash glaze while the slip was still damp. This had the desired effect of reducing the thickness of the glaze application..the thinner this glaze is applied, the shinier it fires, and this time it came out perfectly.

Sake cup with shino glaze, approx 3 inches tall

Carved, shino bowl, approx 6 inches wide

Bottle vase with slips and ash glaze, approx 5 inches tall

Sake cup with oribe glaze, approx 2.5 inches tall

Tea light holder in the form of a bottle kiln, approx 5 inches tall

The tea light holder was previously fired in reduction, and although the colour was good, it had alot of craters in the glaze. So I refired it this time in oxidation. The glaze is more muted now, but still quite interesting..and the craters have pretty much disappeared.