Woodfired Surface

I love the effect wood ash has on my chun glaze. I was able to get this effect on the surface of my chun pots in my September firing. In this firing I used almost 100% pine (native-cyprus) to get the result below in 13 hours. I haven't been able replicate this with hard woods so far. I am still getting the pine from a section of dead pine trees on the farm that my grand father ring-barked years and years ago.

Surface detail: Effect of pine ash on chun glaze over 13 hour firing

Solo exhibition for 2014 Confirmed

I have recently confirmed a solo exhibition at Strathnairn Homestead Gallery. The exhibition titled Out of the blue will run from Friday 18 July to Sunday 3 August 2014. The exhibition will feature work created since my Graduating show at the ANU (late 2012) to mid 2014. Exhibition will aim to showcase the continued exploration of my 'Cloud' glaze (Chun) via various wood firing methods. As well as other the other glaze colours I have been experimenting with. Some of which have been 'happy accidents' with the colour quite literally appearing 'Out of the blue'.

Out of the blue #4, Wood fired  Stoneware and chun glaze, 2013

Images of my work from the July firing

Here are some shots taken by Stuart Hay of my work from the July firing. He does such a good job of photographing the work (and the shiny surfaces). I am very happy with these images. From this lot I put an entry into the Clunes Ceramic award 2013. The large flat bowl 'Memories of Sky #2' made it into the final exhibition. The exhibition closes this Sunday. You can check out the other finalists at http://www.clunesceramicaward.com.au/ . I was very pleased to be selected for this exhibition.

Slightly overcooked but best firing in this kiln so far



 

I cracked the kiln to reveal pleasing results. The kiln fired hottest at the top of the kiln where my cloud glaze (chun blue) was over fired to a clear gloss. As the temperature varied to the bottom of the kiln however, so did the blue glaze on the tall vertical forms which I was happy with.

 

Over the last few firings I have seen pink blushes on various pieces, this time I got more of a purple (see photos below). I am not 100% sure whether the purple is just the pink blush fired to a higher temperature? As I am not changing the glaze recipe or the wood this is quite interesting - something I will have to investigate further. 

 

 

 

Dealing with difficulties

I started the firing at approx. 6 am, it was cold and dark. The firing progressed nicely in the early stages and soon the sun was up. It turned into a really nice day with no wind. I begun to have trouble getting the temperature to rise at about 1100 C and approximately 10 hours into the firing. This was also compounded by the fact that white ants had eaten a lot of the wood I had split and stacked last summer (enough for two firings I thought!).  After trying a number of adjustments - I could not get past 1200 C and eventually resorted to raking out the coals from under the grate to increase the air flow. This was very hot work and once I had cleared the coals away I could see that I had lost two of my grate bars, one from each side. This was effecting the air flow into the kiln , however removing the coals did help the air get into the area under the remaining grate bars.The temp started rising and the cones started to bend. Opening up the primary air holes above the grate and feeding small pieces of wood helped to keep the temp rising. Soon the cones were over at the top and the bottom of the kiln (cone 12 flat at the top, bending at the bottom). I was finished in approx. 13 hours.

 

sunrise once the firing started

 

Kiln at top temp

Packing the kiln for firing number 3



The photos below detail the packing of the kiln for firing number three. I made some slight adjustments to the bagwall. These  adjustments were to allow a little more space between the bagwall bricks and the walls on a couple of different courses. Most of the work was packed quite tightly in the section nearest to the bagwall and then stacked as high as I could to get the work close to the top of the kiln. The two pieces either side of the bottle on top of the bagwall are works my girls made - one is a face of a crocodile the other a dinosaur.

 

 

 

Bowls, bottles and vases- vessel forms ready for glazing.