crazy days

i’ve had lots to post about but nothing but technological difficulties. i bought a camera a month or so ago and it seems to be malfuctioning, actually it won’t even turn on. am i cursed with all things electronic? and in addition my laptop seems to be on it’s last breath. i’m going to have to give in and get a new one soon.

but anyway, lots of stuff has been going on. preparation for showtel 7 has been underway. all my little microbes got finished up. i ended up soda firing them and was pleased with the results.

working with the kiln tech to check my work i sorta kinda “solo” fired the minnasota flattop and the soda kiln sunday. rudy, the flattop was done in a sweet 12 hours but our new soda takes a little longer. we had it done in 16 which is about average. hopefully as it gets fired more and we get to know it better the average time will decrease a little bit.

our kiln tech is a really great teacher and i’ve learned a buttload from him over the course of my residency. the soda kiln is a nice size to fill a load of my work and and fire solo, or to split with another resident. after finishing up sunday evening, i was already amped to start making work for the next one.

i’m getting really interested in the soda finish i’ve been getting on raw porcelain. i love the gray color and peach blushing that is typical of a soda fire, but for my work, the clean orange peel sheen is the best. especially when you get the little gray squiggles. i have so much detail in the form that putting glaze over it always seems like a bummer, but the soda sheen just coats it nicely, finishing it off. we’ve been firing to about cone 10 each firing, but next time, when i can fill the kiln or split it with j who also uses porcelain i’d like to push it to cone 11 or 12 and really max on the soda.

anyway, tuesday we were able to unload. everything came out great and is headed down to west palm with me today. showtel 7 is saturday. if you happen to be in the area, come on out!

microbes pre-fire. will post fired pictures and installation shots asap.