Preparing for Workshop!!

I am trying to get everything prepared for the upcoming workshop!
I had a very unfortunate first bisq firing...in that all of my homemade clay bodies completely melted!!! I even thought that I had ruined my electric kiln, but upon further inspection I was able to fix it. (The bottom picture is of my melted work as it came out of the kiln!)
SO, back to the drawing board and I made a small round of work (Bmix cone 10) and incorporated some local slip and the inclusion of a small percentage of local yellow clay for character. They came out of the bisq just find and are ready to be glazed and shipped!
The beaver tails are important to me with this firing as the change that they represent...I am soaking them in the acid mine waste creek so they can soak up some of the orange waste and be changed into something beautiful...
We collected some beaver wood for the firing and along the way we came to a place where there were beaver tail prints in the mud.... Makes me feel that I am on the right path...

Attending April Workshop!!!

I will be traveling out to Astoria, Oregon for a workshop called "The Dragon Kiln Crosses Cultures".It is a two-week event intended for all artists in the region who are interested in the Anagama pottery experience. The event will include a lecture at the CCC Performing Arts Center, featuring a visual presentation by Jack Troy and traditional Japanese koto music by Mitsuki Dazai, a 2-day clay making class, and a 6-day hands-on firing workshop in which the pieces brought or created will be fired in the Astoria Dragon Kiln. Along with the lecture and workshops, Professor Troy will exhibit his most recent Anagama work at the CCC Art Center Gallery.

I will be attending thanks to the generous support of the Ohio River Border Initiative who awarded me with a fast track grant to cover the cost of the workshop.

I am really excited to work with Jack Troy, Richard Rowland, and the Astoria Dragon Kiln community!

Firing the Beaver Calcine Kiln

I fired the Beaver Kiln this week! It was pretty exciting just to fire a kiln and play with the fire. I loaded the small chamber with Beaver bones (to use in a glaze), Deer bones (to use in the making of a clay body), and seashells (for use as a whiting in a glaze). I also loaded the kiln with cone packs, just as a temperature test, and the kiln worked beautifully for calcining materials! I dropped cone 08 in the chamber and that was hot enough for the purpose of the kiln.

Speaking of Beavers...

SInce we are talking of Beavers...I have also decided to make a mold of two Beaver Tails (from the same beavers that will be calcined). I was able to work on them in my new studio! It is great having all of my materials together in one large space to work with. The plaster molds are finished and drying and I hope to use them to make clay beaver tails very soon. (The other picture is of the mama and baby goat that I am temporarily sharing my studio with until it warms up...aren't they cute!)

Beaver Kiln

Because of Beavers, I have decided to build a small wood kiln.

This Kiln is for calcining the bodies of some Beavers that my friend Carl had trapped for their fur. My intent is to burn the beavers down and use their bones as bone ash in a glaze. I will also be able to use it to calcine any other materials that I come across and I will also be testing it for temperature to see how hot it can get (to see if I may be able to fire work in it as well...)

The bricks are all dry laid because it is just a temporary calcining kiln.

Some technical details:

The firebox is 4' long x 18" wide and tall

The stacking chamber is 18" wide x 20" Long and Tall

The chimney is 6' Tall x 9" wide

The flame path will be roughly 16' long

I hope to fire it next week and will post the results!

Break from pottery to rebuild bathroom!

This past summer I had to put the kiln development on hold while I focused my energy into the remodeling of my bathroom. Sounds like a small undertaking....but the project consumed pretty much all of my art time from August through November here. But I am finally done!!!
We decided to do as much as possible ourselves and I was able to really use the project to learn alot about building and patience. I had help putting in all new plumbing (water and drain lines) but all the rest was done by us. The part that was the most exciting was the tile work on the floor and going three feet up the walls. I used old roofing slate (from a house on my back acre) that I cut down to a nice size and then grouted and sealed them. It is a perfect use for the old slate... I believe that I could build my own cabin and studio now...

The round piece of slate in the picture was found that way being used as the bottom of an old metal bucket whose bottom had rusted out!

Chimney growing

The chimney now is 11 ft tall. The finished height will be about 14 or 15 feet. I installed a damper about 5 feet up from the bottom of the hole as you can see in the picture. It is nice to be using bricks, rather than just collecting them!