Getting Clay in New Mexico

bought a bag of porcelain at Santa Fe Clay http://www.santafeclay.com/
They only had one bag of ^6, which is lame.  I had plans on getting a bag for Laura.  So next time.
Good news, they have two clays I have been using so I can go there to get them or have my folks pic up clay when they are down there.  Life just got easier on that front.

Good & Bad news

Well the bad news is that one of the kilns at the Cup and Bowl is throwing fits.  The coils were removed after a half baked bisque fire and it was tried again... and again.. half baked.  They said it might be the thermocoupler.  So that sux.

Good news?  Kuky is putting together the gas kiln and we are going to be starting some soda fire experiments within a week.

Dusted with Ashes

So I remember when I collected ash from the fire place in Santa Fe.  Zeke saw the bag and said "what are you doing? What is that for?"  But no, it wasn't for any type of brujaria it was for POTS!

In the past I have lightly sprinkled ash on a few pots, and it has had an effect. Because we are electric we cannot do reduction and so the typical ash glaze is not an option.  Here I used Water Fall Brown, and then an edge of Egg Shell and then while still wet i applied a very thick amount of Ash on a rough third of the plate and on the top of the Jug. The effect?  Well it significantly distorted the look of the glaze making blues and blacks come through. To my eye is looks a bit more like Temmoku than anything else.

The plates are new and are 10.5" across, the jug has been patiently waiting to be fired.  Here it is at last...

New Bowls

Ok these are four bowls (three large soup style and one pretty wide and flat).  they are green ware.  If you don't know that means, they have not been fired but are dry.  This also means the color will change when fired and they will shrink!  Then they will be glazed.