Painting in the Hollow: The Pines, Zbukvic, and Results from the Cone 6 Glaze Fire

I'm later than usual with my posting, but I wanted to wait 'til I finished and photographed my painting of the Pines in the hollow as I had said I would in my last post. Also wanted to give a report on how my glaze firing went, so here it is:

Painted our pine tree logs that I allowed the 'tree guys' to roll down into a small ravine directly behind the house. Silly me, I was running around after the guys felled the pines hauling them to a place in the back yard to save so that I can later do 'something' with them, what just yet I don't know. And with each one I would pass up, it was as if it were saying 'pick me, I don't want to go!' (I'm weird like that). Well, as it turned out, the guys were having a problem with the city (a place has been designated for disposal of trees from the ice storm damage) accepting the pine lumber (so they said). So I was very content to allow the men to leave all the pine with us. I really did not want those beautiful logs hauled away. Pine breaks down quickly and it just seemed right that they stay here. Oh, and the oak trees? Well, we've got enough fire wood for years to come!

I touched up the pines and added some highlights here and there in the studio.

The Pines, wc, 9 1/8" x 12 7/8"

I was so frustrated with it while painting in the woods, but kept reminding myself of what Joseph Zbukvic says, to 'keep going' when painting your subject outdoors and 'never lose faith' because as soon as you do, you'll fail at your attempt. He is so right! I kept painting, and although I wasn't satisfied, I did feel the painting had some potential. After about an hour, I was getting stiff from sitting on the ground, and also felt I may be getting a tick or two (which I later discovered was true) so I lumbered back to to studio, untaped my painting, threw it around here and there trying to decide what to do with it. Toss it to the done that pile, or keep going? The logs were only partially painted, but that was really the only thing left unfinished, aside from adding a little detail to the foreground trees. I just didn't want to give up on this painting. It held a lot of meaning for me. The hollow represented the final resting place for Daddy's pines. They represent 30 years of our life here, the lives of our girls, our pets, and a constant reminder of my father and his love for nature...nope, it was worth trying to save because as I looked at it, I could feel the emotion I had while painting them. It may not be the greatest painting, but it enabled me to work through the emotional and physical process of losing 'the pines', and hopefully viewers can be reminded of similar things that matter to them also.

Well, unfortunately, I was not so satisfied with my glaze fire. None of my cups turned out like I wanted, as the patterns I slipped on them barely show. The firing also went to cone 7 on the middle shelf and probably on the bottom shelf too (didn't use a witness cone on the bottom). However, that only seemed to compromise the brightness of the blue slip on one of my jars, but it may also be the reason for my slip decoration not showing up on the cups. I really think though, that [the slip doesn't show up] because my glaze application was too thick and my slip was too thin.

But I did have a couple of pieces turn out pretty good, such as the blue and white facetted 'safe jar' seen in this picture. The one in the foreground is the one that the blue slip did not come out on. The blue slip used on the inside however, did fine (fired it with the lid on). I may re-fire this piece later, as I've had success with the blue colors working on re-fires. Don't like to re-fire though. Always afraid the piece will break and create a mess in the kiln. Luckily, this has not yet happened to me. If I do decide to refire, I will only take it to about cone 5.

And my 'grass' cups turned out good:

These are some of my pendants. I'm have fun making them. I love making small clay things because of the portability. I can just sit anywhere and work on them. I carry everything I need around in a little shallow cardboard box and put a small amount of clay in a ziplock bag to keep it moist as it dries out quickly and will lose it 'malleable' texture if exposed to the air too long. I use food freezer paper, the waxed side as my surface to work on (sometimes getting a shape started by using the palm of my hand) as it leaves no marks on the clay. I draw out my patterns 1st on newspaper, then trace them using a felt-tip/sharpy pen on plastic tops of margarine and 'Cool Whip' bowls. These become my templates.

One final note for all you die-hard Joseph Zbukvic fans (like me) out there. He FINALLY got an official website, and also his new video, Watercolour Impressions with Joseph Zbukvic, is now available in the US via The Artists' Place. I bought it and very pleased with it. I could watch that guy paint all day. Maybe, just maybe one of these days I'll be able to take one of his workshops.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be posting again next week on a paint-out. Oh, and I've ordered the Sun-Eden watercolor tripod set. Will let you know what I think of it. I just can't keep lugging that 11 lb. french easel around; and so much wasted space, not to mention it's killing me. My shoulders, back, and knees, Oh my! Now I'll have one less excuse for plein air painting, as every time I'd think about all that weight, I would talk myself out of going somewhere to paint. I also plan on posting about my new macro lens (was my Christmas present from Santa) sometime in the near future. Until, then, happy painting, potting, photographing, or whatever makes you happy!

On Second Thought...

As an afterthought regarding my last post, I'm thinking one of the main reasons I started this blog was to share with others how I do things as a way for us to help each other work through problems with our art. So I'll tell what I've read so far on how to do the simple, at-home test, for ceramic durability, suggested by other potters.

But 1st(to CMA) a small disclaimer:

Note: The following information is NOT instructions and should not be interpreted as such - I, in no way will be responsible for injury to anyone due to their following of my tips, ideas, steps, or any other information regarding the way that I performed, or will perform tests, or anything else, on my pottery or art. It is the responsibility of the reader/viewer/commenter of this information to use his/her own judgment, and do his/her own research on the testing of ceramics for durability, or performing any other procedure discussed on this site prior to doing his or her own testing.

Safety Tip: I would suggest wearing a long-sleeve shirt, hand mitten potholders, and safety glasses when performing these tests.

So far, I've performed the boiling/plunging test, whereby I:

1. Placed my liner test tiles in a zip-lock bag, placed them in the freezer for up to 24 hours (it's suggested to freeze for 24 hrs., but I don't think I froze my tiles every time for this long.


2. Then I carefully emptied them from the bag into a large pan (I used a dutch oven/a large sauce pan with handles on the sides) with just enough boiling water to cover the tiles. Moved them around with a spoon to make sure they were all covered in the water, then removed the pan the heating element on my cook-top (electric oven) and left the tiles alone to cool for a few minutes. I was attempting to simulate, as closely as possible, the action of one pouring a boiling liquid into a cup - once the liquid is in the cup, it would stop boiling and begin cooling.


3. I removed the tiles, using a slotted spoon, from the water and placed them on a towel to dry. After they were completely cooled, I checked each tile for crazing (small hairline cracks in the glaze which has a 'tiled' pattern to it), under a magnified light that I have in my studio. If your glaze is white like many of mine are, these cracks are sometimes very hard to see with the naked eye. See other ways for checking for craze lines below.
   


4. I repeated this freezing/plunging process 2 more times for a total of 3 times, which is suggested, and so far, none of the pieces have crazed. Now through my reading up on this, I understand that crazing can still take place, anywhere from a few days to months later. In other words, there's no guarantees when performing these types of 'home tests'.
   

TIPS- CHECKING FOR CRAZING:

Another way I discovered by accident to check for crazing is to dab some of the water from my 'throwing bucket' (stirred a little to kick up the silica from its bottom) onto the surface of a pot or tile. If the piece is crazed, the water will evaporate or seep into the cracks leaving the silica behind in the cracks, forming a pattern which is easy to see with the naked eye. Other potters' suggestions involve using water-soluble pens (use a color that will show up on your piece) to mark the surface which will show the crazed pattern, but I don't like the idea of messing up my test tiles using any kind of ink because I'm sure, even though it's water-soluble, once it's in the cracks, it would be hard to remove, as it is sunken into the clay body, which is exposed via these cracks. Another suggestion is to use a cheap microscope for viewing. Ron Roy suggested at a workshop that Radio Shack had (note, it's been several years since I attended that workshop) one at a reasonable price.

So that's how I did my first test for crazing. I'm sure it would have been better to perform this test using cups instead of tiles, but I just wanted to get an idea of how stable these glazes are before making larger batches of them and also, I didn't have enough cups to test and was anxious to go ahead and start testing.

I do however, plan to use cups for the second test, which involves heating in the oven, then 'quenching' in room temperature water. As you can see, this must be done with caution also, as anything can happen. Talk about thermal shock! What I've read so far (again, I'd suggest that you read up on this yourself, as I could be wrong in my interpretation of this information) involves placing the cup to be tested in the oven, beginning at 250 degrs. F. and 'progressing' up to 300 degrs. F. and staying at that temp. for 30 minutes. Here is where I'm not sure how fast one should raise the temp. From what I've read, it seems it should be done slowly, but how slowly? Let the oven come up to 300 degrs. F. at it's default rate? That would be pretty fast. This inquiring mind wants to know, if you do, please leave a comment, or let me know via e-mail!

Anyway, the cup(s) is heated at 300 degrs. F. for 30 minutes, then removed (I'll wear hand mittens and safety glasses for this test!) from the oven and placed into room temperature water (it's suggested to do this step in the sink for obvious safety reasons).

This is a harsh test and one that should be done with caution, as anything can happen, which I explained in my last post. I plan to try to use my studio sink for this, as it's a deep janitorial-type fiberglass sink. First, I'll place the dutch-oven I used for my test with the tiles in the bottom of this sink, fill it with enough water to cover the cup, and give it plenty of time to reach room temp. before heating the cup (I assume this is important, as too cold (yikes!) or too warm would not give an accurate result).

I've read (NOT from the ASTM site) that the ASTM says that a piece that passes this second test 3 times should be considered stable enough for 'normal' (to some, 'normal' may be what I or others would consider 'abnormal') use. As I mentioned in my last post, I never could find on ASTM's site where they explain this test and how to do it. It looked to me like they are wanting to charge a fee for their information, but maybe I was not doing a good enough search for the ASTM C 554-93 test. Now I have read enough to know that they are NOT talking about using these pots for 'flame ware' or on the cook-top. This is the industry-level stuff you see in department stores and even most of those ceramics are not made nor intended for cook-top or even oven use. I'm also, not particularly interested in making 'ovenproof' pots, as I understand one should use a stoneware clay which is specifically formulated for ovenware use. But I guess this second test would, if my pot passed the tests, make those pieces 'ovenproof' wouldn't it? I'm just not into making casseroles, etc. at this time, but who knows, I could certainly change course at any time! I'm just mainly interested in my functional ware being microwaveable (yet another test to be performed) and have a good 'clay/glaze fit', hence the thermal shock tests. Later...

Testing, Throwing, Painting

I've spent the past few days throwing a few cups in order to test my liner glazes. If you're interested in 'how' to test your funtional ware for stability, I would suggest going over to Clayart's potters.org forum or Masteringglazes.com for the detailed how-to's. I have completed the 'freezing/plunging in boiling water' method and so-far-so-good - no crazing!

A word of caution - Be careful when doing any type of 'shock' testing on your ware. Any number of things can happen i.e. popping, shivering (when sharp slivers of glazes literally fall off the clay-body), exploding, or whatever.

Because I consider myself a novice in ceramics, and most certainly a novice in the science of glazing, I don't think I should go into 'details' of how I tested. I would not want, in any way, to be responsible for someone's misinterpretation of my testing procedure (yeah, that's right, I'm chicken - Wuh Oh, this is sounding like the subject of my last post!). Instead, I would encourage anyone interested in the subject to go to the above sites. You can get enough info from the potters.org forum on how to test. And if you need more info, you can always join their listserve and ask for help. Ron Roy is a regular contributor to Clayart's listserve and I see John H.'s posts on there often also. A lot of times potters will specifically ask for Ron or John's help on a technical problem they're having. These 2 guys, as well as the entire listserve community are a sea of information. Have to admit, I quit subscribing to the listserve a few years ago, because I didn't like getting so many e-mails from them, even if only weekly. Once I got the e-mail I felt obligated, or just too curious, to run through it to see if there was anything I may be interested in - one more thing (like the WWW) to get side-tracked by. For me, it is much more convenient to go there for any particular subject I'm interested in. Saves time and uneccessary e-mails/reading. I go to that site for anything and everything concerning a problem/question I may have regarding ceramics.

Also, the potters there mention how the American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM (ASTM C 554-93) suggests testing for thermal shock, which will be my next step. I could not find on their site exactly where they explain the procedure on how to perform this test, but was able to pick up enough info in my Mastering Cone 6 book AND at potters.org to do the test; but I'll perform that test using cups, not test tiles. It involves heating the ware in the oven to a certain degree, then quenching in room temp. water, which is a more rigorous test than the first (again, be sure you research how to do this test before actually doing it and proceed with caution!).

And alas, on painting, just playing around with a mini watercolor (4.5" x 5") of a fallen oak leaf. I really want to get back to painting. Gotta make the time...

The Glaze Fire

I'm very pleased with this glaze firing. The test tiles fired great. No visible signs of crazing or pinholes. I plan to test the tiles further for stability using Ron Roy and John Hesselberth's techniques. The following pics demonstrate how the kiln was loaded for this firing.

NOTE: The following points apply to any media I may be working in. I can see that I'll be repeating them often in the future! This info is intended for those of you who:

• are very new to ceramics who may not have the advantage of taking workshops or classes (hopefully you have taken at least a few classes in ceramics) and want to see examples of how someone else fires their pieces

• maybe you are familiar with ceramics but, like me, you enjoy seeing how other potters work, no matter what their (or your) level of experience. Each of us has our own way of doing things and this is just my way of working through/solving problems in 'the process' of creating. I'm a strong believer in 'there's always a better way'.

• have no experience with ceramics what-so-ever, but just enjoy reading blogs on the subject!

Top shelf was a 'half' shelf which held a bowl:

Next shelf, jars and some test tiles: I used 'wadding' to separate the lid from the glaze on the jar at left. Some still adhered to the glaze-where the heck is that dremel...

Third shelf ('empty' areas are where the posts were placed):

Bottom shelf:

As you can see, I have a teeny-tiny kiln. But I like it and it's all I could (and still can for the time being) afford at the time I bought it. Anyway, a larger one wouldn't fit my kiln room. I need to purchase about two or three more shelves and I'll be able to fire more jars and other items that don't take up too much space vertically.

Below are some pics of my test tiles. I held the firing for 30 mins. at 2185 (^5 temp.) degs. Far. which took my kiln (every kiln is different, so always use 'witness cones' to know exactly how high your firing actually went) to a little past ^6, almost to ^7 - maybe too far for the Ardvark clay, which is a ^5 clay. However, it didn't seem to hurt the glazes or clay at all. No blistering of glazes or slumping of the bisqueware.

Unloading the Kiln:

As I unload the kiln, I arrange the pieces on my kiln room shelves in the order they were in the kiln. This way, I can make note of where their location was in the kiln when I record the results in my notebook. In other words, pieces on the top shelf in the kiln correlate to how they're placed on my kiln room shelves, with the appropriate witness cone placed in front of each section. I write on the bottom of the witness cone with a fine-point sharpie, the kiln shelf location(e.g. top 'half-shelf';'2nd shelf'; 'third f/top', etc.). Now this is probably not necessary, unless my kiln were to fire very unevenly (which it seldom does) and affect the pieces' location in the kiln, but I do it anyway so I won't have regrets later:

Notice in above illus. the placement of witness cones for their particular shelf. See how pieces positioned behind the witness cone on the left almost went to a ^7 (the cone 7 is bent at about 11 o'clock. A bend to '9 O'clock' would have been a ^7 fire), while the witness cone shown on the far right in front of its pieces (bottom shelf location) the middle cone, cone 6, is only at 11 O'clock, meaning it only fired to a full ^5. However, I have to admit, I'm cheap and didn't want to waste using a witness pack that had a 'broken' cone 5 and 6 on it, so I think it actually went to a full cone 6. I'll try to remember to explain more about witness cones - what they are and how I make and use them in a later post.

Detail of test tiles:

Well, that's all for now. All of the glazes, or most of them are from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes, by Ron Roy and John Hesselberth. A good source if you're interested in ^6 firing. Later...

Cold, Cold, Cold...

Very cold and spittin' snow today. Supposed to get down to 4 deg. tonight; but I'm not complaining. I know people up north have got it a lot worse than us folks down here in Arkansas. Well, my goal for today is to decide which pieces I want to glaze for the next firing along with my cone 6 test tiles, and to prepare them by waxing the rims and bottoms. Til, then, stay warm...

Preparing Test Tiles

Yesterday I finished glazing my cone 6 test tiles, using Ardvark's cone 5 'Bone' and Flint Hill's cone 6 'Buff' clays. I'm trying to find a liner glaze, as well as an outside glaze that will fit the Flint Hill cone 6 clay (because this clay is my preference). My goal is to make sure my utilitarian ware:

• does not craze or leach
  
• is microwavable

In other words, is truly functional according to Ron Roy, the guru of cone six glazes. I attended one of his workshops about 3 or 4 years ago, when he and John Hesselberth were promoting their book, Mastering Cone Six Glazes and teaching how to use the glaze calculation software, Insight by Digital Fire Corp. It was very 'insightful' (ha) and I learned a lot, but have recently had to go over my notes from that event to refresh my memory on what was covered. I'm afraid I'm not being very diligent in learning the Insite software either, just have too much I'm trying to get done for the time being. Oh well, that's yet another goal to set!

Here's a pic of my test tiles, ready for the kiln:

Now, I need to get some other bisqued pots glazed so I'll have enough pieces for a firing. Which shouldn't take many, as my kiln (electric) is pretty small. These are a few things that I need to hurry up and glaze:

So, guess I better get busy, but my immediate goal for today is to get lids thrown for two of my jars. Then I can concentrate on glazing.

Yesterday's Goal Reached (Somewhat)

Well, seems blogging is helping somewhat so far in goal-setting. I did finish trimming my jar yesterday and although I did not get around to painting, I did get a bisque fire done. I'm preparing to test some new cone 6 clay from Flint Hill Clay Works - located in Marion, KS. I really like the feel of this clay, feels just like their high-fire clay, not groggy or gritty at all. The only other cone 6 clay I've tried so far is Ardvark's cone 6 'Bone' - don't care for it - too sandy- literally cuts my hands after throwing awhile. Anyway, will post my test results of my cone 6 test tiles for the F.H. clay as soon as I do the glaze tests. So, if I can get myself away from this computer, maybe I'll get some work done.

Today's goal

Today's goal - finish trimming on a jar (see image below), and hopefully get time to paint. Most important goal for today - get AWAY from this blog! I keep coming back to make changes to it; just too new to blogging I guess - time to get down to business. BTW, hope you had a nice holiday and a Happy New Year to all.

One of my 'safe jars' (Jack-in-the-Pulpit):