Saturday, March 11, 2006

The Little Plate from Yesterday

Coffee this morning in the Art Institute of Chicago mug with Katsushika Hokusai's Beneath the Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa. It's smaller than the Starbucks mugs, but its message is mighty.

It's the weekend so I got a real breakfast this morning: Dave made waffles and bacon and served them with fresh berries, coffee and oj. Yumm. I am culinarily spoiled.

Now I have to put a load in Big Bertha, wrestle with her firing schedule and beat it into submission, and deliver to Creative Spirit Gallery here in Decatur. Becky has been patiently waiting for me to bring back all the work I took for the Buyer's Market show in Philadelphia (and she has a big commission check for me--makes a Saturday delivery worthwhile!).

So the little plate fully slumped in the medium kiln and surprisingly, it did not pull in or lift up any further. I may just make the rims on the little plates 3/4" as they will already have organic/unfinished edges and will therefore have thinner uneven edges. A note on timing: I got a not-totally-straight drop but as much as I wanted in 15 minutes at 1265 degrees.

Barbara, thanks for the heads up on funky thermal shocking: I have not mixed plaster and mullite before, and these molds are cermaic board fired on ceramic board (and no kiln wash is necessary!).

2 comments:

Barbara Muth said...

No KW needed? Paint me jealous. The little plates came out nice. I like the movement in their edges. I usually try for the low and slow slumps to avoid the pulling in you get with square drop thoughs. But it totally works with these, the design is already so organic. Onwards and Upwards!

Anonymous said...

A commission check! Huzzah!