Tuesday, November 02, 2010

What's in the Kiln?

An assortment of stoneware pendants, toggles and heart charms are spending the day in my kiln which is firing to Cone5 about 2100 degrees F.  These will look a little darker when they finish firing.  Also on another shelf which you can't see in this picture I am trying an experiment of firing a green ware pendant with stain on it.  Never bisqued.  I put them in the dehydrator to get them really dry again before I started the firing.  I have never fired a greenware pendant with stain without firing it to bisque first ( about 1850 degrees F).  I was fearful the stain would dissolve the clay and soften the image too much.  Stoneware seems to work better for this.  I'll know tomorrow morning when the kiln has fired and cooled down.

11 comments:

  1. Those are beautiful can't wait to see them when they are done.

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  2. Okay, now I have a huge question mark hovering over my head and following me around. I guess if I was a ceramic artist, I would know what green ware and stain are. I will have to wait and hope you share the results of the firing to us.

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  3. Ooops - I meant, with us.

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  4. Awesome - I'm so happy about our little trade:-)

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  5. Oh these all look amazing, can't wait to see the finshed outcome

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  6. Beautiful! I cannot believe how light your pieces are, which is a HUGE plus because I hate jewelry pulling on my neck but love large pendants. I am in love with all my pieces and will have a hard time selling any of them. If you are going to have any of the tiny hears available for sale let me know :-) they are too cute!!!
    Shannon
    check out my blog (this post especially)
    http://formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/11/simple-beauty.html

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  7. Hi Penny, Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. I will post pics, probably on Thurs.

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  8. Hi Stregata, Thanks for writing in. Your questions are so right on. Greenware refers to ceramic clay that has dried but not yet been fired in the kiln. Stain refers to chemicals mixed with water that color the ceramic clay body. In the pic you can see browns and teal greens. These are from the use of stains on the bisqued ceramic ware. Bisqued means that the clay has been fired at least one time, usually to a temperature of about 1850 degrees. The clay is still absorbent enough after that temperature firing to accept stains and glazes. When clay is fired to the cones 6 and higher it becomes more vitrified and does not accept the glaze very well. Hope this helps.

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  9. Thanks for writing in Eve. I hope to post on Thursday.

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  10. Hi Shannon, great comment about how light weight ceramics can be. I do plan to get some hearts on Etsy before too long. Thanks for letting me know and for all your other kind words.

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