It was like Christmas in August…. Last night the kiln was finally cool enough that it wouldn’t burn my face off when I peered inside. It was the first time I had fired my kiln up to cone 6 (about 2232 degrees F) but everything seemed to work like it should. I started it Sunday afternoon and I stopped it manually at around midnight after almost 8 hours and 2235 degrees. I would have let it stop on it’s own but the witness cones were already bent and I didn’t want to “overcook” by first load. But on to more important things, like the results.
I was happy with almost everything. I used Amaco’s Buff Firing Clay and Warm Brown Stoneware with some of their glazes and a few Coyote glazes that I ordered a few days ago. So I was mostly just experimenting and finding out what the glazes would do. Here are a few pictures I took quickly after I pulled everything out of the kiln:
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- pitchers
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- tallpieces
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- shortpieces
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- bowls1
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- bowls2
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- tiles
The only problem was with the small green pitcher. The Gun Metal Green glaze I used on the outside started flaking off. It seemed to be okay on the other pieces that I used it on so I don’t know what happened. All the other glazes look really great. Some of my favorites were Amaco’s Oil Spot, Blue Rutile, and Seaweed and Coyote’s Goldenrod Shino and Pam’s Blue.