Week 13 - A Great Solo Soda
My energy this week was focused on firing a cone 10 soda with a reduction downfire containing my two parter sculptures, empty bowls, and some sculptural vessels. My main goal was to keep the kiln as even as possible with a pretty loose pack. Since my sculptures took up the flue half of the kiln, I made sure to loosely and evenly disperse the pots in the stack by the firebox in hopes of not replaying what happened with my cone 6 soda that fired extremely fast and got way hotter on the top, from all the open air. I did a slow overnight candle to hit quartz inversion in the morning, then climbed a steady 100 degrees/hr until temperature. I succeeded in keeping the top cooler, but my bottom got a cone and a half hotter. I think I lost the evenness around body reduction. Nevertheless, I shut the kiln off when cone 10 was slightly bending on top and 11 was halfway down on the bottom and immediately crash cooled after my last spray. I stoked for a little under two hours, down to 1890 degrees on top (probably ~1950 on bottom). It was a 28 hour firing in total.
My big experiments this firing were firing my thick ass sculpture base and refiring my two-part monument with a wood ash slurry pasted on it. The slurry worked amazingly! I was so surprised that it had adhered so well. I will definitely continue playing around with this. The thick ass sculpture base didn’t explode or rip itself apart, despite its crack opening significantly. I think I’ll be successful in repairing/cold surfacing it, though. My sculpture base balances precariously in it now with a wooden dowel; I’m hopeful I’ll be able to make it sturdy with a stronger rod and some sort of filler.
Unfortunately, my liner shino messed up the insides of both my mugs and my plate. I definitely applied it too thick on these, and I think it also didn’t like the crash cool and/or heavy reduction atmosphere. Mainly, I’m pretty sure I mixed up my shinos and applied one I actually didn’t mean to use. Oops. It’s a bummer, but I’m still super happy with the outsides of these.
This bowl turned out beautifully, though:
And I was thrilled with how the Mangus-Kwong dark clay recipe reacts with the soda. Those pieces were by the flue, which I think was at least a cone cooler than where the bottom cone pack was by the firebox. They didn’t slump like the ones in my last soda. I’ll be interested to continue testing out this clay; I think this sculpture and the bottom of my plate (above) turned out beautifully.
Of the 10 empty bowls I fired, 5 were trash, either from debris, or weird glaze stuff. Oh well. Life of an atmospheric firer.
Overall, I am proud of this soda and got some awesome results and knowledge and am feeling a lot more confident with the kiln.
weekly gratitudes
I get to spend some time with my mom <3
Got to see the eclipse at the Chicago airport
My spiders and plants are all doing well