After spending the summer getting ourselves settled into our new townhouse, and enjoying a Vancouver Island holiday with family, I was delighted to start making pots again. The little downstairs bedroom now has a vinyl floor and houses my wheel, a work table and the slab roller and makes a fine studio. Thanks to TriCity Potter Max Yang's Coquitlam kiln I was able to bisque…
"TriCity Potters have been preparing for our group soda firing at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for a few months. Last Wednesday twenty potters brought our pots to the Vault kiln for liner glaze, flashing slips and wadding. Some members helped to load the kiln the next day and learn about spraying soda into the kiln at its hottest on the third day. We had…
There's always more to learn when you toy with atmospheric firing. People ask how it went and the answer is 'well 80%', often. That's good. Overall the colours looked encouraging when we opened the kiln door but my batch seems rather brown. I shall refer to my notes and make suggestions to myself to try a different flashing slip, or apply less etc. Every time…
Once again I had the chance to join fellow potters in a firing of the Vault Kiln at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Hoping that having my name on their waiting list would earn me a chance, I had thrown some experimental pieces back in November. Lucky me, I was invited to bring my two cubic feet of ware for this firing. The pots are…
It was a hot Summer afternoon when we gathered in Deer Lake Park to unload the Vault Kiln on Tuesday. Right away we could see that the techs had fired the kiln successfully, with even some cone 12s having started melting. We saw lots of carbon trapping and orange peel on pots on the front shelves as we waited for all participants to join us. front…