Monday, September 21, 2009

Korean show closes

The show at the World Ceramic Center, Incheon, Korea has come down. I am told it was very well received. It was reviewed in "Monthly Ceramic Art," a beautiful publication, the Korean equivalent of "Ceramics Monthly" here in the states or "Ceramic Review" in England. I was fortunate to have images of my work included in the article. I don't read (Korean) Kanji, so the content will have to wait until I can get a friend to translate. A catalog of the show was also published.

Firing the PrattMWP salt kiln






This semester we will be posting firing methods for the salt kiln. As I emailed a student yesterday, you can break the firing process down in a number of ways.
For our purposes we will organize things this way-

-Loading
preparation
stacking
-Firing
starting and ramping
mid-firing, oxidation/reduction
salting and soaking
-Cooling/unloading

We will post images as we go along. There is much to consider in any atmospheric firing, which is why I find it exciting. The results are endless. No offense, electric is fine. We are seeing great results as more study is given to glaze formulation. But you just don't see the range of surprises (good and bad) found in an "atmospheric" kiln. Put simply- you can make your decisions about the outcome before you load or during the firing. I prefer the interaction with the kiln as it ages and changes. Nothing like it.

Some potters are painters at heart; or sculptors or designers. I make pots as an excuse to fire kilns; the more unpredictable the better. That unknowing is a strange comfort- no, a discomfort really, that keeps one's work fresh. Besides, what better way to spend an evening than sitting around the kiln, salting and discussing what to try next while drinking a Guinness with good company.

By the way, we may do things a bit differently from other potters or the "books." So accumulate as much information as possible (I will include some great sources) and choose what works based on your experience. Try different things (break some rules) and you'll find that accepted wisdom is a starting point, not gospel. We will talk about that, too.

We will talk about technical aspects of firing and management of the kiln; how the kiln design affects fired results. There is much to explain and other experienced potters can be found to fill in the void. Although words will never replace experience, maybe some of the poetry of firing will come through.

An important note- Subsequent discussions on this or other clay and kiln related topics will be found at prattmwpclay.blogspot.com.

Friday, September 11, 2009

End of Summer



Summer memories are of restful days and searching for the best launch site in the area. The sole sailing adventure went great. The "landing," however was not smooth to say the least. Picture a capsized boat and a flotilla of rescue "party" barges (complete with lovely young ladies!), one boater gracious enough to tow me in. It produced quite a few laughs for all of us. Luckily, no tabloid was there to cover the the event. And more importantly, I found a way to bring the boat in. How long will it take for the real boaters on Fourth Lake to catch on to my "landing" technique.