April 1, 2011

http://www.space.com/11309-antarctic-meteorite-mineral-wassonite.html

I would have really liked to go to this one.

Jose reminds me of The Wizard (Jamie Kozlowski). His web site states:

"We can say that Jose Maria Mariscal turn learned from his father, has lived since childhood and is his strong, but has investigated on their own to explore the world of glazes, raku and the sigilata.
He has never made any course Potter or ceramic."

Mike Oliver sent several pieces for me to reduce. It looks like UPS beat me to the punch on all but one and reduced them to rubble.

Wired for an EEG. I'll have this on for a day.

Will and Bill with a nice catch. I'm sure they would say "Child's Play!"

My Dad made a fused / slumped glass bowl which I like and use a lot.

This has been a brutal winter with the snow mold and varmints wreaking havoc on the place.

It seems like we're behind this year, but maybe not. I see I took very similar photos 3-15-09.

Google Alerts brought me back to Sharon Jackman. It was good to see her again and her website http://www.shajaceramics.com/
She's really got some cool new stuff.

I found John Stroomer on the internet and sought him out. What a great guy! I think this photo of him is from Potfest 2009(?) in the UK. I hope they don't give me grief for reproducing it as I had to "juice" it off the screen. John sent me the other ones. He's really got some great stuff going on. Check out his website.  http://www.johnstroomer.com.au/index.cfm

John uses a copper / rutile glaze similar to the one I call NFU which caught my eye.

Matt approached me with e-mail subject "CRYSTALLINE POTTER OTHER SIDE OF THE POND". He's 21 years old and has been a self employed potter for 4 years. He's a go getter for sure. (You do the math.) Check him out at www.matthornepottery.co.uk

2.2mm dia. APM wire is stiff stuff and needs a little heat to make it easier to shape.

The guys in the metal shop have been working like mad fabricating parts of a large furnace order.

Tooling is everything when it comes to reproducible manufacturing.

These small heaters (1 1/4" ID x 3" L) use APM wire and will operate to 1300C and deliver 170w at 30V.

The heaters from this semi-cylindrical mold will also use APM wire, go to 1300C and deliver 15,000w at 380V.

On the home front........this quad rider must have been playing through!

We all got together to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday.

It felt good to spend some time at the wheel throwing this President's day.

I couldn't resist the urge to "modify" one of William's pieces.

It's good to see my friend The Moderator back at it and cranking out the good stuff.

Catherine Bergmann (DFAC) wrote " The works have begun to arrive and the first one travelled all the way from Israel! Very exciting to say the least....I wanted to share this ad that will be featured in Tampa Bay Magazine and Florida Travel and Lifestyles"

I always thought that when I'm done my ashes should be spread over the yard, but after seeing this piece feel eternity in one of these bad boys by Bill Campbell wouldn't be so bad.

I found Richard Bideau, a potter from the UK, on the web.

This poster (2006?) is one of the few places where I've read about "crystalline glazes" properly referred to as spherulites. It's nice to see it feature a piece by Ginny Conrow.

I found several pages of photos of work by "Bubs 3D" on deviantaert.com. Most of it looks way over fired to me.

This is the layout of the 2 display spaces for the "Educational Displays" at DFAC. I really need to get cracking on this.

I just became acquainted with Joerg Baumoeller who contacted me out of the blue the other day.  He wrote: "Dear Phil!     here comes another crystal-crazy guy.... from far away...my name is Joerg Baumoeller, I am german, 65 years old, more than 30 years with Bayer, in Africa, Brazil, and since1992 in Spain, near Barcelona... I preretired with 55 and started ceramics "from zero"..., some 4 years ago, I came across these crystals... and don't want to nothing about anything else, since then...and when I saw this cat-like manganese macro on page 10 of your website, I thought, you might like my recent macros....and thanks for sharing your pots and experiences with the world...(.potters over  here mostly are rather "closed up"...)      very kind regards!    Joerg"

He sent some great photos of some of his work as well as close ups. His website http://www.crystalsforever.com/ is worth checking out.

The last of the spalted curly maple door parts and paneling is just about finished and ready for installation.

A look out one of our second floor office windows at the recycle area.

Natural snow sculpture is all around this year.

This sculpture at a local steel fabricator caught my eye.

Google Alerts pointed me to www.collectoronline.com where I found this piece by Nancy Wickham. The copy read: "Nancy Wickham signed modernist celadon green vase with intentional crackling with clear crystalline glaze measuring 6 inches tall x 1 inch wide top opening. Per the authoratative website vasefinder, Nancy Wickham Boyd studied at Alfred University from 1943-1945. She was later a designer for Design Technics. In 1949, she set up her studio in Woodstock, Vermont. This gorgeous vase is in excellent condition, no chips, cracks or breaks. Signed on bottom WICKHAM and D121."

Going Ghetto: Firing Cone 10 Reduction in an Electric/Gas Hybrid Kiln

Jamie, Lois and Jim in an article titled "The Wizard of Clay: Destination by accident, not design" in the Messenger Post

Matt Beck sent me a great chart showing an array of crystalline samples.

He wrote "Hey Phil,      Here is a chart I put together using the base recipe you have on your site.  Probably nothing you haven't seen before, but thought I would share.      Matt
I spoke with Matt for the first time on the phone the other day. I think we can produce a version of this chart for the educational display at the Frozen in Fire exhibition in Dunedin.

Lately I've seen Terry Fallon hitting the gas with his car doing "ninetynothin" while in overdrive. He's got so many things going I haven't been able to keep it straight........so I came up with a series of web pages.

The Natzler Miniature: A Small Masterpiece

Approximately 1.25″h Estimate $1,500 – 2,000?

Wikipedia: Otto and Gertrud Natzler

William's been working up a poster announcing the Forum which I hope can get worked into the educational display at "Frozen in Fire" as "talking about it" is the most helpful.

Phil's roommate backed into his pickup truck and helped customize it.

A group of pieces glazed with the same Fusion 413 base glaze with red copper oxide, cobalt carbonate and manganese dioxide in the ratio of 3:1:1. The initial ^11 oxidation firing was the same for all pieces. These pieces illustrate the effects of colorant concentration, glaze blending and subsequent reduction / re-oxidation firings on the size and color of the  growth of rings, background and color.

2 pieces glazed with a Ferro 3110 base glaze with  small amounts of red copper oxide and rutile on top under a coating of the same base glaze with rutile. These were made using the same clay, same glaze and saw the same ^11 oxidation firing. Both came out of the initial oxidation firing like the one on left with the red copper oxide responsible for the green color and iron in the rutile responsible for the golden color in the crystals. The piece of the right was subsequently refired to ~1500F (strike fired) in air and the copper turned to a red color.

3 pieces glazed with Ferro 3110 base glaze with small amounts of red copper oxide and rutile. These were made using the same clay, same glaze and saw the same ^11 oxidation firing. These pieces illustrate the rapid growth of rings in "high" copper containing glazes and their sensitivity to glaze application thickness. This is a unique glaze in that the thinner it is applied, the greater the growth rate of the rings.

4 pieces glazed with Fusion 413 base glaze with red copper oxide, cobalt carbonate and manganese dioxide in the ratio of 3:1:1. The concentrations of the colorants range from a low of 1.5 : .5: .5 on the left to a high of 6 : 2 : 2 on the right.

These were made using the same clay, same glaze and saw the same ^11 oxidation firing. These pieces illustrate the effect of colorant concentration on the size and color of the  growth of rings as well as the background.

Dimensions: 5" dia. x 7 1/2" tall.

 Oxidation Fired, ^11, Helios clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit wit red copper oxide, cobalt carbonate and manganese dioxide colorants.

 Link to 300 dpi Photo  

Dimensions: 6 1/2" dia. x 7" tall.

 Oxidation Fired, ^11, "Phil Morgan" clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit wit red copper oxide and cobalt carbonate colorants.

Dimensions: 7" dia. x 11" tall.

 Oxidation Fired, ^11, unknown clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit with red copper oxide, cobalt carbonate and manganese dioxide colorants.

http://puttgarden.com/crystal/2010/12-15-10/nceca_application.html

http://puttgarden.com/crystal/2010/12-15-10/nceca_application-david_turner.html

e-mail to Glenn and Avi regarding educational displays 

Dimensions: 6" dia. x 13 1/2" tall.

 Oxidation Fired, ^11, Helios clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit with red copper oxide and cobalt carbonate colorants.

Link to 300 dpi Photo  

Dimensions: 6" dia. x 7 1/2" tall.

 Oxidation / Reduction / Oxidation Fired, ^11, Helios clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit with red copper oxide and cobalt carbonate colorants.

Dimensions: 6 1/2" dia. x 8 1/2" tall.

 Oxidation / Reduction Fired, ^11, Helios clay, Glaze Fusion 413 Frit with red copper oxide, cobalt carbonate and manganese dioxide colorants.

Damn.......-16C (4F)......Take me to Dunedin, PLEASE!

Out with the old and in with the new.....kitchen.

Back in for re-oxidation.

In the Fallonator at 560°C after a reduction cycle.

December 25, 2010   A freshly repaired kiln ready to rip on Christmas day.

First snow of the year. My golf practice mat was frozen to the driveway. It took a plastic "greenhouse", a 1500 watt heater and ~5 hours to thaw it out to get it up.

A 550°C Peek

I went over the UO₂ glaze with the same gloss white just without Zircopax hoping it will go clear.

I mixed the gloss white liner  + 10% UO₂ with some VeeGum Cer in the blender to make a paste and applied it to the butt cracks of this piece with a syringe and to the lip with a brush.

She came out a little dark for my liking with not much background. I never expected the ring from the 920°C hold to grow so fast - much less dense but approximately 6X faster than those from the high temperature "hold" segments. I think I'll re-glaze / re-fire it.

And dropped her bottom again from the torch. I never liked these catch "trays" for this. Thrown donut shaped glaze catchers remove more easily. I'll use the diamond cutoff wheel on these in the future.

Gloss white liner  + 10% UO₂ sponged in splits of this piece Glenn made with red iron oxide stain before dried sodium silicate expansion.

Well........yesterday I started glazing Glenn's girls and right after I loaded liner glaze in the first one she dropped her bottom. What a mess......what a bitch! Glossy white line glaze splattered all over everything. It took the better part of an hour to clean everything up.. Needless to say my feelings about this prom date changed a little. I finished the liner glazing then glued her bottom back on. After packing her cracks with white glaze (going for some drips) I added about 20 zincite seeds and gave her a dark dress. She pissed me off so much (and I've never fired Loafer's glory before). I was going to send her to the prom in the Doll 2 but thought what if she blows chunks, passes out and craps up the walls of the kiln. I know it's a waste but put her in the e23s solo thinking if she falls over maybe there's enough room that she won't take out a wall and a bunch of elements. We'll see tonight.

Last night I was able to spend a little time getting Glenn's girls ready for the prom. We've been so busy at work (THANK GOD!) there hasn't been much gas left in me at the end of each day. I did get their high heels (risers) on and will dress (glaze) and send the first one to the prom (fire) tonight. Keep your fingers crossed. I've never dated (made anything using) Loafers Glory before and have the pre-prom jitters something wicked.