Glaze load reaches cone 6.5

Remake of Wedding Jar for Bowser family

The two wedding jars came out of the kiln last week after 36 hrs of cooling from the firing. The kiln reached cone 6.5, as cone 7 was bent at about 45 degrees. A little higher than I like to fire. However, I believe that the pots turned out well. The remake of the wedding jar for my art teacher friend, turned out much better than the first one did for several reasons.

•     I changed the thickness of the slab sticks that determined the thickness of the slab wall 1/8 of an inch. This made the pot much lighter than the previous one.
• The lid fit is much better than the first, and I believe the proportions of the lid and foot ring to be better for the form.
• The glaze on the first piece was very dark opaque blue-green, and the corner areas had inconsistent glaze. 

However, I am still not as satisfied as I could be, I would have like to have seen more green on the piece(yes I did use lots of green glaze). Yet find the texture to be pleasant, and some accent of green does show. I figure another piece similar to this will lead to more greens and still save the texture of the slab inlays.

Stephanie & Bohb Striker Wedding Jar

The jar for my daughter, the new bride, could never match the beauty the bride, of the wedding ceremony, or the level of excitement of her reception. However, the jar did turn out well, quite light in weight, under painting came through well, and the glaze even though like the first not enough green, still I am pleased.

The wedding was held at The Arboretum in State College on a cloudy Saturday, August 23. The reception was held in Clearfield at the Race Street Brewery, a new endeavor by the couple, soon to open.

 I had at first believed that the green glazes used had burned out, but found that other pots in the load, some on the same level had green, and in places quite vibrant green. So that theory is not correct. I believe the big factor is that the green glaze requires a white underglaze to show up well enough.

Both of these pieces stand about 18" with handles included. Not so large as to take up a lot of space, not so small as to seem insignificant. I hope the happy couples enjoy them for many years to come.

As for the artist, never satisfied, I will be touching base with the ideas presented in these pieces, as I have some orders for pieces that use the pine tree texture idea. I also have some ideas for some of the things that I learned making the jar for my daughter. More to come.