Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Successful Bisque Firing!

This morning I loaded just the large mugs that were dry enough into the kiln for a bisque firing.

6 large mugs ready to bisque to cone 04!
 I started the firing at about 8:15 or so and then went off to work... When I returned home, I unloaded the kiln after dinner.  Of course, they were still a bit toasty (needed kevlar gloves to unload the kiln) but they cooled pretty quickly.

5 large mugs sanded...
Unfortunately, I had not made much in a few months and I forgot I was nearly out of 400 grit wet/dry sand paper... and I could only sand 5 of the 6 mugs before the paper was too worn out to do any good.  (Need to pick some more up tomorrow!)

large mug and small mug with ruler for comparison
Here is a photo comparing the bisqued mugs in both sizes.

As I sanded them, I was able to detect that the firing was a total success!  None of them cracked!

large mug & small mug bisqued, small mug glaze fired
This photo shows the comparison of the small mug bisqued and then glaze fired... When the large mug shrinks in the glaze firing, it should end up approximately the size that the small mug is when it is bisqued...

(Those bisqued mugs really are straight, the towel under them tilted them a bit to the left...)

the return of the parsley!

And lastly, just to show that the parsley really is doing well, a photo I took of it on Sunday morning... soon we'll be able to enjoy it again!

1 comment:

Lola Lynn said...

I love nothing better than a sucessful bisque firing. Please show us how they look after they have been glazed.