It was a week of waiting for the cups and bowls to dry, cleaning greenware and a little glazing. Managed to get all the new pieces in the bisque by Sunday. It all comes out this morning.
I glazed the cups and bowls that weren’t fired with the first batch. Used my black crystal glaze. Want one of the three sets to be black with gold and ‘silver’ lustres. I loved the underglaze finish on the small wine cups but it didn’t work as well on the larger forms. Thinking the black glaze will give emphasis back to the form.
I finally got that other element changed in the upright kiln. I mentioned it a couple times before but never actually got around to it. Changing kiln elements is my least favourite studio task. All that bending over hurts my back. My eyes strain to see what I am doing in the confined space. Even crimping on the connector seems to take every last bit of strength my old hands can muster. If the two remaining original elements go, I might just end up paying someone else to do it.
I don’t know if anyone else has had this issue but kiln elements seem to have a much shorter life than they used to. I get about one third as many firings out of a set as I did when I first started doing electric high fire. Not sure why.
This coming week is all about glazing and firing the cups and bowls. Not a time to idle.
