#controlled cooling

[catherine-white]

#2 winter 2015

In the studio during  fall 2015 Warren and I experimented with how we cool our gas kiln. These experiments have resulted in a new syntax for the language of our old recipes of glaze and slip. I find that I shift into another logic and sensibility of surface and form as I make these pots. I work both like I am blind without expectation and as if I can see into the future.

[catherine-white]

The bottle on the right is from the back of the 2016 kiln where we introduced charcoal. The bottle on the left is from the same spot in2015. It represents our normal palette from stoking tiny sticks back there. I think the dampness and fineness of the charcoal kept the area in deep reduction as it cooled.

[catherine-white]

Sometimes as a potter I feel like I have the gift of seeing into the future as I imagine how a given clay will stretch and shrink,what the fired texture and heft will be and how the object will be put to use. Other times I feel like working as a potter invites a certain kind of blindness. Basing new work on the best of the last experimental Firing as we decide what the next step in controlled cooling will be.

[brackersclay]

Tech Tip Tuesday - "Be cool" and complete the FULL firing cycle

Winter temperatures are upon us here in Kansas.  While we still have not seen snow yet, there are plenty of mornings where I have felt the sudden ‘bite’ of frigid air against my face in the morning on my way into work.  That got me thinking about thermal shock, controlled cooling, and the ‘other half’ of the firing process.  In honor of the onset of cooler temperatures, this month’s Tech Tip…

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