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No matter how hard I try to replicate my initial rests with this red clay and glaze, I’m still not quite achieving the same surfaces qualities the first tests achieved. It’s tricky and I think the glaze thickness is really sensitive and I keep overdoing it, despite my diluting of the glaze a third time. I won’t be gambling with pots again, instead I’m going to make some test tiles and I’ll dial it in that way.   The trickiest thing about using this combination of materials is how I have to adjust my making in order for the pots themselves to survive the firing process. It’s a little ridiculous. Overhanging walls slump, thus the galleries on many of these began to undulate and distort, especially with the weight on the lid too.   As a result, despite a number of real successes with this batch, I’m going back to the drawing board with the clay too, as I think it needs to be strengthened with something like a heavily grogged body. We used to fortify it with PF520 during my apprenticeship and I may resort back to that.   Nonetheless, teething issues, but they’re irritating to encounter after a few initial tests that “were” successful. The smashed pot, by the way, had two issues, the first was that the lid had a tremendous bloat on the top, in an area that should be perfectly flat and the lip of the jar itself was wavering all the way around from where the waddings pressed and sagged into it as the stoneware softened and slumped. Good riddance.   #clay #satisfying #handmade #craft #pottery

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I often wish my teapots were better, but the thing is, you can never make as many as you can other vessels, such as mugs and bowls, thus, my progression with these complex forms has always been rather slow. I’d say out of everything I create, they’re still a step behind in some regards but this year, or what’s left of it at least, I desperately want to make more of them and to improve them. Whilst they work, I’m still not struggling to achieve a sense of finesse I’m striving for, the components aren’t bad, but everything could be finer, thinner and more carefully assembled and that’s where the time sink really becomes apparent. If you’ve watched my content, you’ll know that I’m quite an exacting maker, I’m occasionally fast, yet the trimming adds many extra minutes to the craft of my work and with something like a teapot that is exaggerated even further. Thus, I tend to put them off, even when they’re the forms I tend to draw the most of. I always genuinely feel a little intimidated before starting a batch as I can foresee the massive amount of work in them, yet normally, once I get my fingers dug in it’s never as bad as I imagine. Anyhow, here’s one my latest versions, it’s not precisely like the drawing but I’ll be trying to properly transfer what I draw into clay when I next assemble and batch. Thanks for watching! #pottery #teapot #teaware #satisfying #craft

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Here’s the before and after of a recent reduction kiln firing to cone ten, around 1290ºC, give or take, I’m sure cone eleven would be softened at this temperature and really, I should switch from cones 8, 9, 10, to 9, 10, 11 to be on the safer side but we all settle into these unhelpful situations from time to time. These, by the way, are the little spikes you see flopping over. They measure heatwork, which is heat measured over time, whereas the pyrometer and probe that project inside the kiln through the back measure simple up and down temperature. Reduction firing is a way of creating a particular atmosphere inside the kiln by altering the balance between fuel and oxygen. At around 860°C in my firings, I partially close the dampers and increase the gas and air pressure, creating a fuel-rich atmosphere in which there isn’t enough oxygen available for complete combustion. Under these conditions, the gases produced by combustion begin to draw oxygen from metallic oxides within the clay and glazes, altering their chemistry and producing the colours and textures that are characteristic of reduction firing. You may also notice a few other oddities… such as the refires on the bottom shelf. I place these here as these are cool spots, hence any new pot placed here would under fire, which means it’s a good place to fire pots that need some fixing. Crawling, for instance, these pots have new glaze flooded into the little divot this creates and they’re fired a second time to fill them. Equally, if a pot has fired below temperature, a second firing in the same cool spot fixes them too, so essentially, the pots here are constantly rotating between refires, new vessels or I’m fixing subpar pots. Finally, there’s the noise. This is the sound the kiln makes when cracked open at around 150ºC, it doesn’t occur as the kiln is too hot, although it can, rather it occurs as the glazes don’t quite fit the clay body beneath them, thus they crackle in order to do so. #reductionfired #kiln #beforeandafter #satisfying #pottery

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I’ve been on the fence about fixing this coffee dripper.   Stylistically, it was my favourite from my second batch of these, it was thrown and trimmed with a sharper funnel, to direct the coffee into the cup this time instead of all over the table like those from my first batch… Likewise, the steps on the outside lend it character and the mossy green glaze coated the vessel in quite a beautiful way, although due to how much this particular glaze moves at top temperatures during the reduction firing, it plugged the drainage hole.   The result being perhaps the most useless coffee dripper that has ever been made, so, in this short video I demonstrate how I fix the issue.   The key is to keep the area drilled covered in water, this keeps dusts to a minimum and helps the diamond drill-bits to glide more smoothly. I started by piercing a hole right through the centre of the thick pane of glaze, then I carefully, and slowly, worked my way outward, widening then hole until it was almost back to its original width. Lastly, the ground area is polished smooth using very fine wet and dry sandpaper; to remove any sharp scratchiness and finally, the V60 style coffee dripper can be taken for its maiden voyage.   I do wonder though, whether I should have kept it as is, as a one-off anomaly, you’ll have to let me know what you think.   #v60 #coffee #pottery #filtercoffee #ceramics

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The hardest thing to get used to when creating tiny pots is that your hands suddenly feel enormous and clumsy. In many ways, you have to rethink your approach, instead of using all of your fingers and your palm to centre the clay, you suddenly shift to using your fingertips or a sponge. Tools need to be scaled down and much more careful approach utilised as when throwing or trimming on a larger scale, there’s normally enough material in the object itself to account for a small mishap. You can turn way too much, or accidentally introduce an undulation into the spinning clay at the throwing stage, yet with a vessel this tiny, either could spell disaster. The good news is you don’t feel as terrible for it, as these small amounts of clay don’t amount too much and they’re easy and fast to centre and throw and in this stifling weather, they only take an hour to turn completely leather hard, thus the turnaround is rapid, unlike with more conventionally sized pottery. Oh, and here’s Ciro for scale, one paw sized pot for a few treats. #pottery #ceramics #glaze #handmade

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