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NEW guest designed MUG!! (p7)!! |
Rum Demon
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Posts: 254
From: Portland, Oregon
|  Posted: 2006-03-17 9:22 pm Permalink
Ladieeeeees and Gentlemen!!! Step right up to witness the most tragic conundrums ever to grace the kilnmaster's circle! Yes! It's "Tales From the Kiln!!", a horrifying journey through 2200 degrees Farenheit where no man can survive and few demons escape without horrific deformities!!
Here we have a Fred, beautiful on the outside, but what's this????
A strange POX upon his insides! WTF!! I don't know. Most of these poooor poor mugs have already made their journey through the kiln once before, only to find themselves as bad off, or worse than they were before.
 
 
Whygodwhy!!!
Another, avoidable tragedy was the little stands on which we place the mugs in the kiln were apparently not rated for such high temperatures. The result: stands melting and mugs falling into each other, making sweet, horrific love in the kiln. Witness the horror!!
 
 
 
Then there's this handsome fellow...
who looks quite normal...
But then I turn him around and see....
good lord!!! Chunks taken from his bottom! What ever could have happened!? Who would want you now, Fred #32!?
But this isn't the greatest of tragedies, NO!!!! For one particular glaze in which I had held so much hope, I found so much heartbreak!!!!
Well, that doesn't look so bad, butwait!! What's this???
Some sort of horrible leprosy has stricken you!!! And what of your brethren!??
Not so bad, but WAIT!!
 
Noooooo!!!!
Et tu?? Acne-scarred Fred?
 
And then there's my favorite... an overly glazed primo whose drips I'd dremmeled for hours only to find...
What? He's standing crookedly...
Noooo he's dripped again... what's an amateur ceramist to do!!!???
Yarrr!! So that's my week. "But where are the Cocos and Pinas in all of this?" you might ask. Well, all of Katie's mugs are low fire. Low fire mugs are much more manageable. Great beaty comes from the mid-high Cone 6 firings, but also great tragedy.
So I'm still trying to figure out what to do about these horrible mutants. The guys that fell into each other are easy enough to fix, but the acne ridden, bubbly, and runny mugs? I just don't know. I guess I could retire them to my garden, to act as gnomes or scarecrows (scareslugs?) and retire their numbers like legends of the NBA. Or I could take the merciful hammer to them and pretend they never existed. None of these feel right, yet something must be done....
In the meantime, happy Hallowe- I mean, happy St Pat's everyone!
-Joe
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MUGS MUGS MUGS!!! Now on Etsy!
rumdemon.etsy.com
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poptiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 05, 2005
Posts: 181
From: Loveland, CO
| Posted: 2006-03-18 05:23 am Permalink
Rum Demon,
I'm sorry to hear and see the difficulties with your mugs. Don't be deterred! When a person is hand crafting it take a special effort. I think your mugs are right on and so few people do the small runs of personal work that it make those special.
Keep on keeping on
Poptiki
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hmc
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2006
Posts: 122
From: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| Posted: 2006-03-21 02:00 am Permalink
Oh no!!!!! I'm afraid now as to how my second batch will turn out like, considering my first glazing was too thin.... What if my glaze is thick enough but then I get pimples, bubbles and drips??!!!! Arghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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hmc
Helen McLean
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McTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1939
From: Sunny Florida
| Posted: 2006-03-21 04:16 am Permalink
RD, what cone level are you firing? I didn't read all of the posts, but, I have some experience in glazes around cone 9/10. Looks like you are seeing spatter from moisture still locked inside the glaze/slip. How long are you firing for bisque stage?
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exotica59
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 475 | Posted: 2006-03-21 05:13 am Permalink
Hold on to hope. I still think the mugs look cool. The more you experiment the better they'll get!
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Rum Demon
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Posts: 254
From: Portland, Oregon
| Posted: 2006-03-21 09:40 am Permalink
McT, these are all cone 6 mugs. I'm not sure how long they were held at the bisq temp. Probably not long at all. The bubbles from my first run I figured were due to the mugs having only been glazed a day before, thus still having the glaze water still in the stone. This time, I had everything glazed weeks ahead of time AND shelved in my basement next to the furnace, sooooo they were dry. Also, there were glazes that didn't bubble last time, but did this time.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty ticked at my ceramics store for not saying their stands weren't rated to cone 6.
I chalk it all up to my own inexperience, but man, what a price. I'm still trying to decide what to do. I guess I'll re-run the ugliest of the bunch, give away some others to friends, and cry. Good thing I didn't bash Primo's mold after I ran #50.
Thanks for the kind words.
Ugh,
Joe
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MUGS MUGS MUGS!!! Now on Etsy!
rumdemon.etsy.com
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McTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1939
From: Sunny Florida
| Posted: 2006-03-21 10:04 am Permalink
I never complimented you on your designs but, should have in the original post. These are very nice indeed.
Be very patient. You are doing fantastic work.
Mahalo
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teaKEY
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 09, 2004
Posts: 3663
From: The thumb !
| Posted: 2006-03-21 4:20 pm Permalink
I think that most of the above mugs, look just fine. The ones with the little bubbles look creepy cool but is the clay explosed. I would only have a problem if fired clay is not protected by at least the smallest film of glaze although, a short use of the mug wouldn't destroy it. The green fred looks good like that. And the green one Primo turned out nice. Its just too bad about the mugs with white spots. A bad mug is better than no mug. You can always do little test peices before going ahead with the mug. With you doing so many different glazes, its amazing that you have done as good as you have. I don't remember what you said about experience but most people go years in school in all different art classes and they don't even sell their wares all over the interent.
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Rum Demon
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Posts: 254
From: Portland, Oregon
| Posted: 2006-03-21 7:27 pm Permalink
The white spots are due to mugs coming into contact with each other in the kiln. This happens when their stands melt and the mugs fall over. That's an easy, but annoying fix. A bit of dremeling off any foreign glazes, a quick reglaze of the bare spot, then a re-firing.
The REAL danger is drinking from the bubble mugs. Each bubble is essentially very thin glass. Doubtless if you poured yourself a mai tai in one of those, some very fine glass particles would end up in your drink and therefore, your stomach. Yikes! Danger!! I admit, I like the look of the bubbles. Mainly because I've never seen anything like them before. But if I'm going to unleash these mugs onto the public, they can't be mugs, they'd have to be called vases or something. NO DRINKY.
Thanks again for all the comments. I feel very lucky to have a fine community of folks who appreciate our tinkerings.
take care,
Joe
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MUGS MUGS MUGS!!! Now on Etsy!
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teaKEY
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 09, 2004
Posts: 3663
From: The thumb !
| Posted: 2006-03-22 11:14 am Permalink
There is a liquid wax that you can brush on a small amount to the bottom rim and it prevents glaze to stick there while glazing and holds the glaze back for a little bit when firing. Sometimes the glazes are runny so just use a little less near the bottom. And when maybe you won't need a stand for them. But I guess I don't know exactly how you fire so if this helps. PLus the wax is fun to play with to make patterns. It burns off.
#12 is looking good. I like that glaze. I don't know if this happen to other people but I always think that the mug in the picture is larger and heavier then it really is ? I build my first hand-built large and heavier. But very professional they are and ?/50 is really 1/1 with having all those different colors. -teaKEY
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PockyTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 28, 2006
Posts: 556
From: central MA
| Posted: 2006-03-22 2:30 pm Permalink
you call some of those tragedies, i call them sheer masterpieces! Can I have one of the bad ones? lol.
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 908
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2006-03-30 11:15 am Permalink
Rum Demon, this thread is the best! It had me laughing and crying all at once, as I too learned the evils of glaze gone wrong the hard way and have a shelf of mutant tiki mugs to prove it. Since then I made up a bunch of test chips that I can hang on my studio wall. Here is a pic:
They help out a lot. Each chip is numbered, and I keep a "chip journal" with notes on each chip. They are a "7" shape that lets them stand up on my kiln floor for firing then hang on a wall rack to keep them out of the way in the studio. I do different numbers of coats, different combinations of glazes, all that good stuff. Not to say that I no longer make major glaze mistakes - I just do it half as often!
VanTiki
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Rum Demon
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Posts: 254
From: Portland, Oregon
| Posted: 2006-03-30 8:04 pm Permalink
That would be very useful, wouldn't it? You probably have your own kiln and a handle it's operation and the science of it all. The best I can do is take copious notes on each mug for future reference (anyone want to know on what day their mug was originally poured?) but the intangibles are killing me.
Henrik, what type of clay are you using on yours? Medium to high-fire I'd imagine. Very stoked to see one glazed, especially in my own hot little hands.
Meanwhile, I'll be home next week and shall try and update the website with all of the Xenos.
-Joe
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MUGS MUGS MUGS!!! Now on Etsy!
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 908
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2006-03-31 5:25 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2006-03-30 20:04, Rum Demon wrote:
You probably have your own kiln and a handle it's operation and the science of it all. The best I can do is take copious notes on each mug for future reference (anyone want to know on what day their mug was originally poured?) but the intangibles are killing me.
Henrik, what type of clay are you using on yours? Medium to high-fire I'd imagine.
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Yep - I went all out last year and bought a kiln for my studio as I was going crazy having other people fire my work (I guess I am a bit of a control freak!). Haven't used it nearly as much as I should, but I do love it. Put it on wheels so I can store it under a workbench in my studio when I'm not using it. I'm learning ceramics as I go (my background is more in sculpture/illustration) so the mistakes occour on a daily basis! 
As far as clay, I am a fan of Laguna's Calico clay (cone 5) and am currently playing around with Laguna's cone 5 porcelain.
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GMAN
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2005
Posts: 2994
From: My Island
| Posted: 2006-04-02 07:16 am Permalink
RD,
I like the mugs with "Pox". It looks like it gives them that "non-slip" feel. What causes the glaze to bubble like that - water or other debris in the mix? It must be a huge bummer to see that happen after all that work?
-Gman
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