My latest firing..success!
Making progress with ceramics can be a slow process of trial and error. To achieve success, one usually has to extensively test glazes and clay bodies and discover which combinations work well at a given temperature. One of the advantages of an electric kiln is that the firing conditions remain fairly consistent, so outcomes are more predictable when you adjust one or two variables.
So far, my saggar experiments have shown me that shino glazes with a high clay content (30% or more) are difficult to fire, and the results are very unpredictable. I’ve had more success with a shino containing a high percentage of nepheline syenite (85%) and a lower clay content (15%). This is probably because nepheline syenite melts at a lower temperature (1170 degrees centigrade) whereas high-clay shinos ideally need to be fired to cone 10 or above.
I opened my kiln late last night after another firing, and was pleased to find the rich oranges and iron speckling this glaze has produced. Well, I thought I would share some of the results here on my blog (more photos can be seen on my flickr page). The pieces shown below were fired in reduction to between cone 9 and 10.
Tea bowl with shino glaze
Tea bowl with shino glaze
Vase with shino glaze
