Glug Jugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oak Gall

 

Oak Galls are fascinating! A lovely lady from Felton gave me 3 Oak Galls she had collected while tending to 
her property. They surprisingly made these beautiful and stone like marks. I also found out a bit more about what these weird looking balls are.

When a wasp lays eggs in the bark of an Oak we get an Oak Gall. It is a defense mechanism which the Oak grows but also serves the baby wasp for shelter after they hatch. They are a source for tanning and dye material and now for my pots. They are rich in tannins and apparently are the most astringent vegetable compound in the world. I now want to throw anything that is high in tannins on some pots.

Roll Tumblers

Poettry

The half-formed cup cries out in agony,
The lump of clay suffers a silent pain.
I heard the cup, though, full of feeling, say
"O clay be true, O clay keep constant to
Your need to take, again and once again,
This pounding from your mad creator who
Only stops hurting when he's hurting you."

What will I then have left behind me?  Over
The years I have originated some
Glazes that wear away at what they cover
And weep for what they never can become.
My Deadware, widely imitated; blue
Skyware of an amazing lightness; tired
Hopewear that I abandoned for my own
Good reasons; Hereware; Thereware; ware that grew
Weary of everything that earth desired;
Hellware that dances while it's being fired,
Noware that vanishes while being thrown.

Exerpt from "The Mad Potter"  by John Hollander

2nd Soda

Our second soda firing with work by Bolton, Lilly, Justin and Tom. Had a little easier time taming the beast and got much better coverage with our new sprayer

Thoughts for the next one....

Half the soda? Soda Ash and Soda Bicarb mix?

If you want dryer spots, you have to spray more controlled or in other words, no hook shots.

We lost some re-fire pieces to thermal shock. Perhaps a new rule should be that pots can only come out with an un-gloved bare hand. That's gonna be a hard one!