Beauty Bound

First finished piece of the semester. Beauty Bound. Hand built ceramic, wood, mirror, string.
14"h x 14"d x 16"w.

detail

wall mounted pedestal in progress

The wall pedestal for the swan has been glued together. Next I'll paint it white and install the mirror which I had cut to fit.  I'm looking forward to seeing a piece finished! The kiln is nearly done firing a mixed load of glaze and bisque. This is the first complete firing with the new controller. It has been running slower than the programmed temperatures and the dedicated circuits seems a bit hotter than the others on the panel. I'm not sure if this is normal.

circuits and other meltdowns

It is a good thing that the circuits for the kiln were replaced along with those for the kitchen because they were both melting with the rubber panel behind them. The electrician reconfigured the circuit board and the kiln repair was completed on Tuesday. We tested the kiln up to 1100 degrees to make sure the circuit didn't trip but I have yet to run the kiln all the way up. The circuit was still heating up even at that point so I'll be sure to be home when it runs!  I am moving along with my glazing and writing my critical theory paper due tomorrow. The rebuilt large abstract work is nearly dry. The swan is in for its third firing. The mirrors and woodwork for its base are cut and just need assembling.

melted circuit board

On a sad note, I had to have my cat put to sleep last night. I waver between tears and knowing it was the right thing to do. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer on August 8th and was really struggling. He was with us 17 of his 18 years as the kids grew up. It is hard to stay focused. This Labor Day weekend will be all about labor as I try to get my work finished before meeting with my mentor mid week.

Zenith, RIP

Piece rebuilt & kiln issues

Nearly two weeks later (while moving the swan along), I've rebuilt the piece that was destroyed. It is larger than the last one and has a few additional separate pieces. One extends down the center, one will suspend off the side, and another mounts upward on a rod. The piano wires will be attached after firing with green plastic fittings. It is 14" diameter by 24" high.

A new controller for my kiln was installed yesterday but unfortunately it is still tripping the circuit breaker. I just hope it can be fixed without too much more expense and be up and running this week. I've arranged to have my smaller kiln re-wired so it can also be hooked up to the same digital controller. This will be such an improvement over the manual switches!

Color on swan

Under glaze color finished; ready for bisque fire. Designing wall mount.

Bound Swan

Today, I finished hand building the tied up inflatable swan. It is 15"l x 12"d x 7"h and will be mounted from the wall on a puddle shaped sconce (still to be created).

swan & model, head

swan & model, tail

After the kiln was unloaded, I started it back up and found the hold setting not functioning. It continued to climb over 500 degrees in one hour and obviously had malfunctioned, which explains why my work blew up.  The pile of pots had much thinner walls and survived. It remains to be re-fired; with luck, I'll be able to reconstruct the parts. Since the ramping feature on the kiln was primitive, I'm having a digital wall controller installed which I hope will have the capability to also run my mid sized kiln (which is currently manual).  This may not be possible because it runs off four wires instead of three.  I'll have to wait at least a week for the kiln to be back up and running. Sometime down the road, I'll have to have the lid repaired as well; rust flakes fall down and melt into the glaze.  Buying a new kiln is out of the question right now.

lost piece!

I just opened the kiln that miss fired and found my large figure had blown up.