I managed to get the glazing done and the kiln went on last night.
Before I begin glazing I give all the pottery that's been biscuit fired a wee wash to clean off any bits of dust that might be lurking inside mugs etc . I also give the kiln a hoover ! Dust can spoil the glaze and make extra work later with a dremel .
I get out my bottle of liquid wax and paint wax on the bottoms of all the pots , it's a bit time consuming but worth it as it can halt a glaze from running onto an expensive kiln shelf , well that's the theory .
Once finished I arrange all the pottery into their groups .I'm quite methodical with glazing and have it all worked out . It would be too easy to get carried away and just bung anything on , especially as all the glazes are gorgeous colours 😁 I have learnt from my mistakes !!
I'm enjoying doing bowls at the moment , I can dip glaze , brush on blobs and layer up quite happily . Pots also look very pleasing with just the unfired glaze on them . I think they look muted , calm and rather fetching .
I also like the bowls with just the raw clay on the outside , it feels like it links in nicely with my footpath collection ( which I am working on now ) , as it's like base earth .
I got everything in the kiln except for two bowls , but hey there's always room for manoeuvre so they can go in next time . I have a decent enough sized kiln ( I was told when I was looking at buying one to get the biggest I could afford which I did ).
I popped the cone marker in and off it went on its glaze firing , ramping up to 1232c with the heat work hopefully going up a bit higher to reach the cone level I want .
7hrs and 44mins later I switched it off and now wait anxiously , did I really check that nothing was touching , did I maybe put a wee bit too much of that runny glaze on , thinking about all the things that could go wrong ( arrrgggghhh !!!) for roughly the next two days before opening it !!