Humpty Redux

Recently, Sandy Miller reminded me that I have forgotten to post Humpty Dumpty ready for the kiln.

I am using Mason stains mixed 50/50 with frit #3124 and water to get the brushing consistency I want.  I treat the encapsulated reds a bit differently and mix 25/25/50 gerstley borate, frit #3124, and stain.  Again I vary the water depending on how thin or opaque I want the color.  Adding the gerstley borate makes the stain work more like a gouash than a watercolor.

Blogger is being weird about my posting so I will just wish every one a sunny day.

As always, thanks for stopping by.....*s*

Old Friends

I was looking through some old notebooks and found Humpty Dumpty, a design I haven't used in several years.

It's on terra cotta, glazed with thee coats of Spectrum #799 Majolica White.  The colors are my own mixed Mason Stains.

This is first step, with all the main design elements painted in.  Next I will put in some background details and wax resist all the painted work.  Then I will work on the background, waxing where needed.  Waxing makes it so much easier as I don't have to worry about background bleeding into the figures.  Any colors that get onto waxed areas I can get off with one of the little eye shadow sponge applicators I keep on hand.  It will be fired at a hot ^05.

 Eventually I will fill the kiln so I can fire.  As soon as my studio warms up a bit I will make a bunch of greenware to go in on separate shelves.  It's one of the advantages to working in low-fire.

As always, thanks for stopping by.........*s*

Wood Stove Firing

Since my real studio is way too cold for any prolonged work, I have tried firing in my wood stove. This was fired in my Jotel in the top circulator space.  I used my low fire terra cotta and left it in the stove for about twenty-four hours.    I think it's somewhere around ^06.  It feels and sounds the way t.c. is at that temp.  I lightened the photo a bit so some of the detail can be seen.

Next time I'll put some cones in. 

Unlike many years we are still using the wood stove 24/7. 

My hibiscus have started blooming.  These are southern varieties that I winter over inside.  They generally start blooming when the days get longer.

It's nice to have some color inside.

As always, thanks for stopping by.........*s*