Hi everyone!
Just wanted to send you all summer greetings from Zurich. It is hot hot hot here these days and my workshop is very tempting, but I have guests until the middle of July, so that will have to wait.
My new kiln is a wonder with the new controller. I can now also set the cooling rate, and have had much less problems with craters. Sadly, though, the guy (one man business) that makes the glazes I buy from my supplier has become very ill and is unable to make glazes these days. It is very serious, and it might turn out that his wonderful non-run high-fire glazes won't be available any more. It would truly be a loss if that were the case, as I haven't seen or heard of any glazes that are so easy to brush on and so wonderfully non-runny at high temps.
When I got my new kiln, hubby did some fixing up in the laundry so that I now have plenty of shelves to store my unfired or glazed pottery until I have a kiln-full. That gives me extra space in the movable shelf in my workshop.
I did some experimenting with throwing porcelain a couple of months ago, and loved the way it threw, but hated trying to cut openings in it when it was leather hard! I probably didn't do it at the right time or with the right tools, I guess, and have decided that it was too much dust and too much trouble - so the rest (a few kilos) goes into my reclaim to be mixed with my usual clay.
Been way too long since I stopped by - blame computer-crashes and busy-ness in general since Christmas! Hope everyone is doing well and will be posting more! GOSH! Imagine getting caught up after 6 months away - in one night!
Keep smiling!
Marianne