First, once again I have to say that none of these pots are for sale yet.
The last update showed the kiln cooling down, but didn't show any results. So here are a few of the results. Once again, I am thinking like a painter. Pictured below is is a bowl depicting coneflowers in the snow. It is a beautiful and lyrical bowl. Very beautiful to my eye. I will shortly be making pots with this theme.
Here is the small birch tree pot after being refired.
And here is the little 8x8" painting tile. Since I have been refiring nearly everything I make and since I have been trying to work out the problems with making nice flat tiles with built in frames, it apprears that I am not getting much finished work. And that is in fact the case. But I am happy with my results although I will have to start hustling and producing work to sell. Anyway, I think I have worked out the kinks and am now able to make these painting tiles out of high fired porcelain and get a finished product. I am getting ahead of myself. I have yet to see anything but this one finished tile so the jury is still out, so to speak. But I do have faith!
I had five tile panels in that load and here is one of them. Nice, but not as subtle as I would like.
Some of the pieces pictured above have since been reglazed and refired. Here is a peek in the kiln when it was cooling down and at 900 degrees. None of the colors are "accurate" at 900 degrees, but I still have to peek!
Both of the birch tree pots went back in. In some aspects they improved and in some they didn't, but the next ones will benefit from my experience, I promise. They are nice, but I lost the sharpness of the shadows in the snow. But now I know how to get them right!
Ok, from here on down, there are pics of the five tile panels after firing them the SECOND time. This is how the one panel looks as I open the kiln.
These are the panels that are going to get the copper and silver frames so they are still a long way from being finished. (And a couple of them- the rain ones- are going to be fired once more!)
You can click the next five pictures and see the panels at actual size. And just so you see why I am firing and refiring, open the following picture in another browser window and place it side by side with the picture of this panel above that shows it after the first firing. See the subtle difference? I would like to refire this one as well. I could push it a bit closer toward perfection. But I am fearful of cracking and it is so close already.
As happy as I am with these panels, I have to now put them aside and get making pots. These "paintings" are a huge effort and I would love to spend more time on them, but I have to make a buck. You will be seeing them again.