Isotopic......topic....topic......

......"Isotopic Icon #5".  Mixed media.  16" x 8" x 6" roughly.

The BIG Fail............

Note how the liquefied clay eats into the firebrick.  And the blobs on the base and shelves are quite solidly vitrified. 

......an over-fire of earthenware clay....and it's not very pretty.   Events and complacence wandered hand in hand to arrive at this sad state.   i.e. I screwed up and toasted my Skutt 818 kiln.   A kiln shelf was placed too close to the kiln-sitter and this is what can result.  I estimate the kiln hit about cone 5 instead of 04.  The Crow-Kins on the top shelf liquefied and ran down each lower shelf until puddling in the bottom.

The end result is 3 shelves and the kiln -- all ruined.   Repair cost will rival the purchase of a new kiln at this point.  BUT......I think I can salvage the kiln itself and turn it into a gas-fired unit...for substantially less.  We'll see.

Fortunately I have another kiln - much smaller, but hey...it's where I started out at.  And learned that no matter how many successful firings one has (I estimate about 400), disaster ever lurks when the timing is right.

Mhm...and it occurred on the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens....synchronicity?

Opening the kiln....

.....this morning - the results of last night's bisque fire.  This is just the top shelf, the other bits being wheel work and a slew of isotopic icons. 

Untitled........mixed media....

....cceramic, metal, wood, acrylics.  10-inches x 8-inches x 8-inches.

New bits, stuff......

......in progress.  Wheel-thrown work, garden totem segments, isotopic icons and the ever present Crow-Kin!