Opinion I Around the Firebox
The Cobalt Blues (from page 49) notice the imperfections. My parents, who had lived in the house for 30 years, had no idea and I wasn’t about to tell them. Well, I returned my customer’s deposit since a sale is not so important to me that I will make someone buy something they don’t like. But now I was stuck with four large cobalt blue jars. I decided to re-glaze them. I set them on top of my electric kiln during a bisque firing, so they would be nice and warm, and then poured on accents of my copper red and yellow salt glazes, thickened to better adhere to the already-glazed surface. They turned out not half-bad. I still can’t say I like them, but at least I’m not ashamed to put them out for sale, and I sold one at a craft fair not long ago. The funniest part of the cobalt blue fiasco is that I wrote and recorded a song called “The Cobalt Blues” a few years ago. It is actually a tongue-in-cheek song, written just for fun. Little did I know I would one day be experiencing the real cobalt blues! Feel free to listen to it and download the mp3 via the page at my Website, www.farmpots.com/ claytimes.htm [
Index to Advertisers Arrowmont School........................... 10 The Art Spot Gallery & Supply........... 4 Artistic Line Resist........................... 27 Bailey Pottery Equipment................ 24 Carolina Clay Connection................ 21 Cedar Heights Clay/Resco.............. 39 Clay Times Products.................. 20, 36 Clayworks Supplies......................... 40 Continental Clay............................... 27 Coyote Clay..................................... 12 Dolan Tools...................................... 38 Euclid’s Elements............................. 51 Evenheat Kilns................................. 20 Fulwood Measure............................ 38 Giffin Tec............................................ 8 Graber’s Pottery, Inc........................ 39 Great Lakes Clay & Supply Co........ 21 Handbuilt Clay Conference.............. 13 Herring Designs............................... 39 Highwater Clays............................... 10
Japan Pottery Tools......................... 39 The Kiln Dr........................................ 21 L & L Kilns.......................................... 2 Laguna Clay Co................................. 3 Larkin Refractory Solutions............. 36 MKM Pottery Tools.......................... 36 Muddy Elbow Mfg./Soldner Mixers.18 NCECA............................................... 7 Olympic Kilns .................................. 50 Paragon Industries........................... 21 PCF Studios..................................... 21 Peter Pugger.................................... 28 Sierra Nevada College..................... 13 Silver City Arts Festival.................... 10 Skutt Ceramic Products.................. 52 Smith-Sharpe Fire Brick Supply........ 7 Spectrum Glazes............................. 27 Strictly Functional Pottery National.10 Ward Burner Systems...................... 40
Unique, one-of-a-kind kilns – just like YOU! Custom-designed kilns for your unique, custom-designed ware.
Olympic designed Matt’s front-loading kiln inside dimensions of 16” wide x 16” deep x 20” high with a Bartlett Instruments digital controller (V6-CF), 3-zone control and maximum firing range cone 10/2350°F.
CLAYTIMES CLAYTIMES··COM COM n nWINTER WINTER // SPRING SPRING 2013 2013
The kiln provides ample space to fire larger items yet can set on a tabletop surface.
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(800) 241-4400 • (770) 967-4009 fax (770) 967-1196 email info@greatkilns.com or solutions@greatkilns.com
Matt Ellison, artist and designer of the GurglePot™ uses his Olympic custom front loader to fire prototypes of new designs and glazes. To learn more about Matt and his work, email matt@gurglepot.com.