Let's Unload My Kiln

It wasn't until 4PM that the kiln was cool enough to unload and even at that the lower shelves were still very hot to the touch, but it is hard to wait!  Below is a shot of the before and after, interesting...

Pre-fire

Post-fire

I think I have decided that I do not like the look of the darker clay bodies especially with the the glazes that I currently have.  They do much better on a lighter surface.  Luckily I do not have much more of the dark colors.  The darkest brown gets almost black even with a clear glaze.

I feel like the under-glazes on the greenware did well in the bisque fire.  I just need to keep them lower in the kiln where the temps will be lower.  Now I wish I would have glazed more.  One of the drawbacks with glazing on greenware is that they are the most fragile at this stage.  And I tend to make fragile pieces!

Below is my second nested ball - "Quail Run".  I added clay balls on the inside so that it "rattles".  I need to create the "nest" out of sticks on which it will sit.  And of course, I still need to add glaze and quail tuffs. Right now the quail look like ordinary birds... 

For the sphere shape I slumped slabs of clay over a plaster of paris mold I made.  For the first nested ball the one with houses I created the sphere using the pinch pot method.  It is a less refined method, but has lots of character.  LOL

Just went out and found some dead branches.  This is the nested ball concept.