After the last gathering of ‘Raiders’ (Vancouver artists) here in my studio on August 22nd I could see that their painted plates would fill my kiln for the glaze firing at least twice. Some pieces needed to be bisque-fired one more time to burn off wax applied to resist underglaze so that took up some room. But my top priority for the first firing was to make sure all my current jugbirds and a couple of bird plates were included.
Now that firing is done and a second group of plates and platters is all glazed and I intend to turn that kiln on tomorrow. So, never fear Raiders, all the work will be done soon!
I’m pleased that the new glaze has behaved well. Maybe we’ll never know whether hints on colour and glaze application, drying times or patience for total cooling after the firing, suggested by Ysabella made the difference. The glaze is certainly good for D’Arcy’s Redart cone 04 clay that I use so I have now finished making work for Primavera Gallery in Cambridge.
https://www.primaveragallery.co.uk
Click here for my bio on their website: https://www.primaveragallery.co.uk/pages/gillian-mcmillan
Just yesterday I emailed Jeremy Waller, the owner, some photos of all the British birds I’ve made, as well as some more exotic ones he’d requested and non-specific jugbirds that I slip-paint in colours that appeal to me. There are two plates as well, featuring Birds of Paradise. Their tail feathers don’t lend themselves to being a practical jug so I thought I’d make ‘coupes’ and apply my drawn images with paper resist, painted slips and spongeing.
Jeremy emailed back right away to tell me that I should bring them all, plus four from the previous firing. So now I need to pack fifteen pots very carefully, as I am now used to doing, and Alan and I will take them on board as hand luggage on our flight across the pond very soon. The photos accompanying this blog were taken by Alan.
The next blog will show the Raiders’ plates that were glaze-fired with my work. And in a few days I hope to be posting photos of all the rest.
