Horsehair Gingko Leaves

It was difficult for me to take pictures while working, but Steve made a video of it.

Please, enjoy watching. We all had fun and made great pieces. Thank you Steve for this wonderful opportunity!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOUff-Qvrvg

“Thunder” Off-Center Horsehair Plate

Cosmos Horsehair Plate
17,5″/44cm x H4″/9cm,

Diamond Horsehair Vase
9″ x H9″

Mandala Horsehair Plate
15″/38cm x H2″/5cm

Pod Horsehair Vase
11″ x H15″

Shiratori Horsehair Vase
11″ x H21″

I had a good 2 weeks in Holland and saw my family, especially my middle son, Maarten, who turned 22 years old. We went sailing that day and had real Dutch weather: heavy clouds, rain, wind, thunder, and luckily also some sun.

Then to America, San Diego, to see my oldest son, Roland, to celebrate the 4th of July, National Holiday. And a couple of days later, back home to Los Altos where my youngest son, Arjan, was vacationing for a little bit. He is now in Europe preparing with the US Junior National Water Polo team for the World Championships this August in Los Angeles.

I started working right away when I came home and with my husband, Adriaan, we made some special devices.

We made this pully, so, I can lower the can over the hot plate, so it won’t cool off too fast and will perhaps not crack!

Another pulley is attached to the lid of the electric kiln.
It is especially handy, it makes it easier and lighter to open the kiln. You can open it up half way to have less heat loss and it will stay in that position without falling back.

This is the wire with two bars in between which can slide. The length of the wire is about 6 feet or 2 meters.

We are preparing the wire so not to waste any time when we open the kiln for heat loss. The kiln is between 1100-1300 Fahrenheit or 600-700 Celsius degrees. The horsehair will still burn nicely. You get an array of colors spraying the ferric chloride. And of course less thermal shock.

Then we open the kiln and lower the wire and put around the plate with the bars going on each side underneath the plate.

You put the two loops together and are able to lift the plate out of the kiln.

I put the plate on a wheel covered with refractory bricks.

Then I lower the can over the plate and hope for the best not to hear a crack sound.
I had some big losses. That goes with this kind of risky work.

You want to minimize the thermal shock: the stress when its surfaces are exposed to contrasting temperatures at the same time, which can mean cracking as a result of rapid temperature change. Ceramic objects are particularly vulnerable to this form of failure, due to their low toughness, low thermal conductivity, and high thermal expansion coefficients. If you would like to read more about it, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_shock.

Lowering the can all the way.

Then spraying with ferric chloride. I want to glaze this plate, so, I don’t put on any horsehair at this point. Glaze will not stick on the horsehair. But I want brown color underneath the glaze, because only spraying on the glaze doesn’t give enough color. It will give a beautiful iridescent sheen.

I lower the can again and may repeat this several times.

This all happens really fast, because otherwise the plate cools too fast to work with it anymore.

A last touch up.

I wear a mask for the dangerous fumes of the ferric chloride. My arms are covered with old socks. Of course, you can wear a long sleeved shirt. We wear big gloves for the heat and underneath I wear this plastic glove to be able to start working right away with the ferric chloride and not to get it on my hands. The bottle will leak. We also put a fan nearby to blow away the fumes when I spray.

This is the final result:

Sun Horsehair Plate.
17,5″/44cm x 2,5″/6cm

(Click on image)

Some new results from my work in America.

Glazed horsehair, fumed,crazed Raku bowl.

The other side, front or back of the glazed horsehair Raku bowl.

The foot of the glazed horsehair Raku bowl.

Glazed, fumed decorated horsehair bowl.

The foot of the bowl.

This is the motor with the flu. Here you can adjust the amount of oxygen, so the oil will burn well and to its fullest. When you see black smoke coming out of the chimney, you increase the air/oxygen.

You also control the increase of temperature by partially closing the chimney.

The oil drum, the fuel.

The pyrometer shows the temperature.

The kiln is filled so that you can easily take the pieces out of the kiln.

Taking a little peek.

Taking a piece out.

A tissue outside and inside burning for smoke effects.

Putting the horsehair on.

Spraying the ferric chloride.

The end result. It takes some days for the colors to develop.

Some results from the horsehair firing in an oil kiln.

Tall s-line vase.

A bowl plate.
The colors of the ferric chloride developed well.

A round little vase.

“Cloudy sky” bowl plate.

Square Vase.
You clearly can see the smoke from the burning of the horsehair in the slip.

You put the plate on a tissue, which starts to burn, because you take it hot out of the kiln at 800-650 Celcius degrees or 1600-1350 Fahrenheit degrees.

Then you can sprinkle it with some sugar.

You quickly add the horsehair before it cools off too much.

I spray with ferric chloride to get the brownish/orange/yellow color.

Mashiko is an important potter’s village, made known by Hamada Shoji, the legendary pioneer of Japan’s pottery folk art movement. Mashiko represents the essence of the old Japan and a unique reservoir of local clay and hills suitable for the “nobori-gama” kilns. Hamada was convinced that outstanding craftsmanship flows from the natural environment. His vision was about fusing nature’s grace and beauty with pottery’s functional forms. He has a career-long devotion to the use of the delicate clay indigenous to Mashiko and was honored to be a “National Living Treasure”.

My website: www.swanceramics.com