Woodfiring in Woodstock, VA Sept, 2022

Hardwick Celadon Glaze
New tea bowl form fired for the first time in this September firing.

I’m still chasing firing this kiln the way I imagine my glazes and flashing clay body will work the best, but this was another great firing in a kiln that just keeps producing quick, fairly even results. Firing went 12-14hrs in this down draft bourry box kiln. We used mixed wood, but mostly oak cut as firewood, which is unheard of firing a kiln from start to finish. Smaller wood would have helped build heat at the end with less coals build up, but we used big chunks the whole way and it worked.

Flashing was red and coated all sides of my work as shown on the back of this plate.

We fired to cone 8/10 with cone 12 on the bag wall. I called the firing a little too early and my work in the cone 8 areas were too cold for the glaze to melt, but overall my work looked good and I only lost a small percentage due to underfiring. The end of the firing turned into “throw everything into the firebox and see what happens”, and we ended with a pretty even kiln top to bottom and side to side. I wish I had the forethought to allow the kiln to sit at the peak temperature for 30min or so and then close it off, but now I know that my glazes need cone 9 down to work.

My hope in firing is to do an early reduction at cone 012 and that was accomplished, but then I want no late reduction which I think will make my glazes pop. What I did learn is that my flashing clay bodies do not care if they have late reduction and maybe, they even like it. I hope next firing to reduce early and then keep a neutral/light reduction all the way up to completion. Coal raking needs to stop at cone 7/8 to eliminate dry patches on pots and smaller fuel needs to be utilized at the end to keep the fire box clear and the coals small enough to allow the necessary air.

Late coal bed raking caused large deposits of dry ash to accumulate on the side of this tea bowl.

The flashing on these pots was the 2nd best I have seen. The better firing was due to wet wood and nail accumulation due to using pallet wood for half the firing. Now that we don’t use pallets and there are no nails the firings have been steady heat building until the kiln is a rocket ship that has difficulty slowing down.

Flashing was red on both the EPK and Grolleg bodies with about 1% iron in them. The high silica test body flashed brown/red and went white with too much ash build-up. It slumped at cone 12 on the bag wall. The basalt body flashed brown with slight deep red flashing at cone 12 on the bag wall. The basalt created black spots, so the test needs to be redone with pumice substituted for the basalt or the basalt needs to be bisqued and then crushed into smaller powder for better results. As shown below the store bought clay I used for drip tiles did not flash, but went darker brown. On the right are 2 or 3 different flashing clay bodies I manufactured that went a true red in this firing. Early reduction was for 2 hrs with neutral/light reduction to cone 7, then moderate to heavy reduction to cone 10.

stoneware did not flash red (Soldate 60)
Flashing clay bodies flashed red
Test cups 1-4
Test cups 5, 6, 7

The 7 test cup glazes were as follows: Robin’s Egg, Ru, Chai, Blue Longquan, Dayao 1, Dayao 2, Hangzhou-Guan. These glazes were chosen as they all have high quantities of Grolleg porcelain as an ingredient in their recipes and exhibit crawling as a result. The test was to glaze them each, bisque them and then glaze them a second time to see if the crawling would stop. The crawling did stop on all of the first pre-bisqued coatings except for #1 &2. #6 crawled on the post-bisque coating, but not the pre-bisque coating. The other glazes worked, though some were slightly underfired.

  1. Robin’s Egg- This glaze was slightly underfired, though it has been beautiful in other firings where it went to cone 10. My guess is the samples in this firing all went to cone 8 and did not reach maturity. Samples that did not have a pre-bisque coating crawled like crazy. interior of this cup crawled extensively with bare patches that were not flashed, so glaze either moved after early reduction or glaze became glass before late reduction. Possible there was little reduction in this back area of kiln, but foot of cup has flashing on it. Glaze needs to have 100% calcined Grolleg in recipe and more tests will need to be done if the 100% calcined kaolin does not solve issue. it is possible that fast firing cracks the glaze so that it cannot repair itself in the late stages of the firing.
  2. Ru- Both layers of glaze crawled extensively. Glaze surface was perfect at cone 8/9, but crawling ruined most samples. Drips of glaze show that maturity was reached. Cone 12 samples of this glaze did not all crawl. Glaze must have evened out at higher temp, but glaze goes shiny and white frosting or foamy appearance accumulates in thick areas. Beautiful both ways, but glaze crawling destroys effected pieces. 100% calcined Grolleg kaolin needs to be used to reduce crawling. Bentonite or Epsom Salts will need to be altered as there will be no clay to keep glaze suspended. Cone 9 seems to be perfect temp for this glaze.
  3. Chai- I liked old version of this glaze better, though this sample looks pretty nice. Thick 2nd coating stayed consistent overall and was not too green as in previous firings, but inside bottom of cup showed dark green pools, so maybe gray coloration was due to underfiring. Dark green coloration looked to be in pooled wood ash areas in bottom of cup. Crawling was non-existent, but cup looked slightly underfired. Needs a good cone 9 down. White specks may be calcined Grolleg, so glaze needs to be double screened or 100mesh screened (I only did 80mesh). Crazing was heavy where wood ash hit it, with possible fish scaling where wood ash was thickest. I think this version of the glaze accidentally has 1% iron put into it instead of the .25% indicated in the recipe, so next version should have 100% Grolleg kaolin with no iron added, to lighten this version. Maybe, mix up the old version with 100% Grolleg and add to this version to see if iron is okay. Old version was more like Ru in surface quality, but was white as there was no iron added to it. Somewhere in the middle is probably perfect in color and surface.
  4. Blue Longquan Celadon, Southern Song #2- Looked good as is, but is a little underfired to get true color. This test looked gray, but there was minimal crawling which should be fixed with hotter firing. Close to a true Guan with wide craze lines. Earthworm tracks shown where glaze drying cracks did not fully close up. Cone 9 needs to be down, otherwise glaze will work as is. 100% calcined Grolleg will help once I get enough of it to use, but pre-bisque and post-bisque glazing works for this glaze.
  5. Dayao 1- Glaze was too green with slight clumping shown where glaze was between crawling and healing. I’d say sample was slightly underfired and has a little too much iron in it, but can’t really tell about the iron without additional tests. pre-bisque seemed to solve crawling.
  6. Dayao 2- Glaze was failure with thin coating of pre-bisque not crawling and thick coating post-bisque crawling like mad. Glaze recipe has already been altered for next kiln firing. Test is also too green, but again it could be that underfiring it caused coloration. Another test to temperature should be done.
  7. Hangzhou-Guan- Test looks to not be mixed thoroughly. White flecks indicate it needs to be screened again at 80mesh or taken to 100mesh. More gray may be due to underfiring, but surface looked good. Pre-bisque glazing worked well here and glaze does not need to be altered, though the color may be too green, so iron may need to be halved. Another test needs to be done to know.
Test 4 Blue longquan
Test 7 Hangzhou-Guan

Of the pre-bisqued glaze tests the above are my two favorites. The Chai test #3 also looked good, but it was a little too anemic and shiny. The Blue Longquan has a great satin surface and the Hangzhou- Guan is so fat and smooth I’m not sure which I like better. If they had both been fired a little hotter or held at temp for another half hour, they may have been perfect, but overall I like what happened on these two.

Other pots that came out well are below. Captions show some are new forms and some just got that kiss of the kiln that sets them apart.

Bottle with Ru glaze- New form with great flashing
Jug with Pete’s Clear
Tea Bowl- New form with great flashing and interesting interior glaze
Lidded Form- beautiful flashing
Lidded Form- I love the flange on this one
Robin’s Egg glaze- I kept this one due to the crawling, but I use it every day. I really like the lip striations
This is a PV/Pumice Celadon I created that goes blue when it pools. Cone 12 did it right.

New Ceramics from the Varina Woodkiln

These pots were fired in a 2 chamber woodkiln by Tree Hill Pottery. They fire with revitalized wood scraps and logs found in the Richmond, VA area. The kiln fires from cone 6 to cone 11 in oxidation and reduction depending on the area of the kiln. The following work represents my glaze tests in different locations of the wood/salt chamber of the kiln.

Magnesia glaze on the inside with 3% iron as a colorant. This cup was once fired in a wood/salt atmosphere to cone 10. Cup was hand built over a wood hump mold with texture added to the outside by pressing and paddling with hand made and found wooden sticks.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

Wood/Salt fired cup with woodash celadon glaze in the Chinese Longuan celadon tradition.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

Trans Clear Pumice Glaze that can be found on Glazy.org This glaze is high in Calcium Carbonate and goes clear green where thick in reduction atmospheres over 1260 degrees cooled quickly. In an oxidized atmosphere this glaze goes clear/yellow. This cup is clear/yellow on the inside and clear/green on the outside indicating 2 different atmospheres at different times in teh firing.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

VC Matte base. This cup has crystals from dark brown to green. The clay body looks reduced, but the interior of the cup looks oxidized and is a buttery yellow. My guess is the outside is showing carbon trapping from early in the firing producing the dark brown color. The green color may be coming from the salt in the kiln, but more tests are necessary.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

Fake Ash glaze is darker and more brown on the exterior. Interior is showing more rivulets with more yellow coloration. Glaze has over 40% calcium carbonate, but has not run much. So, very possible the temp was not at cone 10. Surface is dry, but mature.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

This is one of many tests for a blue celadon. It is showing a blue/green cast, but glaze needs to be much thicker. Glaze analysis was pulled from Nigel Wood’s book Chinese Glazes. Next firing will be same unaltered glaze with thicker application. Slight crystallization is evident.

Bourbon, Sake, Tea Cup 4″ x3″x 4″ $45.00
Email hardwickhandmade@gmail.com for orders

Ceramic Vessels by Matthew Hardwick

Current sculptural vessels by Matthew Hardwick are on display now at Black Iris Gallery- 321 W. Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23220. Opening Reception is March 6th from 5:30pm -10pm with accompaning ambient guitar by Hunter Duke.

This work explores time signatures left by textural paddles and sticks that are thrust and beaten into the clay over wooden and bisque molds that are carved with chainsaws, grinders, chisels and knives. The texture left by these tools is a physical manifestation of time; an interpretation of Matthew’s mortality.

The clay bodies are new and were formulated to show off flashing from the atmospheric kilns used to obtain them. The glazes create surfaces that contrast and highlight the surface texture.

The show is open through the month of March with a reception tomorrow, Friday March 6th and a closing reception on March 27th, 8-11pm to correspond with NCECA. This is a venue originated event in conjunction with NCECA and is on the bus tour during the last week of March.

The show was a success and thanks for all the support from those that attended the March 6th reception. The 2nd reception and NCECA was canceled, unfortunately, but it was a great experience to have my work up for a month and have locals get a chance to see more of my work.

Matthew Hardwick

Flashing Clay Bodies

I am currently searching for a deep red/orange clay body that flashes this color in atmospheric firings to Cone 8 and above. I have mixed roughly 20 tests and made cups out of them and fired them in Soda and Wood/Salt kilns to Cone 8 and Cone 10 respectively. Here are my findings.

It seems that red/orange flashing is promoted by small amounts of iron chemically incorporated in high temperature clay and dry material ingredients introduced in the clay body.

What Parmelee suggests in his book Ceramic Glazes that clay bodies higher in silica will need higher percentages of iron compared to clay bodies higher in alumina, stays true. Though, iron percentages stay below 3% on a whole.

Also, it seems that the silica/alumina ratio should stay below 4. The current wood kiln has tests that are below 2 (showing a high alumina content)

My tests have 2 different realms. One direction is a grolleg/PV body and the other is a Neph Sy/silica body. Both directions are currently using high alumina materials.

These are the tests in a cone 8/9 Soda Firing
4
clay body test #4
5
Clay body test #5
6
Clay body test #6

These 3 tests were fired in a first firing on a clay slab to ensure they would not melt down with higher than normal percentages of flux I was a little worried. I believe the firing had too much reduction to promote the flashing and too much soda to allow flashing in some areas. Cup number 6 has engulfed in soda, so no visible flashing is seen except on the foot of the cup.

My belief is that too thick a layer of flux (could be wood ash, soda in this case or salt) will stop the development or cover teh development of flashing. Also, I think that an oxidation atmosphere during 700 degree to 900 degree Celcius is neccesary for red/orange flashing, though I’m unsure if this needs to happen in firing or cooling or both.

This cup is blah blah blay

These 2 tests have 35% Mica with different types of silica mesh in them. Notice the excess iron in the mica has colored them brown as if they were made from EPK or were a dark stoneware, even though they are mainly grolleg kaolin. The silica mesh made no difference in the color. They were fired in different parts of the kiln.

These two tests have lower flux, but more silica and less mica and the color is very light almost a pastel pink. I believe the iron should have been increased to counter the added silica. It seems that 4-5% iron material needs to be added to get a deeper color.

Soda firing

A friend let me use his soda kiln to fire my work last weekend. Here is the open kiln as I saw it a couple days after the firing. The firing was a little cold, but I learned alot from it and hope to use many of the pieces in my shows this coming spring.

Hottest part of the kiln. Bottom shelf – front about cone 9 down with heavy reduction

What I learned the most was how my glazes work in soda. Some did not turn out how I wanted them to, but some came out great. My core 3 glazes looked great and I can’t wait to use them again. there were maybe three other test glazes that I will mix up again. Also, there were several glazes that did not work and I hope to sieve them to get the materials to mix better in the firing and perhaps work next time.

Middle shelf front- About cone 8 down with medium reduction, but some carbon trapping.

I’m looking forward to firing soda again, though I dont’ know when that will be, but I hope to do some tests again soon to see if sieving a glaze will improve how it looks.

Me before I unloaded the kiln

Michael Sherrill Retrospective at the Renwick Gallery

Chance led me to the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC this week where I went through the exhibit of Michael Sherrill’s work. It was amazing. He has moved his focus from utilitarian work thrown on a wheel to ceramic, metal, glass sculptural pieces. All were done with explicit detail and professional appearance. In speaking with him he was modest, contemplative and completely involved in his creative ideas.

Here are some images:

Hardwick Handmade studio tour

I am part of the RVA Clay Studio Tour this year. They have been doing it for 4 years now, but his is my first time participating. All my work is going to be out and available for purchase. Both my electric low fire earthenware dinnerware and my wood/salt fired porcelaneous stoneware will be for sale.

I will have snacks and drinks for your pleasure along with the pottery and ceramic vessels available for purchase.

TJ Edwards will be joining me for the sale and he will have pottery and sculpture that he makes down Route 5 in New Charles. His work is beautiful and also available for purchase.

I hope to see you there!

Matt

Reworking my Website

WordPress has revised how the website can be created, so I am in the process of making a store. I’m very excited that I can have a full store set up soon. Don’t hold your breath as soon may not be too soon, but I’m still excited.

Part of my remaking this store is in response to my applications to NCECA and local stores this summer as well as my applications to a couple fairs/markets. I hope I get in and can make enough artwork for them all.

So far, I’m going to have a solo show next March. I’m currently selling at the Pop-Shop by Jo Louise, which is very exciting. The women that work there are some of the best salespersons I’ve ever met. Thank you so much, to them.

-Matt