Singing Kumbaya

There are many theories on how to fire the elusive carbon trap shino. I remember a while back the late Malcolm Davis was phoning me in a flap because he had lost his soot. Where had it gone? How was I getting it? Malcolm invited a number of us to write an article for Studio Potter about the maverick glaze and how we approached it. Well, just before that issue was to hit the press Bryron Temple died and they cut the size of the article and hence I got the boot.

I have read where people glaze their pots, turn fans on them, face them to a westerly wind, keep them for 3 days under covers and then sit around and sing Kumabuyah to wish the soot Gods well.

My theory- put the glaze on, get it in the kiln ASAP and get firing. The wetter they go in the better.  Here are two bowls. The pumpkin orange boring bowl had all the same treatment as the lustery one minus the blue. It sat around the workshop for 3 days. 

  The soda ash goes off into La-la land and leaves you with Boring with a capital B. I used this one carbon trap shino glaze exclusively for 10 years. You learn a lot more about application and firing when you limit your selection.