This is the view from my windows and it is relentless. the ground is saturated and slippery (full as it is of smectite clay crystals) making the walk to the kilns with a board of pots rather perilous. It's also interfering with the outside work I have to do, such as crushing clays and rocks. Only one more clay body to make up though - a dark firing, highish iron body from the East Dartmoor secondary kaolin. It is quite difficult to throw and extremely prone to firecracking in the bisque, so I have made a good sized bucket of grog to add to it and will take the bisque very slowly, especially around 300 - 700C.
Tomorrow, though, a long drive as I'm off to the Malverns to collect some more mudstone samples and give a short talk to the
Teme Valley Geological Society
I 'm taking samples relevant, to the area including this...
Fired up in the front of the kiln - you can see the base was sat in the embers - it is glazed with a relatively refractory metamorphosed, high silica, felsite.
The mudstones I'm collecting are among the oldest clays I have got hold of and I will be using them for a high earthenware firing in my small wood kiln.
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