Post #678824 by VanTiki on Tue, May 21, 2013 2:01 PM

Well, poop. This morning's kiln opening was, to put it mildly, a let down.
The satin clearcoat that had worked wonders on an earlier test reacted badly with several of the underglazes, and ended up looking horrible on all 12 tiles. 6 of them are completely ruined, and the 6 passable tiles also suffered from cracks and warping. Arrrgh! Ceramics, you are a cold, cold teacher.

Here are the 6 that are nice to look at (from a distance)

woah! That is too close. Take a step back

ok - much better! :)

Seriously, though, the clay and firing schedule I've dialed in for my 4" tiles isn't working out for the 8" versions. I'm going to test out a few possible fixes this afternoon on a couple more tests - but things are looking bleak for this planned edition. I really love the sculpts, so I'll do my best to get it produced in some form or another.

After I press a few more tests tonight, I'm going to switch over to pressing some of my existing tiles for Tiki Oasis, along with pendants. There will be a new pendant (or two) for Oasis, along with some new mugs. I'm going to shelf this big moai for a spell and do some re-enginering (perhaps when Oasis is done)

Mahalo for looking!
Henrik "VanTiki"