Post #789455 by danlovestikis on Sun, Aug 26, 2018 8:30 AM

Wish List #8 the Mermaid bowls. I have now completed a total of seven. These bowls turned out to be really difficult projects. If you do too much glaze it runs, if you don't do enough it's blotchy and needs to be done over again. Not a single bowl was done with one firing, some took three. Dust was also a problem. Here are some photos that show weeks of work and that doesn't count making them.

My first step is to fill each bowl to the top and let it sit 30 seconds and then pour it out. All the mermaids are sitting in the ocean.

This bowl had a leak somewhere under the mermaid and the glaze came out the bottom as

shown here. The hole is made so that air can escape during firing. It opens into the mermaid.

I couldn't find where the leak was located but all I needed to do was pour in some more glaze and let it sit.

I finished glazing the bottom and the outside of the bowl. It will seal up when fired and there will never be a leak again.

It took a week but I finally got all the bowl parts finished.

Next up the upper half of each mermaid.

Once these were 100% dry they can fire. I could only fit four into the entire kiln. Two per shelf.

When I opened the lid I could see many glaze skips along the arms. I scrubbed each piece before glazing but I missed some areas.

It only takes one spec of dust and you have to re-glaze and fire again.

This is something that just happens and so you

just say "Oh Well!" and keep on going

and going and

going and one day each project will be finished and shipped.

The next step once they are done will be to hand paint all their faces on and then to bake them to set the enamel paint. It took a month before these and some other projects were finished. To make use of the kiln space I did, guess what, a few more Tiki Bob's.

Cheers, Wendy