Narrative Project (Part 4)

White glazed dagger being removed from kiln

My first dagger, glazed, waiting to be fired

My two spare crosses had already been bisque fired so I decided that rather then leave them unfinished I would get them Raku fired. There was a choice of three glazes. They were white, dark blue and turquoise. I went with turquoise for the first dagger, which I had made by hand. There was copper in that glaze which gave bursts of red. I was very interested to see the result. I decided on white for the second cross.

White glazed cross after firing

I dipped both crosses into the glaze twice, holding them at a different spot to allow them to be completely covered. They were held in the glaze for about six seconds each time. I only half dipped the white dagger the second time as the finger prints were clearly only on one area. This became evident after firing.
The white dagger went into an earlier firing. I was very happy with it despite the visible line from the dipping. The effect with more glaze was more lines and bubble marks than on the part which was dipped only once.

Turquoise dagger after firing

The turquoise dagger managed to burst in the kiln and as part of it was being taken out it fell a broke as well. It ended up in four bits. A bubble in the piece was blamed. The air couldn't escape with the glaze and the pressure caused the split. All the bit went into the same reduction chamber but the copper oxidized to different extents and with the pieces placed back together the effects don't match.

Turquoise dagger

I haven't yet managed to get my hands on the right glue but I do intend to repair the cross. It needs to be a gel super glue as other super glues absorb into the ceramics and are relatively useless.