Crystal-Glazing Technique

The blogs are coming thick and fast today. This video is probably a bit esoteric for the layman,but is part of my intention of trying to put out visual information on this beguiling practice - the film showing how to separate the "catcher" from the pot after firing is also on YouTube.

Proto-macro-crystals

An early attempt at a crystal glaze,probably from 20 or more years ago. I was happy enough with this one to bring it proudly into the kitchen,where it has held flowers for many a long year,finally falling victim to the domestic purge which is sweeping the household.

Gather Round Children

When your young and idealistic parents made aliah [immigrated] in 1977,the Jewish Agency gave us a bed-frame, matress and quilt,a knife and spoon [but no bourgeois fork],a plastic bowl,a light-bulb [if I remember correctly] and this lethal parafin stove,made in Communist Rumania with instructions in French,obviously part of some doubtful entente, which has remained unlit on a dusty shelf for the last 32 years. In honour of the holiday [Chanukah,the Festival of Light] and because I'm finally clearing out the store-room,I gave it a wipe,filled it up,stood well back and lit it. It does crank out the heat,but also smells a lot, apart from its inherent structural instability [like its country of origin],so I think I shall render it unfit for use [with my big hammer] and consign it to the bin.

Symposium News! - New Guest! - Tim Andrews!

Halima Cassell had to cancel at the last minute,but an unfazed Ruth Corman has found us a worthy replacement. A click on the title will whisk you to his site,if you crave more information.

Just One of Those Days

Among my favourites - grey,misty days when you can't see the end of the alley from my studio door.

Sheva Chaya's Glass-Blowing Studio

While we're on the subject of friends with sites: Sheva Chaya's studio is just round the corner from my house in Tsfat, on a narrow one-way street which now - semi-miraculously,it seems to me - boasts four silica-based craft studios [one glass,three clay] - not to mention a recently-opened cafe,Miriam Mehadipur's beautiful gallery,another couple of painters,and,as of this Shabbat,Moshe Tov's freshly [and environmentally-sensitively] restored Khan of the White Donkey. Come and visit us!

Esther Beck's New Site

Click and check out good friend Ester's site:she'll be at at next week's symposium at Tel Hai,as usual - come and meet her!

Spinach with Sydney

Go to a nearby field [Sde Eliezer]and pick an armful of organic spinach.
Slide it into a hot oven with some good local olive oil [from Sydney's friend Nevo],salt and pepper, for 10 minutes.
Serve with home-baked bread and wonderful fresh tehina [Farod] and some freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice [Nevo again],preferably on dishes that you have made [I think that salt jar is one of mine]. Share with a friend [me,after a great day teaching at Tel Hai] while learning together [we're finishing Mick Casson's book,just as the anniversary of his passing comes around]. So good.

Being Green

 

The most recent kiln - another Picasa photo-montage creation.

Yesterday's Sunset

Looking south from Rehov Keren HaYesod towards Tiveria. It hasn't rained that much,but it's been quite cold.
This morning I unloaded the last gas kiln in the current run; there were 2 sinks in it,one of which came out quite well,the other almost very well - but I think that the answer to how to fire crystals in the gas kiln is - buy an electric kiln.

Kiln #2

Interesting how the crystals grow around my stamp,no?

I Think It's Runnier Than You Like It,Sir

Colateral damage from yesterday's firing,which actually came out rather well,although the sink,for reasons as yet unclear,still didn't produce the firework show I was hoping for. I'll try to photograph when I've got all the pots tidied up. Did you click on the title? Or recognise the quote?

More Doubt and Uncertainty

I'm in the middle of the second firing in the gas kiln - about an hour into the crystalising period,trying to hold the kiln steady at 1040 for the next half-hour or so,knowing that I may already have blown it by allowing a little reduction to creep in [but maybe it wasn't that much] on the way up to the top temp [but I can't get anything like a decent kiln speed without what looks like a tiny reduction [a faint small orange flame licking out of the spy-hole,though no sign of a flame at the chimney]. So I'm proceeding regardless,and tomorrow all will be revealed.

The Child is Father to the Man

Gilad, my son, writes me an email from his culinary studies in California to remind me (a propos that gas firing) that things aren't meant to go right first time so that you can learn something from your mistakes, & how right he is. Teach your parents well,as CSN&Y sang all those years ago.