Test Fire - Cone 10 Pendants

My pendants just came out of the kiln for my first pendant test firing of Cone 10. The pendants made it through and the glazes didn't run on the shelf. Some of the glazes I don't care for on sculptural or functional ware, look great on pendants. For instance, the Tom Coleman glaze, green to black satin matt looks great on a pendant (lower left in above photo), but looked washed out on a vase I glazed recently.

Feeling the weight of the pendants, I actually think I could make them a little heavier. I also think I could have put a bit more glaze on the pendants, but I didn't want the glaze to run on the kiln shelf. A drawback to Cone 10 pendants is I only glaze the front of the pendant because the nichrome wire won't hold up through Cone 10 temperature of 2350 or sometimes even higher.


The clay I am using, Rod's Mix from Laguna, says it shrinks an average of 14 percent with a plus or minus 2 percent possible. Up to this point for the functional ware I have been making, shrinkage hasn't mattered much to me, but for pendants it makes a difference on how the pendant hangs in a piece of jewelry. I will have to make a few more test pendants and measure them in length, width and depth at the wet stage, the leather hard stage, after the bisque and then after the glaze firing. Well, I am back to working with the clay again.

Test Tiles

We opened the kiln today - what a great firing! I wanted to take a photo before the kiln was unloaded but was visiting my father-in-law in the hospital and got to class early but after someone had unloaded the kiln. The witness Cone 11 was melted flat, so we were a bit hot, but the glazes turned out wonderful. I got home at 7 p.m. made dinner and showed all my fired pieces to my husband. Later I started to hang the test tiles temporarily on the wall so I could take a photo. Then I discovered glaze had filled the hole on two of the tiles. I started drilling the holes out and broke a drill bit, next one of the test tiles broke (I can epoxy it back together again).

Test tiles are all Rod's Mix stoneware clay. Here is my quick line up of the test tiles from from left to right, top row first. Masterson Orange, Celadon, Autumn Brown, Lyon Tan, Autumn Yellow, Aegean Blue, Tan Matte, Transparent, Jensen Red, AK Plum, Sun Valley, Artificial Salt, Tea Dust Black, Fake Ash, Speckled Gray, Non Iron Blue Celadon, and Green to Black Satin Matte. Tea Dust Black, Fake Ash, Non Iron Blue Celadon and Green to Black Satin Matt are Tom Coleman glazes.

Some of the test tiles are hard to see and would show up better if I had taken a photo of one test tile at a time. But for now these will have to do. Next I'll be posting a series of photos of the pieces I have glazed with each of the glazes from above. You will be better able to appreciate the glazes shown on a larger piece of ceramic. There are several promising glazes which I will be using in my next glaze firing.