Sales, Openings, Events, Workshops Walt Gillispie will be selling at the Art on the Hill show in Kearney, MO., Saturday, April 24, 2010. Not sure on exact hours or location but it's about 132nd street and Hwy 33. I believe it's running from 9 or 10am to 5pm. This show is usually very well attended by artists and art lovers alike and typically has media coverage. Please visit Walt's exhibit and help support your local potter! Thanks! Wood-Fire at William Jewell Ceramics Dept. Next Wood-Fire: Sometime late May 2010?? KRose Pottery is no longer selling at the Kansas City Historic City Market in KC, MO. Effective January 1, 2009. (For more information or private showing, contact Rosie Hashemi by email: krose0561@gmail.com) KC City Market Saturday, May 18, 2008 Opening Pics Me and my wonderful friend Dorothy. Dorothy's husband Ron, calling my bluff. My first customers. Click on the link below to check out the City Market. Links to other sites. Rachel T. : http://www.rachelsartstuff.blogspot.com/ The Kansas City River Market: http://www.thecitymarket.org/ My E-mail Address: krose0561@gmail.com If you would like to be included in my guest book for future shows, wood-fire dates and/or openings, please email me with your name, address and e-mail address. If you are interested in a private showing of my work, please contact me by e-mail at: krose0561@gmail.com.

WJC Wood-Fire, Salt-Glaze Kiln Photo courtesy of Rachel Thomas. Photo courtesy of Jeri Henderson.

WJC Raku Kiln Raku Firing I don't do much Raku firing and so I have no pieces to really illustrate this technique but I'll try to give you a quick explanation of the process. Raku firing is a very fast firing process. Typically, the raku kiln is heated up to 1382-1472 degrees F. The glazed ware is placed in the kiln with long tongs and fired for at least 20 minutes. The ware is checked visually to see whether the glazes are shiny and 'fluid'. When they are, the ware is removed with long tongs and immediately placed into 'reduction chambers'. The reduction chambers are filled with organic, incendiary material (sawdust, wood chips, straw, paper, etc.). Some of this organic material may also be placed over the ware as well. The chambers are then closed. The ware may be left in the chambers to cool or pulled out with long tongs and placed in a metal bucket of water or set on the ground or any fire-proof surface to cool. These pieces are generally, very fragile and absolutely not functional without some sort of liner. There are many variations in raku firing and in wood firing and gas firing, for that matter. There is a wealth of information on the WEB and in books and magazines on all of these processes. All photos courtesy of Jeri Henderson.

WJC Gas Kiln Photo courtesy of Rachel Thomas. Photo courtesy of Jeri Henderson.

Wood-Fired, Salt-Glazed Sculptures #6006 Dead Tree Sculpture, #6206 Vulture Sculpture and #16006 Skinny Dippin' Sculpture have production glazes, which we mix up at WJC and some of my own glazes applied to the snakes, vulture, lizards, frogs, wrens, female figure and dress. The rocks on #6006 are glazed with a commercial glaze. The rest of the glazing on these pieces is done by the process of firing with wood to temperatures of 2300 to 2400 degrees F (+/-). The wood ash is carried through the kiln with the fire, by a flue and damper system fueled by a 17 foot chimney. Wood ash is deposited on the ware throughout the fire and toward the end of the 15-20 hour firing process, salt is added to the firebox. The salting adds a shine (glazing) to the pieces. Different woods and whether or not you use raw wood with bark or no bark, or if you use kiln-dried wood, can all change the appearance of your pieces when you open the kiln. The kiln cools for three full days before it is opened and the ware is still sometimes too warm to touch when we first get the doorbricks down. After the door is open though, it's Christmas...every time! There's actually many different ways to wood-fire and quite a bit more to the process but it's much too much to lay out every detail...unless of course I was to write a book. #107 Mountain Lion Sculpture has been my most adventerous piece to date. I used different clay bodies to achieve nearly all of the color variations in this piece. The lion (panther) was made from cone 10 White Stoneware primarily. The muzzle, chest and white around the eyes was done with a cone 10 clay body called Australian Ice Porcelain, with a cone 10 Dark Brown Laguna forming the black areas on the face. The dead log was a combination of White Stoneware, Dark Brown Laguna, Australian Ice Porcelain and a cone 10 Red Clay mixed up by another student a few years ago. I did glaze the eyes with a glaze I reformulated a couple of years ago (Rosie's Reformulated Gerard Green). The whiskers were retrofitted from the 'gift whiskers' my cat Sceeter always leaves laying around for me to sweep up. The hair in the ears actually used to belong to my Siberian Husky, April, who has now passed.

January 2010 Price Decrease $100 January 2010 No Longer For Sale (NFS) January 2010 No Longer For Sale (NFS)

Wood-Fired Salt-Glazed Functional Ware All of my wood-fired salt-glazed functional ware is food, dishwasher and microwave safe. I use no lead-based glazes.

Gas Fired Functional Ware All of my gas-fired pieces are glazed with production glazes and my own glazes; typically, inside and out. Like the wood-fired pieces, they are fired to 2300-2400 degrees F (+/-). The gas kiln is fueled with natural gas and temperature and air flow are controlled with burners, blowers and a damper system. It's a much faster climb to temperature than the wood-fired kiln however, taking a mere 8-10 hours from start to finish. This kiln cools down for 2 days before it is opened.