The wait is over

The long wait is over . In January I was diagnosed with colon cancer and was under the knife on January 18. Woke up with a nice accessory that I got to wear for three months . So now the accessory is gone , the let down surgery was April 11 and I have reached the 6 week mark  and can get back on the wheel , and start operating my kilns again . Yea!

Here are a few of the Raku pieces  I fired this week 

Ceramix

Burning up the elements . I go in for follow up surgery this coming Tuesday , and I'm getting all the unfinished work fired . Here are some pieces I pulled from the kiln this morning

Birthday present

My son and his wife were out here last week from Ohio . Had a great visit . We did a Raku for his birthday present . Here are a few pictures .

From today's second Raku firing

As you can tell from the post there was a first firing , and it all came out looking like crap . Thankfully I have the glaze combo down for my platters . Just out there having fun 

Feeling better every day

It has been six weeks since my initial surgery for colon cancer . In another six weeks they do the reversal , and I go back to light duty lifting four another four weeks . I am starting to feel almost normal . I have started throwing  on the wheel and it feels good .

So yesterday was a great day and I fired up the Raku hot box , the pics below are my results .

Back behind the wheel

Friday was my first time driving since my surgery , and I found myself deep in the heart of Page Springs I was enlisted to video of a Raku at an undisclosed location . I think my friend was just helping get me off my a$$

Unfortunately this blog doesn't upload video , so if you want to see the video pulling a Raku , you can check it out on Facebook 

Getting my Raku on

So, I don't know what you did today , knowing there was winter weather coming , i fired up the Raku kiln . This is the successful piece from the fire .

The day after

Loving bowls was over I n a flash , three hours , 1100 bowls , gone.

So for rehab and recovery today I did a Raku firing in the hot box . This is the finished product 

The second part of the test

Tested another pot, same glaze , used the  larger kiln , results , fantastic , so I know it was user error 

That my last few pieces didn't come out right 

the last few pieces out of kilns have not been quite right , tested my A glaze in #1 kiln . Everything came out just right , so, the culprit may be my other re worked kiln . Let the test firing begin .

From the flames

Today's pieces from the Raku kiln . So much fun, can do pots similar and they come out compleatly different 

Free forms

Playing with some free form platters . These are the results from the Raku kiln today 

Having fun with Raku platters

A couple more

Although I am not unsupervised any more , I still get to play with the  Raku kiln whenever I want 

Unsupervised

I have been unsupervised and home alone for the past week.

Here are a couple of pieces from the kiln today 

More fun with fire and chemicals

Fired up a few more

Fired a few more vases yesterday. Labor of love on Labor Day .

Here are the shots of what came out of the fire 

Something a little different

More Raku

I obviously had a little build up of pots, with the fire ban in effect for 45 days . So there will be some catching up

Raku of a sculpted piece

Such a beautiful day here in Sedona today , felt like I had to fire up the Raku kiln . This is what came out today ?