A Creation in Clay
Introduction

Return to the Paper Neuschwanstein Castle plans here -

• Introduction -
• Part 1- The Gate Towers
• Part 2 The Gatehouse -
• Part 3 The Servants Quarters and servants tower
• Part 3a Let's take a look at the assembly so far!
• Part 4 - The Kings Quarters, The Knights Quarters and the Knights Tower
• Part 5 - The Guest Quarters and the Guards Tower
• Part 6- towers and quarters
• Part 7 - Firing and finishing up with the clay (You are here)

Monday May 11, 2009-05-11

Firstly my apologies for the slowness of completing this project (that is if anyone is watching) I will begin to explain what has been going on in my life. I have been frantically getting my new pottery studio completed.

This is it, nestled in a bush setting about 200 meters from my house. It is the original house on the property and is a 2-bedroom cottage.

I have been replacing ceilings and walls to get it into a reasonable condition to work in. As well I have bought my first kiln, had it wired in and have successfully had my very first bisque firing in it. Completed at 9am this morning.

Here it is, it is sitting out in the 'carport' area.

So anyway here in is my firing of the last of the castle pieces.

Here is the tray of pieces that were 'greenware' i.e. just air-dried clay.

These were then loaded into the kiln, the picture shows the first shelf in place with a number of test tiles loaded on.

Here is the kiln loaded ready for firing. The Kings quarters piece is visible in the back and the Soldiers Tower is visible beside the funny cube.

Looking into the peep hole at 1000 degrees Celsius.

Here is the proof that we got over 1000 degrees C.

This took nearly 12 hours to achieve.

I started off very slowly and then sped things up to about 100 degrees per hour.

It was completed at 8pm and was still at 300 degrees at 9am the following morning

Here is the result, still warm! So next up is putting things together and glazing and refiring!

So here is the tray of fired pieces.

Aren't bread trays wonderful things!

So here are the bits together. Note the Kings Tower is too short :( I will have to make a bottom section to lift it higher so that the small turret is above the roofline.

Note the front towers have changed again! I will have to redo them yet again! Will eventually get them right!

Realised that I am actually missing the second tower from the Kings Quarters and the two small slim towers from the Knights Quarters. So it is back to the clay room as soon as possible to get them done.

Next excitement will be to paint/glaze the pieces and refire.

Would love some feedback and some ideas for painting and glazing.