Blog

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all you of the Irish persuasion.

I've been extremely busy throwing porcelain for a workshop I'll be attending in June. This is a shino carbon trapping workshop, taught by Malcolm Davis - the guy who perfected this technique. 

Now that I have completed the required 12+ forms and 24+ test tiles I can go back to my regular work. I can also get REALLY excited about the NCECA convention taking place in just two weeks. Yippie!

OK - so here it is the day after Groundhog Day. Hope you all have recup'd from the big holiday.

I celebrated by running a bisque load, and will open the kiln in a few minutes. While not as exciting as a glaze load, I still am happy to get the bisque out of the way and can then move on to glazing. - And, now I have A LOT to glaze. 

As a side note - I just sent in my registration for a workshop with Malcolm Davis. This is a 5-day workshop on shino carbon trapping. FUN! I hope the class still has room for me.  

The bows and mugs are magically multipying.  - Well, not quite magically. 

Now I'm on to vases and oval forms.

I've already been in the studio making bowls, 2 pounders. This is a good & easy way to get back into throwning after a break. A few more sessions of bowls (more 2 pounders, some 1 pounders, & some large bowls) and I'll have enough inventory to move onto another form. 

I'll keep you posted.

A week after the Red Barn Artisans' holiday pottery sale and I'm taking a well needed break in Florida. It's time to think about the past year - the successes and the areas that need improvement or modification. And, it's time to spend a lot of time with family and friends.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year! 

The 10/31/09 firing was very successful. There were some really exciting results in both the finished pieces and the test tiles. Of course I had too many pieces to fit into one load - so I'm firing the second batch of pieces today.

This load contains work glazed with the new combinations I just tested. I'm hoping for another successful firing and great results.

I'll post the results of both firings soon.

Earlier this week I fired a bisque load. It was the most packed in kiln I have ever fired. I even had to load some bowls edge on edge just to get everything to fit in. I was positive that I would have some issues. But, everthing made it through just fine. 

Spent all day yesterday waxing and glazing. I was an easy glaze because I was just using two glaze combos. However I did try out a few new glaze tests. And, I event got the kiln loaded.

So here it is on Saturday - the perfect time to fire the kiln while I clean the house.  - Of course now I can't wait to open the kiln tomorrow afternoon to see the results.

Stay tuned!