Glaze Tests II

Lately I have been working on formulating some new glazes.  The photo on the left shows some of the tests.  The upright tests on the left came out today and I am testing them on the heart shapes tomorrow to see how they behave on texture.  I still need to find a good yellow and maybe a purple.

As I have talked about earlier, the past month I have been working on an order for a restaurant in Memphis, TN.  I still have two more glaze loads of the rectangular trays but I decided to take a photo of the plates I have finished so far.  Next week I will start packing them up for shipment.

I am hoping that once this order is out the door I can move forward with work on my new line.  There will be more glaze tests on larger items and I also need to make more work.  My hope is that I can have enough pieces ready by May 11th for the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Festival.  I do all the online advertising for the festival and it would be a shame if I can't even do the show.

Yesterday I listed three mugs that I made at the John C. Campbell Folk School in December on Etsy.  It is funny how hard it is to give up pieces that are made at a workshop.  I am keeping one of the vases I made.

Plates finished glaze firing

Today I unloaded the first load of plates for the Italian Kitchen.  Tomorrow I will glaze again and the round plates will have a green rim.  The brie baker is just a test for a brown rim that I am waiting approval on.  I tested both spraying and pouring glaze on the rectangular tray and decided that the spraying looks better.  So I guess I have to spray even though it's harder with that shape than the round plates.  All I will be doing for the next few weeks is do load after load of this order until all 155 plates are finished.

Also, my pottery can now be found at JK Moyles Pottery and Gallery in Lenoir, NC.  Jane has opened a teaching studio which includes a small gallery in the front with different North Carolina artists.

Preparing to Glaze

Yesterday I finished up throwing the plates for Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen order and today I trimmed.  The original order was 150 plates but it ended up being for 155 plates (80 round plates and 75 rectangular plates)  Today it is very windy so I decided to put kiln wash on my kiln shelves.  I have already put 2 layers on and will probably do another layer on the two newest shelves.  Later I will mix up the glazes I am going to use.  Tomorrow I may glaze but the forecast calls for lingering wind and I will be spraying outside so that may not happen.  It looks like the next week or so will have mostly nice weather so I am hopeful that I will make a dent in glazing.  I am estimating 13 glaze loads, hopefully less and I have a month to finish.  Within those loads I hope to test some more glazes for my new line.  I am hopeful that I can have something to show at the Claymatters Festival in May.

Over the next few days I will be listing new items on my online shop.  I am starting to stock up on items for Mothers Day.