Vases Today

Had fun today and made some vases. The lobing is a design that I really like. My son came in the studio tonight when I was just finishing up the vase thats second from the left, and he says "Wow, that's the most awsome vase you have ever made". A great compliment from a kid that has zero interest in art. I also made another of the two piece vases that is twice the height. In the photo you can also see one of the handled bowls and some gravy boat that are drying. For the next few weeks I plan on just making fun pieces, rather that just making more of the same. Yesterday, I unloaded a glaze load and loaded another bisque. I priced everything I have done the past two months and packing up pieces for my March show in Chantilly. I still have to take photos of the nicer pieces, but I am waiting until after the glaze loads this weekend to finish photographing and packing. By next week I hope to have my dining room back. I started packing mainly because I feared that my dining room table would collapse from the weight.

Redwood & Moss

Glazed again today. Here is some of the pieces from the batch I did yesterday. I am really liking the Redwood glaze lately. It is a tricky glaze. If it is too thin it turns a darker dull brown. If it is too thick it can run and make a mess on my kiln shelves. I make the moss color by putting a blue glaze on first and covering it with the Redwood glaze. I have learned not to put the moss on the bottom of a piece because it will always run down and stick. I really like the lobing effect on the pitcher. Later this week I am going to do some more pitchers and vases.

Twilight

Unloaded the kiln this afternoon and reloaded it. The platter above is one of the pieces that came out. I glazed again today and I will again tomorrow. So, for the next few days I will be posting photos of finished pieces. I believe that I will be naming this line, Twilight. I decided to name the red and yellow line, Sunrise.

Loaded the kiln tonight

Just finished loading the kiln with a bisque load. As you can see I got the rest of my vases and pitchers in. This weekend is supposed to be warm, so I will be glazing Friday-Sunday.

In getting ready for my next few shows, I feel like I have caught up on my usual pieces. So, I decided to make a canister set for fun. They will probably be glazed in the yellow and red glazes. I also made some more large handled platters & bowls.

Airport Display 2010

Today I had a very productive day. First, I trimmed and punched holes on the berry bowls I made yesterday. Second, I put handles on the vases and pitcher I made yesterday. Third, I wedged some scrap clay. Forth, I made bowls out of the scrap clay. Fifth, I did my slip trail beading. Sixth, I loaded my kiln. (The kiln was not started because it is very windy today and I was afraid that if a tree fell of over and knocked out power, there would be a problem) I did bust a very nice pot when I misjudged the height of a kiln post. Seventh, I photographed the pieces going to the airport display (see one above). Eighth, I labeled and packed the pieces for transport.

McKenzie Smith's Covered Jar

Above is a photo of McKenzie Smiths covered jar. I worked yesterday and today on recreating some of the pieces he demonstrated at the workshop this past weekend. Below you will see my attemps to make what we saw. These pots take a lot of time to make. First the pot is thrown, then paddled to make square, then trimmed on the bottom, then in the case of the small cups cutouts at the foot, then a lid pressed into the top, dryed and paddled, then a knob added. These pieces are very different from my usual work, but I may do some more variations on this theme.

Egg Cookers

Today and tomorrow I am at a workshop given by McKenzie Smith. This is a photo of the piece I had to have. I expect to start working on some of the techniques learned this weekend starting on Monday.

When I got home tonight, I unloaded another glaze load. I won't bore you with another picture of a load, but here is a photo of some of the egg cookers. The large dish in the center is a soup bowl for my husband. He wanted something to use at work to cook soup without having soup explode all over the microwave. I still have two more color lines to glaze but it will have to wait until the weather improves.

Another glaze load

This is the glaze load I took out of the kiln today. I debated whether I should make more pots today or glaze again. Glazing won out since I am going to a workshop all weekend and wouldn't be able to work on finishing anything started.

Let's have a fiesta

The kiln was unloaded today. This was part of the Fiesta pieces I glazed yesterday. The rest will come out of the kiln tomorrow night. Today I glazed in the yellow with red rim glazing.

Glazing Today

It was a beautiful day so today was spent glazing the Fiesta line. This is a photo of what the colors look like before they are fired in the kiln. I will have a photo tomorrow afternoon of the finished product. The weather is supposed to be fairly warm again tomorrow so I plan on glazing a load of the yellow & red line.

Pitcher perfect

Saturday morning there was snow on the ground and decided to take a snow day (even though my studio is in my garage). Sunday afternoon the snow was melting and I decided that it was time to put the beading on pieces ready to be put in the kiln. While I was doing that my husband put together another shelving unit that I am using now for bisqued pieces. Today I made some xlarge platters, xlarge bowls, pie plates and this pitcher. I got an email about an upcoming exhibition that I am interested in participating in. Plus, I need a piece for the Airport Display, a raffle piece for the Spring Seagrove show in Greensboro, and 5 pieces for the Potters Conference. These are in addition to the 4 shows this spring. I need to work on some more show pieces. Wednesdays high is 55, so I am planning on glazing that day. So I may have pictures of finished pieces by the end of the week.