Fresh Out of The Kiln

I unloaded the kiln bright and early this morning to see what wonderful surprised might have occurred during this firing. While glazing each piece I have a mental picture of how it will turn out. Each time you open the kiln you discover things that turned out how you expected and things that didn't. Sometimes the ones that didn't turn out become really good examples of what not to do again. But my favorite are the ones that didn't turn out as expected, but are so much better. The platter shown here, which measures 16" across, turned out better than expected, but still not really good. The blue/green glaze on the rim ran into the spiral pattern more than I had hoped. Something for me to work on next time I guess. Thanks for reading.

Ode to my Roadie

Ok, I'm not really sure what constitutes an Ode, nor am I really aware of how one is written. But what I am sure of is, I could never do the sales away from home without my hardworking roadie. Pottery is really heavy to cart around and a hardworking roadie is a must if you want to attend many sales away from your home base. Today we were in the Art in East Park event in Zumbrota. It was a gorgeous day and after working hard setting up my booth, my hardworking roadie was rewarded with a much deserved nap in the shade before he went to work again tearing down and packing it all home again. He also enjoyed some ice cream which I'm sure made it all worthwhile for him. I am forever grateful for this hardworking roadie. Thanks, Kevin.

Finished texture

A while ago, I posted a photo and explanation of one of the ways I textured clay to make my pottery. The photo showed a cob of corn being used to prepare a slab of clay which was being made into a serving plate. Well, here is what the texture turns out like after it is glaze fired. It's very interesting when used with a glaze that breaks over the texture making different colors where the glaze gets thinner. In the upper center of the photo, the glaze is thinner, near the lower left corner the glaze is thicker and you can see the difference in how the texture appears. The glaze color is called Cream Rust because of the colors it produces where thick or thin. The variations provide a great deal of interest to a piece.

The day before

The day before glazing day is waxing day. As I've mentioned before, I produce pottery like many potters, in cycles. First throwing, followed by trimming/altering, bisque firing, waxing, glazing and glaze firing. Yesterday was waxing day. Prior to being glazed, any area of a pot I don't want glazed receives a light coating of wax. When pots are dipped in the glaze buckets, the wax resists the coating. This is especially important for the bottoms of pots which will rest on the kiln shelf as if they were glazed the glaze would fuse the pot to the shelf. And a mug that's attached to a kiln shelf isn't very useful. Wax resist is also useful in decorating pottery by either leaving a portion unglazed or when putting a coat of a different color over a first layer and I want part of the first layer to not be covered.

I'm very grateful for our warming weather and sunny skies right now because it allows me to make use of several long sections of deck railing, as shown in this photo, to dry the waxed pots before moving to the next step of the process.