Half done "to do list"

I had a pretty long "to do" list this weekend and made good progress, but it's still only half done. When I'm writing it, I know I've got a longer list than can be accomplished on a weekend, but if I put everything down, sometimes I can find things that fit together better than if I have to rely on my memory (never a good thing).


Yesterday, Kevin and I took a trip down to Harmony Minnesota to drop off a custom order and stop at our farm near Lanesboro. It was a great day for a drive and the snow at the farm was very pretty. It was a good thing we stopped to check everything out, because the door of the studio was open a couple inches for who knows how long. The heat is set at about 40 degrees, but I'm sure it was running 24/7 for quite some time.


Since a friend is opening a new fiber studio, I've got yarn bowls running in a glaze fire today. This is my first run at that very popular item so I hope they turn out well. After getting all my glazing done, I threw some new mug shapes (I'll show those later after they've gotten handles) and then put some time in at the slab roller making a couple platters.


Have a great week everybody!!

Oblong Platter

I unloaded the kiln last night and was very pleased with some of the results. It’s always a mystery which pieces will turn out as I’d hoped and I’m sometimes disappointed. This opening, I was please with nearly everything and very excited about a new design I’ve been working on. I’ve began making some oblong platters using clay slabs made with a handy piece of equipment called a slab roller. It works a lot like an old wringer washing machine. (Am I old or what?!). The clay slab is draped into a carved wooden bowl/platter shape I purchased while in Virginia a month or so ago. Here is a picture of the carved bowl. The wood draws the moisture out of the clay aiding in the drying process. When the piece is leather hard, I use slip to decorate the inside of the platter. And here is a picture of the piece I took out of the kiln last night. It is glazed in a rutile green glaze which flows nicely over the slip texture. I’ve got several other platters like this to glaze and fire and I can’t wait to see how they look.