May's Pots

It was a good Mother's Day - celebrated with warm wishes from my kids, dinner with family and my first kiln opening since Feb this year. Wow! - I can't believe it's been that long.

Highlights of Sunday's pots - a jinxed mug order from late last year, that took 3 attempts to get right, is finally done ..... YEAH! .... and Teapots - it's been a long time since I did teapots and they turned out not too bad. As always, though, there is room for improvement. I will give them another go with my next throwing round.

A successful firing, for me, is all about glazing. And glazing is my nemesis so when I watched Cathi Jefferson's video last week on Ceramic Arts Daily, something she said caught my attention. She talked about an article she read years ago that suggested you should limit the number of glaze colours you use, get to know those colours well and understand what you can do with them. I think I will make that my new glazing mantra ...... now the challenge will be to pick the ones I want to stick with :>) ..... to view the video see Ceramic Arts Daily - Cathi's Video. 

I am hoping to get one more fire on before leaving on vacation but we will see. There is a group of potters coming over from the island this week to meet up with the Fine Arts Club Potters for a potluck and a tour of local studios, including mine, so getting ready for that will be a priority.

Next week we will be off to to meet up with the grandkids for a Disney vacation so no potting again until end of May.

Spring!

Happy to be back in the studio (well almost back) after taking a multi-week winter hiatus!

I eased my way back to work with a day at the 2010 Clay Symposium (http://www.canadianclaysymposium.ca/index.html) at the Shadbolt in Burnaby mid March. Talk about inspiration in spades - especially Jack Troy - what an eloquent, captivating ceramicist! See http://www.jacktroy.net . It was also a blast to see and visit with many of my Fraser Valley Potters Guild friends. Some of my new Powell River potter friends also attended for the first time. They were amazed by the variety of pots displayed in the Ceramic Roadshow.

When I got back home I helped out with a gas firing at our local Fine Arts Club - I need/want to get more experience firing with a brick gas kiln. I was hoping to get six of my Sand Wave relief tiles into the firing but unfortunately that didn't happen as I needed to have them fired all together at the same time. We decided I'd wait 'til next time. In between taking my turns to check the kiln, I spent the day throwing high fire clay pots so I could have something else to put into the next firing.

Speaking of the Fine Arts Club, they've asked me to teach again. Depending on numbers we might be able to get a class underway next week. Last year's students are turning out some great pots so I am looking forward to a new group of beginners. 

Last week I was back in my own studio for the first time since mid February but have had to take time away again this week - taxman is waiting and book-keeping, correspondence etc has also piled up and couldn't wait any longer. I will be back at 'er tomorrow. Stay tuned for new pots, new tiles and new glazes!

:>((( - Big Sad Face :>(((

Now Thurs morning ..... I opened the kiln around 7 AM to allow for the rest of the cooling. The one tray on the top shelf is not looking too bad. Maybe things will be ok.

It's now Thurs 10:30 AM ..... It's a sad day. Not such good results further down in the kiln. Witness cones showed things badly overfired to cone 7. And worst of all - on the bottom shelf - 9 mugs for a customer order due Friday. On most of the mugs, the glaze has run onto the kiln shelf and there are bumps and pits all over the pots. See my unhappy face :>((

The test tiles show some interesting results but since I don't plan on repeating this mistake, will not be something I will get in a normal fire. However, if I look on the bright side (there's got to be a bright side), they will be good to have for reference for those times when I am looking for special effects.

It will be nose to wheelhead this afternoon. There are a lot of pots to make before I head east mid February. 

Happy Mistake ???

Twas Tues evening and the glazing was all done, including the 32 glaze test tiles (16 glazes x 2 types of clay). On went the fire (I use an electric kiln and fire to cone 6 which is around 1223 degrees C for those who want to know). All was progressing well later in the evening. At 7 AM Weds morning, I toddled down to the studio to shut off the vent fan and was surprised to find the kiln still running! My normal fire including the cool down segment of the program takes roughly 12 hours. Not only was it still running, it was still up around cone 6! Arghhhhh! - in checking further, I realized that when I set the 'Hold Time' (time needed at top temp to soak the glaze) to 20 minutes, I had accidentally keyed in 20 HOURS!!!! I quickly stop the kiln, reprogram the ramp down schedule, cross my fingers and hope for, as per my daughter's description, a happy mistake!

Glaze Test Math

Glaze testing ..... love it, hate it. Need to get a glaze fire on in order to finish a mug order by Friday BUT didn't want to miss an opportunity to include colour tests of my latest fave glaze (the semi matte in my last post) in the firing. Always a bad judge of time (hubby will attest to that), I figured I'd take the morning yesterday to get the samples made - NOT! I was at it almost the entire day.....16x200g tests=6 hrs ....... hmmmm, gotta be something wrong with that math.

So that means, I will work today, supposedly my 'day off', to glaze the rest of the pots and hopefully have the fire on by 6 PM tonight. Stay tuned for the results ...... now that's the part I LOVE!

New Year, New Pots!

Holidays are over .... time to get back into the studio! There were lotsa creative thoughts rambling through this old brain throughout our one month Christmas break that now need to be put into play - trying out terra sigillata finishes, playing with a glaze technique called cuerda seca plus plans for new tile projects. 

In the run up to the Christmas season, I had a customer ask I could make a couple of breakfast place settings (bowl, side plate and mug). She wanted to give them to her parents in Germany as a Christmas gift and since they live onboard a boat, she had a blue coloured nautical theme in mind. She saw some unfinished altered bowls I had on the studio shelf that she really liked and asked if I could make mugs in the same style. I agreed to give it a try .... both her and I were pretty impressed with the outcome (kinda cool to think I have now have pots residing in Germany!). The glaze is my new semi matte glaze in a 'blue jean' colour. I expect to be using more of this glaze this year and will be testing different colours in the next kiln load.

Pottery Class

I've been teaching Beginners Pottery at the local Fine Arts Club for the past 6 weeks. Tonight is the last class. It's been a blast! - hopefully the students got something out of it as well! Reminds me that teaching/training has always been a part of (and a favourite part of) the many jobs I've done over the years. Funny how it always seems to follow me.

We made a trip to 'The Island' yesterday, in part to pick up pottery supplies. I am looking for a new white clay as I haven't been very happy with the brand I've been using the past year - end results have been ok but I've had issues with how it handles. I had the pottery supply store order in a couple of the white Seattle Pottery clays so we shall see what transpires - sigh! - means more glaze testing! :>)

Countdown ....... 12 more days until the first of my four Christmas Fair and Market dates. The Raincoast Christmas Fair @ Dwight Hall is a 2 day affair - Nov 14/15. My merchandising friend V, has suggested table coverings of Christmas Red on Black will work well to show off the 'Sad Blue' pots and others :>) Glad she's coming out to help me set up!