Another quiet morning. Subtle colors. Wispy clouds. Calming waves. Quite serene.

Tonight I loaded another electric bisque kiln. With some larger pieces to fit in, it’s always a little tougher to “pack it tight” like I love to do. And sadly, I didn’t have my usual “arsenal” of kiln filler to fill in all the holes!

Kiln Layer #1 – upside-down cake plates, mugs, cruets and ornaments.

Kiln Layer #2 – more upside-down cake plates, bowls, mugs and two tumblers.

Kiln Layer #3 – A short layer of ovals & ikebanas.

Kiln Layer #4 -Bowls, wall pocket vases, mugs, ikebanas, tumblers and an oval.

As I got closer to the top, I did have to do some creative stacking, or should I say “tumbling” to get a little more squeezed in. You know there’s always room for just a couple more… as long as the lid closes, right?!!!

Okay, so I’m giving them a try…
I’ve been wanting to tackle cake plates for a long time now. But I’ve always heard horror stories of how they tend to slump & sag in the final glaze firing. So I’ve been putting it off for years. And I finally decided I needed to give ’em a try and go for it. Of course I can’t just test one. That’s just not my nature. So I went ahead and made five already! If one slumps, they’re probably ALL going to slump. But I did my best. I compressed & compressed. I tried to do as much as I could to avoid the slumping. My fingers are crossed.

Each of the cake plates are “destined” for the soda kiln. Some of them are made out of soda clay, and couple made out of B-Clay. The top surface of each of them is slip decorated with a colorful flashing slip. I hope that they really “pop” once the soda atmosphere hits them. I dried them a little slower than I normally would, but now they’re finally ready to be bisque fired.

Cake Plate #1

Cake Plate #2

Cake Plate #3

Cake Plate #4

Cake Plate #5

Tonight’s the first night of the new Spring session at Lillstreet for my Beginner & Advanced Beginner Wheelthrowing class. Time to teach them the importance of wedging, the importance of centering, the importance of controlled throwing, the importance of having fun… AND the importance of good snacks!!! Gotta start ’em off right.

After a warm weekend, I must admit that I was somehow oddly surprised by the chill in the air this morning?! I guess I was assuming Spring was here??? On Sunday’s ride I had started with fewer layers than normal, and actually took off even more as I was riding. Good thing I started out with ALL the layers this morning!!!

But as always, the chill was worth it… with a sunrise this beautiful.