Gotta love a good pile of gooey reclaim clay!
Just imaging the possibility of all this “free” clay.
It’s amazing what a few trimmings mixed with water can make.

My soda kiln is firing smooth today… cones are falling… adding soda mixture…
we’re getting really close to cone 10. Almost ready to put it to bed for the night!

After a fun weekend of hanging out with my friend & master metalsmith Sarah Chapman, I came home with a bunch of roses. I helped Sarah at the Spring One-Of-A-Kind Show in her booth. At the end, it’s the big tear-down and pack-up. Everything packs down pretty tightly. Everything in its place, and every place with it’s thing. The one thing that didn’t fit were her “booth flowers”… which I brought home and have been enjoying for a few days now. Beautiful roses that are still in surprisingly great shape?!!!

Here’s the back stack of the kiln… loaded piece by piece, shelf by shelf, post by post.

And a quick bird’s-eye-view of some wall pocket vases & ornaments mixed together.

So after a couple hours of focused kiln loading, my kiln was finally full. Pretty much everything fit in… just a few “strays” that will hopefully sneak into the next firing. Pretty pleased with my loading… it took quite awhile, but there’s not any spare space unused in this kiln Hopefully it’s not packed too tight for the soda mixture to fly around inside and hit all of the pots. I guess we’ll find out Monday when I unload?!

Time to close it up, brink up the door… then add a little heat to dry things out.
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning to get it all started.

And you’ve gotta love the wonderful colors building up on the kiln arch bricks.
The beauty of chemistry in action!

My studio cart is pretty much full… which means I’ve glazed & wadded enough pots to fill the soda kiln. Of course it’s kind of a guessing game of how it will really fit when stacked in the kiln.

A few quick masking tape “seat belts” and my cart is ready to make the trip downstairs to the kiln room. The masking tape helps keep pots from jumping off while they ride down in the rickety freight elevator!

After a few days of rain, it was nice to see the sun again.
Clear skies. Beautiful weather. Wonderful morning ride.
And now to the studio to continue glazing… and loading…

One of my Advanced Beginner students has been perfecting her ombre slip painted dinnerware set. She’s been working on bowls, mugs, cups and more. This week she started tackling her “starry, starry night” plates. And I’m LOVING it!!! Way to go Natalie!!!

And now she’s