Another surprise find during my trip to Omaha last weekend was running into these two masterpieces by ceramic artist Jun Kaneko. I’ve seen a couple of these dango sculptures (Japanese for “rounded form”) before at SOFA CHICAGO… but never this up-close & personal. Little did I know that his studio is in Omaha too… I learned that fact when I got home!!! Too late… maybe next time?!

With everyone getting vaccinated & numbers going down, it looks like my ART FAIR SEASON is coming together nicely! Much better than last year when pretty much everything was canceled due to the pandemic! I’m really looking forward to getting back out there with my pottery this summer! Click here to see my 2021 Schedule as it continues to come together… http://firewhenreadypottery.com/show-schedule-2013/

After spending all day inside firing the soda kiln yesterday, it felt great to get outside this morning for another sunrise bike ride! Chilly, but great!!!

Always an exciting end to a soda-firing!!! The addition of the soda mixture into the kiln makes it quite volatile with flames shooting out every crevice & gap in the bricks! Gotta love playing with fire… it’s the waiting for it to cool that’s no fun. Always anxious to see the results!!!

So far so good! The firing is going smoothly so far. We’re in body reduction right now… hence the flames peeking out already. By reducing the air to gas ratio, it makes the flames seek out air anywhere it can find it. Including sucking it out of the porous clay to make the pots more solid & vitrified.

But now here’s the REAL DEAL!!!… a chocolate carrot cake layered with raspberry preserves!!! Now THAT’s what I call a “Breakfast Of Champions”!!! Looks so yummy on the stamped platter… but would look even yummier on my fork if I were there!!! I hope they’re sending me some of that yumminess?!

And don’t be fooled…
these are the same people who we’re having that “healthy” fruit salad too!!! Healthy with a chocolate chaser… I totally get it!!!

While other friends are being a little “healthier” for breakfast this morning with this bright & colorful fruit salad in a “rustic” yellow bowl with a stamped rim & white slip stripes!

So while I’m in the studio firing the soda kiln all day today, looks like some of my friends are having a YUMMY morning. Like my pal Sarah who’s enjoying a banana & chocolate chip breakfast bundt cake this morning!!!

So?… if there’s no frosting does that mean the cake is for breakfast???

So my soda kiln loading took awhile tonight, but went very smoothly…
until I saw THIS!!!

Apparently whoever unloaded from the soda kiln last didn’t get the whole brick out of the right side peep as it was fused in place! Of course I only noticed this after the door was fully bricked up!!! This side peep is one of the ports that your need to insert the soda into the kiln. This brick-blocked-port is a problem!!! It took awhile to chisel it out… now hoping that it didn’t leave any bad debris inside the kiln?!

And there it is… all bricked up for the night. For tomorrow I turn it on for a full day of firing. Always a LONG day… but the payoff is always good in the end. Plus, it’s a great day to do some glazing of class demo pieces & studio cleaning!!! Busy work that I keep putting off… but tomorrow’s the day!