As I’ve been going through all of my photos from Alaska, it has taken me quite a while to edit them down & prepare them to start posting. But I think I’m finally ready!!! And what better way to start than with another little “teaser”?… and a fun game?!

I had a wonderful adventure up in Alaska for my Pottery Workshop with the Fairbanks Potters Guild. Followed by some great travels afterwards with my new Alaskan potter-friend Theresa. And there “might” just be a trail of fortune cookies waiting to be found along my route… hiking all over & driving from Fairbanks, through Denali National Park to Wasilla, Whittier, Portage Glacier, Seward & Anchorage! Some are easier to find than others… but here are some “visual clues” to help! And then as I start posting more photos, there might be even more “clues” in the posts that follow! Giddy-up…

Also in the kiln… a fresh batch of fortune cookies!
With a nice wash of iron oxide to help the textures “pop.” We’ll call this batch “replenishment.”

Okay… so I “may have” gotten a little out of control while glazing “a couple” tiles for a quick glaze firing. Not to mention the hundred or so tiles also in my soda kiln. Gotta have plenty of options, right?!

After being “trapped inside” the studio firing the soda kiln all day yesterday…. it felt great to get out this morning for another stunning sunrise ride. So quiet & still with great clouds & great reflections. Always the best way to start my day!

A little morning glow in the kiln… just waiting for the cones to start falling!

Layers of colors… layered with plenty of Cory whimsy!!! Underglazes bringing the bugs to life…. well, kinda. I can’t wait to see these when they’re finished. And then I get them all so I can add-on my part of the collaboration project!

Like I said before, every year at ART IN THE GARDEN, Cory McCrory & I do a fun collaboration project. This year we hope to have ten different pieces… each a one-of-a-kind masterpiece! We still have a lot to do… and the show is just over a week away! Mark your calendar… September 6th & 7th in Glenview, Illinois.

So it took my just about three hours to fully load the soda kiln… kinda like Pottery Tetris! Trying to fit in as much as possible, all the while trying to leave some space for air to flow through during the firing. The soda atmosphere needs to get in between everything to leave its glazed finish. I piled a LOT of work into this one! The back stack is a single shelf filled first to the top. Then front stack is a double-shelf filled up to the arch. It’s packed tight… so it might be a long firing today?!

And then I rolled down my studio cart… the same one my Dad built for me several years ago! I have figured out that a full cart of glazed & wadded work pretty much equals a fully loaded soda kiln. The masking tape just works as a little “protection” so nothing jumps off the shelves while I take the rickety freight elevator downstairs… kinda like a pottery seat belt!!

Last night started with an empty soda kiln… full of possibilities.

And we have IGNITION!!!
Starting the day… and starting my soda kiln firing!