With all the best intentions, I waxed all the bottoms of my class demo bowls. I was planning on finally glazing them all. Instead… after they dried, I stacked them up and put them back on my teacher’s shelf. Again. Let’s just say it is not my first time doing this ritual. Maybe tomorrow??? Ha!!!

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate glazing???

After much discussion, I finally decided it was time to teach a Three-Day Soda-Firing Workshop. Many of my Tuessday night Advanced Beginners were looking for a little soda-firing experience. So we’re kicking off the Three-Day Workshop.

Day One – Friday : Glazing, wadding & loading.
Day Two – Saturday : Firing & potlucking
Day Three – Monday : Unloading, kiln cleaning & admiring of pots!!!

We started the evening with a discussion about glazing & wadding for the soda kiln. They had all come with a collection of bisqued pots… so they set about to glazing & wading. With LOTS of reminders to take good notes and keep track of what they’re doing so we can discuss the results after the firing.

Once everything was glazed & wadded, we moved pots into the kiln room. More discussions about the soda-firing process, air-flow patterns, reduction/oxidation… and other kiln loading basics like how to stack with shelves & posts.

Back stack done… time to move onto the front stack of two shelves. Lots of discussions amongst the workshop participants. Trying to determine which pots should go where, and figuring out how to get everyone’s pots into the kiln evenly and fairly.

After many-repeated conversations about soda-firing & kiln loading, the workshop participants finally got the kiln loaded.  I think they all have a new realization & appreciation for all the work our Monitors do with loading & firing all of the classroom kilns. For the first time, they had to load kilns themselves… instead of their work just “magically” getting fired. I think it was a LOT more work than they expected… but hopefully they’ll appreciate the process more when they get their finished pieces out of the kiln Monday night.

Excited to have the kiln loaded… and now on to bricking the door.
One-by-one… brick-by-brick…

So now it’s all closed up. Ready to go.
Firing begins early tomorrow morning to kick-off Day Two of the Soda-Firing Workshop.

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Did a little glazing & wadding in my studio after camp prepping for this weekend’s Three Day Soda-Firing Workshop. My students should be glazing their work too… I just want to be ready with a few extra pieces for kiln filler. Just in case.

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Fresh out of the bisque… and now with a layer of green wax on the bottoms. A few drops of food coloring in the wax makes it so much easier to see!!! Gotta let this dry and the the glazing frenzy can begin! Under a little “time crunch” to get these into a cone six glaze kiln in time for this weekend’s art fair in Evanston.

Yesterday was the last day of my Wheelthrowing Summer Camp.
They had a LOT of work to finish up. Glazing their freshly bisqued stoneware pots… as well as trimming & painting their terra cotta pieces with glaze!!! We finished just in the nick of time… with about 10 minutes for lunch!!!

Celebrating the Summer Solstice with a colorful Mugshot Monday!
Here’s to a sunny & colorful Summer! Giddy-up!

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A quick glimpse at the wedding gift I gave to Camden & Kristin yesterday.
A large stamped platter with a bit of “color irony.” My friend and Camden’s mom’s maiden name is Kelly Green!!! Hope they like it… if not, I’m pretty sure Kelly would be more than willing to take it off their hands!

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I’ve been so busy prepping for art fairs that I kind of forgot about the new glaze test tiles I ran through my last kiln. Finally getting around to looking at them… some hits, some misses. Promising… but all need a little more exploration.

With just two days until the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival,
it’s my very last chance to get these birdhouses fired in time!

So with a quick coat of clear glaze on the roof tops, they’re headed into a single-fire terra cotta cone 04 kiln. Fingers crossed that they fire okay… and that they’re not still too hot to bring to the fair on Saturday!

It’s been a very busy week. Making. Glazing. Loading. Firing.
All in preparation for this weekend’s Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival.
And while I’m already rushing about, why not add one more project to my to-do-list like developing some new glazes? I’m firing a Cone 6 electric oxidation kiln for some fun bright colors. So I mixed up a few new Cone 6 glaze recipes… hoping that one or two of them might turn out nice?!

I’m firing two test tiles of each color – one for the top of the kiln, and the other for the bottom. As well as a vertical tube to check for runniness. Fingers crossed that something works out. Maybe not in time for this weekend’s art fair… but maybe in time for some new colored pieces for Hinsdale in another two weeks?