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?

The front door bricks were just taken off… and all looks good!.
Always a relief to see some good colors and nice soda flashing effects.
And to know that as you dig in and unpack the kiln it’s only going to get better!

It was also nice to see the top cone pack still intact. At some point towards the end of the firing, I lost visuals on it. The kiln was so hot, glowing orange with flames shooting out… that ot was tough to see in through the peep. I actually wondered if it had fallen off the shelf at some point?! Apparently not… but that Cone 10 did melt nice and flat, huh?!

Always fun to unpack and see what’s in-store. So many nice things that were “kissed” by the kiln flames. Beautiful blushes of colors and soda build-up. So many of these pieces will be coming with me to Schaumburg & Hinsdale for my first two art fairs. We’re just weeks away… and here’s a sneak peek of what to expect…

One of the many joys of soda firing. Some times the Kiln Gods like to give some pots a good sloppy kiss of goo. Changing their destiny forever. Luckily, this was my only “kissed” pot.

Now THAT’s a big smooch!!!

Click over to my INSTAGRAM feed to see a video of what happened to this “lovely” pot!
www.instagram.com/firewhenreadypottery – and then hit FOLLOW.

Or, even quicker, click on the QR Code…

Just one of the many mugs that has been inlaid with temoku glaze, wadded, loaded and was fired in my soda kiln Saturday. The kiln has been cooling and now I get to unload tonight. Can’t wait to see how this mug, and all the others, turned out!?

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!

The glazing continues… and it’s pretty much taking over my studio!!!
And making quite the mess on my wedging table.

Since this is a soda firing, a lot of the surface “glazing” will be created by the soda atmosphere in the kiln. So I typically leave a lot of the exterior clay unglazed. Instead, I like to fill the stamped indentations with temoku glaze.

After painting over all the stamps with glaze, I then take a damp sponge and gently wipe off the top surface. Leaving the glaze in the indentations to help highlight the stamped texture.

Wiped clean, ready for wadding and the on to the kiln!

Had to start somewhere… so first up were these simple ikebana vase disks.