Well, with my new glazes ready to go, I started glazing and loading the kiln. It’s a small electric kiln we use just cone six firings. I felt a little torn between glazing just a few pieces to test the glazes… and glazing a lot of pieces to fill the kiln. You know how I love to pack a kiln tight. And yet with new glazes, I didn’t want to glaze too many bisqued pieces just in case something goes wrong. It was a tough call. Torn between testing safely and glazing a lot of pieces – especially with two art fairs right around the corner!!!

Kiln Layer #1 – mugs & soap dispensers.

Kiln Layer #2 – ikebana flower vases.

Kiln Layer #3 – bowls, spoon rests & layered glaze test tiles.

Kiln Layer #4 – spoon rests.

Kiln Layer #5 – more layered glaze test tiles & bowls.

Well, I’ve done a few rounds of testing. Pretty pleased with my new Cone 6 options. So I’ve decided that I might be ready to mix up a bigger batch and actually try firing a kiln full of real pieces. So I’ve measured, mixed, sieved, mixed, sieved again, and soon I will be ready to start glazing… and hoping that they turn out well?!… and don’t do something stupid like melting right off the pots and onto the kiln shelves?!

I’ve decided to go with two of the recipes I’ve been testing. And two of my cone 10 glazes that seem to work pretty well at cone 6 too. And then I also found two cone 6 pre-mixed glazes when I was up at Continental Clay in Minneapolis. So I will be kicking off my first cone 6 test firing with six glaze options… and ten fingers crossed.

There were so many different styles & techniques displayed on the Minnesota Pottery Tour. So much eye-candy & visual inspiration. Taken out of context though, how many of these ceramic artists can you name based on a snapshot of their decorative technique!?

Artists names will be revealed some time next week!!!
Answers are now posted in RED as of 5/29/14.

#1 : Shoko Teruyama

#2 : Steven Hill

#3 : Andy Balmer

#4 : Bill Gossman

#5 : Dan Finnegan

#6 : Delores Fortuna

#7 : Ellen Shankin

#8 : Richard Vincent

#9 : George Lowe

#10 : Jeff Oestreich

#11 : Jo Severson

#12 : Jenny Mendes

#13 : Suze Lindsay

#14 : Steven Young Lee

#15 : Silvie Granatelli

#16 : Sandra Byers

#17 : Kent McLaughlin

#18 : Karin Kraemer

#19 : Robert Briscoe

#20 : Mark Shapiro

#21 : Mary Roettger

#22 : Richard Hensley

#23 : Simon Levin

#24 : Matthew Metz

#25 : Craig Edwards

#26 : Sarah Jaeger

#27 : Steven Hill

#28 : Sam Taylor

#29 : Steven Young Lee

#30 : Donna Polseno

#31 : Robert Briscoe

#32 : Karin Kraemer

#33 : Ani Kasten

#34 : George Lowe

#35 : Mary Barringer

#36 : Matthew Metz

#37 : Ernest Miller

#38 : Steven Hill

#39 : Naomi Dalglish

#40 : Steven Young Lee

#41 : Mary Barringer

#42 : Winthrop Byers

This morning I unloaded my car. Shlepping all of my new clay boxes, glaze boxes and bags of reclaim up to my second floor studio. So thankful that we have a freight elevator!!!

Those bags of reclaim scraps just seem to be multiplying?!!!

Today I glazed… a lot of temoku.
Today I wadded… a lot of glue.
Today I repeated… and repeated… and repeated… until the cart was full.

Once my studio cart was full, I was ready to roll it downstairs using the rickety freight elevator. I always use a few strips of masking tape as “safety belts” to keep pieces from jumping off the cart during the trip!

Tonight was another night of glazing fun.
Which I must admit is my least favorite part of the whole process.
But I digress…

So here’s a glimpse into the “fun” I had tonight while I was glazing the textured tile pillows.
So here they are “Before”… fresh out of the bisque kiln.

“During”… when I had coated the tops with a layer of temoku glaze.

And then a gentle wipe with damp sponge to clean off the “high points” and allow the glaze to stay in the indentations.

“After”… and now you can see how the inlaid glaze really helps “pop” the stamped patterns & impressions.

The “constellation” group looks pretty fun… and then there’s details of them too…

Just as I thought I might be getting somewhere with my glazing…
I unloaded another kiln and now have a LOT more bisque to keep working on!!!
SO it almost seems like I have more bisque NOW than before I started?! Two steps back…

And not only will the tiles get glazed… but they also need a little ball of wadding glued on the bottom of every single one of them!!! Ah yes, the glamorous side of soda firing…

So I’ve stirred ’em up and the glazing has begun.
Trying to be efficient & methodical to get it all done quickly.
Inlaying some glaze into the stamped impressions. And a simple liner glaze.
Unfortunately, I had to stop to go downstairs to teach class… so it’ll more glazing tomorrow!!!

With another kiln firing… it’s time to tackle all of the bisque that has been piling up. I’ve been busy making a lot of “stuff.” Now it’s time to get some glazing done… as I need to load the soda kiln on Friday night so I can fire this Saturday!!! Yikes… time to get my glaze on!!!

Well, I just got my latest batch of glazed test tiles back. Always exciting. Remember, they’re a batch of old glazes that I got from Minneapolis potter Emily Murphy. They were all made with the same clear base glaze, with a colorant added to each batch. This round was fired in a cone 10 reduction kiln… as that’s what Emily told me they were originally mixed made for! So here they are “before” the firing…

And after… sadly, I kinda like them better before the firing?! Is that so wrong?…

Glaze #1 – clear base with 2% ivy green

Glaze #2 – clear base with 4% celadon

Glaze #3 – clear base with 6% deep salmon

Glaze #4 – clear base with 4% saturn orange

Glaze #5 – clear base with 6% bright purple

Glaze #6 – clear base with 6% violet

Glaze #7 – clear base with 6% titanium

Glaze #8 – clear base with 2% jade green

Glaze #9 – clear base with 6% dark purple

Glaze #10 – clear base… with nothing added!!!

So now I have a whole ‘nother batch of test tiles to brood over. None of them knocked my socks off. But the more I keep looking at them, I might be started to like a few of them. They do seem very stable. So I’m not giving up on them yet…