Let the glazing begin… looks like it’s going to be a long night.

Glaze inlaid into the stamps… and the top surface carefully wiped off to help accentuate the textures.

Next up… liner glazes!!!

We didn’t get very far… until we stopped at Joe Christensen‘s studio in Hudson, Wisconsin to see some huge pots, vessels & sculptures with wonderful textures, carving, slip patterns & sgraffito. Not surprisingly, larger pots using more clay take a lot more time to dry. So these large vessels have been sitting out for days, and are different stages of dryness. The darker the stoneware clay, the wetter the clay is.

And you thought those ones were big… check out this huge one still sitting on the wheel…

You know how I love texture & pattern… so I knew I had to share these great surfaces with all of you. Some especially wide & deep sgrafitto through the white slip layer.

On the other side of Joe’s workspace are some finished pots. Already glazed & fired.
Now just waiting to go home with a satisfied customer!

For those of you in the Chicago area, Joe and his huge pots will once again be on display at “One Of A Kind” over the first weekend of December. Click here for more information about Joe Christiansen.

Sadly, my cousin Kim’s favorite cat of all time passed away earlier this year. Rudy.
After years of cherished memories & warm nights snuggled together.
Luckily, her boyfriend Don knew that Rudy was so very special in Kim’s life, and that his passing was a momentous occasion in her life, so he had to be cherished, celebrated & memorialized. With that said, Don called me and asked if I would be willing to create a special, custom urn to hold Rudy’s cremated ashes. How could I say no? Although I’m not a fan of custom orders, this one was so touching & heartfelt… I knew I had to say ‘yes.’

I started by throwing two lidded jars. I knew that it would be better to hedge my bets and make two, knowing that at least one of them would turn out fine. There are so many opportunities along the way for a pot to get messed up, especially when soda firing. So I made two. One lower & rounder, the other taller and more statuesque. Each one was stamped with a nice repetitive pattern.

And then, I decided to customize them with some alphabet pasta letters… thanks to my former student Tracey who turned us onto the simple process.

So I separated letters and tried to find all the ones I needed.

Then I started pressing them into the leather-hard pots… okay, they were on the wetter-side of leather-hard. Along the way, I decided to hedge my bets one more time. To make one for “Rudy” and the second one for a more generic “Kitty.” I like the lower rounder jar better, so I was hoping for that one to be the finished piece for Rudy. But if that one doesn’t work out, “Kitty” would still be a viable option.

Once the letters were all pressed into the clay, I covered them with a band of colored flashing slip. A colored slip band across the jar and another one on the lid… with some accents in each an every stamp.

I left the pasta in place as they dried… and again when I bisque fired them. When the pieces came out of the kiln, they were a little scratchy around the letters where the slip had “built-up” around the pasta. A quick bit of sandpaper did the trick to even them out.

I then covered the stamps and letters with temoku glaze. Filling the indentations completely with glaze.

Then with a damp sponge, I wiped off the top layer of glaze to reveal the patterns & indentations now filled with glaze.

After a quick soda firing, both lidded jars turned out great. I’ve had to keep them “under wraps” for a few weeks so as not to ruin the surprise for Kim. The jars were in my last soda firing, but I had to wait until Kim received her gift before I could post them here

So this one now turns out to be an “extra”…
anyone have any ashes in a box somewhere that need a good home?!

And here’s the one that brought my cousin Kim to tears…
I gave the jar to her boyfriend Don during “Art In The Barn.” He proceeded to give it to her in front of all of us… my parents, her Mom, and more family & friends. She was so touched by the gift that she immediately turned into a sobbing mess. So touching. So emotional. So appreciative. Exactly the reaction one would like to get.  And now Kim’s favorite cat Rudy has a fitting resting place. RIP Rudy.

You know I love kiln filler…
so I last night I made another batch of Christmas ornaments.
More of August’s entry in the Holiday Ornament Challenge.
Tonight there were glazed and now they’re already in the kiln!

With a quick coating of clear glaze, my Jack O’Lanterns went into the kiln tonight. Sure… they may look green right now, but that green glaze will turn clear in the firing. I hope…

And speaking of filler pieces… I’m spending a few extra hours glazing up my spiral holiday ornaments. I had made plans with a friend of mine who was going to come over Thursday night to be my “glazing assistant” and these ornaments were going to be her job. I was really looking forward to spending time with her, chatting & glazing, and getting them done at the same time. However, Nancy got stuck late at work and couldn’t make it. So… I’m glazing them tonight – pushing my glaze & loading time back a couple hours!!! I think I need to find a more reliable assistant… I’m just sayin’.

And now that they’re all glazed, now I need to go back to wipe the glaze off the top surfaces to leave the glaze only in the stamped indentations. This might take awhile. I guess I made more of these than I thought?!…

More glazing… and now the second side of my studio cart is full. Just a few more filler pieces and I should be ready to start loading.

And I must admit… I’m kind of excited about my new teapots! I haven’t made any for far too long. I just hope that they turn out as well after the firing. They’re too much work for them to get “ruined” with a bad glaze job!

It was a long & productive evening in the studio. I’m loading the soda kiln tomorrow night… and I still have a LOT of glazing & wadding to do. Tonight I filled the front half of my studio cart… tomorrow I tackle the other side. When the cart is full, I know I’m pretty close to a full soda kiln!

Gotta start glazing. I’m loading another soda kiln Friday night, and I’ve got a LOT of blank bisque waiting for some color… no such thing as too many mugs, right?!

So this glaze is a copper red which turns out nice in a reduction gas kiln.
This upside-down berry bowl turned out nice & red… as the glaze should.

But you could a yellow “burnt” clear celadon look…

Or maybe even a mottled purple-ish color…

And if you’re “lucky” enough, you might get all of the colors on just one berry bowl. And by “lucky” I mean shocked to find out that this berry bowl was apparently in a pretty strong oxidation pocket in the lower back corner of the kiln. Lucky me, huh?!

Apparently, this is what happens when worlds collide…
the edge of the oxidation pocket makes a surprisingly straight line, huh?!