Tonight I made it into the studio to pick up some new pots that had just come out
of the cone 10 studio kiln. I don’t know what Corinne did “special” while she was
firing the kiln, but everything turned out beautifully!. With all of my glazes
“breaking” in all the right places! Thank you Corinne… I’ll be your “kiln filler” any time!

While bisque kiln #2 is cooling… it’s time to start glazing the pieces from bisque kiln #1.
So the pieces are spread out all over my studio. And I’m starting the process with glaze
inlaid into the stamped impressions and liner glazes.

So my day started out a little better today than yesterday.
Not quite as early. No kiln to unload. No rush to set things up when I got there.
Regardless… I was still a little tired after a late night of glazing & loading.

The fun continued today with more customers, more friends, more family.
And more chocolate shakes!!! Part of the “food court” area of the art fair
is this wonderful trailer from The Malt Shoppe. And over the years I have “trained”
them to make the best chocolate shakes ever! It starts with chocolate ice cream
and chocolate sauce. They mix it up into a shake, add more chocolate and mix again.
And then, just when they think it can’t get any chocolatey-er… I have them mix in
some hot fudge!!! I want the shake to be brown!. I want it to scream “chocolate”!!!
And over the years, they’ve been doing a great job… and this art fair was no exception!
Yesterday I only had one. But today I made up for lost time with three!!!
But who’s counting?!

At the end of the fair, it’s always an “adventure” to pack everything up and drive home.
Somehow even after selling a lot of pots all weekend long, it amazes me every time how
there’s not more empty space in the van?! Still packed. Still full. How does that happen?!

Yet again… after a full day at the art fair, then packing & shlepping it home…
it was back to the studio tonight for more glazing & kiln loading. There was and empty
shelf on the top of my back stack of the kiln. Plus, Corinne said that I could do another
layer or two on the front stack before she puts her sculptures in. So… despite my exhaustion,
I glazed more & loaded more. Until I couldn’t glaze no more…

Just a couple days away from my soda kiln… and I’m still glazing!!!
I still have a LOT to get done before I can start loading tomorrow evening.
I have a lot of pieces in different stages of glazing. Some have liner glazes.
Some have glaze inlays in the stamped impressions. Some still need sprayed
color accents. Some need wadding. Some still need a LOT of work!!!
Luckily, my “apprentice” Nancy was available & came in for a second night of fun!!!

With another round of Fall art fairs right around the corner, it’s push time in the studio!
I’ve been working hard to make the work, get it all bisqued… and now, glazed!
So tonight I started the glazing process with more mugs! Luckily, I’m working to fill
another soda kiln. Which means that I only need to do some glaze accents and a liner glaze.
So I typically fill all of the stamped impressions with glaze and then wipe it off…
accentuating the details & patterns. Then a quick liner glaze inside the cup… wadding…
and then I’ll let the soda kiln atmosphere work its magic on the side of each piece!

The weekend weather had been incredible. Sunny. Warm. Rain-free!!!
And I’m been playing more… more… more… outside all day, inside at night!
Including a night in the studio stamping the cylinders that I made Friday night.

After stamping in the studio, I also went downstairs into the classroom and did some
very long-overdue glazing of my class demo pieces. For those who have been around
Lillstreet, many of you have seen my class demo on glazing. And how I tend to bring out
a bunch of my bisque, show ’em how to wax the bottoms… and then end up talking far
too much!!! So much “new” information to share with the Beginners. So many tips.
So many warnings. So much excitement. But after all the fun, I generally only glaze like
one piece during the demo, and then everything goes back onto my teacher shelf. After
a couple sessions, my pile of “unglazed” class demos was taking over my shelf. And with
the new Summer Session starting this week, it was imperative to make room for the new
class. So I glazed… and glazed… and glazed… my least favorite part of the process…

This afternoon I unloaded another kiln. This time it was a regular cone 10 reduction kiln
that I shared with my studio-neighbor Karen Patinkin. We have a pretty sweet kiln deal –
I load the kiln, she fires the kiln, I unload the kiln… well, for the most part anyway.
So the kiln was fired on Wednesday, cooled all day yesterday and was ready to unload
this afternoon. It’s always fun to open a new kiln. To see how the glazes have developed
and changed the look of each piece. Ideally, the glaze will always make the piece look better.
Yet we all know that doesn’t always happen… so here are a few samples where it did work
as planned! More pieces for the upcoming art fair season!

Mental note to self… remember that this light wood laminate studio shelving is not
the best surface for quick photos of pieces straight out of the kiln. Especially when
those pieces might be glazed in a light ash colored glaze!

So while I was “trapped” at the studio all day long… even longer than expected…
I needed something to keep me busy. So I kept glazing. Remember the “two-week”
quickly kiln that I’m sharing with Karen Patinkin? Well, we’re finally getting around
to firing – next Wednesday. So I used today to glaze a bunch of pieces for next week’s
cone 10 reduction kiln. It’s been a busy couple a days!!!

With all of my new bisque work unloaded, it’s time to start the glazing process
for my next soda kiln. Luckily, for my soda pieces, I don’t need to glaze a lot.
I typically inlay glaze into the stamps, and then do a quick liner glaze… and that’s it.
So, here it is… I’ve started the glaze inlay process…

But there’s still a long ways to go…