Just a few more pieces fresh from my bisque kiln to glaze quickly…
as I load the soda kiln tomorrow night after Summer Camp!
I fire all-day Saturday… so I’ve got to stay focused and get this done!!! Inlay glazes into the stamped impressions, liner glazes, clean, wad & ready to go!

Four magical letters… possibly the best four letters of any firing process!
CPLT = COMPLETE.

Always a big sigh of relief to see that something crazy didn’t happen along the way. We’re one step closer…

The flock has flown into the kiln… ready for a bisque firing.
And let me just say, I’ll feel a LOT better when these have all successfully “survived” the bisque firing. So much safer when they are “solid” and not so fragile as when they’re just dried clay!

Always a good sign to see…
four little letters that make me VERY happy!!

Just like something out of “The Wizard Of Oz”…
a bucket of water takes down the Wicked Witch of the West!!!
Well, it didn’t take a bucket… and there wasn’t a witch…
but there was a lot of MELTING!!!

So when I was loading my bisque kiln, I was loading boards full of pieces into the kiln. Many of the boards had been stored in the kiln room for a couple weeks… to dry out… as well as to get them out of my small studio space! Some of them have been there for a couple days… some for a couple weeks.

To my surprise… when I took down a board of twelve mugs from the top shelf… and found that “something” had happened to a few of them. They looked weird, and it took some time for me to process what had occured.

Apparently, there was some sort of water dripping down onto them over time. That’s the best solution I’ve come up with. There’s a electrical pipe running along the ceiling about an inch from the corner. Which I think would lineup with the drip marks on the mugs. Yes… if you look closely… I believe this is “erosion” from repeated water drips falling on them!

It had to be happening for awhile… as you can also see drips on the wall! And the amount of “melting” is kinda crazy… I think this must have been going on for quite some time! And since it was on the top shelf and out of eye-sight… who knew?!

You can actually see where there’s an actual hole all the way RIGHT THRU the bottom of the mug!!!… drip… drip… drip… kinda like Chinese Water Torture during the War!!!

Luckily, the mugs can just be broken up and reclaimed again… IT’S JUST CLAY, right?! And I’ve learned a valuable lesson… no more greenware storage on the top shelf… at least not pushed all the way back… until we find out why water might be dripping from an electrical pipe?! Now THAT doesn’t sound good either, right?!

I’m so used to cranking out as much pottery as I can usually this time of year. You know, getting ready for all of the summer art fairs. Racing to meet deadlines. Scheduling and working towards kiln dates… work, work, work. But this whole Coronavirus thing is really screwing up my mojo! With all of the summer art fairs being cancelled one after another, it’s weird to NOT have that kind of pressure & incentive to keep busy in the studio. Plus, the fact that there is NO ONE around in the studio… there’s no excitement or “energy” there either! It’s just WEIRD.

But, I have been working in the studio… trying to keep busy… trying to maintain some sort of “normalcy” in my life. Trying to find it anywhere I can! So I finally made enough work to fill a bisque kiln. So here it is… layer-by=layer. Not my tightest packed kiln… but it did feel good loading & closing the lid!

Bisque Layer #1 – mugs, oval vases, bowls & ornaments

Bisque Layer #2 – more oval vases, bowls, square vases, berry bowls and more ornaments!

Bisque Layer #3 – sgraffito platters, platters, spoon rests, tiny bowls and a square vase!

Bisque Layer #4 – more berry bowls, mugs, bowls and couple square vases

Bisque Layer #5 – small plates for berry bowls stacked to fit.

i didn’t think I even had quite enough work to fill the kiln. Turns out that I did… as there were still a few pieces that didn’t quite fit into this load. Luckily, the top shelf worked out pretty well… loading pretty much right to the top. Not a lot of extra space there!

As I was leaving the studio today, I left this festive “bowl-full-of-fun” in the kiln room just In case someone has room in their bisque kiln. I’m guessing these might there for quite awhile… luckily, dust will burn right off!!!

When asked if I have any greenware to help fill a bisque kiln… the answer is almost always YES!!! This impromptu loading happened thanks to Mary who only had a few pieces from a workshop she taught that needed to be fired… and I’m ALWAYS willing to help!

This past weekend was my 3-Night Soda-Firing Workshop. A quick introduction to the many wonders of soda-firing. We glazed, wadded, loaded, fired, cooled, unloaded, cleaned, admired and potluck’d all in three days! A lot of work… but it all starts with an empty kiln. Perfect for TEXTURE TUESDAY!!!