It took awhile, but I finished loading the soda kiln last night. Lots of pots made it in… and quite a few pumpkins!!! Firing today & unloading Monday night… just in time for ART IN THE GARDEN next weekend! Fresh new soda-fired pots coming soon!!!

As usual, I added some masking tape “seat belts” to my studio rolling cart… so that all of my glazed & waded pots would make it safely down to the kiln room via the rickety freight elevator… with none of them jumpin’ off along the way!

After applying a layer of tenmoku glaze into the stamped impressions. I wipe off the top surface with a damp sponge. This cleans the surface layer, but keeps the darker glaze in the stamps.

Doing a little glaze inlay into the stamped impressions. I like to fill the stampings with a dark tenmoku glaze so the pattern stands out a bit more after the soda-firing!

So this is what I’ve been looking at a lot the past couple days… bisque that needs to be glazed! I’ve been trying to stay focused & tackle it bit by bit. Seems like I’m right on schedule… but everyone knows that glazing is my least favorite part of the entire process!!!

A little last-minute “pumpkintizing” going on in the studio… painting them with some smooth orange flashing slip in preparation for this weekend’s soda kiln firing.

So I gave some porcelain platters & bowls to Amy Taylor with a band of black underglaze around the rims. I also gave her a couple of my favorite DiamondCore Tools for her to play with. Looks like she’s been doing some amazing sgraffito work for our collaboration pieces for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview. We’re all trying to finish up our collaborations as we’re just a week and a half away… mark you calendars for September 9th & 10th!

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It might be kinda late… but I’m feeling really great about getting all of these handles attached! One step closer to getting these “hybrid” mugs in the soda kiln this weekend… oh wait... colored slip, dry, bisque, glaze, wad, load… a lot of steps still to go!!!

Score, slip, attached… repeat.
And repeat, repeat, repeat… and repeat again!!!

Handles pulled the traditional way… and then looped-over so they can start to set-up with the curve already established.