Back in the studio and making bottomless cylinders.
Don’t panic… it’s just Step One.

When in doubt, go back to basics and make more mugs!
Good thing I love making mugs, huh?
Trust me, they’ll look more like mugs once I stamp, trim & add handles!

Tonight I unloaded my latest bisque kiln… with a few pieces of terra cotta
thrown in for good measure. The bottom layer was filled with the wall pocket vases
that I made last week. I tried to fit them all in… but ran out of room. One of them
had to squeeze in sideways. And another two had to go to the top shelves!

Also in the kiln, were three new birdhouses just in time for the Evanston Lakeshore Art Fair.
I just need to find the perfect twig to stick into the hole for the perfect perch for our fine
feathered friends as they decide to move into their new residence!

After unloading the kiln, I spent the rest of the evening glazing the wall pockets…
lining them with temoku glaze, inlaying glaze in the stamps, spraying a bit of glaze
for some color accents, and wadding each of them… getting them ready for a soda kiln!

Who knew?…
Who knew there would be so much “busy work” being a potter?!
Who knew I would spend so much time behind my computer?!
I’ve been working all night re-typing & re-organizing my mail lists yet again.
Trying to keep everything up-to-date. Trying to keep everything current.
Trying to add all of the names from the new customers I’ve met this summer.
Updating the mail list I use for mailing traditional postcards.
Updating the mail list I use for e-mail announcements.
I’ve been typing all night – and I’m not even close to being done.
Who knew it would be so much work just trying to stay up-to-date?!

All of the wall pocket vases were stamped a few days ago.
Some of the wall pocket vases have been accented with slip in the stamps.
Some of the wall pocket vases were decorated & covered with flashing slips.
All of the wall pockets are now drying.
The ones with slip all over them may take a little longer?!

But don’t you love how the clay changes color and dries at different rates?!
Some sections getting lighter, some sections still wet and a bit darker.
The clay actually looks a little “dirty” as it’s drying… ironic, huh?

So they’re done for now.
I can let them sit and dry for a few more days… until they’re all chalky, light & dry.
Then it’s time to bisque, glaze and fire again!

After a couple days under plastic, the enclosed forms were stiffened up a bit…
but just enough to trim, stamp and squish. I hadn’t planned on working on them tonight.
But I checked the after class and realized that they were at the right stage of dryness.
I was a little afraid to leave them another day for fear they might dry too much.
If they get too dry, they don’t squish so much as crack when flattened.

So I trimmed some of the edges, then stamped the rim – and squished!
And now, it’s late, I’m tired… and these will have to wait for another day under plastic.
Next up – some slip decoration and a hole pierced through the back for hanging.
Then they’ll be ready for drying, bisque firing, glazing & firing again.

So the pile of “slop” reclaim is finally dried out enough and getting back to
a good clay consistency. So tonight I tackled the huge pile of reclaim.
It was a long night of wedging and incorporating the reclaim clay with some
new clay fresh from the box. Generally, when I’m bringing my “reclaim back to life”
I mix it with new clay so it’s not “just” used reclaim clay. I want to make sure that
there are plenty of small clay particles in the mixture – and not just my worn out reclaim.
So it was a LONG night of reconstituting my reclaim… mixing the reclaim with some
new soda clay and some new B Clay from Continental Clay.

Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Bag.

Not a glamorous night of clay. But in the end, I now have a lot of clay to use.
And I got a good upper body workout at the same time!

Another pile of reclaim… another lump to wedge… another pile of “free” clay.

The birdhouses are drying nicely… so tonight I stained & glazed them all.
The sides are “stained” with black underglaze. The roofs & “awnings” are glazed.
Overnight they will get to dry a little more thoroughly… and go into the kiln tomorrow!
Right on schedule…

Well, I got a little busy… and the promised alliteration had to wait a couple days.
But I finally got into the studio to do some more work on the “textured terra cotta tubes.”
And the tubes are now taking shape – and becoming ceramic birdhouses!

This evening I worked on adding some of the finishing touches to the construction.
Now with roofs, “doors,” awnings, loops to hang by, and a hole which will be filled
after firing by a real wood branch for the birds to perch on.

Hopefully they will dry overnight. I put them on elevated plastic grids so that air can flow
all around them and they will dry more evenly… and quicker?! Fingers crossed…
If so, tomorrow I can stain them with underglaze, and glaze the roofs & awnings…
as I am hoping to get them into a kiln on Tuesday night, fire on Wednesday, cool Thursday
and unload late Thursday night… just in time for this weekend’s art fair in Hinsdale!