A couple days later… the newly thrown cylinders have dried a bit
so they are now a little stiffer, not quite sticky – and a good stage for stamping.
So I stamped all of the “soon-to-be-mugs” going down the line…
and then trimmed all of the bottoms again going down the line!

Handles will have to wait for another day…

My morning bike ride took me down the lakefront… minding my own bunsiness
and enjoying the sunrise as usual. But then I was drawn across Lake Shore Drive
at Fullerton… for a sign of things to come…

While getting ready for the next art fair, I needed to replenish my inventory
of smaller mugs. Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want
a small mug?!… I think if you’re going to drink something, drink a lot of it!
The larger the mug, the fewer times I need to refill it! But that’s just me…

So I started by throwing the smaller cup forms. Once they get to a damp,
leather-hard state, I start stamping them and then trim the bottoms as they
begin to stiffen up a bit more.

After stamping & trimming, I attach the handles and then keep them covered
in plastic overnight to allow the moisture level to balance out between the
leather-hard cup and the wetter, fresh handles.

The next day, I add the finishing touch… some soda slip accents in assorted colors.
These slips will react nicely to the soda atmosphere in the kiln as they are being fired.

And there we are… several steps closer to having more mini mugs!
And now on to drying, bisque firing, glazing, wadding and firing again!
Just a few more steps to go…

Another productive evening at the studio… with bowls & cylinders
that have been thrown, stamped and dried to a damp leather-hard,
it was time to trim the bottoms of the pots to make a finished, professional foot.
It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the production process!

And look what a pile of fun it leaves behind… ready to be dried up,
crushed and then re-hydrated and reclaimed into usable clay!
My own little recycling program!

Okay… so “My Favorite Stamp” is of course first out of the box…
but there’s a very close “Runner-Up.” I hate to play favorites!
It’s a little larger. A little rounder. A little smoother… suitable for many surfaces.
And has a tendency to show up every time I start stamping a batch of pots!

One thing that I especially like about both stamps, is that they both leave a
“raised section” in the which is perfect for highlighting with a little contrasting slip!

So… for those of you who have been watching my work and paying attention
over the past couple years, you may have noticed that certain stamps get used
more often than others – with one or two in particular!

So I thought I’d share with you “my favorite stamp”!
Yep, it seems like this is the one that I turn to “when all else fails.”
There are literally hundreds of stamps in my arsenal – and yet a few favorites
keep surfacing… when I go to make my surface textures! Surprisingly…
it is also one of my first handmade stamps!

Tonight I stamped a couple serving bowls – all with that one stamp!!!
One stamp at a time… over… and over.. and over!

Here’s a quick glance into my soda kiln… it’s still cooling…
but I can’t wait any longer so I’m going to forge ahead!… carefully…
I’ve already unbricked the door with thick gloves.

The pots on the bottom are always cooler first – so I’ll start there!
It’s always fun to see the “treasures” inside – and the “flip side” of the pots
to see what kind of flashing effects are on the “back” side of the pots.
I’m especially excited about the new “textured-tilesque” salt & pepper shakers!

So while the kiln was cooling… and the rainy weather cancelled the
“Spring Forward” 65-mile bike ride I was planning on doing today…
I spent the day in the studio making more work!

I knew that my new salt & pepper shakers were cooling in the kiln…
and I still needed to make the trays to go with them. I’ve decided to go with
terra cotta trays with even more textures & patterns. I’m looking forward
to the contrast of the soda-fired shakers with the more “antiqued” look
of the blackened terra cotta trays! So these trays will hopefully hold the
two shakers end-to-end… and then I still want to make a “square” version
of them so the shakers could also be placed side-to-side.

So it may take all day to fire the kiln…
but it takes EVEN LONGER to cool the kiln!!!

The firing day starts off early – trying to get a good jump on what is inevitably
going to be a LONG day! So the kiln is turned on with fingers crossed.
Throughout the day, certain adjustments  are made to the gas lever, the air level
and the damper. As the temperature rises, you can watch the pyrometric cones
drop during the day.

All was going well today… I was getting alot of “busy” work done while firing.
I cleaned my much-needed studio. I glazed some class demos. I wadded more tiles.

As the kiln gets hotter, and it is placed into reduction, you can see the kiln glowing
and flames shooting out – look what happens when you pull out the peep brick!

The kiln firing was going great… practically firing itself…

Until it was time to introduce the soda mixture to the kiln.
When the kiln is getting up towards the top temperatures, around cone 9, I start
to add a moistened mixture of soda ash, soda bicarbonate, whiting & wood chips.
For some reason, when the first batch was added, the flames of the kiln blew out.
Luckily, the kiln is designed to re-light itself if that happens. The second batch
did the same thing?! Not sure why… but luckily, it re-ignited and all was well.

It wasn’t until the third time that it blew out – and DIDN’T re-light itself?! Uh oh…

So after some quick problem-solving, and some input from others, we got it going
again after losing about 20 minutes and over a 150 degrees! Unfortunately…
that problem just added a few more hours onto my already-long firing time!

Upon further inspection, it appeared as though the thermal coupler sensors
in one of the burners was not in far enough – and therefore not “holding the heat”
well enough to keep the flames going?! So I bent down the pipe that holds the
thermal couple in the flame – and propped it up with a kiln post!
And all seemed fine after that... back to the firing!!!