Feels great to be getting back into “production mode”…
starting off with some smaller vases with some smaller stamps!
Gotta start somewhere, right???

After about a month of slowly drying under plastic, this class demo platter from last session was a bit drier than I would like it to be. Things dry over time, right?! Good thing my DiamondCore Tools are sharp enough to trim their way right through the stiff clay!

So this is what happens when you grab that little scrap of plastic on your worktable… give the clay inside a little squish… and only THEN realize that it has the ornament that you just trimmed about ten minutes ago!!! Ugh.

Must stay focused… just trying to finish up a few last minute projects in the studio before the holidays!

Always fun to see one of my students wielding her DiamondCore Tools in class! Like last night when Darcy was carving cool starburst patterns on some cylinder cups… soon to be filled with wax for some beautiful candles!

Had a nice “shout-out” on Instagram yesterday from the folks at DiamondCore Tools! I used one of their diamond grinding bats to “save” a few mugs from bad glazed & wadded bottoms! So easy, so smooth… all the more reason why I LOVE DiamondCore Tools !!!

Just spending a little “quality time” with my diamond grinding disc from DiamondCore Tools !!! Cleaning off a few drippy soda-fired. bottoms. Notice the mug bottom before & after… plus a few more to come!

Just put the grinding bat on the wheel, wet the disc, wet the pot, press… spin… grind… CLEAN!!! Thank you DiamondCore Tools for making this ugly task so much easier & smoother!!!

After a couple hours of loading the kiln last night, it’s always great to get to the end & brick up the door. One by one, brick by brick. Hiding the pots… knowing that we won’t see them again until after the soda-firing process works its “magic”… fingers crossed.

It was pretty late last night when I finally finished glazing in my studio… lots of pots, lots of wadding! So I packed both sides of my studio cart and put some masking tape “seat belts” on it so none of the pots would jump off as I rolled everything downstairs on the rickety freight elevator!

As though I didn’t already have plenty still to glaze for tonight’s soda kiln loading… let’s just toss in a few MORE from this last minute bisque kiln full. More is more, right?!

Trying to stay productive… stamps are “filled” with tenmoku glaze… and just added a liner glaze too! Still needing a little clean-up around the rims… and then a lot of wadding for the soda kiln. I’m scheduled to load Friday night… and I still have a LOT of glazing to do. Eyes on the prize!!!