While bisque kiln #2 is cooling… it’s time to start glazing the pieces from bisque kiln #1.
So the pieces are spread out all over my studio. And I’m starting the process with glaze
inlaid into the stamped impressions and liner glazes.

One week closer to my soda kiln… and it’s time for another bisque kiln.
Just in time to fire the bisque, cool it and get the contents glazed for Friday’s loading.
It’s been a quick, fast-paced round of production this time trying to make enough work
to fill the soda kiln. I hope this bisque tops it off!

Layer #1 – bowls, ovals, tiles, ornaments… and a couple Karen Patinkin pieces!

Layer #2 – bowls, ovals, ornaments, tiles and soap dispensers.

Layer #3 – ovals, ornament, soap dispensers, tiles and more

Layer #4 – lots of tiles, a Karen Patinkin platter and some freshly made, still wet tripods
for firing my ornaments in the soda kiln. Yes, I made the tripods about 5 minutes before
loading them. Let’s hope they survive the firing?!!!

And, I think I may have redeemed myself a little better this time…
not as much empty kiln space as last time! I love me some kiln filler…

Tonight I unloaded my latest bisque kiln.
But now where do I put everything?! I’ve got a lot of glazing to do now…
but I’m still hoping to make another kiln’s worth of new work. And as you can see,
my tables & shelves are stacking up with bisque. So what to do?… Glaze & wad these pots
to get them out of the way? Or make more fresh pieces to fill another bisque kiln?!

Well, by now you know the answer is always ‘make more fresh work.’
I can glaze another day.

After teaching class tonight, I loaded another bisque kiln. One step closer
to my upcoming soda kiln. And you know how I pride myself on packing an
effective kiln. However, I’m kind of embarrassed to say that I didn’t do all that well this time.
I’ve been trying to crank out as much as I can, but I didn’t do so well with the smaller pieces
that fit into all those empty spaces! Sure the first couple layers were pretty good…
but by the third & fourth layers & was out of filler – only large pieces & no filler?!!! Sheesh.

Kiln Layer #1 – ovals & mugs

Kiln Layer #2 – ovals, mugs & bowls

Kiln Layer #3 – ovals, mugs & bowls

Kiln Layer #4 – ovals… and one more bowl!

Hopefully next Tuesday’s bisque kiln will be packed a little tighter…
as long as I’ve made enough new pieces between now and then!!!

So now that I have a “few” mugs built and ready to bisque, this weekend I started
working on making new bowls for my upcoming kiln. So I threw some last night,
more today… and luckily, was able to start stamping today! If all goes well, I will
be able to finish stamping tomorrow and get them all trimmed as well. I know it’s
quick, but I’m hoping to get them into my Tuesday night bisque kiln!

And now for a quick glimpse at the tools of the trade!
A couple toolboxes full of handmade stamps and my trusty Shimpo banding wheel.
My first pottery gift from my parents when I started getting “serious” about clay!

You know I love making mugs!
And tonight I finally finished adding handles, painting some colored slip accents and
setting them out to dry. Half of them are made of soda stoneware, the other half B-Clay.
All of them are set to be fired in my upcoming soda kiln. The B-Clay works especially well
in the back stack of the kiln, whereas the soda clay turns out better with a little heavier
coverage of soda glaze build-up. So I need to keep track of which is which… okay…
so there’s a small “code” on the bottom of each piece to help with that.

So now they’re drying… waiting to go into my next bisque kiln on Tuesday.
Forty-four of them… just in case you’re counting! Then they’ll be glazed and soda fired
just in time for my upcoming Holiday Home Show!

So last week, we worked on ovals in my Tuesday night class.
One of my brand new students had seen my ovals here on the blog, and asked if we could
cover how to make them in class. So I said sure, even though “brand new beginners”
don’t generally get to make ovals. But then again, after the demo… Jen has been all over
the ovals and has already made a couple of them!

Since then, I’ve been all over the ovals in my studio as well.
And when I dive into production mode, I have a tendency to go a little overboard. I may
have done that again here… as I’ve run out of space in my studio because of the ovals!!!

Since the demo was so “inspiring” to Jen… I thought I’d cover a bit of them here too.
So when I start making my ovals, I generally throw a large bottomless cylinder on a bat.
For these ovals, I also made split rims while I was throwing them so I would have a little more
to play with later when stamping & decorating. Once the cylinders have lost their “shine”
and stickiness, I wire them off the bat, pick them up carefully and manipulate them into the
oval shape. I let them set up even more, do some stamping, some pinching, some fluting…
you know, more of my usual decorating tricks!

The next step is to add a bottom onto the bottomless “now-ovaled” cylinders. So I throw out
a slab of clay large enough to fit the oval. Then I carefully pick up the oval, set it on the slab
and trace the shape. Then I take it off, flip it over and score & slip both pieces. Carefully
putting them back together and “squishing” them carefully so they stick! Since I was tired
and running out of time, I wrapped them up and let them sit like that overnight.

The next day, I came in and worked to clean-up the bottoms and edges. So I flipped the
combined form together and trimmed off the extra clay with my firm green rib. Carefully
scraping off the excess clay – trying to combine top & bottom seamlessly.

Then I take a flat sided paddle to compress the edges together  – making sure the
connection is strong, as well as creating a nice corner-angle-undercut all the way around.

Once the bottom is attached, trimmed and smoothed into place, I carefully flip it
back over and decide if it needs handles – and this time the answer was yes!

So I rolled out coils of clay and textured them with a grooved rod that I found at a flea market.
I think it’s a piece from Lincoln Logs or some other kid’s game?! Hey, but it works great!
So I press the textured rod into the coils to get the textured, then bend them into the handle
shape. I always do both handles at the same time so that they match.

Then, it’s more scoring & slipping to get the handles attached.
A few last minute touch-ups and then they were done for another night.

Special thanks to my studio neighbors Lisa Harris, Cathi Bouzide & Karen Patinkin
for letting me “borrow” some table space while I’ve been working on these…
many times without them even knowing it!

I wrapped them up in plastic for one last night. Hoping that the slower drying will give
all the parts a little more time to balance out and dry more evenly. Unfortunately, all these
ovals are taking up a LOT of space in my already small studio. So much so…
that these ovals have been relegated to the floor!!! Careful where you walk…

After an evening of “slow drying” under plastic, they’ll be uncovered so they can dry the
rest of the way… and then go into my next bisque kiln scheduled for next Tuesday night!

Tonight I finished adding handles to the first batch of new mugs.
Generally I keep the mugs with freshly attached handles under wraps
overnight before leaving them out to dry. In my mind, it helps keep the handles
“happy” by allowing the moisture levels to balance out between the drier cup
and the wetter handle. After they “even out” overnight, then I can open them up,
add a few slip details, and then let them dry fully… with happy handles!

After stamping batch number one, I opened a new bag of B-Clay
and threw another batch of mug cylinders. Tomorrow the stamping continues!

Overnight the cylinders stiffened up to a “wet” leatherhard state. And since I need to
keep things moving forward, I unwrapped them and started stamping wetter than I’d like!
Here’s a few examples… side-by-side… plain and then stamped!

And here they are… the first batch of new mugs stamped and ready to dry some more.
Hopefully tomorrow I can start trimming, handle attaching & slip decorating!