As we continue through the summer art fair circuit, I find it’s time to replenish
the inventory… and what better place to start than with my favorite… MUGS!!!
Simple cylinders thrown tonight… soon to be transformed into stamped mugs!

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!

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!

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!!!

So today is the day that all of the work gets loaded into the kiln.
It’s a 3-dimensional, spatial relationship challenge! And I love it!

So you start at the bottom in the back – loading the first layer of pots.
Then you place the posts, as known as “furniture,” to raise the next shelf.
More pots, more posts, another shelf. More pots, more posts, another shelf.
All the while keeping the air flow and spacing in mind. Ideally, you want to
fill the space kind of evenly all the way to the top of the arched kiln ceiling.

It’s a great challenge to get as many pieces into the kiln while allowing for
proper air-flow to ensure good soda exposure and air flow throughout the kiln.
If it’s packed too tight the flames can’t get through the pieces and some of the work
comes out too “dry” and not “glazed” by the soda. If the kiln is packed too loosely –
I don’t feel that I have gotten my money’s worth in the firing!!!

Once the kiln is loaded, the door is closed… one brick at a time!!!
With special cut bricks on alternating ends to help keep it tight side-to-side…
as well as carved arch bricks that fit along the top curve.

Going, going…                                              …gone!

As I prepare for my soda kiln firing this weekend, there’s been a lot of glazing
& wadding going on in the studio. Few people realize the huge number of steps
a piece goes through before it’s ready for use at the table. It’s not just a few minutes
of fun on the wheel… there’s countless hours of decorating, trimming, finishing
and firing… twice!

So I’m working every night this week trying to get everything glazed & wadded
for my firing. One of the benefits to the soda firing process, is that my glazing
is somewhat minimal. It’s mostly liner glazes and a few accents… with great
anticipation that the soda atmosphere will create the glossy “glazed” effect
on the sides of the work, along with some great flashing marks!

So every pot is glazed and cleaned up. You want to make sure that edges are crisp,
drips are wiped off and everything is ready to go. After liner glazes & cleaning, I then
glue on little balls of wadding to the bottom of the pots. Wadding is a “soda-resistant”
clay-like material that helps lift the pot off the kiln shelves during the firing. The
concept is that it will keep pots from sticking to the shelves if there is an excess
of soda build-up.

Once they are lined & wadded, I separate them into different categories… some
of them waiting to be lightly sprayed with accent colors. Just a bit of color to work
along with the colored slips I’ve applied before bisque firing and the color flashings
the firing will create in the kiln.

Then the pots get stacked back onto my rolling cart… which will make the journey
downstairs, in the rickety freight elevator, tomorrow to the kiln room for loading.
My hope is that all pots & tiles will be wadded and ready to go by the end
of tonight’s studio session. We’ll see… still have a long ways to go!

Like little soldiers ready to go into battle…
my new salt & pepper shakers are all lined up and ready to be glazed.

And since my soda kiln is loading this Friday night and firing on Saturday…
no better time to get started, huh?