Backing it up just a little… someone asked what “wadding” is when they say all of the mugs I was glazing and said that I still “needed to add the wadding.” So here’s a quick shot of the bottom of the mugs… similar to every piece put in a soda kiln. The little balls of “wadding” are made of a special clay mixture with alumina hydrate mixed in which makes the clay resistant to the soda atmosphere. The goal is to keep the pots elevated off the kiln shelves so they don’t fuse during the firing while the soda atmosphere in the kiln is “glazing” all of the pots. After firing, these little balls of clay will fall right off.

Panoramic perfection from this morning’s bike ride.

Big morning sunrises require big morning photos!

It was a stunning sunrise this morning as the clouds were splashed with color. Ever-changing with saturated colors pedaling along the lakefront… before the grayness of the day moved in.

What better way to celebrate NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY than finding that someone left you a big bag of M&M’s on your table?!

And it looks like I’m not the only one celebrating today… with a bowl full of holiday yumminess to celebrate NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY !!! Thanks for sharing Rosene!

You know you’ve gotten a “good amount” of rain lately when you LITERALLY have cattails growing in the curb-gutter of the city streets?! Too funny… and oddly, I LOVE this!!!

While leaves are falling all around us, sometimes you can still find one of those “perfect” trees in full color with the leaves still hanging on!!! C’mon, give us at least one more beautiful weekend before they all fall off!

So now the stamps have their inlaid glazed… and a liner glaze too! The outside stays basically unglazed as the soda-firing process will finish & “glaze” the outsides for me! Now to start wadding all of them…

Filling all of my stamped impressions with a dark tenmoku glaze. And then wiping away the top surface leaving glaze only in the indentations. Sure, it’s a lot of work, but he darker inlaid glaze always seems to make my stamped patterns “pop” more!

Lots of mugs… looks like I’ve got a LOT of glazing to get done tonight!!! ugh… definitely not my favorite part of the process!