Just found this little Summer Camp demo piece on the glaze cart. Looks like it was greatly under-reduced. Not even a hint of the copper red glaze it was supposed to be. No red here!!! Just another example that there’s no guarantee that this whole pottery thing is going to work how you expect it to. There’s a certain humbling nature to it all thanks to the Kiln Gods.

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Since we’re in-between class sessions, I thought this morning might be a good chance to glaze my past class demo pieces. My students know all-too-well how much I “love” glazing and how my pots tend to pile up! Too many glazes. Too many options. Too many ways for the glaze to “ruin” my pots after I’ve employed some of my “control issues” to get them to this point.

And I’ve been glazing mine too… with some tenmoku glaze inlay in the stamped textures. These will all be going into the soda kiln… so the colors will definitely change when inside the soda kiln! Also separating them by which kind of clay they are made out of – hoping that might help when I’m loading the kiln. B-Clay towards the back, soda clay towards the front & top.

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My summer camp kids glazed their terra cotta pots today.
Can’t decide on a color?… just use them all.

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It was the last day of Wheelthrowing Camp…
and what better way to finish their terra cotta pots than with some decorative splattering?!!! The kids LOVED IT!!!

And for those who didn’t quite get to see the beautiful glaze combo runs on today’s mug…
here’s a glamour shot without the snow covering any of the mug!!!

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble… here’s a quick peek at the bowl we “bubble glazed” last week as part of our class demo. I think it turned out pretty sweet. But I’m kind of wondering where the second layer of green bubbles went to? The bowl has a base glaze of white, then a layer of blue glaze bubbles, and then a second layer of bubbles using a green glaze. I swear. Sadly, the green seem to have disappear.ed… but the blue bubbles still look great! Scroll back about a week to see how we did this!

Click here to jump back about a week to see how we did our bubble glazing demo!
With great photos of Melissa blowing bubbles everywhere!!!

As part of the “Demo On Demand” portion of my pottery class, last night we returned to the novelty fun of bubble glazing! A little glaze in a small cup, mix in some liquid dishwashing detergent… add straw… and BLOW!!! The soapy-glaze will start foaming & frothing out of the cup. Carefully let the bubbles rest on the sides of your pot. As the bubbles pop, they leave this really great random pattern all around. For my demo bow, I first dipped the bowl in Shaner White to give it a good, overall base glaze. Then I did a layer of bubbles with Josh Blue glaze. And then decided to go for broke and add a second layer of bubbles with Apple Green Celadon. Here’s my bowl as more of the bubbles are popping and leaving cool designs.

But then, not to be left out, the “demo-demander” herself jumped right in to start blowing bubbles!!! Melissa gave her bowl a base coat of glaze as well, and then decided to try some Cohen’s Copper Red bubbles. We’re all anxious to see the results when they come back out of the glaze firing!

So I’ve been rushing around this week trying to get everything set-up for this Saturday’s Second Holiday Home Show. I’ve even glazed and fired a cone six glaze kiln just to replenish the shelves!!! I unloaded the kiln tonight… always fun to see the bright pop of colors in a cone six firing. A stark contrast to the earthy colors of a soda kiln firing. And I’m pretty pleased with how the glazes I’ve made are not only nice colors, but are also breaking & highlighting the stamped patterns really well.

Mark your calendar for THIS SATURDAY for “Mud & Metal” A Collaborative Holiday Home Show. It’s at my place this Saturday from 10:00am-6:00pm!

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Well, I’m finally all glazed & wadded. My studio cart is close to full, which means the soda kiln will be close to full as well. I can always glaze a few more pieces if I need to as I’m loading. The masking tape “seat belts” help keep the pots from “jumping off” my cart as I roll it downstairs in the rickety freight elevator!