After a weekend away at my parent’s house celebrating my Dad’s birthday with a lot
of gardening & work around the house… then birthday dinner & cake… and then a
wonderful day pedaling in Wisconsin for the Harmon Hundred… it was back to the
studio tonight to finally unload the kiln now that it is quite cool. And I was quite
pleased with the results – including a new selection of stamped & glazed bowls!

Another night of glazing. Tonight I glazed more work in the studio
including these ovals. I lined them with temoku and inlaid the stamps. After
drying overnight, I will dip the exteriors in an accent color… and hope for the best.
That being some great glaze interaction & stamp accentuation! Fingers crossed…

So camp is over, but my studio work never ends…
especially with Art In The Barn just a couple weeks away!… 9/25 & 9/26.
So tonight I worked in the studio trying to pack away the “madness” of my stash
of summer camp supplies – to make room to get some work done! I’m scheduled
to share a cone 10 reduction kiln with studio-mate Karen Patinkin next week so I’ve
got some glazing to do! I want to be all done before she gets back from her weekend away!

I started by waxing the bottoms of my latest bisque pots to help keep the glaze off
the bottoms. Much easier to clean them up if they’re waxed ahead of time. I recently
bought a bottle of wax resist from Aftosa and it is a nice shade of green. The color
and the wax will disappear during the firing, but for now – it make it a bit easier
to see what you’re waxing as you’re doing it!

Then I spent some time inlaying glaze into the stamping to help accentuate them.
I find that frequently the cone 10 glaze tend to obliterate & cover-up the stamping
if I don’t inlay glaze and dip in more transparent colors. So tonight I inlaid temoku glaze
and I’m letting them dry. Hopefully I’ll get back into the studio over the weekend to dip
the top coat of glaze. Well before Karen’s return… I think we’re loading on Wednesday?!

After a little splash of clear glaze… and nice electric firing…
my niece Taylor’s handmade set of dinnerware is all done! And ready for her
to cook us all dinner and serve it up on her new dishes! Shhh… don’t tell her…
I want them to be a surprise. She doesn’t know they’re done yet…

This afternoon after camp, my 5-year old niece Taylor stopped by the studio
to play in the clay along with my sister Jen (her mom), and my parents. It was
a special afternoon as she was working in clay, creating her own plates before she
heads off for her big adventure into starting Kindergarten! Taylor has been learning
to cook in the kitchen and loves to have people over so she can make lunch. So I
decided that she needs her own set of plates & bowls to serve her food on. We all worked
hard to make an 8-piece set of textured terra cotta plates & bowls. I made the slabs,
she did the textures, my mom helped slump them into the molds and my dad trimmed
off the extra clay. They all worked on the smoothing & painting… all with Taylor’s
design guidance and insistence!!!

And I’m sure you’ve already noticed… how adorable my niece & sister look in their
vibrant tie-dye shirts! You know how I loves me tie-dye!!!

After the plates were finished & painted, we had another quick tour of Lillstreet,
chatted with a few of my previous students (thanks Patrick), and looked at the kilns
and my studio. Then we headed off for dinner at Superdawg. Followed by a not-so-quick
18-holes of miniature golf. Considering it was only her second time golfing, she did
extremely well – and remained relatively focused & alert during the game!

After stocking up on clay, tools & supplies, Amy and I decided to stop by
Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. It’s kind of their version of Lillstreet.
They have a wonderful gallery full of beautiful pots – and a great reception desk
made with some beautiful bricks that have been “colored” by years of firings
in a soda kiln. We oohed & aahhed… touched, fondled, caressed… and drooled.
Ultimately, Amy made a purchase of a sweet little vase by Ron & Cheryl Husby.
I ended up leaving empty-handed… more on that disappointment to come…

We admired a lot of pots in the gallery, and then went back and checked out their
classrooms, kilns and studio spaces. Along our tour, I found these wonderful cups.
Now known as “the cups that got away”… the studio artist wasn’t there, the cups
weren’t priced, the neighboring studio artist didn’t know anything… and we weren’t
even sure they were for sale?! So I left my contact information with the “neighbor”
in hopes that she may call and tell me I could come back to purchase the cups later,
or on Sunday. Sadly… I never got the call… no e-mail… no nothing…
But you can see why they were the “perfect” cups… that now I just have to have!!!

So today after camp, I stuck around and worked in the studio.
At first I was planning on going for another bike ride between camp
& my evening adult class, but it was far too hot & humid outside…
and my studio has air conditioning! So made the easy decision to stay
in the cool air and finish up a dozen mugs that were waiting for handles!

Tonight in class we focused on making bowls on purpose…

…and not a cylinder gone bad. So I demonstrated how to make a basic bowl.
Followed by throwing eight bowls, then demonstrating some quick techniques
for simple designs, patterns & styles to make their bowls special. Anyone can
make a plain round bowl… but it’s more fun when you make it your own
with a little design along the way! Texture… pattern… slip… fun!

After a couple days under plastic, the enclosed forms were stiffened up a bit…
but just enough to trim, stamp and squish. I hadn’t planned on working on them tonight.
But I checked the after class and realized that they were at the right stage of dryness.
I was a little afraid to leave them another day for fear they might dry too much.
If they get too dry, they don’t squish so much as crack when flattened.

So I trimmed some of the edges, then stamped the rim – and squished!
And now, it’s late, I’m tired… and these will have to wait for another day under plastic.
Next up – some slip decoration and a hole pierced through the back for hanging.
Then they’ll be ready for drying, bisque firing, glazing & firing again.

After a week of kid’s camp on the wheel, it felt great to get back behind my wheel
and actually make some new stuff in the studio… with my newly reclaimed clay!!!
Replenishing the supply just in time for the next art fair.

So I threw a series of enclosed forms – that will later be transformed into more
wall pocket vases. It felt great to be throwing again, and not having to stop
every 8-seconds to answer a kid’s question! Love ’em dearly, but seriously…