I’m a little over half way through stamping & labeling my show postcards…
and still have hundreds to go!  sheesh…

On an “up” note, ya’ gotta love the Hawaiian shirt postage stamps, huh???

Last night’s class demonstration was plates & platters. My beginners are progressing
quite nicely… cylinders, bowls, mugs… and now plates! I explained to them that plates
are fairly easy to throw, and that the drying & trimming of them is the hard part.
In class I threw two plates. But of course, I can’t leave a plate plain…
so tonight I stamped them up!

The class demo four-pound plate…

And now for the six-pound platter…

Plus, we have new clay at Lillstreet Art Center. For years we’ve had the same selections
of stoneware, B-Clay and porcelain. We’re now trying something new from Continental Clay.
It’s Stoneware with Ochre… which from what we’ve seen turns out to be a dark chocolate
brown after firing in a cone 10 reduction kiln. This is my first time trying the new clay…
hence the slight “greenish” hue in the clay. It was fun to throw with… although the color
was a little off-putting.

As a productive studio artist, I use a lot of clay.
And with that, comes a LOT of scraps & trimmings to be reclaimed.
I work hard to reclaim as much clay as I can. I put all of the dried scraps into
a large orange container in my studio, and fill it with water. As the clay absorbs
the water, it slakes down to become clay once again. When it feels & looks like clay
again, and much of the water has been absorbed, it’s time to scoop out the clay mix
and place it on a large plaster bat. So that’s what I did tonight… I scooped & scooped!
I scooped until my reclaim bin was empty and the bat was overflowing with clay.

And there it will sit until the overly-gooshey clay stiffens up and can be wedged up.
And when it’s ready… it’s a LOT of wedging, and wedging, and wedging…

And just in time… as my Northwoods potter friend Amy Higgason got “a little behind”
in her studio reclaiming and brought some of her scraps for me! Just a couple boxes…
okay, like twelve!!! That’s a lot of scraps!

So Amy’s scraps have now been placed in my reclaim tub. Add water. And wait…
Soon enough, it’s going to be  another huge batch of FREE CLAY!!!

I love it when patterns, textures, slips & glazes all come together!
Just a few more “teaser textures” that jut came out of my soda kiln yesterday!!!

Well, tonight I unbricked & unloaded my soda kiln.
It’s always exciting to take the brick door off and finally see my newest pieces!

It’s like a little treasure hunt. You have certain expectations & hopes while you’re
making the pieces and glazing them. But at some point, you have to release control
and let the kiln do its own magic. So here’s a quick glimpse at the front of the kiln…
knowing that the front “face” is always the grayest from a lot of soda. And then the
pieces that are deeper into the kiln have a bit more color.  As I unloaded, I was quite
pleased with the colors… a little brighter & more vibrant than usual?!

It’s always a good feeling to unbrick the kiln and find you cones melted exactly
to where they should be for a cone 20 firing. Towards the end of my firing,
it was impossible to see the top cone pack at all. It was quite “hazy” in the kiln
with flames shooting out at me when I tried to peek in. No visibility!!!
Glad I turned off the kiln when I did!

Well, I just added the last batch of soda mixture into my kiln.
Very hot. Lots of flames – so much fun! Not for the weak of heart.
The soda mixture is introduced on a long angle iron through a brick over the fire box.
The filled angle iron goes in and gets dumped into the fire box.
Instant combustion. Instant vapors. Instant flames shooting out all over the place!
Luckily, tonight I only burned off a few arm hairs.

Once the angle iron is removed, the “peep” brick gets put back in to keep the soda vapors
“trapped” and moving around inside – hitting all the pots inside building up a beautiful surface!

In case you’re wondering, my soda mixture is a combination of soda ash, soda bicarbonate,
whiting and wood chips. Mixed with a little bit of water to create a lumpy, oatmealy texture.

So now it’s just a waiting game for the kiln to get back up to top temperature
and for a little extra “soak” to get some more soda effects on the pots inside!
And now for the tough part… the kiln cools all day tomorrow, and won’t be unloaded
until Monday night! Gotta wait… stay tuned for pictures!

After three days of glazing & wadding, I finally loaded my kiln tonight.
And it might be my tightest packed kiln yet?! So now it’s time for a couple hours
of sleep, a quick shower and then it’s pack to the studio to get the firing started!

But first… a few photos…
Here’s my studio cart filled to the brim with glazed & wadded pots.
Thanks again to my Dad for making me a wonderful cart that works so well.

And here’s the Lillstreet soda kiln empty… just waiting to be filled up!

After about an hour of loading, the back stack was finished. I have a lot of work, and wanted
to get the most bang for my buck, so I packed the kiln pretty darn tight. Barely any kiln shelf
is showing as every surface has a pot or a tile covering it! I’m pretty pleased with myself…
notice how close to the arch my tall textured slab vases fit right in there!!! Sweet…

Part way through the front stack, I realized I didn’t have quite enough large pieces glazed.
So I went back up to my studio to glaze a couple more oval casseroles and a few serving
bowls. Then it was back down to finish off the loading!

I always find the front stack (of two shelves deep) to be a little tougher than the back stack.
I think it’s because the back stack is smaller and earlier on… so you still have a lot of sizes
to choose from and feel like you have a LOT of room to fill still. When you get to the front
stack, reality starts to set in and you start to realize you might not be able to squeeze
everything in?! Along the way, you start to get creative. I decided to split the two-shelves
into two separate stacks. And when I got to very end, I ran out of tall pieces, so I “floated”
a kiln shelf instead of leaving any dead air space at the top.

So, close to five hours later, my kiln was loaded… at long last.

Another late night of glazing at the studio.
I got a lot done, and yet somehow there still seems to be a lot more to do?!
Back again tomorrow for a full day in the studio and the final push…
more glazing, wadding & loading the kiln tomorrow.
No rest for the weary… gotta get it done!!!

Tonight’s glazing marathon was quite productive…
and yet I’m expecting another even longer marathon tomorrow night!
Still a lot of bisque waiting on my shelves?!!! So much to do still…