Miniature pots… Miniature vases… Miniature bowls… just a “little” glazing!!!

Tonight I started glazing. After a LOT of rearranging… a LOT of stacking…
just trying to make some space to organize my bisque & make room to work.
But I finally got my act together and started inlaying glaze into my stamped textures.

It’s kind of a lengthy process where I fill the stamps with glaze, let it dry
and then wipe off the top surface with a damp sponge to clean off the pot surface,
but leave glaze in the stamped recesses. Since these pots will be soda-fired, the pot
surface will remain unglazed – leaving the soda atmosphere to do its magic! The glaze
inlays will help accentuate the stamping, and the colored slip will give it color accents.

Tomorrow the glazing process will continue with liner glazes, wadding and a bit of
sprayed glazes for a little extra splash of color on a few of the pieces. Then continue
the same process all over again with the bowls… flower pots… vases… and more!
A lot of pots to glaze & wad before I can load & fire the kiln!

You’ve seen the kilns… you seen the loading.. now I have PILES of bisque.
Everywhere I turn in the studio… piles of bisque. Gotta start glazing soon…
if nothing else, to make a little more room to make more work?! Where to start?!

Another loaded bisque kiln… layer by layer… piece by piece… firing today!!!
Love the challenge of stacking, nesting and piling in of as much work as you can fit in.
Guess I’m going to need to do some glazing – and get a soda kiln scheduled soon!

Layer One – flower pots, mugs and tiles!

Layer Two – bowls, flower pots, tumblers and more tiles.

Layer Three -bowls, mugs and a LOT more tiles!!!

Layer Four – bowls, flower pots, tumblers and tiles!

So while my bisque kiln cools tomorrow…
I’m taking a day off and heading out of town for a little hiking in the woods!

Last night’s topic for my Beginning Wheelthrowing class was “basic bowls.”
Truthfully, teaching my beginners how to make a bowl on purpose
instead of a cylinder gone bad and “oops, look I have a bowl” bowl.

So we started with basic bowl instructions & demonstrations. Then we took a quick break
from the demo as I sat down and quickly threw eight basic bowls. Then we regrouped &
discussed how to alter these basic bowls and turn them into something not “quite so basic.”
Before they knew it, the “strikingly similar” eight 2-pound bowls were suddenly all different
with the help of a little fluting, flaring, slip painting and a quick creativity.

I hope that they get the point that they should commit to their artwork and make it
their own. Anyone can make a smooth, round, plain bowl. That the clay is not as fragile
as they think… that they can push it a little further. And that a little effort, design
& creativity can make a huge difference in their bowls!

Not quite “inspired” today, and I thought I needed more “kiln filler”… so I made tiles.
This batch is drying and will go into my bisque kiln this Thursday night.
After the bisque firing, they will be soda-fired where the different textures
and slip colors will be accentuated by the soda kiln atmosphere. Once fired, the tiles
will be assembled into my “Clay Quilts” just in time for the upcoming art fair season!

So my textured glaze test tiles have made it through their kilns.
Some in a regular cone 10 reduction gas kiln, and others in a cone 10 soda kiln.

Remember, I was testing some new glazes that were “abandoned” in the studio and I claimed.
Free glaze is free glaze! But I wanted to see what they looked like on top of my textures –
as well as how the soda kiln atmosphere would affect the glazes. Keep in mind that the soda
mixture we add to the kiln works as a flux, the “melty” part of a glaze. So frequently, when
a glaze is used in the soda kiln, it can change colors chemically, and become a lot runnier.
Here are my results, side by side, with the soda fired test tile on the right.

Some of the glazes worked well. Some didn’t. Some are just brown. Some are just beige.
As you may already know… I’m not a fan of BEIGE. In my colors, my pots, my food, my life!
I am intrigued by some of them though. I especially like how some of the samples worked well
in the soda kiln and helped to accentuate the stamping textures without obliterating it in glaze.
The test was a success, as I now know a lot better what these “bonus” glazes look like.
The downside being that the glaze recipes weren’t left behind with the buckets of glaze.
So when they’re gone, I may or may not be able to make more glaze… I’ll need to do some
glaze recipe research for those glazes that work well.

Also, while I was testing, and had a few extra test tiles to use, I decided to try a
low fire glaze that I had heard rumors of working really well in the soda kiln.
I’ve never used it before… but after seeing this test tile, I’m definitely intrigued.

In between all the bike rides… I do find time to throw!… trust me.

This evening I set about to turn the plain flower pots I threw yesterday
into more decorative flower pots with a LOT of stamping & rim fluting.
Some with some traditional stamping, and more with the newer, “bulgier” stamping
with fluted rims. A mix of old & new styles… still not sure how I’m going to glaze these?

Tomorrow I hope to trim them all and paint some slip accents.
And don’t forget to punch the drainage holes too!

This evening I glazed up the test tiles with the “mystery” glazes
that I scored from Tony when he moved out of his Lillstreet studio.
I’ve glazed two tiles for each glaze – one test is going into a cone 10
reduction kiln, and a second set is going into a soda kiln. I’m hoping to see
how they turn out and if the soda atmosphere does anything cool to the glaze.
Fingers crossed…