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.

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!

Colored flashing slip applied… mugs are done for the night!
Just in time to teach class downstairs tonight. So now they can start drying before they go into my bisque kiln… hurry up, dry… dry… dry!!!

Whew… handles attached so now we have MUGS!!! Just in time for another MUGSHOT MONDAY!!! A lot of scoring & slipping… over & over again… one mug at a time. Making sure each handle is attached firmly and blended in smoothly.

Stamping mugs again… using my own handmade clay stamps to make the impressions. I press them in when the clay is a soft-leatherhard. Still a little malleable, but not at all sticky. If the pots dry out too much, the stamp won’t go in deep enough to make a good impression.

MUG 1 –

MUG 2 –

MUG 3 –

MUG 4 –

MUG 5 –

MUG 6 –

MUG 7 –

MUG 8 –

MUG 9 –

Next up we need to do some trimming… carving out a footring on the bottom! Then a few handles… and voila’... soon we’ll have more mugs!!!

Okay, that’s a good start! Gotta stay focused if I’m going to have these done in time for ART IN THE BARN! I finished throwing them all tonight… now I just have to “ghoul-itize” all forty of them!

It took a couple hours Friday night, but I finally got my pots stacked in the soda kiln. I tried my best and fit “almost” everything in… just a few stragglers that didn’t quite fit in the end. Guess they’ll just have to wait until my next firing in October?!

Plenty of pots & pumpkins… all glazed, wadded & ready for the soda kiln. The masking tape is just a little “seat belt” to keep everything in place on the shelves as I bring my cart form my studio downstairs on the rickety freight elevator! Spent my Friday night loading the kiln… after the last day of Summer Camp!!!

My summer campers just left for the day… so now it’s back to glazing & wadding more mugs! Yes, it’s the last week of summer camp… and I’m trying to glaze & finish a full soda kiln at the same time. Days with the kids, nights in my studio!