November 11 - Barrel Firing on 11-11-11

Friday we held the first barrel firing in the new building.  It was quite an affair and very well attended.  As usual, we had a lot of fun chatting, snacking, and laughing and --oh yeah, we fired some pieces too.  It was a glorious evening with a full moon overseeing the whole affair.

Filling the barrel.
Photo by Kim Marcadis.

Elaine and Becky lighting the barrel, re-enacting the first barrel firing.
Photo by Kim Marcadis.

Photo by Kim Marcadis.

Photo by Kim Marcadis.

Photo by Kim Marcadis.

It's lit.

Kim and Rich trying to get that perfect shot
while Elaine and Ansley look on.

Fred, Becky, Cyn, Jaime, Greg, Elaine, Chuck, and Carolyn.

The fire rages on.

Lots of wood.

After it's covered, lots of copper (green) and cobalt (blue) flames.

Minke's "diving lady" sculpture in the flames.

After the barrel burned down and people started drifting away, I added some handles to my crackle pots.  I have some plans to enhance these handles when I glaze them.  Stay tuned.

The other night Chuck mentioned that my bag of little loafers clay (next to the head) looked like the Necronomicon (book of the dead) from the Evil Dead movies.  (My favorite is Army of Darkness.)

The bag that looks like the book on the left.

One of the porcelain eyes fell out of my head.
Now it looks even creepier...

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Thursday - Yet more yunomis

Thursday I made --you guessed it, more yunomis.  These are made from cone 5 clays instead of the cone 10 ones I have made up until now.  The left side is earthen red, and the right side is little loafers.

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2010-09-22 Wednesday - Studio

Wednesday night I got some things back from the kilns and was very pleased with them.  I had some boxes I made in cone 5 little loafers, and an orangestone pot from the cone 10 gas kiln.  The cone 10 pot was the first one on which I tried making leaves and I was pleased with the effect.  I also started a new series of orangestone pots most of which I altered after throwing them.

New pots.

Look, they have lids.

Detail of the leaf.

New pots.

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2010-07-31 Saturday - Clayworks

Saturday I was at Clayworks working hard again.  I glazed a bunch of bisqueware and made a new pot.

I am having a lot of fun with the little loafers cone 5 stoneware.  It is a white clay and allows me to play with the translucent glazes we now have.  I am making mostly functional pieces and throwing lighter than I have in a while.  I would like to play with the little loafers some more, but the cone 10 kiln is calling to me like a siren.  I see more cone 10 work in the near future.

Oil lamps, boxes, mugs, yunomis, creamer trays, and a butter bell.

In an homage to Ju-Ian

(who left for Shanghai for an extended stay)

I added leaves to my pot.

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2010-05-30 Clayworks - Making with a vengence

I decided I needed to make some more creamer sets since they're fun to make and people seem to like them.  The last batch I made with earthen red and I thought I would like to try a lighter clay with some of our translucent glazes so I made these using little loafers.  Little loafers is a low fire version of loafer's glory.

After seeing Adrienne make them for years, I finally attempted an oval casserole and made a large one using the little loafers.  I am thinking about glazing it with our translucent amber and/or green.  We'll see how it develops.

After that, it was on to glazing some cone 10 pieces because the kiln was being loaded on 5/31.  Work, work, work.  It feeds the soul.

Little loafers creamer sets.

More playful sets.

The oval casserole with the lid slab upside down on top of it.

Glazed cone 10 pieces.

Ju-Ian glazing her work.

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