Friday, April 25, 2014

Burning Stuff Up

This was definitely a week on fire for us. Jeff helped David Stuempfle with his wood firing on Monday, we fired two bisque kilns, the gas kiln, and squeezed in a raku firing yesterday.

Lori Buff, posted on her blog about the raku kiln she recently built. Hers looks so shiny and new compared to our rehabbed electric kiln, turned raku kiln.






The kiln is say "Ohhhh, I am getting hot!



My friend Bonnie came over to fire beads and pendants. She had a lot of beauties and was very happy. I had mostly vases and of course I committed to one matte luster glaze. I hadn't used this glaze in a long time. It seemed thick, so I thinned it down... but alas it was still too thick. There are some nice colors but lots of bubbling. I think I can sand some of these down and save them. On a good note, the area around the kiln is clear of "stuff", the leaves are raked, and we are going to fire again very soon.

I mentioned in my last post that this was a week of changes for us. Jeff was supposed to be headed for South Korea tomorrow morning, The festival in Mungyeong was postponed indefinitely due to the horrific ferry tragedy. The whole country is in a state of mourning and all festivals, concerts, and political events have been cancelled. This will be a bit of a set back for us financially, but we have gotten over the shock of it and are moving on. It's out of our control. It's a different culture and they deal with national tragedies differently than we do in the states.

We also got the news that my mother will not be coming home. She is still in the re-hab facility and will be moved to assisted living in the near future. I have to force myself to call her because I can't stand to hear her sounding so weak. Dad says she sleeps for a good part of the day when he is there. I am thankful that she isn't in pain.

Enough gloom and doom...

Tomorrow is the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour in Seagrove. The weather is going to be great and I am sure there will be lots of people going home with new pots. We'll be here in our studio giving demonstration. The lawn will be mowed and the flowers are blooming!

11 comments:

  1. wow there's a lot of pots in the raku kiln, they look wonderful, which clay do you use for raku?

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  2. so sorry about Korea being cancelled and about your mom, my thoughts are with you

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  3. Thank you Linda.
    As for clay, we have always shied away from raku clay for fear of it getting mixed up with our cone 10 clay. In NH we used Sheffield T-3 with great results Here in NC the only clay we have found that doesn't have cracking issues in STARworks okee-weemee and I also tried some STARwhite with no issues.
    This is a fairly big old electric kiln so we can load it with quite a few pots.

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  4. Hope the rest of your Mom's journey is a smooth one. Wishing you and all my friends in Seagrove great weather and lots of sales.

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  5. Sorry about your Mom. You could use a better week!

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  6. I saw Robin Roberts on TV last week promoting her survival book. I liked one of her comments. She said her mom used to say to her when she had a problem, "everybody's got something". It's true, isn't it? We all got something, we just have to enjoy the good stuff we have along with the bad. Best wishes to your mom, restful sleep and maybe some joy in these days ahead.

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  7. Michele..greetings from Alberta.. I am thinking of you and your family at this time.. I hope it goes smoothly for all concerned with your Mom. My mom is 91 and, yes, her health is always on our minds. Take care. Trish

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  8. I am so sorry to hear about your Mom. Life changes quickly sometimes.I hope she continues to recover in rehab.

    Hope that popcorn was good! I love popcorn.

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  9. Your kiln looks great, I can't wait until mine looks so loved.

    I'm sorry about Korea and your Mom. Hopefully she will start to improve quickly.

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  10. Kind thoughts from us down here in NZ. So sorry about your mum. Also sorry to read about the set back with the Mungyeong festival.

    The raku firing looked interesting, it is good that the old electric kiln can be made useful again!

    Best Wishes, P

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