Another kiln fired...

Jeff and I unloaded the kiln yesterday and had some mixed results. The turquoise glaze did some funny stuff, it's so darn persnickety! Thankfully my Etsy orders were ok. All of my Etsy buyers were very understanding about having to wait a bit for their items. I did e-mail everyone with an explanation of the delay and I received many kind and thoughtful replies with expressions of condolences. You wouldn't think that selling online could have this personal feel, but it does. Jeff and I cross sell in our shops and we have each gotten orders from the same buyers with personal notes saying "give my regards to Jeff/Michèle."

This firing had a few more ginkgo's carved in porcelain. I am really enjoying the celadon glaze. It's a nice departure from my darker gloss green. I have been using helios porcelain from Highwater Clay. It throws quite nicely. I did have one bowl that had an iron spot in the middle of it. It was a small blemish before firing. I tried to sand it out but couldn't remove it all. It's sort of irritating since you expect porcelain to be a pure white. Iron "pops" seem to be a common problem with Highwater clay. We've had it happen in their other clay bodies as well. With stoneware it's not as problematic as porcelain.

It's going to be a hot one today. I am heading to the market and post office before I get sweaty and dirty working in the studio. It feel great to be back in my regular routine.