Ta-Da!

This was the only lidded oval that survived the wood firing. The lid on the other one had warped a little in the bisque firing and the wood firing just made it worse. I sort of expected that to happen so I wasn't too disappointed.
Today is a carving day in the studio. I have a bunch of bowls to finish. This week I finally made four dinner plates for my brother and sister-in-law. I say finally, because they are a wedding present and they have been married over a year! They want them to match some pieces they already have so they will be glazed in tenmoku. It was really hard to see those nice big plates and  not carve some flowers or leaves in the center!

P.S. The fire ant bites are starting to heal... I just have the ugliest legs in Seagrove right now. On the bright side, I didn't have nearly as much swelling as my encounter with the little buggers last year.

Working Weekend

This is what I did this weekend...

I assembled "salt pigs", that also make nice piggy sugar jars. They come with a cork to keep whatever you put inside, clean and dry. I have these listed on Etsy, and you can choose your glaze color. I have an order for two, one in tenmoku, the other Temple white... they buyer plans to use one for salt and the other for pepper! If you click on the photo it will take you to the Etsy listing.

The weather since Friday has been amazingly conducive to finishing work. The low humidity allowed me to throw, trim, and carve, these 1 quart casseroles in three days.

I have five of these completed and now I guess I should move on to two quart casseroles. The humidity has returned, so it may take a week to get them finished. I guess that means I should turn this computer off and get out to the studio.

snips and snails, and puppy dog tails...

I finally got around to completing these today and it seemed to take all day. I think I attached and removed handles three times on each oval. I am not sure I am done with the one on the banding wheel.
Tomorrow I will take another look at it and decide if it needs something else.

The other big news around here is that Jeff took the afternoon off to get his annual, spring haircut...

His hair had gotten so long that his stylist cut off enough to donate to Locks of Love! Donated hair must be 10" in length to qualify. I didn't even realize Jeff's was that long! I read on the website that gray hair won't be used for the organizations purpose (to create hairpieces for children) but will be sold to offset the organizations expenses. I liked his long ponytail but I think this shorter one really rocks!

Trying out new stuff

I have always been intrigued by ring jugs. I think it's the mystery of figuring out how they are made when you first see them. The other day I was getting bored with making casseroles and decided to give it a try...

I threw the ring form and THEN decided to do a little research on this form. What I found out was that the Moravian potters of North Carolina threw a fatter ring with a small circle, while others made them wide and thin, as I did. Of course mine just turned out that way because, as usual, I was just winging it!

I did however look at a gazillion images online to figure out what type of neck or handles that I wanted to add. I finished it off with some slip trailing. My plan is to bisque fire it and set it aside for a future wood and salt firing. It was a lot of fun to make and I might explore this form a little bit more.

The other thing I did this week was to throw a cake stand in one piece. This one is sort of small and low. 

I am letting it dry slowly, upside down, to minimize warping. If this one is successful I will try throwing a larger one in one piece.

Sadly, with all this unseasonably warm weather, our daffodils are sporadically blooming. While seeing them makes you hopeful for real spring, it also means that come March, we won't have a yard full of blooms.

How can anyone deny global warming????

2nd to the last firing of 2012?

I almost titled this post "The Last Firing of 2012" but we might be doing another between now and January 1, 2013. The piggy bank stock is getting really low and there are pots already glazed that didn't make it in the last kiln load. On the Etsy front, I have finally reached 100 transactions! Etsy sales have been good these last 30 days, I am glad there are people out there committed to shopping handmade.

The firing we did last weekend was mostly orders that have now been boxed and shipped. There were a few pots in there that weren't spoken for. Two of my 1 quart casseroles were fired. The glazes looked great on both, the shino behaved with no crawling... BUT (isn't there always a BUT when it comes to making pots?) one of them had a tiny "s" crack underneath, out to the 2nd's shelf it went. I have to say that when I was using Sheffield T-3 clay, I never had a problem with "s" cracks. This round of casseroles was made with STAR white clay. We have a hundred or so pounds that has been sitting around for awhile, and I decided I should use it up.

  The shino looks good this time with the STAR white. I haven't been happy with it in the past. It looked a little pasty. We are also doing reduction differently than when we first built this kiln.

What would a firing be without a bunch of sponge holders? I had a few of these warp this time around. My first thought is that I probably threw them a little too thin, but I also used the STAR white clay for these as well... in the past I used my recycled clay. It might have made a difference.

These little guys also work well as napkin holders...

Here is the bundt pan that Jeff made for a special order...

There really are two handles, the photo is just at an odd angle.

Our good friend Rob is visiting us this weekend and we are having a great time together. I hope you all are enjoying some time with family and friends... tis the season to be merry!