Happiness is...

A warm studio!

Jeff installed a gas line and this new heater, in the studio this week. The propane company delivered the the tank and did a pressure test yesterday. We were so afraid that the snow storm would delay our delivery date and we're very thankful that they arrived on time. Of course the temps for the next few days will be  50-60 degrees! Winter is far from over and we are now ready for the next cold spell.

It seemed like a treat to work in a warm studio. It was 69 degrees in no time at all!

These are some lunch size plates that I have been working on. They are modeled after Jeff's coaster design. I will glaze them the same way. Ash glaze sprayed in the center, un-glazed rims. This is STARworks East Fork clay. The rims will be a warm toasty color.

I almost put handles on them, but at the last minute decided against it. Maybe the next round will get handled.

Black and White

I have been talking about mixing some black slip for a few years now. I actually mixed a small amount three years ago, but didn't had enough mason stain and the results were blah. This weekend I decided to give it another try. I added 25% stain. It looks pretty black. We shall see how it fires on this test bowl, thrown with B-Mix.
This weekend I had a night to myself. Jeff went off to STARworks for the evening session of the NC Wood Fire Conference and I was feeling anti-social. I settled in on the sofa for an evening of Netflix. If you haven't seen the series "Abstact - The Art of Design", I recommend you take a look. So far I have only watched the first episode and it was very good. So good that I even took notes!
Here is a quote from the artist featured in episode one:

"It's about showing up and getting started." - Christopher Niemann