Latest Work

Well, the snow went south last Tuesday night and today the temperature was 64 degrees! Made it tempting to get out the tiller and start preparing the garden. But, I ended up working with the reclaimed clay and now have about 40 extra pounds ready to use. I tried some of it this afternoon and was pretty pleased with the results. It is a little "wetter" than I what I usually use, but has a good consistency throughout. My next "clay project" is to work up some raw clay that one of my neighbors gave me from her farm. It is a white clay that she says has always been referred to as "pipe clay" in this area and was used in the past as a food additive for people who were felt to need some calcium - especially pregnant women! Anyway, she gave me a box of it to see what I could do with it. I guess I will start by putting it in a container and covering it with water to see if I can get out any impurities. More on that as it happens.

The pictures are some of my latest work that I was able to pick up last Thursday evening. I am trying to do more with glazes - overlapping, multi-glazes on pieces, and using stains. I really need to try spraying glaze. It looks like I could do some different things with spraying that I cannot do dipping. I have really taken a liking to Spodumene and to Shino. They both seem to go well with most glazes and are easy for dipping. I have not had much luck with the reds and understand they are especially challenging to master with cone 10 firing. One of the potters Thursday night told me that she mixes copper red and ox blood glazes together and has good luck with that combination. I will try that soon.

In one of the pictures, I have three vases that are "sporting" a sun tile. That was my first attempt at making a stamp. It works so well, I have made plans to make a few other designs.


The face jugs are not from the last firing, but a collection from the last couple of months. After showing the lastest jug I made last week that was going to the studio to be bisque fired, I thought I would show some final products.

cmj