Never Say Never

After telling my students that I never get sick, guess what happened - I got sick! Needless to say, this has had an effect on my productivity at the wheel. However, I was asked by two different people this week to participate in a show/sale, one in March and one in April, and this has given me an extra burst of energy to stock my inventory so I will have enough to sell. I had to turn the March date down, but am planning on being ready in April. So, I started out this week working on some smaller items that have usually sold well - bud vases, votive candle holders, rice bowls. I might even try a few soap dishes and egg separators. One of my fellow studio potters has been making egg separators she says they sell quickly. Once I get a big enough stockpile, I can go back to concentrating on creating larger pieces.

I did complete a tall pitcher, a pretty good sized bowl, and a casserole this weekend. I have been trying to come up with at least three "impressive" pieces that I can include in the Finch Potters Exhibition in Seagrove this summer. This past Thursday, I glazed two larger pieces - a lidded urn and the larger urn that I had constructed from two parts. Now I am holding my breath to see how they turn out. The larger urn started out with some "ear" handles, but, while I was dipping the piece, one of the ears popped off and the urn dropped into the glaze bucket, slopping spodumene glaze everywhere, especially on me. It gave me the idea of a line of pottery clothing with drips and spills already on it (I could call it "Glazewear"!). I was able to pop off the other handle and sand both sides smooth before re-glazing the urn. Next week I should be able to glaze the "flying saucer" casserole.

I did pick up a few pieces from last week's glazing efforts. Four of the better pieces are pictured here. I had experimented with mixing copper red and oxblood glazes together to get a more stable red, but the colors did not turn out any better than either one by itself. With the high fire of the gas kiln, the red colors seem to burn out to almost clear on the outside of a piece. Maybe it is time that I try my hand at mixing a glaze from a new red recipe.