Quick Visit

Just got back yesterday afternoon from a super-quick visit to see Mom. Despite fighting the Northern Virginia traffic, it was a good visit and I got a chance to see my sister and her husband, and take Mom to see her sister in McLean. This is Mom and her sister Mary. All I need now is a picture of my uncle Carl and I can cut paste them all together to have all the siblings in one picture!

Over two weeks without a post!Let's see if I can rationalize my way out of this . . . the week before last, I spent most of the week in meetings at the school where I will be this year and trying to gather my plunder so I can set up the classroom. That and just not being really motivated to sit down at the wheel meant that I did not produce any work that week. I did reclaim some clay and had plenty to do at the studio. I found that when I started making more pots this summer, I ended up with the problem that I did not have enough time on Thursday nights to get it all glazed. So, now I am backlogged with pieces to glaze and have been trying to do more with the same glazes in order to speed up the process.

The pictures of the finished work are some of the latest that I brought home this week. I am getting used to using the spray gun - still not my favorite method - and have been trying to using multiple layers to achieve different results. I really like the two large urns. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel - literally - to get enough Shino to glaze them and then used an overspray of Bailey Red to give that "rusted" look. I don't know if the picture will be clear enough, but I used a face stamp when I attached the handles on the wine-bottle urn.



I am really pleased at how the scalloped plate and the large plain platter came out. The red in the platter is very consistent across the inside of the piece - just a nice look. I was also pleased with the two large bowls. The largest is one I made for my Aunt Gertrude who was searching for a large bowl to replace Grandmother's bread-making bowl when we went to Seagrove a few weeks ago. It is not quite as big as Grandmother's, but I hope it will do the job.


The other bowls are smaller rice bowls. When I was up at Mom's yesterday, I went into a store at Ballston Mall that teaches weaving and sells handmade items. They had a number of bowls the exact same size and style as the rice bowls I make, but they were selling them for twice what I ask! I need to figure out how to get into that market area.

I have already started making new pieces to take in to bisque-fire this week. I am trying to finish up the red clay - I like it, but it is really hard on my hands so I don't think I will use it on a regular basis. Once I get my kiln hooked up, I will need to buy some cone 6 clay and maybe I will even try some red earthenware clay.

Time to tackle the yard - we have had a lot of rain in the past week and the grass has probably grown about 3 to 4 inches in the last two days! Looks like my afternoon is planned.