Saturday, February 13, 2010

Global Warming?????

I heard yesterday on the news that 49 of the 50 states in the U.S. received measurable snow in the last 24 hours. Washington, D.C. has had more snow than Buffalo, NY. And, I have already had three days out of school and a late opening because of snow here in Eastern NC (and it snowed again last night, leaving another 2 inches). It has been quite a winter and it is only the middle of February. Other than making it hard to get much pottery done because the area where my wheel is does not have regular heat, I have enjoyed the snow. It makes me homesick for Virginia.
I have not posted much lately because I have not had much to report. Dan Finch and a group took a trip to Nicaragua which meant the firings of ware - both bisque and glaze - were delayed. In fact, last week I did not have any work to glaze at the studio and ended up buying a bag of clay, borrowing a couple of throwing tools, and worked at a wheel in the shop - first time in probably a year that I worked at a wheel other than my own. It really made me realize how comfortable I was with my own equipment. But, it was a good experience.

All the work shown in this post is from wares I was able to pick up this week. The large "2010" urn is something I had planned on showing from stage one - making it on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day - to glazing, to the final product. However, my camera was misplaced for a period of about two weeks and I was not able to get the pictures I wanted. I am very happy with how it came out, at least on the outside. The inside glazing did not turn out so well and there was a lot of shivering, probably from the glaze drying too thick on the inside surface. I may refire it later to try and correct the inside surface.










The blue pieces are where I once again tried using Alfred Blue glaze. In the past, this glaze also separated on pieces leaving large areas of bare clay. I tried spraying the glaze this time to control the thickness of the glaze coat a little better and it seems to have helped control glaze defects. I really like this shade of blue and hope to use it more in the future.


The large bowl and the green casserole are the result of using Finch Green with an ash over-spray. I had gotten away from using ash, only because I am usually pressed for time and it is one more step in the glazing process. But, I am trying to make the time to use it more because it really does add an nice dimension to the surfaces of finished pieces.



I was hoping to work in moving equipment to the new shop today, but I think the new snow is going to put a halt to that right now. It may be closer to spring before I can really get in there. So, I guess I will clean up the current space and try to make some room for new work this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!



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