Fall is in the air...
And we started our rainy season a bit earlier than normal. September was way wetter than typical and October has been cool and unsettled. Kind of hard to know what our fall and winter will be given that nothing appears to be normal right now.
That being said - I have found myself enjoying some nice days in the studio where the temps are more moderate than they were this summer and where pieces of greenware don't just completely dry to dust overnight anymore. I have been working one some prototype dog and cat treat bowls - working on different sizes, decorations and styles to see which I like best and which my potential clients will like best. I have six ready to be bisque fired, glazed and glaze fired. Hopefully, I will have some completed in the next couple of weeks! From there it is all about tweaking to enhance the designs. It is the part of the process I enjoy tremendously and yet it can be so very frustrating!
I had three other pieces make it through a glaze fire this week and am pretty pleased with each of them. The first is a short round vase that was glazed using blue celadon with eggplant lightly applied using a sponge to give a slightly marbled look. I think it turned out quite nice. The second is a pair of bud vases that were glazed using "eebonee" and then (using a bulb syringe), a white yanaghara glaze was applied in drips and swishes. When done correctly - you get a lovely combination of white, silver and gold! The last is a simple mug. In fact, due to a slight defect, I almost threw this one away before I even bothered glazing it. However, I decided to use it to test a new glaze combination and am so glad I did! It has actually become one of my favorites.
Like most of us, I am seeing not just Halloween decorations in the local stores, but Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. It is driving me nuts, but it also reminds me that Christmas isn't that far away and if I am going to have some pieces finished in time for the holidays...I should probably get started on them like yesterday! So, on that note...no time to write silly stuff...I need to start making things!
Let the mud fun begin!
J
