Lately

I've been thinking of what kinds of forms to make when I return to the wheel September 10. Classes begin then, so I'm doing my best to stay busy with other things so I don't miss it all so much as the studio is closed for now. Still not easy.

These are amidst my favorite yunomis. Still fascinated by that particular form, which has come most easily to me, out of all the forms that one can make with clay.

These will stay closeby and not travel in any box anywhere else. :)

Even the ducks were checking them out at one of my favorite parks.

Not So Long Ago

This is Allison. She belongs to my cousin in Bolivia. I saw her for the first time earlier this summer. She's a preschooler and full of beauty, determination, and resilience. If she needed a home, I would adopt her in a heartbeat.

Allison and the rest of my extended family live in Cochabamba, Bolivia. To get there, the best flight first arrives in La Paz, the capital city. When I arrived, my luggage stayed in Miami for an extra night, so I went sightseeing. The mountain in the background is called Illimani... La Paz in itself is at about 12,500 feet. I always get tired there easily. Sometimes sick. Thankfully, not this time.

As a potter, I was on the lookout for pieces such as this. I ended up buying neither. It's just tough to transport them. The one on the left is Peruvian, I'm told and the one on the right has designs etched onto it. Both were only for decorative purposes. I like the form.

In some of the small tiendas (shops) in La Paz, I saw some more pottery. Never had seen so much pottery in La Paz. These were interesting....I like the colors; the forms seem quite simple.

This form of the Catholic church in La Paz is made out of clay too; it almost looks like a gingerbread house. Lots of clay figurines of all kinds can be found in Bolivia too.

Here's a big Catholic church located in the midst of the artesania (artesan) shops. This place is always busy.

I spent the majority of my time in Bolivia next to my grandparents. I stayed with them as much as I could. Living so far away is hard; so I try and stay with them whenever I am in Bolivia, especially as their days are numbered. Abuela (grandma) is known for making delicious soup. We eat soup there everyday (really!). These are papaliza potatoes and are yummy when cut in tiny tiny thin french fry pieces and put in soup as one would cook potatoes. It's perhaps my favorite kind of Bolivian soup.

I saw all of my cousins while there, including Lili and Juana. Lili (left) is about two years old than her sister and one year younger than me. I remember playing with both of them when we all were younger.. when I was 6 years old or so. Great times... good memories together... and at that point, we didn't even know each other's language. Now, I speak Spanish. I love these two dearly. Oh, and Juana isn't taller than Lili and I... she just has heals on, I think. :)

That's all for now. I can't be in the studio at the wheel until September 10 when classes start, so tomorrow I hope to revamp my etsy store and change the blog layout a little. Gotta stay busy until then.

A Closer Look

Here's a closer look at the pots that came out of the kiln yesterday. :) Above is one of my favorites, with some sangria inside and two indentations for easy holding. I'm so pleased!

I'll be making more bowls in the days to come. All of these have spotted shino glaze as a base and then they are sprinkled with soda ash (inside center of this one) and/or granulated rutile.

On the outer side of the bowl, I put some wax resist... before the glaze. I like the simple effect.

Here are the six yunomis that emerged from the kiln. For now, I like the difference in the ones without the alfred's blue glaze on the rim.

Simple is good! There are three...

And three more. On the one in the center, the granulated rutile is easy to see. Good iron spots from the spotted shino glaze. Good reduction in all.

Most of the yunomis have this blue glaze on the inside bottom.

Some of these quickly became favorites... so they'll remain mine at least for now. :) If interested in any, just be in touch.

Another jar! I like the iance in the color-- especially with the white on it, due to some thicker shino. I also sprinkled some soda ash and granulated shino at the same place-- and the result is a bluish kind of crystalline look. I will do more of this... :)

Same jar; other side. The white is from rick's shino glaze being poured onto the jar. Once again, the 'dot' is the combination of granulated rutile and soda ash put over wet shino glaze.

This is my first communion set/chalice and paten. I have another set that I'll glaze for the next firing. It just has soda ash on it as an accent and no granulated rutile.

What fun this is!

Another Chapter in the World of Pottery

I love the peace that time in the pottery world can help bring. Today, the kiln was unloaded. Got to the studio after the door had been opened, so I missed hearing some of the 'ping' 'ping' of the pots cooling down. Still, my favorite part of this unloading process is taking the pictures before anything has been touched. There's something about seeing the pots at this point, and remembering how they got to this point. So, here goes...

In the back of this picture there are two of mine. This is a community kiln, so I have just a few pieces in this. The one with the blue rim and the one to the right of it are my yunomis.

Here's another yunomi. GREAT reduction. Amazing color. This may remain with me. I love the variation in color on it.

This juar turned out really well too. Good colors and the white is from putting Rick's shino on top of Spotted Shino. I'm so pleased!

I just liked this pic... of the cone stacks- or whatever they're called.

These are two of my favorites... on on the one in the front, you can see the wax resist and the silver is from the crystals from the soda ash.

This gives a better picture of Becky's bird, which was a great neighbor to my jar. :)

The back stack of the kiln. Check out the bottom shelf on the right...

For it contained my first communion set... this chalice is beautiful!

Julie has this art of being able to get into the kiln easily-- and make sure the unloading of the kiln happens smoothly. Check out Elaine's big pot in the bottom left of the stack.

Here's another look at some of the other students' work. Such variety in color, form, and texture.

And some more... All in all, an amazing firing for me! I'll post some closeup pics of my newest pots soon- hopefully tomorrow!