Plate Stackers Work Wonders!

 Yes, it's true.  Plate stackers work wonders.  Even though they take a bunch of space in a kiln, with lots of care and patience in assembling them, they're great!  Notice in the photo that I put an extra kin post to help support the plate stacker.  It's shorter and in the middle of the picture, and well- I rest easier during the firing as I imagine the stacker collapsing (which is entirely unlikely)..  After making a bunch of plates that warped by the time they were dry, I finally made 6 I liked and they did great in the glaze firing.  The key is to hardly move them at all until they are very leather hard.  They stayed on the bat and 5 of the 6 fired without warping because they were fired flat.  It was late, so I wasn't thinking completely and forgot that all of them need to be on a flat surface and placed one...

 That is the plate at the bottom of this pic- I put it on a broken kiln shelf--- because I thought the glaze might drip onto the kiln shelf.  Well, the glaze was fine, but the plane warped because it wasn't all set on a flat kiln shelf as the broken kiln shelf was smaller.  Lesson learned (which I knew but forgot!).  Even so, the firing was one of the best yet which was good because it took so long to glaze everything. I was awake until after 2 am.  Oh, and the test tile combos weren't exciting--- I need to use less cobalt oxide in my new combos since the blue is so strong.

 I love this bowl- where the base glaze dripped a bit on the outside.  It's simply beautiful!  I like making my larger bowls a bit thicker and sturdy; just my style.

 These teabowls are my best yet.  Thankfully, they've all found new homes.  I made 12 more today.  Starting to make pottery for Christmas... Gotta start early! The thumbhole celadon color was blown onto the tea bowl- using a handheld sprayer.  Will try and post a picture of it soon.  Easy to use; just time intensive...

Here are bowls for an order- sent off to a married couple.  They're gorgeous!
Tomorrow I'll make tumblers- and am still wrestling with a mug form.  These creations take time!

The plates and one of the bowls.  I must say now that I understand in a new way when people say that plates are so tough to make- or why they don't make them!  :)  

My first cut zinnias and a wildflower or two in a simple vase.  :) It's raining so much that I hardly have to water the flowers, which is a very good thing!  Thanks for reading... 

Quiet Summer Day

Bisque firing today which is a perfect day for such.  Not even 80 out which is SO rare for NC.  It's a bit wetter these days so my flowers are happy.  Above are some zinnias and wildflowers planted from seed.  :) I love beautiful, inexpensive flowers!

 Same flowers from another view with a beautiful bowl that has a S-crack in it.  First one of that kind and hopefully, one of the last!

 I love summertime when it's not HOT!.

 Bisque fired some plates.  I know it's not best to stack them when firing--- but these on the top are extras so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Am grilling some chicken tonight in this bowl that is a test one.  Glaze is a bit too thick, yet I like the blue that it comes out in this picture.  Perfectly usable and well thrown.  Am thinking I'll test more on test tiles instead of big pieces; oh well, my cupboard is happy.

 One of my favorite lakes- Lake Chelan in WA.  Was there in May and it is such a peaceful place.  Deep too- deeper than Lake Tahoe, I think.

Yesterday repotted this cactus because it looked sad.  Gave it some water; so I won't water it for the rest of the summer.  Added some sand to it too.  In the background is reclaimed clay...
Also discovered a new (to me) transparent blue glaze but I don't have the needed Frit!  So, thankfully I'll be in Raleigh on Monday and can stop by Claymatters in Durham and I can pick up some Frit 3110.  I have Frit 3134 but did some reading and the 3110 is better to use for a clear glaze, evidently??  Did you know this?
 Oh, and still wanting plate wisdom from my last post if you have any to share.  Thanks for reading!

Mint Tea, Moral Monday, and Plate Wisdom?

 Here are some hodge podge pictures.  first, mint tea.  Brought these plants back from my parent's house in PA.  Also brought some other cut tea and made some concentrate and froze it.

 So far these seedlings are doing okay.  It may be too hot to grow good mint tea here.  I'm giving this tea water almost daily- and watching it closely.  Even gave it good dirt!   Time will tell how much this produces...

 Picked these strawberries at my parent's house too and brought them back with me.  First from the crop; they were delicious!

 Here are pictures from the weekly protest that I've participated in.  It's just sad, to put it lightly that the NC legislature is making decisions that benefit the wealthy at the expense and loss of the poor.  Just google 'Moral Monday' and you'll find out the details.  The more I've learned; the more embarrassed I've become about what is happening.

 I joined the group on the second floor as we watched the protesters on the first floor of the General Assembly building practicing civil disobedience.  They got arrested for singing and not leaving the building when asked and creating a disturbance, albeit a respectful one.  They were released later that evening after being processed.

 Grilled some chicken recently and made a spinach salad- in a pottery bowl of course!  I miss the shinos and cone 10 glazes.

Have been making a bunch of plates lately and was reminded at how hard it is to make plates!  They're not the easiest to trim and well- softer clay is best.  Haven't made many of these so the learning curve has been huge.  I bought this foam to help trim them and well, it seems to not help as it's not the same height all around, so I've been trimming the plates straight on the wheel.  Any plate wisdom to share in throwing, trimming or firing?  I have read online that it's best to fire them individually instead of stacking them much on top of each other.  I've been very careful to not warp the plate when I move it, always using bats.  And for firing, thankfully, I have plate stackers...  Please share what works for you. Thanks for reading and for your comments...

Vases- and More Tomorrow

 Here's a hodge-podge collection of pics.  Lately I've been reading more blogs rather than creating posts.  Ugh!  Not good.  Anyway, I made these simple vases recently.  Trying to decide on a form or two that I really like.

 This is one of my favorites.  Simple is good.  It says "Hold fast to dream for life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing that cannot fly.  Langston Hughes"  Photo is me and my sister- about ages 5 and 4.  There's those same peonies that I talked about in the previous post.  They were simply gorgeous and the smell was incredible.  They actually lasted for days.  :)

 Here's my in Seattle--- actually on a ferry approaching Seattle.  Went to visit one of the islands on a day trip and it was all, just wonderful.  An incredible city and people which is why I travel there ever year.  And, I just discovered I can listen to NPR in Seattle on my iphone.  Wish Seattle was closer!

 One of my recent bowls-- my new favorite form.  It just evolved as well, most of the forms do.
The zinnias are blooming and the wildflowers too.  More tomorrow, I promise!   Thanks for reading and for your comments.

Early June Sale and Moral Monday

About a week ago, I had a sale along with some other artists here in town.  On day 1 it was real hot and then on day 2 it rained so we moved inside.  As I've done before, I forgot to take pics, and am thankful that a customer took this one.  My sales were good considering that we didn't do that much promo beforehand.  I'm amazed that most everyone who I invited personally came---  the power of a personal invitation!
The poppies in this photo were picked all the way in PA where my parents live.  I wrapped them in wet/damp newspaper for the airplane flight and then put them in my fridge here for two days.  They were amazing and had this fragrant smell.
Am busy working on a few commissions and hopefully this week, will work on creating new business cards.
Oh, and it's interesting.  While there were a few pots in the last two kiln loads hat had lots of black underglaze that ran (see previous post), most had just a little.  I ended up selling the ones with minor black underglaze that ran-- at a somewhat lower price.  Customers didn't seem to mind.  Now I know.  Only use underglaze straight from the container OR make sure it i doesn't run at all.  I must say I'm less hesitant to take that chance.  Will do some tests on the thinner underglaze.
Guess it turns out that the first setback wasn't much of one after all!
Tomorrow I head to Raleigh for Moral Monday.  Find our more here.  I was a part last week- and it was all quite inspiring and amazing.  The governor only has encouraged us to grow.  :)  Am doing this because ALL North Carolinas need the care, not just some.  Any one of the items on the agenda would be reason to protest.  (voter ID legislation, hydraulic fracking, cuts to education spending and the rejection of Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.  See the linked article for more.  I'm not usually one to protest, but this is all crazy.  Things MUST change.  Will try and take pics tomorrow.

Why? Wisdom Needed...

 Well, at least this is my first big challenge with pottery and my own kiln.  Something was bound to happen- Your wisdom needed!  Above is how the cone 6 bowls usually look.

Opened up the kiln and saw some bowls like this.  I'm puzzled as to why.....  please help solve this!  Below is a bit about the process and some things which I did differently... to the best of my memory.
It seems the black underglaze ran???

Process:
I inscribe words with a sgraffitto tool on the pottery in the leather hard stage.  Then bisque fire it.  Then, paint on underglaze- black underglaze from amaco.
Then I wipe off the excess with a sponge.
Then I glaze the piece.
Oh, and the glaze is a cone 6 celadon glaze.

Here's what I remember doing different with this kiln load:
I wiped the excess underglaze off the pottery on the same day as I glazed the pieces, meaning that the bowls weren't totally dry when I glazed the pieces.
At the end of the glaze firing I let the kiln cool to room temp instead of unloading it at 150 degrees or so as I sometimes do.  Didn't even prop open the kiln at 500 or so degrees as it was cooling. Slower cooling...
I left the black underglaze on the bowls for a couple hours or so before wiping the excess underglaze from the pots.
Instead of using brand new underglaze, I used recycled underglaze- the same black underglaze that which was used before and had been taken off the bowls with a sponge but was at the right consistency because the water had evaporated already.

I am bummed because I have a sale tomorrow and well--- I think I'll sell these as seconds.  Oh well!  Lots of learning in this pottery world, isn't there?
Looking forward to your wisdom- thanks for reading!