Awhile Again

It's been awhile again since I've posted.  Oh well.

Lots has happened. 

My beloved abuela (grandmother) who lived in Bolivia passed a couple weeks ago. 

Spent 5 days or so with family, just being together. 

Still adjusting to work and commuting to it.  

Being a priest is exhausting. 

Oh, and the warmer weather hasn't helped.  

And now, today is my birthday so I just wanted to be at the wheel a bit.  

Made these today.  

The forms just seemed to come.  

Making sure they're the thickness I want so only the best ones are saved.

No plans as to what to make- the ones above will be small tumblers.  

Simple, gentle forms.  

These bowls are the forms that emerged.  

I need to make mugs next.  Need to practice lots on the handles. 

Am working on finding forms in each style that I like and getting them the shape I want. 

These two forms are to stay for awhile.  

Hoping to spend more time in the studio in the weeks to come!  

Oh, and I went to the Potters Invitational in Charlotte and LOVED seeing all the pottery and friends there.  That will be my next post.  

Thanks for reading and for your comments.  

New

 Here are the latest tumblers- and well, my first two mugs.  They look so much bigger--- in pictures, yet I know they will shrink.

 It's taken me awhile to figure out what mug form to use.  Here is what it is for now.

This tumbler form just emerged.  It is the same one I've used while making yunomis, and even so, I'm a bit surprised that it looks okay on a tumbler size.  The tumbler in the front and the one on the left of the picture are the two tumbler forms I'm making for now. 

For some reason, I've been running and reading more than making pottery.  I can relate to Tracey Broome's post about taking a break.  Oh well.  It will come.  I do need to start building up inventory for Christmas.  My wise pottery friends say that summer is the time to get ready for Christmas although it just seems so EARLY!  They've done this longer though; they defnitely know better.  Thanks for reading!  It's always good to hear comments, questions, and feedback from folks.  I appreciate it when you keep in touch! 

Encouraged

Encouraged!  These tumblers were my first.  The colors are so bright and vivid.  Glaze was a bit thicker as they glazes were at the bottom of the bucket.  Hmmm  That tells me something.
Think I'll be making lots more tumblers this weekend.
I finally decided how I want to put the wording on them and the spacing of the words.  I also got some great ideas last weekend in Asheville about how to alter the surface design of pieces.  Have some great tumbler ideas!  Time in Asheville was so inspiring!

 Another pic of the tumblers.  Hard to figure out how big to make the letters and well, it's more difficult to etch them on the tumblers than bowls- as the surface isn't as flat on tumblers.

Here are the pots before the glaze firing.  Didn't like my test tile results much. 

These were fired to cone 6, slow speed.  Think I'll fire the next batch to cone 5, medium speed as they'll be quite thin and I'll see what happens!  

 Rich colors.  The glaze on the big bowl is a bit thick- so it may end up in the flowerbed to accompany the flowers.  It was late; and well, it's hard sometimes to tell the thickness of glaze.

Read the first 75 pages of this in two weeks and then I had to return it to the library.  Excellent book!  Think I may have to splurge and buy the kindle edition--- which these days is the cheapest.
Hosseini is one of my all time favorite writers.
Thanks for reading... and for your comments.

Time and Drying

Drying.  I sometimes forget how much time it takes.  And then when I think about when to do kiln firings I sometimes forget that I schedule them for days when I am out of my home, which can't happen.  So, my upcoming kiln firing schedule has changed.  It's good to be flexible with pottery when you can and anytime an order comes your way, to make sure to create some cushion days.  Thankfully, I have a good plan B for kiln firing figured out! All is well.

Meanwhile, these tumblers (6 inches high) are at various stages of drying as you can see.  (Wet ones up front and darker).  Am a bit ready for something new- a new surface design and look so I will experiment with a blue transparent glaze in the next firing and maybe use some wax resist too.  Hmmm.

I must admit that it's easier to etch words onto bowls than onto other forms.  Tumblers are challenging.  Hard to keep the words straight (or at least somewhat straight in a line) so I'm bunching them up together in groups instead of in one continuous line.  Hard to explain.  Will post a picture of one when it's finished.

Enough rambling.

Long day!  Am exhausted.  Hopefully will spend some time glazing some pieces tomorrow.  Thanks for reading and for your comments.