Here’s a melty blue cup that came out of the soda kiln back in about… February? It was cold outside. I remember that much. Anyway, I didn’t realize just how much residual soda was in the kiln… so it was my “executive” decision to add about 1 1/2 pounds 1of soda ash to the atmosphere. I guess if nothing else, it was good practice for introducing soda to the kiln. It wasn’t my first time, but it wasn’t my tenth, either. Anyway, with these cups I thought I had a genius idea. I painted a band of slip on the cup, carved out the design, and dipped the still bare-clay rim into a copper glaze. It might have been genius, if the glaze wasn’t so close to the black slip, and if the kiln wasn’t over-saturated with soda ash. The result was this (above). The thin or non-existent barrier between the glaze and the slip plus the heavy atmosphere created a dramatic eutectic that made the glaze run to the bottom of the pot. There was a lot of heavy grinding in the studio after this firing… my glazes were nothing compared to what filled the rest of the kiln. I didn’t have to grind any shelves, but other people did. This cup was a fun experiment… I have some similar cups that I used a chrome/red iron oxide glaze on that look like green jolly ranchers were melted onto the surface of the pots. I might post them later…

Anyway, I am enjoying my short time on campus and back at the studio, and sales are getting better as far as my pots are concerned. Even on Etsy.com, I have a second order upcoming. It’s a good feeling to know that other people appreciate my work enough to buy it online and pay for the shipping. It’s definitely not cheap, but it makes my day 🙂 It’s not really about the money, either. I guess it’s nice to make enough to pay the fees and shipping, but I make more money selling pots in stores through consignment. Online is just a good way to reach more people.

This weekend has been great so far: hiking up the hill to the studio through what has felt like a rainforest for the last couple of days, eating triscuit crackers and expensive cheese and black grapes and my favorite fruit (Lychee chinensis), enjoying lunch with my friends at an awesome Taco Truck, touching basis with people around the studio, walking up the canyon, taking advantage of my Lockerbie kickwheel in my personal studio space, attempting two big platters and a couple of ewers, and even trying figure sculpting by throwing the form on the wheel first and then altering it… yeah, studio time is good therapy. I even made a couple of altered-form cups. They are weird… and I can’t figure out a good way to put shoulders on my figure sculpture torsos without it looking like it was joined together. It’s not only the seam, but the way they were formed or something. I will have to keep working on it.