Kind of Rock-Like

Really, the matte ash glaze does look quite rock-like.  Sort of.

Best Ever Post-Firing Rest

We fired the kiln on the 13th after a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner with family and friend on Saturday.  The firing went very smoothly until the last few hours when it stalled a bit and took an extra hour or so to reach temperature at the back - which meant that the heat work was really cooking the front.  So with some anxiety about bloating and glaze runs, we just left the kiln and went camping for three days.  What a good idea!  We had a wonderful time walking and reading and fishing and playing Scrabble.  Didn't think about the kiln once.  It was so beautiful and soooo relaxing.

Then we came home.

Cone 12 was puddled at the front and almost all the pots at the front were bloated.  The big guy and the soap dishes survived.  Some of the losses were my fault.  The clever guard bricks at the right got knocked into the pot behind which tipped onto the pot beside it.  Ah, well, you learn.  In spite of losses at the front, the back made up for it with some gorgeous temmokus and ash glazes.  Photos to follow.

All loaded 

 The rocks are from our camping trip.  The colours and surfaces are so beautiful.  I'd love to make glazes that look like that.

Even the garbage was beautiful.

2nd stack from the front with some bloating and a few runny glazes

Large temmoku vase

Ash glazed teapot

Shino butter dish

End of The Season

We had the last outdoor Farmers' Market yesterday.  Beautiful weather, so much gorgeous, fresh produce.  Starting next week we'll be indoors at Morris Nursery on Erickson Rd until Dec. 20th.

Fingers to the Bone

The blog's been idling for awhile but I've been bustling.  Between harvesting the abundance that is our garden this year, having visitors, and dealing with some minor renovations there just hasn't been time and not much on the pottery front to report.  But now it's full on clay with a firing in the next few weeks if I could just stop throwing.  Everyday I think "that's it, no more" and then there's the thing I've forgotten that's been promised for the next firing and I'm off again.  But Sunday is really the very last day to throw before the shelf grinding starts.

Trying oval bakers again.  Hopefully these won't crack.

Never seem to have enough oil bottles.

My favourite mug size with the single finger handle.

Really big jugs.

They say you should always have a detail shot.

More butter dishes.

Mixing Clay Again

It's been a busy month with wood splitting and stacking, lots of company, and now clay mixing.  We did all the mixing on Sunday and then one more for good measure this morning before we scooped it into the drying racks.  Less than half an hour later the water was already dripping off.  In about two weeks the top layers will be ready to store.  The bottom ones will take another week.  Then I'll have about 1500 lbs of clay ready to use.  Not bad for 4 1/2 hours work!

This is a lot harder than it looks!  

Filled and covered drying racks.

Puddles from drips from above.

Summer Beauty

The lilies are growing in with the kale and kohlrabi behind an 8 foot fence - the only place safe from the marauding gangs of deer.  I think lilies are their favourites.

Lilies from the garden

Beautiful Ocean Spray

Wood

Yesterday was clear, sunny, and 33 degrees C. (91F).  So of course we spent the entire day splitting wood!  We rented a big log splitter to deal with the up to 24 inch across chunks that our little electric splitter can't handle.  We were up at 5:30 and splitting wood by 6, done by 4.  A very long, sweaty day.

Now we just have to stack it all.