In this weekend’s glaze firing, the colors came out more subtle with some browns, royal blues and indigo. After the glaze ran all over the kiln last week, I was much more conservative in the glaze application. Chun red appears gray on the brown body clays rather than white. I’m not sure if the Indigo Float was applied too thinly or if the kiln didn’t fire hot enough to fully float the blue, but the color didn’t pop like it…

Pictured above are a lidded baker, mini pitcher, the kiln full of bisque, and a pedestal bowl. Sometimes I wish pieces could maintain the rough green ware look and I could skip glazing all together. Now that I’ve fired plenty of bowls, bottles and tapas plates, I’ve shifted focus to more time consuming pots. Creating pieces with lids, handles and pedestals takes a good bit more focus, and there is always a risk that a handle will pop off during…

This is my husband, the Kiln Master. He has a fun new tool and spiffy face shield to clean up after my messes. Last weekend several of my pots ran very badly. Every single one of the eight shelves was affected. We did a quick cost estimate and the metal grinder was much cheaper ($54) than replacing the shelves ($27 – $35 each + shipping). Pottery is not a cheap hobby, but hopefully it will begin to pay for itself.…