Busy. Potters gathering n’grooving in a large studio, humming and working on myriad pottery projects – from mugs for upcoming shows to sculptures to pieces for WOOD FIRE! Yes! That’d be me and several others. My wife also sat three hours patiently while I did my Glaze Business.

Considering there were some hopeful woodfire pottery yet to be bisqued there was plenty of woodfire conversation including how to help the pre-bisque drying process. Thanks to master potter Millie Schmidt there is a tiny better chance that those late comers may just make it to the WF kiln.

Here are photos of the 3 Glaze lots, ready for the kiln! 1) Arkham Black, 2) Gold Shino, and something new: 3) Shifty Shinto!

It’s definitely time to do a mop job & clean off tools job!  LOL

Excitement continues as I work to renew the Cosmic Series. The first set of items were sent to the kiln to be bisqued (left photo) and came out ready to glaze (right photo).

Last night during class I went to start glazing – first coat of Starry Night (left photo), then a 1/4-1/2 dip in Coastal Blue (middle photo) and then a tiny dip in Cream (right photo).

What I realized is, after dipping 8 mugs into the Starry Night and then working to remove the glazing from the bottom and bottom rims, that I was moving too slowly! I finished 2 mugs in way more time than anticipated, and I had 14 more to do before class was over!

A fellow potter – and I.T. CEO by day – provided me the solution that prevented more gray hair from spontaneously bursting on the scene… she suggested that I WAX the bottoms so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time wiping the glaze from those areas!  OF COURSE! She’s a genius and I am so glad she reminded me of that option.   So instead of trying to glaze 16 pieces in a couple hours I happily finished up the 8 that I had started…

I then waxed the remaining 8 waxed pieces (left photo) and placed those on my then empty shelf (right photo).. it’s my new shelf as I had just re-upped at Clayscapes Pottery.

Excitement builds as I look forward to going to studio again to:

1. see if the newest additions to my Cosmic Series came out of the kiln OK;
2. glaze the remaining 8 pieces that have wax bottoms; and
3. see if my lot for the upcoming WOOD FIRE were able to be bisqued! The next wood-firing is in 2 weeks (countdown begins!).  Here is a picture of those pieces that couldn’t fit on the ready-to-be-bisqued shelves because there wasn’t any room on the shelves (and thanks to Master Potter & Instructor at Clayscapes, Millie Schmidt, she suggested I section a corner of the adjacent table and label as bisque pieces – thanks Millie!) I hope those that load the kiln will notice these hopeful pieces LOL

See the square?

Here is a sample of the finished result:

First I want to share that I did attend the Iroquois Museum Art & Craft Fair – my 1st official show – and I had an incredible time and enjoyed the experience from start to finish.  Now it’s time to get back to the Potter’s Wheel to create more of what I love to create – a series I call my “Cosmic Series”.

INSPIRATION came big recently from space.com who just posted an article that showed a MUSE spectrograph from the European Southern Observatory (ESO)… and the image is sooooo awesome!  Here is the image:

My Cosmic Series

My Cosmic series of pottery is pure joy to create because to me, the glazes result in a look that remind me of our universe, or perhaps even another universe.. who’s to say 😀

In my Cosmic Series Pottery I can see/sense life in the cosmos with the blues, blacks and whites dynamically playing/interacting in the field of creation, even creating patterns in the ‘space gas’

Here’s an example, can you see past the asteroid belt?

Tonight I head to the Clayscapes Pottery Studio & class to glaze my bisqued pieces – – – I wish you could join me as it’s great fun and lovely energy there.  Maybe I can take some studio photos tonight to show you the where the fun is.