This week was crazy! I fired a soda, finished a handful of vessels, all while prepping for my big trip out west to NCECA, then Cobb Art & Ecology Project in Loch Lomond, CA and through the Southwest on the way back to Kentuckiana.

My soda fired beautifully, despite an uneven pack. The back stack was nicely packed, but the front had a lot of open air. Nevertheless, the heat was even and the kiln climbed nicely without me having to bump the gas past 10.

A couple students sat in on part of the load, spray, and downfire and threw a few pieces of theirs in the kiln, which all turned out lovely. It was nice sharing some soda knowledge with people on the start of their clay journeys and I hope I gave them the atmospheric firing bug!

The flashing slip results were decent. I was pleased that it didn’t flake or peel off on any of the pieces, even the ones with thicker coats; all of my tests were already bisqued when I applied it. Id like to keep testing it with higher percentages of copper carbonate. The wild clay/wood ash/neph sye glaze was underwhelming but good information. I’m looking forward to seeing the triaxial blend results when i’m back.

My sculpture developed many new minor cracks, but didn’t warp too badly, and came out in one piece! I liked the extra ash flow and color that the red iron oxide wash added. I had a lot of fun balancing it on top of the base and was surprised that it stood without any supports.

I also enjoyed stacking and balancing the two smaller forms in different orientations. I intend to build a collection of similarly sized forms throughout the coming year.

I was most thrilled about the results of the rocks made from wild clay. None of them bloated/dunted/warped at cone 10; they fired various shades of rich brown and red and some had beautiful multicolored metallic flashing and iron speckling.

I ended up brushing some of my new vessels with a slip of the claybody I suspected had the prettiest results (one of the Azule ones - the one from Rabbit Den Rd).

The other vessels I finished this week:

I started my drive to Salt Lake this morning and am blogging during a pit stop for an oil change. I am so excited for NCECA and my travels out west and am feeling super grateful for the time to see some awesome ceramics and connect with friends and artists I admire and to get inspired by all the beautiful places I’m traveling to and through!

Week 10 - Final Push Before NCECA

Week 11 - NCECA & Cross-Country Traveling

Week 9 - Hustling