My Saturday workshop was a great success. I learned to apply an even 360o grid around any pot that I create. After I have an even grid all around the piece, I can go with any kind of decoration I choose, whether it be diamonds, squares, tumbling blocks, 3 D designs, or even quilt patterns. I can also choose a verity of colors to give it the effect I’m looking for. The possibilities are endless! I am so stoked about this and will be doing quite a bit of 360o decorating now. I attached a picture of the piece I worked on in class Saturday. I still have to finish glazing this pot and it will need a last and final firing before it is actually finished. The one and only thing I forgot to take with me to class was my digital camera. I’m waiting on a couple of my friends to send e-mails of the pics they took.

I left my pottery piece unwrapped over night in hopes it would be bone dry by morning. It’s fighting with me and giving me a hard time today. I have to get this piece of pottery dry by the end of the day. The fan is on full steam ahead in there and am praying for this last piece to dry by this evening!

I’m like a mother hen going in there every 20 min. or so and giving it a quarter turn to make sure it’s drying evenly. Dry Baby Dry! As the clay dries, it shrinks and if it does not shrink evenly I could be in trouble as it could “crack” and I don’t want that to happen. I’m crossing my fingers for a dry uncracked piece by the end of the day, please! I need enough work to take with me to my workshop this Saturday and it has to be in the kiln tonight!

My 360 Degree Decorations Workshop is this Saturday from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. I’ve got my pieces made up and just one of my pieces is still in the “leather hard” stage. The leather hard stage is the condition of raw clay ware when most of the moisture has evaporated leaving the pot soft enough to be carved yet stiff enough as not to collapse when handling. This last piece needs to get to the “bone dry” stage which is the condition of unfired clay that has no absorbed moisture other than natural humidity.

Once my pieces get to the bone dry stage, I load them into my kiln and fire them to 1841o F. Now my pieces are at the “bisque” stage which means they are ready to be glazed. From now till Thursday, my piece needs to get to the bone dry stage. I will then load all of the bone dry pieces in to the kiln no later than Thursday evening. Actually “Bobby” will load the kiln; he officially loads and unloads the kiln, he’s the greatest! I will fire the pieces to 1841o F and have them all ready for my class this Saturday. Saturday I plan to learn the 360 degree decoration and glaze my pieces. After my work is glazed, Bobby will load all the pieces back into the kiln for the last firing to which the kiln reaches a temperature of 2291o F and holds that temperature for 30 min. then the kiln automatically turns itself off and takes approx 12 hours for the kiln to reach room temperature. Then the magical moment arrives and with a bit of luck, some nice results emerge from the kiln.

I hope you all have a great day!

I’ve had quite a busy week in the studio. I’ve been doing a little handbuilding and throwing. I’m trying to throw some large pieces this week as I’m taking a “360 Degree Decorations Workshop” next week. I need to have several pieces made up and bisque fired before the workshop. Who knows, maybe this will be just what I’ve been looking for. I am getting so excited about the workshop and I’ll show you some pics of what I’m talking about after my class. It’s really hard to describe, but it looks “WAY COOL!”

It’s time for me to stop playing in the mud and clean up a bit, that is, getting all the clay out from underneath my fingernails… and get our house cleaned for the weekend.

Hope you all have a great evening and a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Mr. Autumn is the first sculpture that I’ve made with clay. One day I had the desire to do a little sculpting and this is the final outcome. It’s always nice to take those first few pictures of my work and then compare them with my work as I get better. Mr. Autumn was created this past fall and I engraved his name “Mr. Autumn” on the back.

I still don’t know what direction I’m going when it comes to pottery. I can get lost in throwing on the wheel, handbuilding, sculpture and even a little bit of interest in tile making. I still feel like an infant who wants to learn to run before they can walk! I would love to know which direction to go, but as other artists tell me…“Debbie, you need to keep trying new things and one day it will come to you.” There are so many facets to pottery other than just the piece itself. Where will I go? The Lord only knows at this time. Pottery is the medium I love and that’s all I need to know right now.