December Firing

small bowls or tea bag holders

YVCC finals ended last week but the kids still have school this week. That means I had some time to either clean the house or work in the clay studio. The house is still messy.

bisque mugs after slip trailing but before glazing

I had some mugs and bowls leftover from the stuff I made this summer for they Archie Bray workshop. I had fired a low-temperature load earlier this fall, but I didn't have time to get all the cone 6 stuff glazed.

my home glazing station

I glazed a shelf full of functional work, but I used up almost half the kiln with new work. My daughter and I made some ornaments and I made some items that might be gifts if they turn out ok.

glazed tiny bowls

My daughter drew some pictures on some of the small gift/ornaments, but because we didn't plan a lot of time, these had to be once-fired, meaning I glazed everything before it had been bisque fired. I only have four cone 6 glazes, so I used mostly a couple of celadons and some underglaze colors.

tea bag holder designs being glazed

One of the new forms I tried in this round is a portable teabag holder. The idea is that it can hang off the rim of the cup while the tea is carried to a different room and then it can be set down on the table with the tea bag inside. I tried two different designs, one that contains the teabag best when being transported, one that hangs when empty but must be set down to hold the tea bag. Since I didn't have time to bisque, I'll have to try them once they are out of the kiln so see if they work well.

the mostly-full kiln before firing