And then there's Matt Bronze Green

A medium size vase with lots of horizontal lines glazed with green that has a few color variations where it breaks on ridges.  This glaze is one that usually "behaves" for me, unless it's too thin, then it can be an ugly brown.

I had a great weekend of Studio Tour open house from 10-5 each day...plenty of people came to browse, but there were over half who actually bought something or another.  And one woman came back Sun. to purchase more! 

So I feel very positive about holding an open house.  I am so tired though that I'm coughing a lot and can't get to sleep.  Hopefully I'll just fall over in a little bit.

Quote for the Day:

To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

The Studio Tour is (NOT) over

ADDED ON SUN:Wait wait, there's still the rest of Sunday!

FROM WED: I usually do this trick, which seems to help me get through the last few days of preparing for something "big in my life."  I call it "anxiety relief by previewing."

I envision that it's already over.  I imagine the satisfied and tired feeling of a job well done.  I feel the let down and relaxation and the rumination of all that has happened while my adrenalin was high.  So here I am, three days before the studio tour, writing for a posting that will be on my blog after it's already halfway over.

There were (will be) lots of surprises.  Some young people I didn't expect.  College students didn't show up (they had other things to look at, and probably wouldn't buy hand-crafted things anyway.)  Oh dear, I shouldn't have that attitude, should I?

FROM WED: OK, some college age students DID come by, and they liked my (-----fill in the blank------).  As Gary Rith says, at least I didn't get a van-load of children that wanted to throw the pottery about.

time warp...these are waiting to bisque fire here, and hopefully will be glazed and sold by the time this is published

Charles actually brought these after they had been glazed on Fri evening.  He drives by my house usually several times a day, but it was very sweet of him to stop by with a handful of angels.  (Pictures will be taken soon!)

My cottage was pleasantly visited (I hope) by maybe 6 people at a time, in spurts of couples and singles, and there were only a very few times I could sit back and wait for someone else to come by.

FROM WED: I did not eat all my snacks myself, and was so smart to have prepared a salad in a Tupperware container in the fridge for my own lunch!  ADDED ON SUN: Forgot to do salad, had left over soup with a friend!

My friend, Sarah Sunshine Vakesi had lots of people visit her up the hill from me, and they placed orders for dinnerware.  She is going to be busy for months to come.

Thanks to my friend Rosemary who gave me the bird bath!

My neighbors and fellow church members came by and financially and emotionally supported me!

I didn't pay much attention to sales, they just trickled in both days enough to pay for being in the tour and the things I bought to improve my environment.  Like Christmas white lights which Tim helped hang, and the great gold star which turns pink at night which Cathy assembled for me...these I'll enjoy for a long time.

Sarah's tray is on the left of this display.

And then there are the new fish...what fun to have clean aquariums with pretty fish.  The 15 cent goldfish are so pretty, and they don't know they were destined to be rescued from being feeder fish.  That's how I feel...a retired feeder fish, who now lives in comfort and has all that I need.

A great deal of appreciation to everyone who supported this studio tour, whether through invisible work in the background, or just in coming to let me know they care about me.  Thanks!

Process from bisque to glaze fired (THREE)

A couple of medium size vases, one with indented sides, one with a fluted treatment around the bottom.

Raspberry glaze on fluted vase looks pretty good.

But look at the fun on the indented vase...gorgeous blue with a floating turquoise rim.

This was my favorite coloration out of this kiln; the whole thing dipped into floating, then when it was dry, the outside dipped upside down into clear.  And then just a little of the rim dipped into Mexico.  It's a good idea to leave a half inch for the clear to drip into the floating blue at the bottom.

Quote for the Day:

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

Maya Angelou

Process from bisque to glaze fired (TWO)

Another question I had to decide, what to do with a pitcher that I was pleased with the shape, and I didn't want a glaze failure to take it into the "seconds" shelf.  I had enough there already.

I decided I would try once again for the pretty blue to purple blush of Floating Blue over Raspberry.  And I would even add a spiral with wax over the first coat of glaze, the Raspberry, which has worked well before.

So here's the first view, before applying glaze.

And here's what came out of the kiln last Sat.

Where is the purple?  Well in the spiral at least.

Nice handle comfortable to lift.  But what happened on this side?

A bit of blue on blue it seems.  That's what happens with pottery...and especially studio glazes.  Different people add more water sometimes, and this time apparently Raspberry was too thin compared to Floating Blue.  But I actually like the way this came out...giving the sense that a little imperfection is what life is all about. (how did that happen through many failed attempts to get what I planned?)

_{QUOTE FOR THE DAY:  May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being.}

_{Apache Blessing}