Kids are in their beds…hopefully going to sleep instead of playing.  I’m heading back into the studio to get some more work done.  I was only able to trim a dozen of the bowls earlier…nothing is drying in there.  Here are the teapots that are asking for some sort of handle.  I decorated them with the incised slip and they’ll get a celadon on top.  

Some finished bowls drying…very, very slowly.

Off to hopefully trim the last couple of dozen bowls and throw a some plates.

I know it’s been a lot of non-pottery blogging here lately.  For those who are disappointed, my apologies.  I do enjoy the somewhat diary aspect of this blog and yesterday was one of those days that I did something that I had never done before.  

My friend Bruce is an avid fisherman and I am not.  I usually go about 2-3 times a year.  Yesterday was my first time going for the albies.  They apparently are terrible eating..although, Bruce tried a piece sashimi style while on the boat.  I chose to abstain.  Even though they are no good to eat they are just about the most fun fish that I have ever caught.  They’re not that big…the ones we landed were in the 10-12 range.  But, they are fast and they take out a lot of the line as they fight.  As they got close to the boat they circled around a few times so I was making trips around the boat with the rod trying not to lose either my balance or the fish.  They are tough to catch so our trip landing 4 was apparently pretty good.  Bruce landed his with a fly-rod which is even harder to do.  I think Bruce will be putting some pics on his flickr site and if he does I’ll provide a link so that I don’t annoy any pure potters out there on the intertubes.

So…now back to pottery.  Here is a little bit of the work I’ve gotten done in the past few days starting with a tableful of bowls waiting to be trimmed.  A dozen of these bowls are for an order and the rest will be ready for the fall shows.  

A few teapots that we’re squared…something I rarely do.  I used the sherrill mud tools rasp to really refine the edges.  I also never….almost never use a handle made out of anything other than clay but for some reason the two teapots in the back were asking for something different.  I’m not sure how I’ll finish them…do I want to use a handle purchased from a clay supplier or do I want to figure out how to fabricate something myself?

This is the large platter which is ordered as a wedding gift for someone.  It’s still about 23″ across and it’s pretty dry already.  I’m really pleased with the incised pattern on this one.

And here are a few cups with some incised patterns.  These lines do not have any black slip within…I’m curious as to how the glaze will play on them.

Off to trim some bowls and figure out what other pots I can fill other surfaces up with.  It might be time to start bisque firing so I can clear off some space in the studio.

This is quickly becoming my new favorite tool.  It’s been floating around my studio for about 6 months but I haven’t used it much.  I’ve never been one for cutting or faceting clay but I’m enjoying squaring a whole lot of forms recently.  Until tonight I’ve been using the “shredder” to shape and “trim” the bottom of my squared forms.  Tonight while I was using it on the bottom  of my teapots I decided to flip the pots right side up and really square off the corners.  I think it worked well, although I went awfully close to too thin on one.  We’ll check on that one in the morning.

Just about every supplier sells them now but if you haven’t seen it here is the site.  

I’ve had a good weekend with the kids while Evangelina has had a great weekend down in Florida with her sister.  It poured down rain here the whole weekend.  I had big plans of working another couple of hours but that feels very unlikely now.  It seems to be a more remote possibility as I type.  

Tomorrow should be a full day in the studio as Evangelina gets back late tonight and Javi and Ale head off to school bright and early.

“Can’t Cindy McCain just put the $700 billion on her (Black) American Express Card?”

Back to bowls.