​I am having SO much fun in the studio glazing - which used to be a process that really intimidated me. I could do all the other steps of the pottery process, but when I stood there before my naked bisque-ware, I wasn't quite sure how to glaze or how to get started.

Many years ago, I made 144 test tiles with the 12 glazes I had in my library. Every glaze was laid down on a tile, one over the other and then the reverse. I fired all of them. But I still didn't know what to do with them, how to read them, what I was supposed to get from them. I just made them because other potters did.

It's now probably 5-6 years later and I feel like I am finally figuring this out. I guess something in my brain clicked. I introduced a 3rd overlapping glaze, I made oxide washes and flux glazes. And I studied glaze techniques of other potters and tried to mimic that with my own library of colors. 

I introduce to you a few glaze combos that I am really loving! "Lake Michigan Inspired" is my periwinkle blue, with creamy butter, and ketchup red (which fires brown for me). And another one that I think I will call either "Winter Flannel Inspired" or "Flannel Shirt Inspired". This one is 4 different glazes overlapped to create 4 additional colors/patterns. Doesn't it remind you of a cozy flannel shirt?!

My 2022 Art Fair Season is coming together rather nicely! Below are the fairs I will be showing and selling my work. And, new this year is a Holiday Show I will have at my home & Studio mid-December as well as a fair in Sheboygan County at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Take a look and mark your calendars!

Strawberry Festival: Saturday & Sunday, June 25 & 26, 2022
Downtown Cedarburg, WI

Midsummer Festival of the Arts: Saturday - Sunday, July 16 - 17, 2022
​John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI 

​Firefly Art Fair: Saturday - Sunday, August 6 & 7, 2022
​Wauwatosa Historical Society, Wauwatosa, WI

Mount Mary Starving Artists' Show: Sunday, September 11, 2022
Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, WI

Covered Bridge Art Studio Tour: Friday - Sunday, October 7, 8, 9, 2022
My home & studio in Saukville, WI

Holiday Art Fair: December 2 - 4, 2022
Community Gym, Cedarburg, WI

Holiday Sale & Open Studio: Saturday, December 17, 2022
My home studio in Saukville, WI
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Back in early December, I purchased a few new shelving units to have additional storage around my wheel as I work. The left side has cubbies for things like throwing pats, plaster blocks for clay drying, sponges and hand towels. And the right side has a unit with 5 drawers so I can store tools, utensils, textured mats and all my cookie cutters and letters. ​

Testing the new kiln! Red and shiny new, this thing purrs like a kitten!

Photographing my work is important and getting consistent angles, views, and lighting is always the goal. I've always photographed my pottery outside on a cloudy day on my back patio steps under our awning. It's the perfect set up because there really isn't any set up! But sometimes shooting photos in winter gets pretty cold. This fall, I attempted building a put-up/tear-down photo studio on my glazing table - but I'm not sure it's working that great. Here is a picture before I attached my cell phone to the tripod. I recently purchased two inexpensive stand lights with different filters and I'm still practicing. For now, I think shooting outside gives the best results. I will keep practicing, though.

​I am conjuring up some pretty nifty things in the studio these days and I am excited to share a few of them with you today. Sometimes when I take extended breaks from creating, it is very hard to get back into the groove. But, when I am in the groove it is hard to stop! I get so many great ideas for new creations that I can't get stuff made fast enough!

These unique jars combine a few different processes. You are seeing "round 3" of their mostly flushed-out design. They are wheel-thrown into a completely closed shape, but hallow inside. I poke one tiny hole in the side so air can escape as it is left to dry and stiffen up a bit. Later, I carve out an irregular scalloped line all the way through the clay and around the piece to make a top and bottom.

The top which is now the lid has received colored slip dollops that are like polka-dots and the bottom is glazed with my bubble method. Then they are bisque fired. Then, they will receive clear glaze and glaze-fired. After that, the knob and the feet will be painted with gold luster. Then back into the kiln for a few hours to adhere the gold to the glaze.

So many steps!

I am toying with what to call them, but I think "Petal Jar" is the winner as I feel this name yields itself an invitation for other matching items.

Creating and firing pottery does not come without its headaches! This weekend was supposed to be a successful bisque and glaze fire but when I was ready to turn the kiln on, it shorted and flickered and the breaker blew. Upon trying to turn it on a few more times and then conducting a test fire, I likely killed the coils. Coils should be replaced about every three years and is always a stressful activity. And since I am more of a hobby potter I don’t fire the kiln as often as most more full time potters - so the coils should have lasted much longer and likely burnt out from this mysterious electrical shortage.

I promised myself that the next time I needed to replace the coils, I would just buy a new kiln. I’m ready. I have owned 3 used kilns and feel like I am at that point in my pottery life that it is time. Sooo, I am currently shopping for a new kiln and trying to get over the sticker shock of these things being so darn expensive...

Update - a few days later!  My new kiln is on order and will likely be here by November! In the meantime, new coils are being installed in my current kiln so that I can continue to bisque and fire. If I did not have this great guy to help me, I would likely have to hire this part out. I’ve replaced the coils before, a nerve racking stressful chore at that, but I could not do any of the wiring.