![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.lablanchepoterie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/7-pointed-stars-glazed-unfired.jpg\" "\\"7")
<\/a>7 pointed stars, glazed but not fired<\/p><\/div>\n
Inside there are small 5 pointed stars, large 7 pointed stars and Xmas trees.<\/p>\n Little Blue is the name of this old kiln. \u00a0She was given to my by the Sunahara Family – my brother-in-law’s family – because it was no longer needed. \u00a0It was Grace Sunahara’s kiln and she passed away a while back so I\u00a0inherited her kiln, her wheel, tools and a lot of raw materials for making glazes. \u00a0Little Blue was born in 1952. \u00a0This is how she looks from the outside with the lid opened.<\/p>\n Obviously this kiln is a work horse. \u00a0She works wonderfully well and has never failed me. \u00a0I have to fix her lid which is falling apart, as you can see, and she’s pretty rusty, so I need a bit of patch work done too. \u00a0There never seems to be enough time or a convenient time to do repairs. \u00a0Sometimes it takes a crisis for it to happen. \u00a0The lid falls in and you’ve GOT to fix it.<\/p>\n 1:40 p.m. – I need to glaze more stuff so I can fill the kiln. The jug is not yet dry enough to load into the kiln, so I started painting Xmas trees. Glazing terracotta Xmas trees.<\/p><\/div>\n These trees are very popular. \u00a0They are fairly labour intensive. \u00a0First I roll out a large slab of clay with my HUGE rolling pin. \u00a0I don’t have the money or room for a slab roller in my studio and besides that I like to impress people with the size of my rolling pin. \u00a0Then I use a paper pattern that I drew and cut out of an old file folder. \u00a0This tree is reminiscent of the felt trees that my Grandmother Mary sewed onto our Christmas stockings that she made for each of us three kids. \u00a0She was very handy with a needle and thread, a sewing machine, a crochet hook, glue, sequins and glitter. \u00a0I\u00a0inherited\u00a0that same gene from her.<\/p>\n I have three paper trees and I lay them on the clay and I used to trace a line around them, then cut them. \u00a0This year I\u00a0omitted\u00a0the tracing step and went straight to the cutting stage by cutting around the patterns and it seemed to work fine and saved me some time. \u00a0After the trees “set up a bit” (my term for me walking away from them and letting them dry in the open air for awhile). \u00a0When I can do so without distorting the shape, I move them onto a board to dry up some more. \u00a0This time they are covered for slower drying. \u00a0I get them out of the way and do something else in the meantime. \u00a0After they have dried to leather hard I bevel the edges of each piece, sign them and then get my squeeze bottle of white slip (liquid clay) and dot each tree with “balls.” \u00a0After the trees are bone dry they are bisque fired and then glazed. \u00a0I chose terracotta for the tree part because I like the way the holly green glaze looks on that clay – deep and dark. \u00a0I chose to use white slip balls because the Christmas balls needed to have a true red, blue and yellow and the only way to get that is on white clay. \u00a0So first I paint around all those balls with holly green glaze. \u00a0I have to paint on 3 coats for good coverage. \u00a0That means this year I will have painted around 270 balls. That’s a lot of balls. \u00a0After the green glaze is dry I put a dot of yellow, red or blue glaze on each ball and then it gets fired once again.<\/p>\n <will insert pic later when the kiln is cool enough to unload><\/p>\n 2:32 p.m. – exercise break. \u00a0Clean paint brushes, put lids on glaze pots, get changed from work duds to workout duds, have a few sips of chocolate soy milk, strap on my HRM and get going. …to be continued<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever wondered what a typical day for a potter is like? \u00a0No day is ever “typical” for me, rather each day is unique, but just to give you an idea I tracked two days of my activity. Day … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFinishing a terracotta wine jug.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n2:05 p.m. – thinking of taking a walk\/run @ 2:30.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n3:00 p.m. – head out for my walk\/run.
\n3:40 p.m. – 4K in 40 mins. \u00a0Mostly walking. \u00a0The running wasn’t in me today for long.
\n3:45 p.m. – changed out of sweaty workout clothes, cooling down and eating an apple while writing. \u00a0Cardio is done, but today is strength training day too. \u00a0Later.
\n3:52 p.m. – plan the rest of the day and supper.
\n4:00 p.m. – finish loading Little Blue and turn her on low.
\n5:00 p.m. – start glazing the stoneware pots.
\n6:00 p.m. – Quitting time and firing time. \u00a0I need to fire Little Blue so I can no longer work in the studio. \u00a0The fumes are nasty so, I open the window, put all lids back on the glaze buckets and I vacate the studio shutting the door firmly behind me, go wash my hands and change into workout clothes again.
\n6:30 p.m. – The 30 Day Shred with Jillian.
\n7:00 p.m. – go turn up the kiln. \u00a0Start dinner. \u00a0Broiled white fish, steamed broccoli and potatoes. \u00a0Top fish with pesto. \u00a0Yum!
\n7:30 p.m. – settle down to dinner and several episodes of Mad Men Season 3, back to back. 8:00 p.m. – turn up the kiln
\n9:00 p.m. – turn up the kiln
\n10:00 p.m. – turn up the kiln
\n11:00 p.m. – turn up the kiln
\n11:30 p.m. – go to bed<\/p>\n