Studio day

Yesterday I got some good studio time - filed some sketches, dipped and decorated some pots and loaded another shelf of bisque. We had an early dinner out at the Inn at Little Switzerland (Jim was craving one of their filet mignons). Last time I ordered duck there it was wonderful - meaty and fresh; but this time it was dry,and had very little, if any breast meat; but the lobster bisque was very good.

I'm moving a bit slowly on this foggy, rainy morning but will get into the studio to continue slipping and decorating the last few pots; but first I need to feed my sourdough starters which haven't been fed since early August. I just hope they're still alive. I also want to make a small batch of hakeme slip today to test on a couple of pieces.

Josh Copus Hakeme bowl

This bowl by Josh Copus is a lovely example of Hakeme brush work.

Yesterday was a busy studio day, with some morning time for transplanting some seedlings and planting a few more seeds. It was also a day with contractors working all over the house. The tile man got the tiles up in the upstairs bathroom and repaired a tile in the master bath. Today he'll do the grouting. The carpenters put together the granite topped vanity and it looks great. There's still wood flooring to install in there and drywall repair and painting to do

I'll be back in the studio this morning after breakfast and checking my seedlings. It was 15F this morning when we took the dogs out for their morning walk. Fortunately the studio water pipes didn't freeze overnight so I won't have to wait for them to thaw.

It should be a full studio day till around 4:30. Dinner is going to be simple - braunschweiger sausage, boiled parsley potatoes and spinach.

I spent last night going through glaze recipes I've collected for 36 years. There are over ten thousand recipes so this will take a while! John Britt and I want to explore cone 6 soda firing, so I'm going through those glazes looking for some I think would work so we can do a firing in his new, small, soda test kiln in the next few months. First I need to get enough pots made for a firing before the TRAC tour late spring; but I'm hoping to batch some of these tests in between.

If anyone reading this blog has any cone 6 soda recipes to share we'd really appreciate it!

Till later,
June