Party time is over

Our son and his  family left for L.A. this afternoon, so that's the end of the daily partying and dining until they come back up for Thanksgiving. We're going to miss them terribly! In fact, we already do!

A few hours ago  I spent a bit of time digging up my Cone 10 glaze notes and  glazing notebook and writing down some of the liner glazes that I need to batch so I can take the next step in finishing  these soda pots. These cooler mornings and evenings will soon bring on some cooler days which is when I can get that little soda gas kiln fired. In the meantime I need to spend this week finishing these earthenware tests. Now that all but one slip is made (I decided today to test a light blue slip tomorrow), there are a few clear and white glazes to batch while these tiles finish drying.

I have a lot of small jars of under glazes to test; but in trying to keep it simple, once they're tested, I'll pick maybe 5 or 6 colors that I think would work well together and use those as a starting point.

It feels strange to be simultaneously juggling this new direction of earthenware and the old soda work. Fortunately it's only temporary.

The challenge of earthenware will probably be frustrating at times (I've been reading Tony Clennell's journey into the world of earthenware and the challenges he's been dealing with); but at the same time, I figure that in the end, the ease of loading and firing an electric kiln will  be more than worth whatever setbacks or frustrations I'll have to face journeying this unknown territory.

Lovely summer morning gentle rains.

Weighing out glazes is a slow process, even with a good digital scale. After unloading and sorting, the bisqued test tiles, I had to find and label a lot of containers before starting to weigh out the test glazes. I got 9 weighed and mixed; but will wait on the sieving until I'm ready to dip them. By the end of today I should have all the glazes weighed out that I want for this first, manual, firing down in the tiny test kiln. I'll be dipping 3 different clay bodies in each test which should fill that tiny kiln. If all goes well, I might be able to start sieving and dipping some tiles this afternoon.

It was 90 degrees here yesterday and after a couple of hours of feeling like I was in a sauna, I gave in and turned on the studio air conditioner. This morning, we woke up to a balmy, gentle rain, which hopefully will keep things a bit cooler than yesterday.

You don't get much done in a pottery studio in 6 hours! I stopped around 4:30, and after resting my screaming lower back, we headed to the Tin Lizard Pub for a lovely dinner. Monday is 1/2 price on wine, and we opted for a Pinot Grigio to go with our perfectly cooked fish (salmon for me and macadamia encrusted grouped for Jim). We're so lucky to have The Knife and Fork and Tin Lizard - two good, reasonably priced restaurants with young, talented, chefs.

My repaired Dell laptop arrived late yesterday, so I'll need to get the hard drive re-installed before heading to the studio after breakfast. Hopefully, that's all I'll need to do to get it working. If not, it will just have to wait till after dinner to get any more of my attention.