June 7, 2003

I can't think of a much better way to spend a birthday weekend than making pots out in the yard. This is the start of a new series using earthenware and commercial underglazes; something I picked up last year at a workshop by Ron Meyers at the Appalachian Center for Crafts.

In my own mind, I'm famous for starting things and, with all the good intentions in the world, letting them linger on the "to-do" list endlessly, so I told myself after the workshop in June '02 that I had a year to get back to this clay and glaze technique... surprise, surprise: it took me a year to the day! (And I still haven't posted the photos from that week in Tennessee yet - good grief.)

This technique is such a big change from c10 glaze firing, and even different than soda, in that all the decoration happens at the green stage. More immediate, the forms are still fresh in my memory, and I get to think in color before the firing; it all adds up to a really exciting new field to explore, like stumbling into an unexpected clearing out behind the barn...