Snow is collapsing slowly into a denser and less deep covering outside as 2010 comes to a close. Two days ago, it looked like this:
after more than 30" hit the deck.
This was a good week to glaze. Being the procrastinator I am, and loving the bright light streaming through the windows, it was hard to find enthusiasm for descending those basement steps to work. But this and other goblets and pots
had been bisque-fired and were ready to be glazed. So I brought them upstairs in several trips, to the dining room table, along with my sample tiles of recent glaze colors. Sitting in the sun planning, I made a drawing of each piece and notes on how it will be glazed.
THEN everything went back downstairs, and I started the glazing process. The bottom of each foot was waxed to resist glaze, and when that dried, each piece got a dip in glaze and/or had glaze poured into it. Between pourings and dippings, the pots were left for hours or overnight to dry before getting the next glaze.
This is not the spontaneous splish-splashing some can do and still end up with something that looks reasonable, and it isn't the tedious brushing of 3 coats of commercial glaze of the paint-your-own hobbyists. It's what I call cerebralizing the glazing. Plan and execute. It's the only way I get this done. I don't like glazing pots.
Meanwhile, while a big pot of chicken soup is simmering, I am taking a few minutes for my much-procrastinated (do we see a theme?) next blog post. By the end of today I hope to have the glazing finished, and a kiln loaded with glazed ware and closed, to be fired Sunday all day. Photos Monday, I hope!
after more than 30" hit the deck.
This was a good week to glaze. Being the procrastinator I am, and loving the bright light streaming through the windows, it was hard to find enthusiasm for descending those basement steps to work. But this and other goblets and pots
had been bisque-fired and were ready to be glazed. So I brought them upstairs in several trips, to the dining room table, along with my sample tiles of recent glaze colors. Sitting in the sun planning, I made a drawing of each piece and notes on how it will be glazed.
THEN everything went back downstairs, and I started the glazing process. The bottom of each foot was waxed to resist glaze, and when that dried, each piece got a dip in glaze and/or had glaze poured into it. Between pourings and dippings, the pots were left for hours or overnight to dry before getting the next glaze.
This is not the spontaneous splish-splashing some can do and still end up with something that looks reasonable, and it isn't the tedious brushing of 3 coats of commercial glaze of the paint-your-own hobbyists. It's what I call cerebralizing the glazing. Plan and execute. It's the only way I get this done. I don't like glazing pots.
Meanwhile, while a big pot of chicken soup is simmering, I am taking a few minutes for my much-procrastinated (do we see a theme?) next blog post. By the end of today I hope to have the glazing finished, and a kiln loaded with glazed ware and closed, to be fired Sunday all day. Photos Monday, I hope!