Blog #14, Fall 2024

It was only a short week with Thanksgiving this week but I started the week unloading the bisque I ran over the weekend. It was tough to really get it open and see the mess of the exploded pot. I had to spend a good amount of time cleaning that up and getting my other pot that survived out as well. During class Monday, I vacuumed out the firebox of the wood kiln, while doing so I found an old mud dauber nest that seems to have been fired last time it was run. It was neat to see such a little creature all use clay for their nest and the fact that it lasted through the fire just by accident was cool. Tuesday, I worked on starting and finishing two irregular shaped pots which I included some new materials in. I used both rice hulls and some vermiculite because I really wanted to test the effects of different materials in my work and in the wood fire itself. Wednesday morning, I left for Saint Louis where I spent the next couple of days with family, enjoying a little break from the chaos of the studio recently. I got back to Louisville on Saturday and went straight to the studio and loaded one last bisque of pieces to get into the wood kiln.