Blog #8, Spring 2025

New week! Started this week off by unloading the bisque from last week, it had my big stacking sculpture in it and I was thankfully able to reassemble it and it all fit together! Exciting! I also worked on my line blend test, I kept it simple and just tested feldspar and wood ash. I finished up work on Monday by cutting up all of the frames outside for side-stoke. Tuesday, I worked on more mug bodies to take up some of the smaller spaces in the soda, then I trimmed all of my empty bowls. In class, we loaded the kilns for the line blend tests which was neat to see everyones versions of them. Wednesday, I had work so didn’t make it in. Thursday, we had visiting artist Marret Metzger come for a demo; it was great to hear about her progress and journey through ceramics and made me think about my own journey to get to where I am. After the demo, I finished up putting handles on my mug bodies then loaded them into a last minute bisque. Friday, I had work again. Saturday, Mia and I went to the Southern Crossing to see all the visiting artists there. I was really impressed by this one lady’s work, and talked with her about her process. She said she wood fires all of her work in a intense down fire which makes me think about my own downfire for both the soda and wood fires this semester. After that, we went to the studio where I unloaded the bisque I fired earlier and pulled out my line blend test. I thought the line blend would’ve had a distinct pattern, but some of the tests seemed to revert to earlier tests in the line itself. We spent the afternoon, glazing and wadding work then loaded the soda kiln that evening. Sunday, I got in early after candling overnight and spent the day firing with Ryan. We did have some setbacks during the firing but overall I think it went rather well; after discussion with that Southern Crossings artist, we ended up down firing at the end for about 4 hours. I feel like I learned a lot throughout the process and am excited to try another.