Home stretch

Sunday was my last day to create items out of clay for Mistletoe market.  They need about a week to dry enough for me to fire them. After the initial firing, they will need glazing. The Santa Hats will also need wire hooks fabricated and attached. The angels made previously will also need gold accents added before the heads and halos (hooks too!) are added. 

Last day of clay production.

I was pet sitting the first part of the week and did some prep work with the wires for hanging as well as a bit of glazing. Tonight I have another obligation before resuming glazing. I forsee glazing, trimming and ornament assembly in my future for the next week. (I am definitely not complaining.)

Progress!

I have been busy with a lot of house & pet-sitting jobs lately, but I am trying to squeeze in some creative time in between to build stock for the Mistletoe Market.

I have a kiln load of angels bisque firing at the moment, and included in that firing are some pumpkins!

The pumpkins second from the left in both rows are mine, the others were made by 3 of my students.  I have since made more and will have some available at Mistletoe Market.

A customer came in The Mercantile yesterday and asked if I had a new design for ornaments this year (in addition to the angels), so I am working on a couple of ideas there.  I am also working on some leaf ornament samples for a class I will be offering in a couple of weeks.

I had a scare today while Dad was out, I looked out the front window as a Pendleton Police car pulled into our driveway.  P A N I C!!  It turns out that some kids called 9-1-1 and would not let the operator speak to an adult.  And it was from a cell phone that showed it was about where our house is.  I sent him to a house a couple of doors down where I know they have children.  There aren't many on our street.

So, that is about all I can report on today.

The latest to be completed...

I have been working on creating for stock and for Mistletoe Market again.  Most of what I have at the moment are my angels.

First, what they look like after the first firing but before glazing and assembly (no, the pumpkin and the bowl will not change into angels...):

Once they are glazed and fired again, I add gold highlights and the heads and halos.  There is a hook at the top to hang on a tree if desired, but I have a lot of people say they leave theirs out on a shelf all year round.

9/29/16 update - B3, R1 and P2 have sold.

I do have more I am creating, after-all, I did sell over 200 of them last year (YAY!).

The angels are one-of-a-kind, no two exactly alike.  I create whatever the clay tells me to when I pick it up.  If anyone requests anything the guidelines are: size (larger/smaller - none are over 3" to the top of the ceramic robes), arms or not, and color (from the four colors I routinely offer - Blue, Purple, Red or Green - as shown in photo).  I can also personalize with a name in gold at no extra cost.  Other than that, it is whatever my hands create, I cannot even have people choose wing style, because they are what they are at that moment.

The cost is $20/angel with shipping additional, if needed.

I wanted to update everyone and let you see some of the results.

Off to a new pet-sitting job this evening... an adorable Westie!

Successful Bisque Firing!

This morning I loaded just the large mugs that were dry enough into the kiln for a bisque firing.

6 large mugs ready to bisque to cone 04!

 I started the firing at about 8:15 or so and then went off to work... When I returned home, I unloaded the kiln after dinner.  Of course, they were still a bit toasty (needed kevlar gloves to unload the kiln) but they cooled pretty quickly.

5 large mugs sanded...

Unfortunately, I had not made much in a few months and I forgot I was nearly out of 400 grit wet/dry sand paper... and I could only sand 5 of the 6 mugs before the paper was too worn out to do any good.  (Need to pick some more up tomorrow!)

large mug and small mug with ruler for comparison

Here is a photo comparing the bisqued mugs in both sizes.

As I sanded them, I was able to detect that the firing was a total success!  None of them cracked!

large mug & small mug bisqued, small mug glaze fired

This photo shows the comparison of the small mug bisqued and then glaze fired... When the large mug shrinks in the glaze firing, it should end up approximately the size that the small mug is when it is bisqued...

(Those bisqued mugs really are straight, the towel under them tilted them a bit to the left...)

the return of the parsley!

And lastly, just to show that the parsley really is doing well, a photo I took of it on Sunday morning... soon we'll be able to enjoy it again!

Production proceeds smoothly

These photos show the Ebonyware Porcelain in the bisque and the glazed-but-not-fired stages. That is where a good number of pieces are right now. I have a kiln load firing a glaze firing right now. I'll put in another one in the morning.
My kiln is rather small, an Evenheat 810 (I think). I got it when I just needed something small for home as I had use of kilns at work as long as they were not needed for work firings. It is 110. I wish I had a larger kiln, but I don't have the space or budget for it at the moment.
Today was my last day to cast before the show. I still may not finish every piece, but I'll be able to move the molds out of the way to have more space for trimming & glazing. (And I need to take the table to the show...)
I did take a break this afternoon to go to our local bead club meeting The Hole In The Bead Gang. It was a small group today, but we all had something to show for the challenge which was something with flowers.
Jo brought in some fiber and leather scraps. We were to pick a minimum of 2 pieces and for next month, we need to make something using them in the piece. I chose about 6 - 7 pieces of different leathers. I am not sure what I will do, but they 'spoke' to me and the fibers, as beautiful as they were, didn't.
Show anxiety isn't real strong yet, but today is only Sunday, I leave at noon on Friday. I can even unload a kiln as late as 11:45 and bring it with me.