This is not sustainable

Last Wednesday I hit the clay. In no time at all, both the breakfast bar and dining room table were covered with works in progress.

Breakfast bar

I have a list of pros and cons for creating a workshop in the garage - the only con is the expense - and keep adding to the list everyday. Even if I don't continue with pottery, the workshop will be an asset to the house. (Around here, few people actually park their cars in their garages, as the garages are usually full of junk.)

Dining room table

I'll have to discuss with my daughter, as she is the home designer in the family.

Meanwhile, more tools! And glazes!

Wooden forms

Hole makers

Paddle

Glazes

I learned something new this week regarding glazes, or at least some of the glazes I have on hand. Most are for cone 6, but several are for lower cone values. This might explain why some of the pieces they fired at the maker space did not turn out very well, as I was putting them on the mid-range shelf, not the low-range shelf. My pea brain was thinking of how hot I wanted the stoneware clay to get in order to vitrify, not taking into consideration the limitations of the glazes I had chosen. Live and learn!

Deja vu all over again

We stopped at FW Clay this past Thursday afternoon, to drop off my latest bowl and the fluted dish. Alas, the only one of my pieces that had reached the kiln was a pinched pumpkin I made in class a couple of weeks ago. The whole setup needs some organization, and the staff needs some training, as they seemed rather flustered with my requests. Also, they didn't want me adding anything to the to-be-fired shelves, as that is now apparently against the rules?

It's easy for me to get upset about these delays, especially since I was hoping for a better experience than I had at the maker space. As I see it, here are my options:

• Find a new place to fire
• Buy my own kiln
• Chill out

For now, I'm going to chill out. I'm also going to create a spreadsheet so I can keep track of which pieces are at what stage in the process.

As promised, here is a rundown of my latest purchases at FW Clay:

I've already used this trimming tool, and it is the berries. It is also a much better tool for kurinuki.

Trimming tool

Some underglaze transfers:

Elan underglaze transfer - Flamingos

Elan underglaze transfer - cats

More glazes. I am building quite a glaze stash.

Mayco glazes in Stoned Denim and Green Tea

An anvil is used to quickly form small bowls. I'll show you how at a later date.

Anvil - assembled

Anvil - disassembled

Of course, some pottery tools may be made with whatever you have on hand. In this case, I used a paper towel tube and a bamboo skewer to make a tool for marking an even edge on a bowl.

Homemade marking tool

More stuff arrived yesterday from the Ceramic Shop. I'll "unwrap" those items at a later date.

There's a new pottery place in town

Yesterday my SO and I went to the "grand opening" of Fort Wayne Clay. Nicole Capriglione is the proprieter. Since it wasn't busy (yet), she gave us a tour (during which I picked out over $90 worth of merchandise). I wish we could have stayed longer, as they were doing raku firing in the parking lot, but I had committed to being elsewhere. I am signing up for the hand-building class, though, to improve my technique.

The shop is still getting started - awaiting a big, beautiful new kiln - but I'm going to start taking my pieces there to fire. The maker space just doesn't get to my stuff in a timely manner. Besides the kilns not working well, I think production potters are filling them up with their mugs and sellable objects, leaving my measly two or three pieces alone on the shelf, neglected. Like my money doesn't matter.

So, what did I buy? Some tools...

...and a book.

I want this place to succeed, so my pottery dollars will be going here as much as possible. Nicole is *so* excited and personable and I think I will learn a lot from her and her assistants.