Tuesday Nights

So, it turns out that all the LBM stuff did not actually get fired last week. The kiln was being loaded for a glaze fire and should have been fired up (pardon the pun) last night or sometime today. Cynthia says that the bisque fire should happen on Thursday, so I'm going to try to pop into the studio after work tomorrow to see if the rest of the Christmas presents are ready to go in. Hopefully they will be so that they can all be glazed at the same time.

Last night was my first time in the Tuesday night class, and I've got to say that I think that I will like it a lot. Monday mornings were fun, and it was awesome to be able to start off my week with such a relaxing morning activity. Tuesday nights are a bit more high energy, not surprisingly. There are more of us in the Tuesday night class, and it seems that I am the most inexperienced. They all seem like cool peeps, though, so it should be fun.

I started using a new type of clay last night. I still have quite a bit of Death Valley left, but it's all recycled clay. Recycling clay is something, apparently, that is not common. I do it because of my need to get the most for my money, and I tend to take a lot of clay off before any one particular piece is finished. Recycling clay involves trying to dry it out enough to be usable again. This is accomplished using either a canvas-covered or porcelain batt. Since Death Valley is so red, I went with the canvas batt method, and it has taken a lot longer than I thought it would. The current result is dry enough to wedge, but way too wet to throw effectively. So, I'm hoping it will dry out a little bit more on its own.

Anyway. The point is that I started using a new clay. It's called David's Porcelain. It's white, like LBM, but it's a lot smoother. That's good for my hands, but I couldn't quite get the water usage right for my first go round. I threw a big plate (more on that later), a cup that will hopefully turn into a smallish cappuccino mug, and a very (VERY) lopsided cereal bowl. I'll have pictures of those things next week if they survive trimming.

I have a picture of the plate that I threw last week. I'll have to post it later because there isn't a wireless connection at work that I can use to send the pic from my phone to the blog. I threw a big serving platter last night, which turned out fantastically because Cynthia did most of the work. I've discovered that I rather like throwing plates. I'm not proficient enough yet to make a set, but one of my goals is to make a whole set of matching dishes, including two different sizes of plates, bowls and mugs. We'll see how that goes!

I know that I'm lame today in not posting any pictures. Currently the only things that haven't been posted (and are ready to be posted) are the DV plate and a DV bowl that is about ready to go into the bisque fire. I haven't photographed that one yet, but I'll get the plate picture up when I get home today.