Gotta love that snow! D. and I took off for a hike mid-blizzard on Saturday. We were nearly alone in our four-mile hike through the city, and it was great. We stopped at a great Jewish deli for hot soup and potato knishes, slid around on the metal sidewalk grates and got thoroughly soaked.

This morning we woke up to my car completely buried and the city at a standstill. D. dug out our front walk and then the steps for the elderly folks on either side of us (what a nice guy!). Settling in for a quiet day of cleaning and writing from home…

Anybody else do something fun in the snow this weekend?

There is just something about POTTERY that feels like well MAGIC sometimes. . . .   How potters  are able to get Clay in oval shapes, and then fire it up to get platters like this. . . I guess we can get CHRISTMAS  more than once a year. . . . HEHEHEHE.

I am a bit fascinated with MATT Glazes at the moment and what looks good with them?  Blues are always a safe bet and neutral colors.

I was thinking this might make a nice dinner line for 2010?

And maybe some nice SOLID colors for BIG Azz Bowls????  And what I learned from my Plates and Platter I took to my Bowls a bit more subtle on the outside and SHARPER on the inside!

This is the outside, just in case you thought my glaze wasn’t fully melted…well IT IS!  GRIN!

And still hanging with my BROWNS for 2010!~

Remember back (waaaaay back) when I was testing glazes? Well, I went ahead and mixed up a big batch of the glaze that got the best response, and I’m back with the results! A modern “London Fog” white on my porcelain clay, and an earthy eggshell tone on dark stoneware clay. (Yes, it’s the same glaze mixture and same temperature. That’s just what clay will do to you!)

I really like the results of this glaze, but unfortunately, it’s unreliable. One firing, it looks good. Another day….eh. So I’ll probably keep searching for my new look.

But in the meantime, consider this a limited edition of Amy Esther work – not to be seen again!

Oh, and did I mention you can order by Sunday and they will still arrive in time for Christmas?

I know everyone’s probably still looking for some last-minute gifts, so I can I just share these adorable little paper cases I found from Pink Loves Brown?

We’ve been packing our lunches every day to save money, but the brown paper bag thing is getting a little stale. I wish I had a cute little lunch suitcases in different colors to take to work!

An Etsy Stalker, that is!

Yes, I got a friendly (not at all creepy) message from the lovely ladies over at Etsy Stalker that my Hefty Beer Stein was featured today on their post: Beer + Etsy  = Great Gifts for Guys. And who doesn’t agree to that?

Actually I really love all the pieces they picked out… But I’ve already got a little something something in the works for D. (shhhh!)  Maybe next year, honey!

It’s not the best picture in the world but these really DO look good!  So  I learned that with new elements, BIG BERTHA (my kiln) fires a bit hotter.  Plus, I can do a slow cool from 500-1900F no hold and then 120 to 1600F no hold and get my matt glazes.  WHO KNEW?

YEAH if the rest of the load looks this good…well I am damn lucky!  I took a chance on the 2175F temp trying to get back to my cone 6 bent at 3 o’clock and this is nearly it.  In the right hand lower corner you can see my cone 6 bending…ahhhhh that lovely bend, not too much and not too little.  Looks like I  can hold at .06 minutes and get the exact bend I am looking for but even than….this is AWESOME.  Hope the rest looks this good!  WHEW!

Breakfast in BED…..and it’s eggs and cheese Omelet, hash brown potatoes, toast with orange marmalade jam, and raspberry coffee.    I have an  amazing friend and good cook….GRIN……He’s the BEST!

Let’s see, my kiln was 37F last night so I got the second firing in.  WHEW!  I am about 1 week or 12 days behind on my Christmas Firings.  The weather was too cold to fire up my kiln in the garage even with a portable heater I bought to try to warm it up a bit.  It has to read 32F before I can fire OLD BERTHA.  YEAH!

And the weather out side was a frightful -12 degrees. Brrrrrrr  So what did I do in the mean time?  Well My Amps were reading 14,11,14  on the series of 3 which I knew was low so I called Perry up in Oregon (Skutt home quarters).  My kiln is still under a 2 year warranty and Perry, being the kind Gentleman that he is, Sent me a whole new set of elements ($268.00 new) for free.  I called my other gentleman friend ,Mike from Mi High in Denver, and he came over on Weds of last week and showed me how to put them in.  Also, Mike, added a new thermocouple as well with my new elements. I gotta tell you, we froze are BUTTS off in the garage that day. No charge again, warranty work!  YIPPY and thanks to SKUTT, you so ROCK and Mi High!

So Now my Kiln is like brand new sorta, maybe better?  I did the first firing with all the shelves in but nothing else.  Everyone says you can bisque that first firing, but I wanted to follow the “RULES” of Skutt’s advise, I figure they must know something more.  I fired it empty with just shelves to let the new elements burn off and oxidize.  They say it helps them last longer and well, I’d like to make it another 2 years if I can before replacing them.  The Amps now read 18,15,18 and my Code mode O4 Med For this heat work, was done in 8.5 hrs.  A bit longer than the book says but it’s ok!

My advise from Perry, was to get my ramp hold program a bit more cost affective.  So in my series of 5 seg.  I programmed in 100-220F no hold,350-2000F no hold, 150-2175F .05 min hold ( the test fire was a bit hot at code mode 04) So we’ll see here? 500-1900F no Hold and finally 120-1600 no hold.  Perry thought if I tweak my slow cool I might get more life out of my elements?

It’s Firing in the 5th seg now and is at 1652F so close to being over.  I’ll post pics,hoping for a good firing!  Update, my firing was CPL (complete in 11.5 hrs) last time it was 18.5 so that is an improvement and means it is not struggling to reach temp.  However, I still have to wait for results……

Later…..

Whoa, do you know what that is? It’s my little dip bowls as the front and center feature for a Storque article about last minute holiday gifts on Etsy! Wheee!

When you click on the actual article, they get extra huge! Thanks to Etsy for the shoutout – I’m thrilled!