Last, but certainly not least - RAKU! We did four different raku projects. The saggar is definitely my favorite, followed closely by the naked raku. However, I love all of them.

First up the regular raku. We taped off our pieces and used 4 different raku glazes.


How gorgeous did this turn out? There is a tiny crack in the rim, but it's still amazing.




I glazed just inside the rim too.


Next up is the saggar. This is just yellow underglaze that was burnished. It's wrapped in copper, steel wool, and some yarn that I had.




This is the saggar container that was used in the kiln with a small kiln shelf top.




There were organics put into the chamber. Heather and I ate 5 bananas to put peels in. The pots were then stacked on each other, mine is the top left.




I can't get over the colors! The yarn acted a bit as a resist.




The other side looks completely different.




Next up is the naked raku. The pots were heated up and then dipped in slip. Then they were put back into the kiln with the slip casing.




When they came out they were put into garbage cans to reduce. The black is where the smoke went through the cracks in the slip.




Last, but not least, is the horse hair raku. This vase was normal white stoneware that was glazed with tera cotta engobe and Mayco milk glass.




When it came out of the kiln I had about 30 seconds to add the horse hair before the pot cooled.

Next up a spooky plate and a flower pot.

I really love this plate. I have a lot of ideas for this technique. This was done with Duncan EZ Strokes. The background and the lines were banded on. The trees and birds were hand painted.


Here is all of our plates laid out (mine is top left).




I've gotten much better at banding than I was when Michael first introduced me to it a few years ago. I do wish I had waited a few minutes more for the flecks to dry so it wouldn't have smeared, but I love this plate!




This flower pot was interesting, but not really my style. The flowers are done with Mayco's new snow gems. They puff up in the kiln and provide 3D texture. I'm just not feeling this design, but I do like the idea of getting some flower pots and glazing them for my garden.

It's May again and that means it was time for another workshop with Michael Harbridge. This year we focused entirely on glaze projects. First up is swirling. We did four different ways of swirling.

This first project used Mayco's rapid roll as a base and then a few different colors of stroke and coat.


The rapid roll is the cream is base color. We ran a brush end through the glaze and then dipped the mushroom top in it.




The bottom was done with a clear crackle glaze and then filled in with black Duncan EZ Stroke




This plate was done with the black and white rapid roll. We squirted it on and moved the plate around to get the swirls.




How gorgeous did this one turn out?




This next plate used Duncan thin and shade and then squeezed on stroke and coats. It was then raked through with a brush. My first attempt did not work out and I rinsed it off and started over. This one turned out much better.




This totally reminds me of 80s spin art.




This last swirly project was the messiest of the four. We used Mayco acrylic paints. Since it's 3D it was just a lot of dripping. In retrospect we should have done this outside.




How pretty is my little birdy?

How is it the end of April? I feel like I blinked and the month is now over. I did something with this kiln that I had never done before - I started to load it and then just ran out of time. It was 2 weeks before I could come back and glaze again so by the time I ran it, I had actually forgotten what all was in there. There's some really fun items in here.

Alien mugs and tree of life spoon rests in new colors which is fun. My test mugs using my mugg pluggs have come out. I really like the shape and feel of these. I need to remember to see how many ounces they hold.

Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Inside: Clayscapes Cobblestone and Lake Blue brushed Leaves: Mayco Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Just Froggy, 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Inside: Clayscapes Cobblestone and Lake Blue brushed Leaves: Mayco Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed,
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Inside: Clayscapes Cobblestone and Lake Blue brushed Leaves: Mayco Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed,	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 Norse Blue x2 Light flux sweeps 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Mayco Green Opal x3 Mayco Sour Apple, Tuxedo, Cotton Tail, Silver Lining, Carribean Blue, MelonCholy 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Mayco Frosted Lemon x3 Night Moth x2 Mayco Sour Apple, Tuxedo, Cotton Tail, Silver Lining, Carribean Blue, MelonCholy 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Rim: Mayco Frosted Lemon x3 Night Moth x2 Mayco Sour Apple, Tuxedo, Cotton Tail, Silver Lining, Carribean Blue, MelonCholy 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Inside and Rim Kentucky Mudworks Dragon's Breath x3 Handle ???
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Mayco Frosted Lemon x3 Night Moth x2 Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Laguna Power Turqouise x2 Night Moth x2 Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Mayco Eggplant x3 Night Moth x2 Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Inside and Rim: Kentucky Mudworks Blue Suede Shoes x3 Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Left: Kentucky Mudworks Andromeda x2 Right: Kentucky Mudworks Jade Moss x2	Laguna 60 Left: Spectrum Floating Turquoise x2 Mayco Light Flux Rim Right: Spectrum Bougainvillea x2 Mayco Light Flux Rim
Laguna 60 Amaco Storm x3	Laguna 60 Spectrum Shallot x2
Laguna 60 Mayco Frosted Lemon x3	Laguna 60 Amaco Snow x3
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Tuxedo, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine 2167 Clear	Mayco Cotton Tail, Tuxedo, Hot Tamale
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale 2167 Clear

I forgot when I peeked in the kiln that the rose plates were in there! I made the first one for the bachelorette a few months ago and they came out so amazing I decided to make a couple of more. The rest of this kiln is basically all crabs. Like I said the other day, I think I'm crabbed out for a bit.

Laguna 60 Spectrum Bougainvillea x2	Laguna 60 Spectrum Bougainvillea x2
Refire - since the Spectrum Shallot ran I added more over where the birds were, you can see the shadow of them, but I think it looks cool	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps