This kiln is not as full as I usually pack my kilns, but I had my very first commission order that I needed to get done (the little birds you see on the shelf). This has a number of larger items and not a lot of small items. The last of the elephant ears is in here. This is the one I'm hoping to turn into a bird bath. I've had a solar fountain for a while just sitting around waiting for it.

Also I've been a bit behind in updating my glazing pages. They are all updated (not including this firing). I decided to break out Opulence into it's own page as I've been using (and loving) more and more of their glazes. There are actually 2 new glazes in this kiln from them - Pebble Beach and Floating Blue.

I've been wanting to make a soap dispenser for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it. After my last show I had a customer reach out and ask me if I had any. This was the push I needed to try to make them. I got these dispenser heads from Amazon. The corks have a bit of wiggle room in them which should make this work. However, worst case scenario I've made bud vases!


I used the smallest size of De La Designs cones. I think next time I might try the medium. I had to stretch the top a bit more than I wanted to. It is loose enough now for the cork, but we shall see.




A week or so before Thanksgiving we finally had our first frost. Before we did I went out and cut the dill flowers by my front porch and put them in a vase. When we were cleaning up for Thanksgiving I put the vase on my table intending to make pots with it. Then life happened and while I went on a glazing spree I hadn't actually done anything with clay since before the holiday! The stems in the water were a little fuzzy and the flowers had dried out, but I still rolled them into clay. Since it was so wet I couldn't pick all the pieces out. I'll rub some more out when it gets leather hard and whatever is left will burn during the bisque.




This last one was made with the leaves from Learn Fired Arts since there are no real leaves left out in the garden this time of year.

Last weekend was the first indoor show that I've done. I had gotten really used to the 10 x 10 space and this one was only 10 x 6. I quickly realized that the wonderful shelves my husband built me wouldn't fit and I could only use tables. This definitely presented a new creative challenge for me to solve.




The first thing I did was buy vertical shelves you can see on the table that's in the back. Technically these are shoe racks, but they worked really well for pottery. I usually have a board that goes across my two crates that I put my mugs on, but I was able to put far more mugs on this. I think this might become part of my outdoor setup as well. I also had a lot of ornaments and magnets that were holiday themed that I put into some cute little baskets meant for tea.




I bought a mini tree (I think its a spruce) at Home Depot. It's something we can use in the yard long term, but it was perfect for displaying the ornaments. Some people got a kick of taking the ornaments of the tree and others would hunt through the basket for the right one for them. The pine needles were a little messy, but it definitely drew people in.




I had a lot of Christmas and Hannukah themed items. This squiggle tree was one of the first to sell. I still can't get over how perfect it came out.




This is one of the two trees I had made. The process to first make and then add all the leaves took a lot of time. I got a lot of compliments about how cool they were.

This kiln wasn't as packed as I normally do, but there were some things I wanted to get done before the Howard County Craft Mart this past weekend to take with me. It was a whirlwind of load the kiln, empty the kiln for a few days.

My favorite thing in the kiln is the squiggle tree. It's both simple and complex at the same time. This was actually one of the first things that sold at the show over the weekend.

I think my second favorite is the elephant ear. The depth of texture in the leaf is highlighted in the glaze.

I had some space in the kiln and I finally glazed the composite pitcher I made at Jessica Putnam Phillip's workshop at Clayscapes over a year ago. The glaze really makes this because it's so not my style, but I'm oddly drawn to it now.

Midnight Ceramics Sexy Mermaid x3	KY Mudworks Brown Bear Amaco Honey Flux x3 Opulence Sea Spray x2
Midnight Ceramics Boxed Wine x2 Sexy Mermaid x2 on the top	On the frame - Georgie's Tree Bark wiped back lightly Zinc Free Clear x2 In the frame - Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Orange a Peel, Sunkissed, Fruit of the Vine
Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Orange a Peel, Sunkissed, Fruit of the Vine	Georgie's Sand and Surf lightly wiped back Zinc Free Clear x2
50/50 Mixture of Gerstley Borate and Red Iron Oxide on the wet clay Clayscapes Oribe	This was a refire. Originally it was 50/50 Mixture of Gerstley Borate and Red Iron Oxide on the wet clay 2167 clear Refire was Clayscapes Oribe on top
Mayco Blue UG wiped back Amaco Smoke x3	Mayco Designer Liner Red and White Mayco Cotton Tail Opulence Emerald x2 2167 clear over Santa
Opulence Sea Spray x2	Amaco Deep Sea x3 Opulence Emerald x2
Left: Georgie's Sand and Surf White Cloud x2 Middle: Laguna 60 Georgie's Sand and Surf White Cloud x2 Right: Laguna 60 Georgie's Sand and Surf Eggshell Wash x2 Leaf: Amaco Matcha Gloss x2 Stem: Amaco Ancient Copper x2	Left: Mayco Green UG Opulence Emerald x2 Middle: Mayco Dragon Red UG 2167 Clear Right: Mayco Eggplant x3 Tops: All Amaco Palladium x4
Mayco Green UG Mayco Designer Liners 2167 clear	Mayco Designer liner Red, Light Green, Yellow, White, Orange, Blue Left and Center: 2167 Clear Right: Opulence Emerald x2
I glazed these months ago and didn't write it down, but they're cool :)	Left: Midnight Ceramics Spiderwort x3 Right: Georgie's Cherry Fix x2
Mayco Designer Liner Red and White 2167 clear	Mightnight Ceramics Malibu Barbara x3
Mayco Shipreck x3 KY Mudworks Daffodil x3	So sad it ran Midnight Ceramics Sexy Mermaid x2 Amaco Palladium x4 on the top

Whew almost to the end! This was definitely a frantic glazing whirlwind. I packed and repacked this kiln too many times. There was one more elephant ear plate that I was trying to get in. I needed like 1 more inch to fit my my earring holder one shelf down with this one bowl and I couldn't make it work. Then I went to close the kiln and realized I had mis-measured the top of the tree and I needed another centimeter. I then had to take everything out and reconfigure to be able to have a shorter shelf one shelf down. What should have been simple took a whole lot of time, but the peek makes me think its going to be all good.

Loving the elephant ear and I'm really excited about how the squiggle tree looks. There is some more holiday stuff in here including the last of the ornaments and a whole lot of Christmas tree jewelry.

Christmas Balls! Ok maybe I need to stop calling them that. It's probably not good marketing, but it makes me laugh so I keep saying it. Squiggle Ornaments? Ornament Squiggles? Does it need Christmas in there or is it implied? Whatever they're called they came out amazing. Michael Harbidge did a live on these for Clayshare a few weeks ago. I followed the technique for building, but went a different way than him on glazing ideas.

I definitely like the Christmas plates and ornaments in laguna 60 better than the ones in the KY Brown Bear. The brown bear are too dark for me, but I also think they're really striking at the same time. Before they came out of the kiln I was sure I would love the brown bear ones better. What do you all think?

Mayco Dragon Red UG 2 coats 2167 clear Amaco Palladium on the top x4	Mayco Eggplant x3 Amaco Palladium on the top x4
Mayco Green UG 2 coats Opulence Emerald x2 Amaco Palladium on the top x4	Hat: Mayco Tuxedo Nose: Mayco Orange a Peel Eyes and buttons: Mayco black designer liner 2167 clear all over
Left is Laguna 60, right is b-mix Mayco black UG wiped back Mayco Eggplant x3 Mayco Blue Hydrangea x2 Antlers: Mayco designer liner brown Nose: Mayco designer liner red	Left Laguna 60 Mayco Lavender Mist x3 Muddy Waters x2 Right is b-mix Midnight Ceramics Boxed Wine x3 Both: Mayco black UG wiped back Antlers: Mayco designer liner brown Nose: Mayco designer liner red
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Trees: Mayco Cotton Tail Birds: Mayco Hot Tamale Mayco Frosted Lemon x3	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Trees: Mayco Cotton Tail Birds: Mayco Hot Tamale Coyote Parakeet x2
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Trees: Mayco Cotton Tail Birds: Mayco Hot Tamale Laguna Power Turquoise x3	Mayco Eggplant x3 Eyes: Mayco Tuxedo x3 Nose: Mayco Orange a Peal x3
Mayco Black UG wiped back Dreidles: designer liner blue Amaco: Sky	Mayco Black UG wiped back Antlers: Mayco designer liner brown Nose: Mayco designer liner red Amaco: Sky
Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Red and White designer liner 2167 Clear	Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Red and White designer liner 2167 Clear Right Mayco Eggplant x2 on the rim
KY Mudworks Brown Bear Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Yellow, Light Green, Black, Blue 2167 Clear	KY Mudworks Brown Bear Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Black 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Mayco Designer Liner Light Green, Orange, White, Yellow, Green, Black, Brown 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Trees: Mayco Cotton Tail Birds: Mayco Hot Tamale Mayco Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Fruit of the Vine 2167 clear
Mayco Black UG wiped back Hats: Mayco designer liner red and white Ornaments: Mayco designer liner red, light green, blue, orange, yellow 2167 clear	KY Mudworks Brown Bear Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Yellow, Light Green, Black, Blue 2167 Clear
Gnomes: Mayco Designer Liner Light Green, Orange, White, Yellow, Green, Black, Brown 2167 Clear Lights: Mayco black UG wiped back, Mayco designer liner light green, red Opulence Emerald x3	Dreidles:Designer liner blue Top two: Amaco Fog x3 Bottom two: Amaco Sky x3
Colors for Earth Color Strokes Tea Rose, Phlox Pink, Violet Blue, Bright Purple, Orchid Blue, Jade 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Midnight Ceramics Spiderwort x3
Opulence Sea Spray x3