Summer 2024 Happenings

With summer winding down, I find the change of a season is always a great time to reflect and set goals for what’s ahead. Late spring and summer were busy: I participated in a wood firing at Tim Sherman’s in May; made some pots (not nearly as many as I would have liked to, of course); switched jobs; bought a kiln; took a mini-vacation; went to a lot of baseball games and concerts; tried stained glass; and spent time with family and friends. To say I’m ready for the slowdown that fall and winter bring, I think, is an understatement.

This vase was one of several pots fired in the soda kiln at Tim Sherman’s in Smithsburg, MD. In this firing, I played around with Troy porcelain slip for the first time, and really loved the results. There will be more experimentations with slip in my future, for sure.

My lesson learned from this experience though? I waited entirely too long to make pieces for this firing, and had a lot of casualties: pots blown up when being bisqued, cracked handles, and other little mistakes that ended up taking me back to square one. It happens, but I’d like to avoid doing that in the future. I will acknowledge when I don’t have the time, or the quality of work, to participate in something—no matter how tempting or good the opportunity. Pottery lives forever, and the pieces I make should reflect the intention and purpose of something that will be around for a long, long time.

This year, I’m serving as the Director of Social Media for the Nicodemus Center for Ceramic Studies in Waynesboro, PA. It’s an active guild that I’ve belonged to since February 2020, and also a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting historic folk pottery while conducting an active ceramic arts studio program. I’ve loved the community I’ve become part of there, and feel privileged to share the work and passion of its members. Part of being on that team means I’ve gotten to help our Director of Education come up with some fun challenges for guild members, and one of those was a mug challenge in May. We were tasked with creating four mugs trying out a technique (or techniques) that we’ve been maybe wanting to perfect or just give a try but had yet to do it. There were so many cool mugs that came out of this challenge, and at the end, we held a studio sale in our gallery storefront.

Because I like a theme, I chose to have all of my mugs be inspired by or to include cherry blossoms in some way. For the first mug, I wanted to try underglaze painting, where I painted my design on the mug and then carved around it to add the details. This required me putting wax over the design once it had dried but before I carved so that I could add a “liner” color of underglaze around or in my details. I then glazed the whole thing in a celadon, and I loved the end result. I also liked the process, so I hope to explore this more in the future (it just took me a really long time!). The second mug, I wanted to hand build. I had tried hand building a mug last fall, and it was more oval than round by the end, and a lot harder than I thought it’d be! For this one, I purchased a beautiful rolling pin with a cherry blossom design from Sweet Rolling Pins that I used on the slab I rolled out for the body. I have a lot of work to do in the hand building arena, but overall, I’m not unhappy with the outcome! My third and fourth mugs, I wanted to add a swirl pattern up the wall of the mugs while throwing (see: Old Forge Ceramics) and then, on one, do an ombre bubble underglaze technique. My only critiques of the bubble underglaze technique were that my maroon underglaze came out more purple than pink, and the pinks I used were too light to really show the delicate bubble lines. And then my last mug(s)—because I’m an over-achiever and have to make more than the assignment, just in case—I played around with porcelain slip in the May wood firing I participated in. Not really on-theme, but I learned a lot about what kind of slip aesthetic I prefer (one of my mugs looked like wrinkled skin and I really didn’t like that). Belatedly, because I had wanted to try water etching but ran out of time, I did a water etched mug of cherry blossoms that I finished off with a flux glaze from AMACO. I added mother-of-pearl luster afterward, and I’m in love with the subtleties of it overall. The water etching gave just a slightly raised surface. The glaze pooled just so over that texture. And the mother-of-pearl gave it a beautiful little shine when it catches the light. And then, because I saw someone on Instagram make flowers out of clay by using a basic tool, I decided to try that too! I painted the cherry blossoms with Mayco Stroke and Coat colors because of their glossy finish, and then I lined the petals and dotted the centers with gold luster. I’m also obsessed with how that one turned out!

And speaking of luster, I got my own kiln! It was a big purchase and a big step for my newly established small business, but luster firings were always the one step that tripped me up in efficiency whenever someone asked for or pre-ordered an item with luster. It makes sense. I work in a community studio with big kilns. Kilns take energy. And why spend the money and the energy on firing a handful of mugs? Or dishes? Or whatever they are that never equals a full kiln. So I bit the bullet and got a Skutt KM614-3 Doll Kiln through Clay King. It arrived quickly and was easy to assemble. My husband installed the correct plug without having to rewire our electric. I did a test firing and all worked well, and I’ve done two luster firings since! My hope is that I can not only use it for lusters, but for glaze testing, clay testing, and bisque firings as needed. It only fires up to Cone 6, but it’s still wild to me that I have a little box sitting in my garage that can reach temps of 2250 degrees! Who allowed that to happen??

As fall approaches, kicking off a new wood firing season, I’m looking forward to all the work I’ll be inspired by from the group of people I fire with. I’m looking forward to the conversations, the new memories, the days and nights leaving the kiln shed with the smell of smoke lingering in my hair and the fibers of my clothes. I’m also just looking forward to making, when the temptation to be outside isn’t as great and sitting down at the pottery wheel feels easier. Some goals I have for the rest of 2024 include perfecting techniques like lidded vessels (garlic keepers, jars, etc.), jug and bottle forms, and more water etching and underglaze painting!

And, to shout out some companies/small businesses, I’ve been loving this summer: I have recently been experimenting with colored grog that I’ve purchased from a new company, Flecks & Specks. I’ve made a few pieces now using their products and I’m obsessed with how it adds just a little something extra to my pieces. I’ll have a couple pieces in the first fall wood firing that I’ll be curious to see how they perform. I’ve also had a lot of fun using Ritual Glazes on test tiles and some pots. I’d like to make more vases to try these funky textured glazes on (they’re so fun to touch). And, lastly, I’ve used a few sprig molds from Spriggin Awesome Shop this summer. I use their mushroom set on my wood fired mugs, but my sister asked me to make a cardinal mug for her mom for mother’s day (she’s my half-sister, so she has a different mother), and then I wanted to try their sparkle sprig molds because I could immediately picture the mug I wanted to make when I saw them. Both projects turned out so nice, and the person behind the shop also makes stunning mugs that I hope to one day get my hands on.

Even though potters always have to think one season ahead when it comes to making, I’m holding out on all things pumpkin spice until at least September 1st, if not until the official first day of Autumn. I hope you have stayed balanced—centered, if you will—and well, and that you had a most excellent summer. I’ll see you in the next one.