IF IT'S WEDNESDAY, THIS MUST BE STONEWARE

Yesterday was one of those crazy days that started with me carving a few terra cotta bowls. From there I progressed to throwing a group of eight terra cotta pieces, then a group of eight porcelain bowls to slip and carved and I finished the day by throwing several stoneware bottles to slip and heavily texture followed by carving the last four slipped porcelain bowls from the day before. It makes for a busy day and sometimes leaves me feeling a bit schizophrenic in terms of bouncing back and forth between clays, styles and tasks. I should probably mention that I also had to make up several slips along the way as they ran out and were needed to keep things going straight to slip the terra cotta and porcelain pieces. I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining because I am not, I would rather be busy than idle and would rather be throwing than anything else. Tomorrow, more throwing in both porcelain and stoneware.

Illustrated is a 12" (?) tall stoneware bottle that I threw yesterday and tooled and textured today. Since the technique and surface has been coming out on smaller pieces, I have decided to graduate to slightly bigger pots and see how it looks under the Oribe and possibly the saffron glazes. I am not sure when these two bottles and a covered jar will get fired as these are spec pieces and there are orders and pieces for a couple of galleries and a holiday show ahead of them. We'll see how it goes and if possible, I'll try to get at least one in the next stoneware/ porcelain firing.