Jugbirds ready to be painted
I need to get these 15 jugbirds painted by Friday! They are intended for 'Crackerjack' the following weekend. Five will be Red Cardinals and the others will be Flickers, Woodpeckers, an Eagle, Chickadee etc. After that I'll take all I have to Circle Craft and Gallery of BC Ceramics. How on earth did I wind up making pots that take days to complete?!
Cheerful colours!
I've kept two larger jugbirds here for now. One is really Christmassy and the other is shades of turquoise. Now I must get serious about making some ordered for YVR and designing a large bird mug for a carpenter in partial payment for work here.
Good photos of new work
Some people use their jugbirds for milk and have asked me to make a sugar container to match. My recent batch of work included jugbirds, each of which has a sugarpot painted to coordinate with whatever bird it is.
Alan tried out our new photo lightbox for these photos. The depth of field is good but now we must remember to turn off the ceiling fluorescent lights in the kiln shed. You can see them in some of the images. Otherwise, what do you think of the photos?
I delivered the first three jugbird and sugarpot sets to the Gallery of BC Ceramics, and some small vases. 
These I did just for fun. The flattened sides are inspired by a temmoku-glazed one I own, made by Richard Batterham. I made two at Medalta last year so they're salty. The ones from this September are decorated with slip patterns in my usual earthenware.
To Circle Craft I delivered another three jugbird and sugarpot sets, a single Flicker jugbird and two salt-glazed jugbirds from the Shadbolt Centre firing in the summer.
Opening the Shadbolt kiln
On Monday afternoon we gathered to open the salt/soda firing from last Friday. With a hard brick kiln the pots were still somewhat warm but fine to take out. What were our feelings about the results? Linda Doherty herself says she's always disappointed at the opening of a kiln and that she prefers the firing. Having participated in the firing I was prepared for what we found. These first photos show three of my pieces which are what I hoped for. But with a tight pack, the use of soda, wood and salt (4lbs?) there were some that were good, some that would do and to my mind, quite a few that will need to be refired. Other participants opted to have some of theirs refired immediately in a cone 10 reduction gas firing. That will certainly smooth them out but I fear any orange peel will disappear.
I brought my 15 pots home and studied them the next day. The two refires from previous salt-firings were just fine, and useful now. The vase and two jugbirds shown here are OK and do show the variety of colours possible in a salt firing. Two mugs will be useable. So eight others, a teapot, 3 vases, 2 mugs and 2 jugbirds will have to wait for another salt firing. I'm sure they will wind up just fine eventually. Refiring proves to be a great option - I'll just have to wait.
I did enjoy the comaraderie of being part of a group firing again so really, Linda and Jay, my comments aren't meant to sound as if I'm unhappy. As we chatted after the unloading we agreed that more salt would have been good. I personally would rather not have wood introduced as it does make the overall look of the work more brown. I think salt colours are brighter with less reduction. And probably, and unpopularly I think that fewer pots would allow for better circulation of the salt vapour.
I'd welcome any comments, please. 
New Jugbirds for ArtWalk
When clouds weren't obscuring the lovely sun yesterday morning I dashed outside and photographed my brand-new jugbirds on a suitable tree stump or garden walkway, wherever a bird might happen to hesitate.
Later in the day I enjoyed a jaunt in to Granville Island. At Circle Craft I borrowed back half a dozen of my best salt-fired pieces to show to ArtWalk guests. And Vincent Massey and I were able to meet up so that we could transfer 3 boxes of my bisque-fired, liner-glazed and wadded pieces to his car. He is on the island on Monday evenings to take a painting class at ECUAD. He plans to fire his salt kiln at his Whistler studio in early May so I will be waiting excitedly to hear how that goes. Thanks So Much Vincent!
Time to start work in the studio again..
To start off the New Year here is a final beautiful tile from our Turkey holiday. On the last day in Istanbul we were taken to a smaller and exquisite mosque, Rustem Pasa, built in 1561. The elegant domed architecture was completely clad with these tiles, each wall a different design. They often depict Turkey's signature tulips and carnations. If I get a request in a comment to this post I will add one or two more!
William Morris admired Iznik tiles - isn't it obvious?
So far I have no leads on a gas-fired salt kiln so will not be making stoneware pots until I do. Meanwhile YVR/Vancouver Airport phoned to ask for 8 more of my colourful earthenware jugbirds on Dec 15th. What were they thinking! Now I have at least one good reason to get started back in my studio after the Christmas break - enough food and sloth! I have a plan to blog the process of making and slip-painting my jugbirds. Let's hope my one-handed photos of each stage will make for an interesting photo essay. Watch this space over the next week or so!
All good wishes to potters for inspiration, successful throwing, perfect glazes, amazing firings and the best pots you've ever made! As John Leach always writes: 'Potters of the World Ignite!'
Kiln opening day
My first blog for December.. It has taken me several weeks to make 17 jugbirds (really with Christmas in mind) and a few other pieces. The cone 04 firing went well, the slips and the one 'Radiant Red' underglaze all did their thing nicely.
I chose to make a casserole with a lid, which I almost never do now, for a friend and hooray! the oval lid popped off perfectly. Sometimes the terra sig causes them to stick a bit.
Daughter-in-law asked for some mugs too.
Mainly a lovely lady in New York asked for several Jugbirds and this evening we've had long trans-continental conversations and she's settled on 5 that I'll have to pack up and ship to her asap.
Three Red Cardinals..
Two Pileated Woodpeckers..
Miniature Jugbirds..
4 more miniature Jugbirds..
and I made and fired two more plates that Eric Metcalfe painted with his signature motifs.
All in all an exciting day!
Glaze firings in the lower mainland
As the summer draws to its end I'm trying to finish some more birds. The airport Crafthouse ordered another 8 medium so that's always an incentive to get a kiln filled. Here are some drying in the lovely sunshine. 
Interesting news is that Keith RJ phoned to tell me that he and Celia liked the display in Circle Craft's window and that he planned to finally get his salt kiln firing soon. So I popped over to their house yesterday with some of our Medalta slips for them to sample, and of course the couple of pots that didn't get in to our last firing in MH. Took a few to refire too.. Wouldn't it be marvellous if it is a fine firing on Saturday? Keith has a solo show opening next week at the Gallery of BC Ceramics. There'll be some new sculptures.
My glaze firing here will end tomorrow morning and then I'll be wanting to see how that other firing is going along. K and C used oodles of salt in their previous firing. Mmm...