Finally there were enough pots to fill the kiln for a bisque firing, thanks to another day of my studio being ‘raided’ by Vancouver painters. We had a fun day with Philippe Raphanel, Mina Totino and her first-time-here friend Jan Wade. They each painted several plates, with Philippe astonishing us with a variety of layered colours, experimental wax resist again and a final swoosh of thinned underglaze over all.
Jan decided to work in black and white today for her first try at painting on dry clay plates, after using bright colours all day yesterday in her work at home.
Check her website here:
We enjoyed the usual potluck lunch with tasty marinated asparagus and divine salad. Alan then took the bus in to town for an afternoon of gallery hopping and supper with Mike. It was a super sunny day, if chilly, after so many days of awful pouring rain. We even had the studio door open for a while. And just to recharge our batteries we were spoilt with a baked-this-morning-by-Philippe, delicious French pear tart with our cuppa tea.
Then they helped me to carry their work down to the kiln shed. Now all my work and almost all of theirs is gently drying out at 25 degreesF per hour, probably until tomorrow morning, just to be safe. Some of today’s work is quite saturated, and mine have all had terra sigillata applied today so are also damp.
I have quite a few new jugbirds finished at last. Eclectic Gallery has twice asked for a new supply so they’ll be happy. Recently I am told that they shipped one to Seattle. The new owner sent me a note of thanks. Such fun!
I have six plates in this bisque firing. Somewhat inspired by the artists who come here, I had a go myself, but mainly using my slips, and three have an added rim. So, like them, I’ll be so interested to see the result of layering and rather abstract designs.
Here are my five plates plus a tile, rather pale when dry, but they’ll be much bolder after the glaze firing. The sixth is a secret, to be revealed much later.
Photos of almost all today’s load will appear after the two firings.
Oh, Mina and Philippe, one each of your two biggest pieces just didn’t fit onto the top shelf. So sorry, but I’ll be sure to get them in to the very next firings, and the sooner there’s another raid the sooner that kiln will fill!
