Before I headed out with fellow TriCity Potters Shelley Bondheim and Gay Mitchell last Tuesday I loaded glazed plates and jugbirds into their electric firing and turned the kiln on to heat slowly. We three arrived at the Shadbolt Centre's 'Steam Plant' for 3pm and were quickly joined by nearly all of the other participants in last week's soda firing. Jay and Tony finally opened…
Yesterday turned out to be a really wonderful day. I've been working towards two firings for the last month or more so began my Friday by getting out to my kiln shed and glazing all the earthenware pieces that I'd waxed the night before. It turns out that Greenbarn's acrylic-type wax resist needs to rest overnight anyway (and even then doesn't really repel glaze like…
Saturday was not a good day to deliver new pots to Granville Island! It was a cold but beautifully sunny day and all of Vancouver decided to check out the market and most drove there! We were lucky to find a pay parking spot. Staff at Circle Craft didn't mind my coming in then, and in fact they were pleased to be able to tell…
At 10am yesterday the ten people who had work in the latest soda firing at Shadbolt Centre arrived, full of anticipation. Six of them had spent the last few Mondays attending a 'Making Pots for Soda Firing' workshop with Arlynn Nobel. She had advised them on making pieces that would be enhanced by the effects of soda and last Monday demonstrated the spraying of flashing…
We opened the Shadbolt Centre's Soda kiln today but before I share photos of that excitement I'll post some showing the end of the firing last Wednesday. Every single piece of wadded ware was loaded into the kiln on Tuesday by soda workshop leader Arlynn Nobel and technicians Jay MacLennan and Tony Wilson. We were told that it wasn't a tight pack.. all good.…