Just a week ago I took my two cubic feet quota of pots over to The Vault Kiln at Shadbolt Centre. It was all arranged so that folks could safely spray, glaze and wad their pieces before leaving them on shelves next to the soda kiln. I’d already prepared my pieces in my studio so merely left them in the kiln shed. We were not invited to help load and I opted not to drive over there to be one of a very few to help spray soda. Linda laughed that she knows how much soda I like.

It was a long weekend as I imagined how the firing had fared.. there was some gardening, grocery shopping, the odd walk, correspondence, and studio clean-up as I waited.

Finally, Tuesday at 1.30pm, was my scheduled time to collect my work. It is sad that there was no chance to enjoy the usual friendly conversation with fellow soda workshop attendees.. but that can’t happen at this time. Almost all the others had earlier slots so I only briefly chatted with David Lloyd and Nicole Ponsart. Both had interesting results to admire, but all the rest of the work was gone. Cheryl Stapleton, who was teching with Tony yesterday, took a couple of photos of the kiln, front and back, just as it was opened. Thanks for that Cheryl. The overall colour looked very good and the consensus was that the firing had gone well.

I was very pleased. At first glance the stoneware looks much quieter than my usual jolly earthenware but there are such different expectations from these firings. Generally my pieces showed lots of the orange peel that I like, and areas that didn’t get the soda as much, having been sprayed with slip anyway were orange, yellow and just sometimes brown. I packed up my work and was the last to be scraping (with work gloves and a mask.. for silica dust not Covid) kiln shelves. With thanks and farewells to Cheryl, Tony and Jay I put my pots in my car. December 1st had greeted us with a bright 8C cloudless day and it was only just after 2pm so I treated myself to a marvellous mood-enhancing walk around Deer Lake for an hour or so. Walking alone was fine as I could stop to admire an eagle, ducks, honking geese, and beautiful orange colour of the low afternoon sun on the leafless trees, and take far too many photos, of course. Instagram and Facebook friends were invited to share my walk.

But this blog is intended as a way of sharing pics of my finished stoneware pots. Al took formal photos yesterday. My favourite this time is a silly Rhyton/Stirrup Cup that I made as a bird, upside down. The idea is that he can be placed on your sideboard to supervise festivities and is only upturned when the reveller is ready to use the bird for mulled cider, wine, mead, beer or whatever. Perhaps, post-Covid, the beverage can be shared with friends.

Wassail (/ˈwɒsəl/, /-eɪl/; Old Norse “ves heil”, Old English was hál, literally: be hale) is a beverage of hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval Christmastide English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year.   Thanks Wikipedia.

This fellow is a one-off. I had fun making him and I might be persuaded to make one or two more similar. He’s 9 inches tall and is made with four wheel-thrown sections, sprayed with flashing slips at the bone dry stage and bisque fired. The inside is coated with Shino glaze for functionality but the outside is unglazed. The effects are all from the soda’s reaction to the sprayed slips.

There’s another salty Jugbird, this one has a gold bill and is 6″ tall.

An enthusiastic collector asked me to make a selection of little vases, and to try for blue salty orange peel. So Bette, here are some. They’re all in the 5-6″ range with one that’s 7″.

Jonathon suggested I might like to make some non-Fabergé eggs, with the carved rows I like to do, as little storage pots to live alongside my birds. Here are my experiments. The  lids come off.

I had brought along four pots that I felt could use another firing. They were too dark and dry for my taste. Happily their second firing in soda was just what was needed and all four can now have a life! These pieces were sprayed with a really blue slip which I don’t think I’ll use any more.. softer is good.. but they are really juicy and may appeal to some folks. Get in touch if you’d like a 6″ jug or a butter dish. The other two re-fires are a small bowl and a blue vase.

Otherwise there were some mugs.. not too sure about the shape, and tumblers and a couple of yunomi. If you’d like to give a piece of my pottery as a gift, contact me right away. There are others here in my studio. But I shall be taking some in to Circle Craft and mailing one or two to Ontario.

The excitement isn’t over! Fraser Valley Potters Guild decided to have a group soda firing instead of a party this year.. good idea. So many members have opted for the chance to join a soda firing that we are invited to bring along just two, tallish pieces and perhaps a third small one as well. I have set aside my tall watering Can-ard and another jugbird for that firing which is scheduled for next week.