On a Clear Day...

Back to work in the Berkeley studio.

Waxing, glazing, waxing, glazing, UN GLAZING. Duncan discontinued my favorite clear glaze, Diamond Clear, I think because it had a teeny, tiny hint of lead...the nerve. I got my summer's work glazed and THEN decided I better TEST the new glaze before I loaded all the work in the kiln. The glaze Duncan is marketing as Diamond Clear's replacement crazed like crazy as you can see above. Of course that could be because it's an 05 /06 glaze and I fire to 5 but still the old stuff was a perfect fit and it also was a cone 05 glaze. It's CLEAR for god sake....it's hard to think of a glaze that could possibly be easier. If I wasn't such a lazy person I would make my own. Anybody have a fool proof recipe they want to share?

It's so lovely to be back at fourth & clay. I so missed the companionship of Christa and rae not to mention our wonderful happy hour. I have rediscovered the joy of vodka at four o'clock. AHHHH....Vodka after a day of being crazed over crazing and getting the giggles with my girlfriends...what could be better?

Leaf and Twig

Last week Sharon Virtue and I took Christa's workshop at Sierra Nevada College. Man, what a great teacher she is. The challenge for me was how to learn her wonderful industrial forms, based on antique irons and machine parts and somehow translate them into my wonky, organic style. Here are a few pics of my bisque interpretations of Christa's iron teapot and corrugated handled pitcher .


twig tea pot

leaf and stick handled pitcher

Invasion of the Pottery Posse

This past weekend in Tahoe we had a "Bay Area Pottery Posse (plus significant others)" weekend. This included: Christa Assad, Sharon Virtue (and Jack), Whitney Smith (and Andrew), Diana Fayt, John and me. WOW...not a lot of pottery was discussed because we were too busy eating biscuits,waffles and cookies, BBQ-ing lamb, sausages and 'smores, drinking gin and tonics and beer, hiking on the Tahoe Rim Trail, swimming at Dog Beach and Sugar Pine Point, hot tubing and story telling. A wonderful time was had by all (but we missed our rae and Johnny). It's now so quiet up here I don't know what to do with myself except wash all the sheets and towels and get ready for my daughter Molly (coming from Brooklyn) who arrives today. YEAH a summer filled with family and friends - what could be better.



I stole these photos off Diana's Facebook page...I hope you don't mind Diana but I was too busy drinking to remember to snap photos.