Look What I Made! part 2

Part 2 of my ceramic birthday party. See this post for part 1.

We returned to Muddy's Studio a few weeks after the party to a table full of bisque ware. That means the clay pieces were air dried then kiln fired once, ready to glaze. 23 pieces in total.

All of our wet gray pots were now white. The pieces had shrunk about 20%. Which we were told about but were still surprised by.

Only 3 of us were able to make glazing night. We had to glaze all 23 pieces in two and a half hours. We decided to focus on our own pieces first then glaze the rest. I had 7 pots to glaze. My own four items and three bowls that were gifted to me by Stacy. She's a pro so her bowls actually look like bowls. She wasn't able to make it so I got to glaze them myself. Practice makes perfect!

By the end of the evening, we were frantically scraping and finishing the pots. A few got single dunks in the glazing bins. I was surprised how fast the glaze dried. Apparently the water in the glaze gets absorbed quickly by the very porous bisque ware. 

Me at the end, exhausted and slightly manic, trying to finish and pack up all the pieces. There was a class in the background glazing their pieces too. Unfortunately they left us to clean up after them. Oh well.

All the pots looked like this. Shades of beige, tan and brown. We couldn't tell what colors we had chosen or remember what we had done by the end of the night.

But the finale is this most beautiful collection of ceramic art from a group of mostly novices. We lost one piece in the kiln. Plus another 10% shrinkage. But look at all the pretty colors!

One of Stacy's pots glazed by her daughter.

My personal collection.

Close up of my gift bowls.

My very favorite piece. As I said in part 1, The Wave was supposed to be a big bowl. I made the clay a little thin and it started to twist in my hands when I tried to push it back. My bowl became art. I had fun with "painting" glaze on. I just love it.

Thanks again to Audrey for arranging this most wonderful event for my birthday!

Solar Eclipse

Kind of off topic but way too cool not to share.

Along with millions of other people all over the world, I watched the solar eclipse on Monday. In Southern CA we got about 60% coverage of the sun by the moon.

Here is where I started my day in Orange County. Pin holes in card stock on the sidewalk at my place.

Then I moved to my friend's house because she had solar glasses to share. Ian and his friend checking out the real eclipse.

My personal shot using my phone camera with the solar glasses snug against the lens. Sun is the tiny crescent on the upper right side.

More card stock viewing with extra crescents between my fingers holding the paper.

Then a flurry of photos from my family via text in Los Angeles County...

My mother's cardboard box with two little crescents.

My sister at my niece's elementary school.

Using her binoculars, a pair of crescents.

And on cardboard.

My brother's binocular shot.

My sister, in the Bay Area, found the crescent in the cloud cover there. The tiny spot in the center.

Many crescent shadows through the leaves of a tree. I feel like I could replicate this pattern using Shibori stitching and dyeing techniques on silk.

And the finale from the cousin of a friend in Oregon.

So amazing!