Spring is in the air… and we’re at the end of our “forsythia season” with most bushes petering-out. But I found a “protected” one this morning still in full bloom. So nice to see Nature’s colors again… other than the “gray & brown” of late Winter!

Another breezy morning along the lakefront. The clouds shrouded the early morning colors… with just a moment of pink clouds. Luckily, the clouds blew out of the way so we got a bit of sunrise glory in the end. And the ride home was great fun with a brisk tailwind!!!

On a quieter note… I did also pull out my latest batch of reclaimed clay. Piled it up in a large plaster bat so it could dry out a bit to stiffen up into better clay. A bunch of wedging… coming soon to a studio near you!!!

Some folks think pottery just happens… make it, fire it, done. But there’s a more behind the scenes that most people don’t know about. Like the “joy” of physically scraping down all of the kiln shelves after every soda-firing to remove any glaze drips or soda build-up. Gotta keep the shelves clean & ready for the next firing.

Just got a little busy… and now realizing that I didn’t post many photos from my recent soda kiln! So here are a few more photos of the front stack before I started to unload everything. It’s always like Christmas opening the door to reveal all of the presents inside!

Last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class, I showed my students some fun wheelthrowing “tricks” to make textured pots on the wheel. Of course I had to introduce some of them to my collection of handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools! Pressing them into fresh clay & then bulging them out to shape the newly textured pot!!!

Weed or flower?… not quite sure???

But this cute little guy is a welcome addition either way!!!
A fun pop of yellow in the garden during early Spring!

Unloaded my soda kiln yesterday. The anticipation & surprise of opening a kiln never gets old. Such a treat. And I always love to see some bright colors… proving that soda-fired pots don’t always need to be gray or brown!!!

Just a couple mugs after last night’s class. It’s only their second week of the session…
and a couple of them already have mugs! Me too… with a couple demo pieces!!!

Lots of cloud-cover this morning… with a smidge of sunrise peeking through.
It’s supposed to clear up & get warmer today… we’ll see… promises, promises…