Watching pots dry... slowly.

If you visited my studio and peered into the gloom of my drying shelves, you might see something a little bit odd there... even odder than usual!  I have been making lots of cylinders, globes, and bowls on the wheel that can be stacked and joined together.

Most of the objects have been made from stoneware clay, but some are from a fine white clay.  The white clay will have crystalline glazes.  Some of the stoneware might be fired in the wood fired kiln.

I have made little joining pieces that fit in between the larger sections, and I have tried to standardise most of the joints so that pieces can be "mixed and matched".

We have concrete wheelchair ramp to the front door of our home and studio, and I want to make it more exciting visually by replacing some of the metal posts that support the hand rail with my ceramic posts.  When I do this I will put a metal rod up the centre of my ceramic post, and probably fill the centre with concrete.

I also want to make fountains, and have been making bowls that are designed to fit in between the other sections.

I have been making more pots and vases that will be crystalline glazed.  The pot in the photo above is made from porcelain.  I recently "took the plunge" and purchased my first bag of porcelain.  I have read all sorts of things about porcelain, about how difficult it is to work with, but the porcelain that I bought was actually easier to work with in some respects than my stoneware clay and definitely much easier than the white clay that I have used in the past.  The porcelain is Primo Clays - High-fire Porcelain, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing how it looks when fired.

I am starting a bisque firing of some of the stoneware pieces for the front railing as I write this.  Other work will be drying on racks over the kiln as the firing proceeds.  I am very busy at the moment, because I am a guest potter in an exhibition in Oamaru next month, and the month after that I am a guest potter at an exhibition in Timaru.  I would love a fountain to be ready for the exhibition in Oamaru, but may run short of time as some of the parts are drying rather slowly.  It is the end of summer now, and washing can hang all day on the line and still be damp in the evening, and pots dry slowly.  I have several large platters drying on my shelves that may end up being what goes to Oamaru... but we will have to wait and see which work wins the race to the kiln!