Alfred University Summer Ceramics, Saturday July 15th
It’s the weekend, all greenware is in the bisque kiln, and things are slowing down in the studio.
I busied myself trimming the nine plates that were now leather hard. The surfaces of the plates were rough from the trimming, so I either burnished the rough areas or applied white slip to smooth the surface.
Four pieces came out of the cone 10 oxidation kiln, and the wood kiln was cool enough to
unload. I was excited to see the results of the five wood-fired bowls — I love the dark fiery places, where the flames flashed the glaze as well as the unglazed areas, where the flames produced a tan surface glaze. In some cases reduced metal was evident on the surface; the rough areas can be ground smooth later. No other firing technique has such a magical effect on clay pots.
Saturday night’s grand finale concert of the MostArts Music Festival, featured a lovely clarinet concerto by von Weber and a magnificent performance of Beethoven’s Eroica.
