Not so great

Well, I've been reluctant to come back to post because I am feeling a little down about my last firing. I had a really high failure rate. Failure, as in the sense that, I thought a lot of the stuff came out kind of ugly. I also put the turquoise glaze on too thickly on some pots and had some shelf stickies.

This black and white casserole I think is kinda cool. It could be more interesting though. One thing I have learned is that for this to look good- the black liner with the white outside- the white needs to go into the pot over the rim, instead of the black liner being outside the pot over the rim. It just looks like wet black paint, kinda hanging out on the outside of the pot the other way. Obviously glazing in this manner of having the liner glaze stop inside, just adds a lot of messy work.

This platter is probably one of my favorite things from the firing. However, it is not presentable because there is a small s-crack on the bottom, and the blue glaze is really pitted if you look closely. I forgot to take a picture of the bottom. Wait a sec.


My square plates came out okay. I'm not jumping up and down over them. I wish I had put some deco on the white stripes.

I am in a bit of turmoil right now. I need to reassess the direction I am moving in. I spent way too much time on making and then glazing (days) to have such a small success rate. I haven't worked in my studio for the last two days and don't plan to today. I'm just tryin to get my mind straight around all this. Well, I might go in and load the bisque, but then what? Spend another few days glazing that bisque to loose most of it to ugliness? I'm getting a little tired of that.

So on a different note, my first yoga class the other day was a Vinyasa Yoga class, it's like more aggressive, active movement class, and it KICKED MY ASS. I have been sore for days now. I went back last night and took another class, a normal yoga class hoping it would loosen me up. I am enjoying it however. It's kinda nice gathering with a group and practicing together. Melissa the teacher is really great too. She adjusted me a couple of times in a pose, and she doesn't just come over and move you and walk away. She comes over, and gently lays her hands on you, and you can kind of feel her assessing what needs to change, then she wraps her arms around you and presses you gently into position, and then stays there for a few moments holding you there. I swear you can feel the energy coming from her, and as soon as she puts you into position, I can feel that it is right now. Interesting.

I have been back to the Obama headquarters three times now. Yesterday we were assembling all the literature that you come home and find stuffed into your doors, only to toss into the garbage. So the next time you begin that toss, think of us, the little volunteers, our fingers raw and bleeding from stuffing them all together, and set them in the garbage gently.