A porcelain "skin" over a large gas tank that heats our studio.

NCECA (The national ceramics conference) was held in Louisville, Kentucky this year. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the lack of ceramic sculpture. However, I latched on to Chris Gustin's work immediately. His creases and dimples made me crave more.


Along with rebuilding the house, John is "rebuilding" the pond. This past week it was drained to remove the many feet of sludge that has built up over the years. He plans to make it swim-able and grow lily pads.


Since the draining, on our daily walks, Roxy's favorite activity is getting in the sludge, sinking down to her belly, and slopping through it until exhaustion. Her tail wags the entire time.

Then she rolls in the grass....cleaning herself?

Half of our studio sink has a raised drain, so clay won't fill the pipes. Because of this, a mixture of clays and lost tools sit in the sink. Once settled, it begins to look like "bacteria matt"- the kind found out west. This spiky organism looking thing, are bristles of a brush I lost about a month ago.

Pedro

As some of you know I have aquired a very loving lab since I've been here in Appomattox, VA. However, I unfortunately need to give him up because of an agreement the landlord and my roomate made before I came.
I adore this dog.
His name is Pedro and it breaks my heart to think I cannot have him in my life. But he needs to be an outside dog, which he is not right now.
If you know of anyone who is interested in a most gentle, loving, submissive, around 4 year old, NEEDS to be outside in a big open space (GREW UP on a farm, fine with no fence, as long as cars are not prevalent) dog..........then PLEASE email me. (erinintrevado@gmail.com)

We fired the salt kiln. It's a large gas kiln where once it gets to a certain temperature, a piece of angle iron is filled with salt and poured to either side, front and back of the kiln. This is Jeremy squinting at the fumes given off by the salt.

Drew's face, with the kiln reflecting off of it.

MY TOPS! Most of them spin beautifully with glaze.

I have never been so happy with a firing. Each of my "animal's" surfaces turned out deeper and more complex than I expected. My favorite part of this glaze ("Ben's E), is the lovely blue vein it left down the center.


This is also "Ben's E", because it was in the very front of the kiln and completely exposed to the salt, the glaze bleached to show more blue. The part I have not been able to capture with my camera are the TONS of crystals that formed on the back of the piece.


I consider this piece to be the most successful of the firing. The glaze sat in all the cracks, and that glaze that was left on the surface pooled around what's known as the "orange peel" effect that comes from the salt in a salt firing.