Have a Happy Halloween

From Kenny

wow, two months

I can't believe (don't want it to be true) that it has been two months since I last posted to my blog. I've anguished over that a lot. But the anguish has not stimulated me to correct that extended absence. I'm really having to push myself to try to make amends now. I have taken a little comfort from how many of my favorite blogging friends seem to be in a similar muddle.

So, what's been going on? It's so hard to figure that out. Part of the problem is that I have put myself out on a limb and don't know how to get back to solid ground. I got into working with earthenware very innocently. I did not intend to CHANGE to earthenware. I just wanted to make some pots for me to use in my explorations of "slow cooking". So I picked up a box of earthenware clay and made a few pots. I loved working with that clay. And I loved all the pots I had to cook in and how great they worked for me in the kitchen. Then I mixed up a batch of terra siglata and that was a challenge because of my insecurity delving into a new area but it came out great. I had taken a class in Majolica a while ago so I got back into that. Meanwhile I was buying more boxes of earthenware clay. Last January I signed up for a class in "Asian Art" something I've long be interested in and wished to be able to apply to ceramic work. So, now while delving into so many unknowns, I want to put some of my Asian art on my pots...but how? So when I go out to the studio I am faced with more unknowns than confidence. And that is NOT something I want to write to the world about! Once, long ago, Emily Murphy wrote about my blog that I wrote about 'the problems as well as the successes'. But I'm embarrassed to write over and over again about the problems and insecurities. So, it's been two months since my last post.

I am about to load the kiln with a bunch of experiments. Using slips for the first time, variations with terra sig, trying my hand with my "Asian Art" work, testing clear glazes on the earthenware clay and testing some ideas on a couple majolica glazes. Surely SOMETHING with be successful!

This bowl is waiting for application of a clear glaze (yet untested).