Covered jars

A friend had requested I make a covered jar for her, based on a photo on my website. I was using carved cinnabar beads for the original ones as the knob, but don't have any of those, so I made some out of a dark red clay body and fired them separately, then epoxied together. It would make it easier if both clays fired at the same temperature, but do not.

After these great firings, I took a lot of photos. I used to take my own shots, set up in a dark room with bright lights and a sheet for a diffuser and after several hours of photographing work, you hoped for the best with your slides. Then I started to use Randy McNeilly, a photographer who is great, to take images for shows, my website, etc. But for the blog, and to have photos on the fly, I am back to setting up a temporary photo shot in the studio. Digital cameras make it much easier and you know what you got immediately for the most part.

We had Lana Wilson, a great potter from California, as a workshop instructor for Carolina ClayMatters Guild, several years ago. She said her family could tell when she had a great firing because she made a great dinner. Ben Owens said it's like Christmas. It is very exciting to see what has come to life in the firing!

GREAT WEEK!!! Hope yours was creative as well!