Mellow Yellow, Carrizo Plain

woodland wildflowers

They call me mellow yellow. I lucked out, my back straightened up quicker than I expected so we took a day trip to the Carrizo Plain, enjoying a multitude of yellow wildflowers, brilliant sunny weather, and a peaceful feeling from the landscape.

rusty relic

native grassland

The Carrizo Plain is about 50 miles long and 15 miles wide and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It has the distinction of being the largest native grassland left in California. It is located West of Bakersfield, is at the 2200 foot elevation, and is traversed by the San Andreas Fault, fissures of which can be plainly seen on the eastern side of the valley.

wagon wheel

old tractor

Unfortunately Painted Rock was closed so we did not get to see this unique artifact created by the Chumash Native Americans around 2000 BCE.

farm implement

An amazing site is the 3000 acre Soda Lake. The Carrizo Plain has alkaline soil and an average 8 inch annual rainfall which all drains towards the center causing much of the lake to be covered in a thick salt crust.

Soda lake

The flowers are goldfield and tidy tips, native California wildflowers, which were in full bloom covering vast portions of the valley and the surrounding hillsides.

Throwing Standing Up

Tom's Pots

Tom made some nice pots today with beautiful forms. The color of this clay is so rich and lucious. Tom and Delia brought their Shimpo wheel over and we set up a platform to set the Shimpo on. That way we could do some throwing standing up outside in the shade. We cleared the leaves under the willow tree beside the studio, put some ground cover cloth down, and then put a piece of plywood on the ground to make a stable 'floor' for the wheel. Then we stacked six cinder blocks two high to make a stable table to put the shimpo on. We even used a level.

Tom Trimming Pots Standing Up

Tom ended up using some surgical gloves when he went to trim his pots. This clay has so much iron in it, it really stains your hands. I purchased this clay to hand build and it has grog added, so is a bit rough to throw with. I think this clay will hold up well in a barrel or pit firing. As Tom was trimming the pots a lot of the grog was coming to the surface at the bottom of the pots. We were joking about the pots being half and half pots. I like the look of the half rough and half smooth surfaces.

Delia Admiring Jupiter's Beard
(see the weeding tool in her hand)

We decided to use this Cone 5 clay I had because I can bisque it here and then hopefully get one more barrel and perhaps a pit firing in before the hot weather and fire season comes in May. While Tom was trying out the SRFG red stoneware clay, Delia and Gary were pulling some weeds. A good husband and good friends, how lucky I am.

Semi Fem Bud Vase

Meanwhile I was in the studio finishing a couple of hand built pieces I was working on before they got here today. I spent a little time smoothing the edges of this flat bottle form I finally made from a drawing in my journal. The photo doesn't show, but it is almost flat as a pancake with an opening just large enough for one stem, a Semi Fem Bud Vase.

Vine Textured Pitcher

Then when my vine textured slab stiffened up a bit, I made the Vine Textured Pitcher and put on a handle. We were supposed to go in and have a late lunch and I didn't think about the handle before I built it. I think I like the size, but don't like the attachments. I plan on studying handles to see how they're attached, so hopefully I can make mine more appealing and complementary to the form.

Later we all went in to have a late lunch. Sorry I didn't take any photos, but we had a chicken salad, Manchego cheese, Caribbean papaya, mango, and some roasted eggplant dip Delia made. I can't remember the name of it, but it was really delicious. Oh, and we put the eggplant on bread Tom made. We had some wine too. Then we all went outside again and trimmed pots, cleaned up and talked about our pottery.


Now that I've got a wheel set up here at arm height, I'm going to try throwing standing up. The rose is Joseph's Coat, a climber which changes colors as it opens. Up next I'll tell you about our day trip to the Carrizo Plain on Saturday.

Feeling Real Guilty

Gary gets one week paid vacation per year. After five years he gets one week and one day (that's this year). Occasionally he can take an extra day off, but that's without pay. He took off for a few days year before last to take care of me because my back went out (feeling guilty). This year he's taken off a couple of days because of my back too (feeling guilty). He requested today off because we were going to go to the coast for the weekend, but then we decided to just go somewhere local because we really couldn't afford the fuel (feeling guilty I don't have a job with a more steady income), but this is the only time we can take off because in the summer I (guilty) have to water everything I (guilty) planted.

Our 4 year old refrigerator just quit keeping stuff cold yesterday. Some parts are still under warranty, hopefully it's one of those parts which went bad. We kept wondering why the milk was going bad and stuff didn't seem cold, then when all the ice melted out of the ice maker onto the floor we realised something was wrong with the fridge not the milk. So we had to throw everything in the freezer and fridge out, jeez what a costly waste.


Now I'm feeling guilty because my back is about ready to go out again. Gary was still going to go to the river by himself, but since there is no food in the fridge he didn't want leave me here by myself. He just wanted to go to the river to read a book and listen to the water. He went to town to get me something to eat and if we can't get a doctor's appointment, I'll try and talk him into going to the river by himself. For some reason my back feels like the disc is slipping in and out. As long as I am sitting down it's OK, but I can barely walk to the bathroom.


Besides all that, I'm feeling guilty because all I can think of is the bisque load is coming out on Tuesday and it has all the experiments I've worked on this whole semester. I need to get them glazed as quickly as possible so I can get them in the glaze load so I'm hoping my back gets better by then.

I really wish I was feeling guilty about getting a bonus like the AIG executives. I wouldn't give it all to charity or give it all back. I'd use part of it to pay someone to come here and make my lunch and help me to the bathroom and then Gary could go to the river for the weekend without worrying about me.

Edouard Bastarache from clayart's economic solution would help us because Gary is over 50:

There's about 40 million Americans over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece in severance with stipulations: They leave their jobs...Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed. They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto industry fixed. They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing crisis fixed. So simple.

Boy, that is such a great idea and not as costly (to us taxpayers) as a trillion dollars.


Well that's enough crying in my milk for today, take care of your backs, if you don't keep them in good shape, you can't do much of anything, and neither can your loved ones, and that's the feeling real guilty part. The flower for today is an artichoke flower from my garden from last year. The flowers are so beautiful, I don't have the heart to cut them to eat the artichokes. I prefer to let them flower.

Hanging A Ceramic Window

A while ago I sketched a window in my journal and today I decided to make one out of clay. It is made with porcelain and black mountain clay. The window is about 10 x 8 inches and even has a window sill. It's kind of hard to see, but the porcelain window is recessed from the sash. (I only get shadows in my photos when I don't want them). But once this is fired, how am I going to hang this window on the wall? Well, of course, I am going to use the technique I learned from Meredith of Whynot Pottery. I am so glad Meredith shared her technique with me, especially since I plan to make several of these windows.

I'm now imagining a whole series of these windows and think they would be so much fun to make. I could make some with miniature flower pots to put on the window sill or I could set some small candle holders on the sill. I could paint an outdoor scene on the window as if I were looking out, or I could paint an indoor scene on the window as if I were looking in. I could paint a curtain in the window. I even wonder what a real window made of porcelain would be like installed in a wall with the sun shining through it? Something to think about for my future studio. Once again I've discovered a new clay tangent to follow. And, of course, I'll be using Meredith's hanging technique on all of these windows once they're fired.


You may recall last year I made some Leaf Panels like the one above and wondered how I would hang them on the wall. Not only did Meredith of Whynot Pottery share her technique on how she hangs her ceramic tiles, but she also took the time to email me a photo of the back of one of her tiles. That's a photo of the back of Meredith's tile below. Here's what I learned from Meredith on how she hangs her tiles.


First take two pieces of wood and drill into the side of each for an eye hook. I plan on using 1 x 2 pine. You could also check with a cabinet maker and ask for some cut offs, just make sure they are the same thickness. Next screw the eye hook into the side of the wood. I think I'll drill a couple of pilot holes first. Then glue each piece of wood with two part epoxy to the back of the piece you want to hang. Place the wood about an inch or so from the top of the piece. If the piece is large like my leaf panels, glue another piece of wood at the bottom to keep the panel from tilting when hanging on the wall. Set them aside to set up for a few days being careful not to bump or dislodge the wood from it's spot. You can weight down the wood to be sure it makes good contact with the ceramic piece. When the glue has set up nice and strong, you can string picture wire between the two eye hooks and then hang your ceramic piece on the wall. The wood helps the piece sit out from the wall and gives it some dimension.


Thanks Meredith, I wish you were around the corner, I'd bring you a bouquet. Since you're not, here's a photo of a bouquet. The roses are Double Delight, with Clary sage leaves and rose-scented geranium flowers.

Bathtub Koi Pond

A fellow blogger, Barbara, of Clay Garden remarked about my koi pond in a previous post. When we moved here there was an old bathtub which was used for a cattle watering trough. It was a huge, cast iron, claw foot tub, minus the feet. We wanted to dispose of it but it was too heavy to move very far even with a tractor. So we tried to think of how we could camoflauge the tub. We installed a bathtub koi pond with just the cost of a few fish, plants, some materials we had on hand, and some hard work.

When we made our parking area, I had an idea to make a turn around in the middle and thought about making a bathtub koi pond. Gary placed the bathtub on top of the ground with the tractor. We connected a PVC pipe to the bottom of the drain. We put the PVC pipe in in case we ever wanted to drain the tub. Then Gary piled some nice compost enriched soil all around the bathtub about two feet wide, right up to the top of the bathtub. We placed rocks we gathered on our property riprap fashion, around the soil to prevent erosion.


I planted shrubs on the east and west side of the tub to shade the water part of the day. I planted bottlebrush, cotoneaster parney and red yucca. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't use the bottle brush because the flowers drop in the pond and I have to keep cleaning the flowers out the pond. I put a rubber stopper in the bathtub drain and filled the tub full of water. I had some old ceramic molds and put them in the bathtub and placed water plants in pots on top of them. The water plants are fiber optic grass, pickerel rush, and penny wort. If a pond has more than 6 hours of sunlight a day, algae grows more easily. We let the tub "age" for about a month.

I purchased four very inexpensive koi and placed them in the pond. During the hottest part of summer the water in the tub stays cool. The soil surrounding the tub insulates it and the depth of the water helps keep it cool too. The plants put oxygen in the water and help to keep it clean. During the summer I regularly refill the water which evaporates. I found the copper float in our yard and placed it on a piece of rusty rebar as an ornamental sculpture. The image above was taken two summers ago. Notice the copper float is above the level of the shrubs. Now the shrubs are much taller than the float.


The koi were one inch long when I brought them home four years ago. One fish died the first week and a month later I found one fish skeleton on the ground. The other two fish, one solid orange and one orange and white, are now eight inches long and their bodies are getting nice and plump. They actually look like koi now instead of gold fish. When visitors come to my garden, they don't even notice the pond unless I point it out to them. A pond really attracts all kinds of wildlife to the garden. The first week I put the water in the pond, I saw water bugs in the pond and noticed birds and lizards visiting the pond to get a drink. One time I even saw two very large toads beside the pond. If you've ever thought of having a koi pond I recommend a bathtub koi pond.


Gaillardia 'Torchlight' or Blanket Flower is blooming in front of my studio right now. It's a member of the sunflower family and is drought tolerant. Blanket flower refers to the resemblance of brightly patterned Native American woven blankets. I know I promised a post on how I plan on hanging my wall panels. I finally got some more epoxy so I'll work on that post tomorrow.

Four Shillings Short

Yesterday we enjoyed a balmy 72 degrees, a perfect sunny day. Then last night some friends came over and we went to a wonderful outdoor concert to see Four Shillings Short. The concert was held in the outdoor pavilion along the banks of the Tule River at River Ridge Ranch here in Springville.


Aodh Óg Ó Tuama and Christy Martin entertained us with their Celtic, blues, East Indian and medieval blends of music. Aodh Óg Ó sings and plays tin whistles, doumbek, spoons, gems horn, many others. He was born in Cork, Ireland. Christy sings and plays hammered dulcimer, mandolin, mandola and bouzouki, banjo, North Indian Sitar, guitar and bodhran. Not only did we hear wonderful music, but Aodh Óg Ó and Christy gave some historical background behind the instruments they play and told colorful stories about many of the songs they have written. As I was listening to Aodh Óg Ó play the flute I was reminded of Michael Mahan playing his Irish flute on one of his blog videos. What a great time we had. If you ever get a chance to see Four Shillings Short I highly recommend it.


I've been working on some new ceramic forms I can fire in another barrel firing. I'd like to make something special to trade with fellow blogger and artist Cindy Shake of Artmaking in the North. Barrel fired ceramic pieces show off color better if they are made from a porcelain clay and have smooth flat surfaces. I set out to make a completely different form today, but for some reason this form wanted to be made. I call this one a pillow box, because it looks like a big fluffy pillow. Inside on the bottom of one of the pillow boxes I wrote in the word "Dream". The pillow boxes are about 8 x 5 x 5 inches.

I'm not sure about the handle making it through the barrel firing since the falling wood may crush the handle. I think I might be able to protect it by placing it under a grate when I fire it or wrapping it in a chicken wire basket. I'm made several of these pillow boxes today. I also have several other forms in various stages of construction. All of the fruit trees are blooming here now, so plum blossoms are the flower for the day.

Open Studio, Lots of Signs

main sign behind fence
4 x 8 ft, 10 inch letters, mounted on 10 ft posts
full sheet of plywood so it can be seen from highway
I plan on painting
"Pottery & Gifts"

You're invited to stop by my studio if you're in the neighborhood. These are the signs which will lead you in from the highway. I'm on Highway 190 about a mile before the quaint little town of Springville, California, gateway town to the Giant Sequoia trees. Also please check in at Critique My Pot, for my very rough, first draft, artist statement. Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Gate Entrance Sign
4 x 4 ft, 6 inch letters, screwed into fence
still have to paint phone number

Since I've had my gardens open for the past four years, my property has been a green jewel with trees and flowers. My neighbor's property was tall or short brown grass and nothing else. His gate is opposite mine on the highway. I can't tell you how many folks went up his driveway instead of mine looking for the lavender gardens and gift shop. I don't think you can have too many signs. We live on almost three acres and my studio is hidden among the trees so it's easy to get distracted, especially by the beautiful views.

So I have lots of signs with arrows pointing out the entrance, the parking, and the studio. Even with all the signs sometimes folks drive in and drive out. I am not sure if they thought a lavender gift shop was a drive-through or not. Hopefully folks won't think my studio is a drive-through. Hey maybe that's a good idea - a drive through pottery. I can see it now, folks drive up and say they want pot number two and five, oh, and then they add number 15 too, yeah.

Double Directional Sign on Highway
4 x 4 ft, 10 inch letters, free standing with piano hinge
hopefully can be seen by cars whizzing by at 55 mph

For now my budget doesn't allow for a professional sign painter, so I've taken the task upon myself. I've painted over my lavender garden signs with a new background color and new lettering. The gardens are still here, but will now be an adjunct to my studio. For signs to be seen by folks driving by at 55 mph, the letters must be big and there must a good contrast between the background color and the color of the letters. There is a whole science to the size and colors of signs, but I won't get into that here. Hopefully folks think my signs are quaint and not unprofessional.

Directional Sign near fence and entry
2 x 2 ft, 7 inch letters, free standing with piano hinge
hopefully seen by cars entering from driveway

When the signs were first painted for the gardens over four years ago, I started with exterior plywood and put a good coat of primer on the wood. This week I repainted the signs with the background color which is a latex interior paint I had in the cabinet. I hand brushed the paint on instead of rolling it to get a good thick coat. Even interior house paint will last a long time if painted well over primed wood. I let the paint dry for two days to be sure it's really dry before I paint the letters.

Entrance & Parking Directional Signs
1 x 3 and 2 x 2 ft
(looks like a dead end, but it's not)
I'll re paint with coordinating colors very soon
and I think I'll hang the Entrance sign up on fence

I am pretty good at estimating sizes, so I don't measure the length and width of the sign and the size of the letters and spaces, but I recommend this for first time sign painters. I use a pencil to rough draw the letters on the sign. If it comes out too uneven I can always erase the letters and start over. Next I use a brush the width of the letters I am going to paint. I paint the letters on with a thin coat of paint being careful not to load the brush with too much paint, otherwise the paint will run down the sign. I let this dry over night and then put a second coat on the letters the next day with a smaller flat brush so I won't go outside the lines (too much). I tell myself hand painting signs are all part of the ambiance of visiting a country pottery studio.

sign on gravel drive
1.5 x 3 ft sign, propped against boulder
(this was laying in the dirt all winter long)
I'll be re-painting tomorrow to read
"Please drive in, we're open"

I have a 4 x 4 ft sign made of 3/8 inch plywood I put out near the highway to catch passersby initial attention. This sign is a little rougher in character than the others. It reads "Pottery Studio Open" with an arrow pointing into the driveway. This sign is double sided and painted the same on both sides to be seen by drivers coming from either direction. This sign has a piano hinge on the top and can be opened up and put out on the highway when I am open, and closed and moved in when I am closed. Then as you turn into the driveway I have a 2 x 2 ft sign that says "Studio Open" with an arrow pointing to my gates and driveway (not my neighbors). This sign also has a piano hinge and can be moved when I am closed. On the fence I have a 4 x 4 ft sign painted with "Blue Starr Gallery..." and this is screwed into the fence just past the "Studio Open" sign. The main sign is behind the fence and is a full sheet of plywood, 4 x 8 ft sign on 12 ft posts (2 feet sunk in the ground) with "Blue Starr Gallery..." on it.

Customer Parking Sign
I hate picking up after litter bugs
(is this too tacky?)

At the end of the frontage driveway I have a sign saying "Entrance" and another sign saying "Parking" with an arrow pointing towards the parking area. See how these two signs don't stand out as much as the ones with the light background and the dark blue letters, I plan on re-painting these to the same color. It's also nice to be color coordinated because it makes it easier for someone unfamiliar with an area to find something. This next sign sat out all winter in the dirt, I'll also be repainting it. And my "stay right" sign needs paint too.

Stay Right
8" x 12", propped on rock
at Koi pond turnaround
will re paint
(light and dark letters will be much better)

Then I have a "Customer Parking" sign at the parking area. This sign I found at a garage sale for $1, it is an old porcelain sign. I also have another sign at the path to the studio saying "Welcome, Gallery, Gift Shop, Studio" with an arrow pointing up the short pathway. Believe it or not, even with all these signs I've found folks wandering around my yard wondering where the shop (studio) was located. I know this post looks like I have a ton of signs since you are seeing them all at once, but if you drive in they are well spaced out, but often enough so you won't get lost or confused as to where to go.


Hopefully you'll find my studio with my new signs, I'll be open this weekend. I have pottery, lavender products, and fresh vegetables and fruits in season. Please stop in for a visit if you are in the neighborhood. Oh and feel free to chime in with any ideas about having an open studio or signs, etc. The flower for today is Candy Tuft, Iberis umbellata, which is blooming just outside my studio door. Up next, I'm working on my attachments to hang my leaf panels, stay tuned for that on my next post.

Blue

Blue
7 weeks old
first time we went camping with her

When Gary and I first met, Gary mentioned he'd always wanted a breed of dog called a Queensland Heeler (Blue Heeler, Australian Cattle). Whenever Gary talked about Queensland Heeler's, I said I wasn't sure about getting this breed of dog since I was unfamiliar with them. In my family I'd grown up with Boxers and that's the only breed of dog I'd ever really known. After we'd been married for only two months, I saw an ad in the local paper for Queensland Heeler puppies. I debated about whether to tell Gary about the ad for the puppies. As the weekend drew near I mentioned the ad about the puppies to Gary.

Blue Textured Vase
10" tall x 5" wide

That very weekend we went to look at the litter of Queensland Heeler puppies. I remember it clearly, even though it was over 23 years ago. There were 13 puppies in the litter. The owner said the vet had told him it was very unusual for this breed of dog to have so many puppies, especially in the first litter.

Blue Leaves
3.5" approx. each

When we arrived there, the puppies were racing around chasing each other all over the yard. It was like a whirlwind of puppies every where. We stayed there for a while just watching the puppies running every which way. After a while, Gary looked at me and said, "Can we get one?" and I said, "Which one do you think we should get?" We picked out a female puppy and named her Blue because she was a blue Queensland Heeler.

Blue Woven Crosses
9" x 7" and 7" x 5"

As newly weds, Gary and I took Blue wherever we went. We took her camping, jeeping, and vacations. We even took Blue to the Baja for a couple of weeks. Once, when Blue was just a pup, we went camping and stayed up late around the camp fire. Blue had never been camping before and, as the evening wore on, we heard her whine. We turned on the flashlight and saw her standing in front of our tent to get in. She was telling us it was time to turn in and she instinctively knew the tent was the place to go to sleep when camping.

Blue
one year old
with our cat's kitten
she acted like the kitten was her own offspring

Later in the year we had our first snow fall in our yard, we took Blue outside to see what she would think of the snow. It was one of those snow falls where the flakes are huge and fall ever so slowly like feathers floating from the sky. A snowflake would hit Blue in the eye and she would shake it off, then it would hit her in the ears and she would shade it off. A short time later we saw that Blue had figured out the snowflakes were coming from above her, she tilted her head up to the sky and started barking with an annoying type of bark as if to say, stop snowing on me. We were always amazed at how smart Blue was. Sadly, thirteen years ago Blue died from a tick-born disease called (ehrlichiosis).

Blue Vinca Flower
2" x 2"

The photos of Blue are digital photos I took today of 35 mm photographs from our albums. Back then I didn't have a digital camera. Now you know why my blog is called Blue Starr Gallery. All of the ceramic pieces posted today are from the last Cone 10 firing. Here's a blue flower for today from a variegated vinca vine. Probably more of a lavender color, but the closest thing to blue in my garden.

Tea Bowls

Temmoku and Blue Guinomi
3.25 x 3 and 3 x 2.75

Some time ago I mentioned I was working on pinch bowls. After I started making pinch bowls, I wanted to read all about the various types of Japanese tea bowls. I have discovered there are many different types of tea bowls and various sizes and types are used for different types of tea and for different reasons. I also looked at all the beautiful yunomi at AKAR trying to get a sense of how the bowls should be shaped and the overall proportions of the bowls. Please let me know your thoughts on the shapes, sizes, and names for tea bowls. I have so much to learn.

Above are two tea bowls, almost sake size so perhaps guinomi, from the last firing. The tops are uneven and the bowl on the right is a little tippy. The bowls are nice to hold because I can feel the pinched surface. I like the temmoku color I obtained with Soldate 60 clay. I didn't intend the blue accent to run down, but wanted only a slight dot of color.

Orange Shino and Temmoku Chawan
4.75 x 2.5 inches

The pinch bowl above is also from the first group and is tea bowl size, but wider than tall, xso chawan, hope I'm getting these correct. At first I thought my glazing experiment went awry but I'm starting to like this one. The shino is rough and the temmoku is smooth. I've heard of the saying 'shino first or suffer the curse', so I did follow that rule. Should the shino be shiny though? I wonder about re firing this one in a bisque load to see what happens. I read somewhere about re firing shinos to get better color.

Now I'm thinking about the next batch I get to glaze. On Tuesday I will load my next batch of pinch bowls into the kiln for a bisque and I think this group of pinch bowls shows improvement in my forms. I've made the bases wider so they are more stable. I've also concentrated on refining the feet, smoothing the surface, and improving the lip.


My art photography on a budget also improved some, because I finally utilized a trick I learned from Cynthia of Colorado Art Studio. I took the first two photos outside on a chair and used natural light which creates fewer shadows and glare. The glaze colors are more true to life, but the background has a blue tint, even though the backdrop had a slight grey tint to it. The next photo was taken in my studio, what a difference. My paint stool doesn't provide a very level surface and I also need one of those graduated backdrops. I'm working on it. If you haven't visited Cynthia's blog you're in for a treat, she is a technical whizz and a great potter too. Her blog has a search button on the right and I used it to find her post on photography again, it worked great.


I'll post a few more pieces from this glaze load in a day or two. I'm also working on a post on how I'll be hanging my leaf panels, so stay tuned. The flower for today isn't a rose, it's a bright and sunny ice plant flower.

Wall Panels

Blue Trees, pair
13" tall x 6.5" wide, approx. each

These panels were completed last year and fired Cone 10 reduction this week. I had a couple of panels crack, one with thicker applied leaves and one which was loaded with shelves too close to one another. Here's a link to show the leaf panels in their green state.

Alder Leaf Panel
14.25" tall by 5.75" wide

I'd prefer my panels be placed randomly throughout the kiln during glaze firing, but I can't seem to get the my idea of distribution of heat and air circulation across to those loading and firing the kiln. They want to put all the narrow shelves bunched together in the kiln and I think that makes for heat too concentrated in small area and therefore slows the cool down. If you have any thoughts on how to effectively load an updraft, gas-fired kiln, please let me know.

Sage Leaf Panel
14" tall by 5.75" wide

In the past I had some of my pieces with large footprints either crack or warp. I conquered the warping by placing a light bed of porcelain sand on the kiln shelf under the pieces during the glaze firing. Maybe I can convince them to load the kiln with air flow in mind.

Pear Leaf Panel
15.5" tall by 6.5" wide

Stay tuned for more work tomorrow. In a day or two I'll post all about how I plan to hang these panels with some great tips I got from Meredith of Whynot Pottery. Here are some roses which grew together in my garden.