Time to create!

My hands have been busy in the clay again. It feels so good when I get going playing in the mud! I have been working on Christmas presents and I loaded my first bisque firing this morning of all the things I've been working on. This is what the bottom shelf looked like after I was done loading it. I put the things that I thought could possibly explode separate from the other clay pieces in which I have more confidence to stay in one piece. Pieces can explode if there is air inside the clay with no way out.

The long, vertical tubular things are the stems to the mushroom garden art I'm working on. The round base at the bottom will get buried in the earth for support. The stacked triangular things are test tiles for my new glazes. I'm all geeked to see the new colors!

These are the mushroom tops. Some of them are colored already with underglaze. They will then get another coat of clear over them for the glaze firing. The others will be glazed with regular fire glazes, colors to be determined later when I see my new colors.
This is a platter and dip set. I painted some under glaze on them but will also add over glazes for the second firing.
Here are two different pieces, a candle holder on the left and a soap dish on the right.

I've been working on a bunch of different spoon rests. Here are two pictures of seven of them. Five of them have been decorated with underglazes and then will be coated with clear glaze for the final firing.

These little gems were made by Hannah. She just created them one day by just playing in the clay. They are ring holders; a great idea, I think. They are so cute! I told her if she produces a lot of them I will take them to the local art shops in Birmingham and see if they will sell them for her.
These two pieces are stamps used to imprint into clay. My daughter, Courtney, and I plan on making more soap and I want to make soap molds. I thought it would be fun to have designs in the molds. I might use these for that purpose.Here are a few 'boxes' I have made. I feel funny calling them boxes as they are round but I guess a box can be round, as in a hat box. I'll glaze these with over glazes and maybe put a marble at the bottom of each one for a cool effect.


Here is the top shelf partially loaded. Unfortunately, I only have two shelves right now. With the bisque firing the pieces can get stacked on top of each other without them sticking together. During the 2nd (glaze) firing the pieces cannot touch or else they will be co-joined. Also, with the boxes above, the lids have to stay on top of the piece so they will fit together after they shrink. So when I glaze the boxes the surfaces that touch cannot have glaze on them. Here's the full top load! Wish me luck! I hope I don't get too much explosion. I'll post pictures of the kiln and pieces when I open it up tomorrow (or later tonight!).