John Britt Cone 6 Glazing Workshop

John's Straw Ash Glaze test tiles; electric fast-fire (left); gas reduction (right); clay bodies left to right: mid-range porcelain, stoneware, beige stoneware, dark brown stoneware

April 29 & 30 I attended a Cone 6 Glaze workshop with John Britt in Selden, NY,  offered through the Long Island Craft Guild. I was lucky to be there! John is deeply knowledgeable and experienced, and a funny, engaging teacher. He provided us a framework for comprehension that took a great deal of the "overwhelm" out of the prospect of choosing glaze recipes, mixing, and testing glazes. I also now better understand his valuable reference book: The Complete Guide to Mid-Range Glazes. I have about 50 pages of hand-written notes I'll be organizing into reference materials. John joked at one point: you write down everything! That was pretty much true.

A memorable quote: Pottery sucks and potters have a great resilience for defeat. The nature of ceramics is disappointment, but we keep coming back.

Thanks to Oakwood Friends School for the Professional Development funding to attend this workshop. I'll now be starting up our new Glaze Lab at school with confidence and a greater sense of humor to weather our inevitable glazing mishaps!

Group photo! Long Island Craft Guild workshop with John Britt, April 29 & 30, Selden , NY

Peters Valley Anagama Firing - Here I come!

I just received an educator's scholarship from Peters Valley School of Craft, combined with professional development funding from Oakwood Friends School, to attend a clay workshop at Peters Valley in Layton, NJ this summer. I'll be going to the Firing the Anagama workshop, August 15-22. I built a 3-D Clay Printer there last June as part of Bryan Czibescz's workshop. I went there last summer little knowing that Peters Valley is a wood-firing haven. I walked into their enormous hillside Anagama kiln, which was built in 1980 following a medieval Japanese design. It was astonishing; it took my breath away. I look forward to bringing some of my 3-D-printed clay sculpture back to Peters Valley this summer - as well as other pieces, including vessels from Plainsong Kico - to fire in this extraordinary, gargantuan Anagama kiln.

Here is the link describing the workshop:

http://www.petersvalleyworkshops.bigcartel.com/product/firing-the-anagama