WillowAK Pottery

Cleaned up the studio so it was in good shape as our Thanksgiving guest house; it's been a nice break from the mess of clay.  Am looking forward, however, to starting another cycle of work  after some glazing, firing, and yes -- a WillowAK Pottery Open House. We've decided on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8 and 9, from noon until 5:00 on each of those days for an open house. Hopefully we can get the word out to those in the area and to others who may have an interest in stopping by to see what's being created in the studio.  I've already heard from a couple people I don't know, so this could be a good opportunity to meet neighbors in the Willow area, which would be nice.  If you're reading this blog and have time to come by for the WillowAK Pottery Open House on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9, please do. We look forward to seeing some longtime friends and acquaintances as well as folks we've never met.  Sour dough proofing Wood oven used for bread baking and more ...

My favorite glaze combination Second favorite, probably Pretty exciting to do the first glaze firing in a kiln and to see, for the first time, how the new glazes look when fired!  For the most part, I was pleased -- and  now have lots of information to use with future firings. Fortunately, there was no running of glazes onto the kiln shelves and the firing process seemed to go just as Skutt promised! Did learn, however, that "nutmeg" does not always like to be the bottom layer on a piece, so will try to remember that in the future. Porcelain mugs with colored slips covered by clear glaze Stoneware and porcelain Light and dark Lots of mugs Lots of bowls Test tiles to see how glazes behave     Large and small, happy together While this load was cooling, I waxed the bottoms of pots for the next firing.  Hmm ... wonder if I'll get better about judging how much work will make a full kiln load. Hope so.  ...

Winter arrived in Willow about a month ago -- cold temps froze the lake and we've now had about three weeks of clear, sunny, cold autumn that looks and feels like winter. Mt. McKinley's been in view each day. After the initial snowfall, there's been no more, so the John Deere garden tractor with snow blower is yet to be tested out, but we've seen skating, ice fishing, plane landing (on wheels), and snow machining on the lake this past week, so that says "winter" to me! Tiles for testing glaze color, behavior, and layering In the studio I've mixed eight glazes, three of which have already settled to a hard layer in the bottom of the bucket, so they were remixed with a drill today in anticipation of glazing tomorrow.  Will be starting with clear, white, blue ice, cadet blue, sage, merlot, nutmeg, and black glazes. Made 52 test tiles to see how these glazes will look alone and in layering -- but should have made at least 64 tiles. Guess my small pieces...