I spent almost all weekend glazing. The first set of things that I was working on last week is in the kiln and cooling now. While the kiln was going yesterday I glazed another whole kiln load. This is the last bit to get ready for the Maryland Home and Garden show the next 2 weekends March 3-4 and 10-12.

I didn't actually realize that the second weekend was 3 days, it's not a big deal other than I thought 4 days was going to be a lot and now it's 5!! I believe I have enough made for the show. This week will be about packing and taking inventory so I know what I have.

I wanted to show my vinyl decal process. It's super easy, but I've seen a lot of questions about it on social media. In my last post I put the vinyl down. I check them all again before applying the glaze just making sure the vinyl is adhered everywhere I want it to be.

First thing to remember - you only want to use a very very stable glaze that won't move. If your glaze moves at all then your picture will be fuzzy. Unless you want that then only use a glaze that will not move. This is Mayco Stroke and Coat Tuxedo. Put on however many coats you would usually use for this glaze. I want this to be super shiny black so this is 3 coats. Normal process applies - wait till each coat is dry before applying the next coat.

After you apply your last coat - watch the pot. You're looking for it to not be slick looking but still be a little wet. It will still look wet on the vinyl - so you have to be watching the negative space.

This one is too wet.


You can see here that the birds don't look like a slick wet any more, but the vinyl is still wet. This is the time to remove the vinyl. You do it while its still wet so it's not flakey. If you wait too long you'll get jagged edges when you take off the vinyl.

Pull off the vinyl slowly. No racing. Don't worry if it tears - you can only use the vinyl once anyway.




Some designs are more complex. If you're looking for the smaller pieces you need to weed out - look at where it still looks more wet.




Voila! Simple but effective. These will go in the kiln this weekend and I'll have pictures next week of the finished product.

I'm continuing to prep stuff for the next glaze firing. I made a dozen blank white mugs to use vinyl decals with. I cut the vinyl decals on my cricut. When I'm trying out something new I'll usually only cut 1, but for something that I know works I'll cut multiples at a time.




When I'm preparing I'll put the decals in each mug so I know what my plan is and then I'll start applying them. Even when I've done multiples before it, sometimes one just won't behave at first. After I get the decal in place I use a yellow rib to smooth it down. What's great about doing this on the mug is that it's just there to tell the glaze where to go (or not to go depending on the decal) so bubbles and creases don't matter all that much. As long as the glaze can't get under the decal, that's what's important.




I was doing all of this while watching the 2023 ClayShareCon. You can see Paula McCoy's demo up on my TV. The demos from the first night were for Clayshare members only, but the rest of the conference is free to the public and will be recorded.




I didn't see the issue until I put the underglaze in. One of these things is not like the others...ooops!

I have my first show of the year coming up in less than two weeks. I will be at the Maryland Home and Garden Craft Show March 4th, 5th, 11th, and 12th. I am mostly ready for the show. At this point it's unlikely that anything I'd make right now would be ready for the first weekend, but as you can see I have a ton of bisque to glaze. This isn't even all of it - this is just what would comfortably fit on the tables.

I think it's at least 2 kiln loads, possibly more as there are a few large items to glaze as well.

We took our annual trip up to Chaumont during the winter this weekend. At first I thought we weren't going to get any snow because it had been so warm there last week, but they got a little bit of snow on Friday so we were able to see just a bit.

There were a ton of geese on the water, more than we've ever seen. They were up and down the river as far as we could see.


The gazebo is holding up through the winter. We took a chance not taking the screens down, but all is well. There was a dusting of snow inside that the puppies were eating for a quick drink.




The wind must have blown over the canoe at some point. It was too heavy for us to flip back over. It didn't seem like the ice was breaking the hull so hopefully it survives until spring.




When we came back on Sunday there were 4 swans on the river. We've never seen swans up there before! Of course the geese proceeded to be jerks and scared them away after a couple of minutes.




After much running and chasing the pups passed out at the hotel.

I have a friend who wanted to do a commissioned piece for his sister. The parameters were completely wide open. She came back and said she wanted a large platter with sunflowers and lemons that has a blue background. First thing I had to get my head around was combining lemons and sunflowers on the same plate. I did some sketches to figure out what the design would look like.

The next I had to think through is how I would have a blue background with the sunflowers and lemons. In normal life when you mix blue and yellow you get green. In pottery you could get any color, but it's also very likely that you'll get running.

I needed a way for there to be a bit of a barrier between the two colors. I came up with two primary options. The first was that I could use designer liner around the lemons and the sunflowers as a sort of barrier between the glazes. The second was to put the blue down as an underglaze and carve the sunflowers and lemons out.

Rather than start with a giant platter and cross my fingers, I decided to start with smaller items to give it a go.


I can pick the definition of the leaves of the sunflower back up when I glaze. I decided to carve the different areas with different textures so that it's clear what is petal and what is center.




Once I got the sunflowers down I decided to try lemons and add in some leaves as well. I'm not as happy with the sunflower leaves as I am with the lemon leaves. I think I can pull that back in when I add the glaze though.




This last one I was just having fun and decided to try some conflowers. This was already an experiement with a block of wood I found at the craft store. It dried too fast so instead of a shallow plate it has become a cheese board. I need to find a way that I can carve while sitting, or at least not hunch as much, but the actual act of carving was really soothing.