Wednesday-10:30am

Like I said--all plans with Leah are tentative. She was so busy on the computer and on the phone taking calls last night for work that we didn't even get over to the art building until a little after 9pm. Well, my being on the really early days can have its drawbacks--I was already yawning before we even got there. The teacher was still there to let her in the building (doors were locked) and one other lady student remained for a short while. He showed Leah what glazes were available, the iron oxide, the color glaze to spatter a pretty green over other colors, etc.

Then--Leah got a call from her second job and they wanted the keys back right then because another part-time person needed them. She thought she could bring them back in the morning. Leah had just showed me the first step--how to paint on the iron oxide on the bottom of the pots--so I did that while she was gone for 15-20 minutes (the Valley Video shop is closeby where we were). The teacher left when Leah came back--he let her back in the building on his way out.

Oh--and I got to see what Leah had been carving away secretly last time on the bottom of my rice bowl. :) She said she knew I would see it this week when we did the glazing--hehe! What a sweetheart! I will treasure it!

Anyways, I only managed to do the bottom of four dishes while Leah was gone and had to quit right before she got back. My weak arm was starting to burn already--just from holding the bowls while I painted. I chatted with the teacher--he is such a nice man. Loves what he does, you can tell. I didn't get a picture of him this time--but back when I took a picture of Leah kneading the clay two weeks ago, he was at the end of the table talking to a lady student.

Leah told me the iron oxide was going to change the color of the bottoms so that they didn't just stay white. Something new for her and she wanted to try it. ?? Be interesting to see how it turns out.

The next step was to brush on wax over the bottom of the bowls. This prevents the bowls from sticking to the bottom of the kiln.

The weird wax burns off in the kiln. You don't want the glaze to go all the way down to the bottom of the bowl--can drip down and adhere to the kiln. Leah had that happen last time to a couple of them. A blob stuck and then it has to be broken off to get it out of the kiln. So, hopefully she'll have better luck this time and not a single one will do that, right? :)

Now--things have changed a lot since "the old days" when I was glazing 30 years ago at the ceramic shops. Nowdays, you only use a brush to paint on the iron oxide and the wax. They dip the bowls into the glaze--no painting. ?? I was surprised! And a little disappointed, I guess. Handwork is what I love. But--as it turned out--didn't matter anyways. I was too tired to last long and I did get to "paint" on the iron oxide--hehe! And it is much easier to dip pots than to hand brush glaze all over them--that's for sure. Leah said she wouldn't like doing them if she had to hand paint all the glaze on. Doesn't have the patience. But she has the patience to sit at the pottery wheel--chuckle! I guess we each have patience for certain things and not for others--hehe!

Now all this makes me want to visit Clay Your Way in Fargo. That is the only ceramic shop in the area, I believe. Leah has been there. They don't have the customers clean the greenware anymore, she told me. It is already bisque fired and you just glaze it. I forgot to ask Leah (didn't think of it till this morning) if they dipped stuff over at Clay Your Way, too--or did they hand brush the glaze on? Now I have to go there one day--just to snoop at what they have, if nothing else.

Anyways, I bet Leah was there pretty late last night finishing up. She called me once to ask me about colors for Karma's bowls. The low bowls in the above picture--she made two sets of water and food bowls (one set for the porch) and a treat bowl. The water bowls are a bit deeper and curved toward the inside at the top to prevent spilling as much. And-BTW-the two tiny, tiny low bowls--we were trying to make little white dishes for painting--just to see if it would work. Not porcelain, obviously--but will be fun to use something Leah made--cool!

The fish--the clunky Koi--didn't survive the trip to the art building. Did not break my heart, to be perfectly honest. By the time we got there--three side fins were off again and his tail fin had been crumbled half off. So--he shall return into a ball of clay, Leah said. Never fear--he will not go to waste. He will be transformed into something else--like maybe a nice little pen holder cup!

I had pre-arranged for Dagan to come and pick me up about ten o'clock. He stopped by the grocery store and picked me up some milk and candy for the kids--because I was already so tired and he didn't want to be out late, either. Wouldn't take any money from me. He is good to his old mom! That was so nice of him! :)

Now today--we shall see how things are going for Leah. She had a conference call this morning and whether we get to go shopping or not this afternoon depends on how busy she is today.

Oh--and Caroline switched to Thursday at 10:30am.

Busy, busy--for me. Keeps me out of trouble--ROFL!!!