pots, tests, and poodles

For whatever reason the last three or four cycles I've been putting off making teapots until the very end. Of course teapots aren't the only thing I procrastinate. So I usually only end up with time to make four or five teapots.
This go around I decided to make teapots first thing:

I made a dozen small side handled teapots, and a dozen larger teapots with handles over the top.


We ended up being in short supply of teapots for "Clay in May". We should be all stocked back up after this firing.

Christy's been working full time recently so she hasn't had time to make any pots yet. She has been doing some clay tests though:

These are all earthen ware clays based on the same red clay that we use for our red slip and iron glazes. We're going to give a try at firing earthen ware in our third chamber. In our previous firings the third chamber reaches cone 08 as we are finishing the second chamber. So in theory we should be able to stoke the third chamber for around five minutes to reach cone 04. We'll see how it all works out.

In non pottery related news Chirsty found this little poodle at the pound.... and it followed her home.
I guess we'll have to keep her. Her name is Maggie.
Joe