Burnishing my balls on spring break

That title is a double entendre, by the way. It has one meaning which is rather innocuous and one which is...not. Keep reading to find out which way I meant it!
So this past week has been a good week, with the exception of Wednesday which was a little demoralizing. It’s never fun having someone tell you that what you are doing is little more than a glorified hobby, especially when it is what you are trying to turn into a career.
But anyway…it was spring break this week so I didn’t have to worry about being interrupted by teaching. The only thing that took me away from the studio was applying for a job at the SIU library. Sure, it is not exactly what I would like to be doing, but it would be nice to have a steady income for a change, and I would still have plenty of time to get in the studio. Here’s hoping that goes well. In the mean time I got a decent amount of work done. Not as much as I would have liked, but decent.

In order to keep myself motivated I have decided to take the 100 MUG CHALLENGE! (doesn't that sound like something you would hear on Oprah? "Next time on Oprah, the 100 Mug Challenge and how it can change your life...") You can check out the inspiration for this at the Fine Mess Pottery blog. I do not have a deadline or show set up for my 100; I am doing it more for the practice and to build inventory. I started this week and have 13 green mugs thus far.

These are a few more of the mugs and a couple canisters I made as tests. Man, those were a trip! I didn't realize how long it has been since I made lidded jars. The forms are close to what I was looking for, but I had quite a time getting those lids to fit properly. There are definitely a lot of flaws with these canisters, so they may end up being used for saggars or just in the scrap heap. Maybe my next project should be 100 lidded jars.

12 glaze testers. Since my last glaze testing went horribly awry I had to make more pieces to retest. I decided to make things that could actually be used, though instead of just little tiles. So...bud vases! And they were pretty fun to make to boot.

And finally, bowls. I have been wanting to try some bigger stuff and bowls seemed like a good place to start. The walls might be a bit thick, but even. They would work well for mixing bowls. Now I just need to get those handles figured out. It is the first time I have tried that type of handle and it was troublesome getting something I was half ways ok with. The balls inside the bowls are more christmas ornaments like the ones I talked about earlier. They are all burnished (hence the title) and ready to go in the kiln. I guess that is all for now. Back to the studio and moving a kiln.