The other two artists who had plates in my recent firing were Marlene Madison and Mina Totino. Renee van Halm was here too, working hard all day but in the end decided to leave her pieces to be finished on her next visit.

Marlene finished a fairly large platter with oak leaves that she’d started on an earlier visit and then painted another three squarish plates in her signature shoe series. They’re elegant and restrained.

Mina applies the colours with energy. The square plate I made for her last time is now boldly green with orange.

Circles adorn the rim of a largish oval plate and there’s a little dish for her kitty.

The squarish plate was leather hard and she used my coloured slips on that instead of underglazes and I dried it in my convection oven so that I could get the bisque firing started the next day.