It’s been a busy few days with glorious sunshine and several pottery-related events to talk about, but my first priority today was to get my bisqued earthenware pieces waxed, glazed and loaded into the kiln. Said kiln is now gently warming up and as soon as I see the moisture has gone I’ll turn up the rate of heating to 100 degrees F per hour, put the lid down and go to bed.
The other day I posted on facebook a photo of my full bisque load just as I opened the lid, to show the mixture of earthenware and stoneware pieces. It was interesting to find that some people don’t know that we almost always fire our pots twice, once for the bisque and the other for glazing. Several folks asked what the draw-rings I’d made are for so I needed to explain their necessity in a salt firing. I shall have to post photos of the finished pots so that people see the difference between bisqued and glazed work.
http://www.fprosesociety.org/Annualroseshow.html
On Saturday I visited the Coquitlam Rose Show at the Dogwood Pavilion where 8 or so TriCity Potters were selling their wares. Board member Kay Bonathan is a keen member of the Rose Society and alerted our potters to the opportunity. The Rose Show is very popular in the Lower Mainland and with the Farmers’ Market on Sunday morning should have been an excellent place to display and sell flower-related pottery. Members were taking it in turns to sit at the display so I took the opportunity to see what they’ve been making. Joyce Gillespie had some of her whimsical fence-post toppers, ceramic flowers to poke in the garden and some bird-houses, all cheerfully painted maiolica-style.
I found the inside, air-conditioned rose show interesting, admired the variety of cut roses and arrangements, noticed which roses smell best and saw that Kay had won several prizes for her entries. Congratulations Kay!
But actually I was happier wandering around the carefully tended outdoor garden of roses, particularly the brand-new Centennial garden of Canadian roses. So forgive me for including a few photos of these lovely specimens. Yes, this is a blog about pots but it’s also mine, and I like flowers too!
My next two blogs will describe our visit to three potters who took part in the Horseshoe Bay Art Walk yesterday, and the evening party, 7.7.7, at the closing of the Leach/Hamada show at the Satellite Gallery.
