⚡⚡ fire me up

yesterday I wandered to the Old Town :

I lucked on a workshop organised by

Madelaine Murphy, Richard Baxter, 

Lola Swain and Kelly Foreman ~

raku japanese open firing:

no guns, just glaze:

pick a pot, already formed and fired:

a choice of glazes and tools to try:

Kelly tells me what each glaze will do

after firing:  

with her guidance she realises my idea:

possibility, shade, technique:

mine has turquoise:

kilns waiting to be filled:

happy shoppers all:

carefully placed inside by Kelly:

then fired up:

we wait:

we anticipate:

Madelaine glazes a bonsai pot

brought along by a lady who shows me 

photos of beautiful ferns and 

bonsai in bloom:

a cup of tea and a shared memory of being taught 

to tie her shoelaces by her father:

the pieces are taken from the kiln and

sunk into sawdust:

*I missed this exciting part as I had to meet Libbie at home:

you can see it here ☛ getfiredup

most of the pieces were hidden under the sawdust:

mine peeped through as I wanted the lower

part of my glaze to be different from the top:

like a lucky dip, Kelly pulled the pieces out:

Richard cleaned up the burrs:

may I present a beautiful cup:

crackled and blue and mine:

a pleasurable afternoon: