It's that time of year again, time to go to the middle of Wisconsin and cram my brain full of all kinds of new techniques. This is the third year I've gone to the retreat with Michael Harbridge and he never fails to come up with a bunch of new projects. This year we managed to get through 11 projects. Seriously, 11 projects in 2.5 days. Add to that his wife Jeannine makes delicious meals for us all weekend.

We started off the workshop doing surface techniques. Michael had cast or purchased bisqueware and the focus was on specific techniques for each piece. Once we finished these then we moved onto clay.

Our first project was to raku a tree. We used a raku glaze (Jade Gloss from Learn Fired Arts) on the bottom 2/3rds.


On the top 1/3 we used a Mayco Jungle Gem glaze - purple rain. How amazing does this look?! I'll post the videos of me taking this out of the kiln in a subsequent post. It was definitely the heaviest thing I've ever pulled from the kiln. I got a ton of different colors on the bottom.




The back also looks completely different from the front. It's going to be hard to decide which side to put facing out. We also made a base for these that I neglected to take a picture of.




The next project was a flower bowl. We used a brush loading technique to make the petals on the flower inside.




Then we outlined the petals and made the middle of the flower.




What's interesting is that we used Mayco Tuxedo for the outline and the center, but it came out brown. The best we could figure was the kiln fired hot and Tuxedo starts to burn out at a hot cone 6.




On the outside of the bowl, we created a wood grain texture with the new Mayco Engobes. Sorry it's slightly out of focus and I didn't realize it till now. I have to wait till it's shipped to take a new pic.




We continued using the engobes on this shallow bowl and also practiced blending techniques on the banding wheel.




We used rubber stamps in the middle and on the rim (you'll see it in the finished picture). I decided mine needed some dots to round it out.




While this isn't my normal color palate. I do really love how this bowl turned out. I really like the white stamps on the black rim.




On these little mushrooms we did two techniques. The first was on the bottom where we used a brush loading technique to create the depth on the stem. The second was using cobblestone with stroke and coats on the cap. We were supposed to do a brush loading technique on the top too, but I had dots on the brain.




This little guy is the only finished project I was able to bring home with me on the plane. I've got him on my desk right now.




This vase started with a layer of underglaze that was buffed. I attempted doing some banding on the top, but it didn't go so well so it became one solid band. I actually really like the top so I'm glad I messed up. The second band in the middle went better, but this is something I need to practice.




I'll post the video of me putting the hair on the vase later this week.

More camping mugs and bowls on the way. I love this clay, but its sooo messy. I can't make anything else without completely cleaning the studio multiple times. These are also taking forever to dry because its been so wet and rainy.

This cute little cardigan came together quickly. It uses 3 skeins of Malabrigo Rios Worsted weight yarn. Each skein is 210 yards and I used almost all of it. Unfortunately it does not have a dye lot or a colorway and I can't remember where I picked it up.

I've been into the 3/4 length sleeves lately. In this particular case it was necessary because I definitely didn't have enough yarn for full sleeves.




For this pattern I used a 6 mm hook.
Stitches:
ch - chain
sk st
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet

Back Panel
ch 70
Row 1: dc in the 4th chain from the hook, *ch2, sk 2 st, dc, dc. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Row 2: ch 3, dc in the ch space, * ch2, 2 dc in the chain space. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Repeat row 2 until its 32 rows long (or your desired length).

Side Panels - Make 2
ch 30
Row 1: dc in the 4th chain from the hook, *ch2, sk 2 st, dc, dc. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Row 2: ch 3, dc in the ch space, * ch2, 2 dc in the chain space. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Repeat row 2 until its 32 rows long (or your desired length).






Sew together the top of the sweater and down the sides leaving 7-8 inches for the sleeve opening.

For the sleeves you're going to repeat the same pattern, but alternate directions.
Row 1: ch 3, dc in the ch space, * ch2, 2 dc in the chain space. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and sl st to join
I picked up 11 of the dc around. Repeat row 2 until you have 15 rows. For each row change directions so that you have a chain space.

Turn the cardigan inside out.
On the edge of the sleeve: Row 1: *ch 4, sc in the chain space. Repeat from * around, sc at the start.
Row 2-3: Repeat row 1.




Collar

Row 1: * ch 4, sc in the chain space. Repeat from * around, sc to end.
Row 2-5: Repeat row 1

Pockets - make 2

ch 18
Row 1: dc in the 4th chain from the hook, *ch2, sk 2 st, dc, dc. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Row 2: ch 3, dc in the ch space, * ch2, 2 dc in the chain space. Repeat from * across, ch 2 and dc in the last stitch
Rows 3-8: repeat row 2
Sew on pockets

Some fun new combos in this kiln, plus some old reliables.

I love how my little Calla Lily experiment came out. I think I want to turn this into a menorah.

The ring holders are really cute. I think my favorite are the ones with Clayscapes Coastal Blue on them.

Clayscapes Garden Green Cream on the tip	Mayco Sunkissed line down the middle Amaco Honeydo x3 Starting from the top in irregular bands Amaco Chun Plum x2 Amaco Smokey Merlot x2 Blue Rutile x2
Mayco Sunkissed line down the middle Midnight Ceramics Boxed Wine x2 Sexy Mermaid x2	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Trees and Birds: Mayco Cotton Tail x2 Hot Tamale x2 Rim and Back: Amaco Snapdragon x3 Sunrise: Mayco Sunkissed, Jack o Lantern, Hot Tamale, Fruit of the Vine 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Trees and Birds: Mayco Cotton Tail x2 Hot Tamale x2 Rim and Back: Amaco Snapdragon x3 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Trees and Birds: Mayco Cotton Tail x2 Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Trees and Birds: Mayco Cotton Tail x2 Hot Tamale x2 Inside and rim: Mayco Frosted Lemon x3 2167 Clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black ug wiped back Trees and Birds: Mayco Cotton Tail x2 Hot Tamale x2 Inside and Rim: Laguna Power Turquoise x3 2167 Clear
Laguna 60 Amaco Storm x3	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse Blue x3 Light Flux Sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Clayscapes Cream Swipes Coastal Blue Dipped x2	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Left: Clayscapes Briar Rose x2 Middle: Clayscapes Briar Rose x2 Wild Aster Right: Clayscapes Wild Aster x2
Laguna 60 Kentucky Mudworks Pluto x3

Got some new Calla Lily Candle Holders just in time for my show this weekend at Hershey Art Fest. My first time at a show in PA. It's just far enough for me to want to stay in a hotel so I don't have to get up quite so early on Saturday to drive. I'm looking forward to it and hope to see you there.

I took everything else out of the top shelf so I could analyze the damage. It was clear pretty quick that the globe and the vase were stuck together. I ended up having to tap them on the table to get them to come apart.


You can see that its just barely touching the wall on this side, not really all that bad. It could have been worse.


Side note - all the blog pages are now updated! Need to figure out how to do the glaze pages next.