Everything takes longer than planned…in my world.

I got to the studio yesterday and was thrilled to see that someone unloaded the bisque kiln for me – that would save time. I checked out my tiles from the test kiln and was happy to see the results but still need more information so I spent a couple of hours going through them all, re-calculating glaze recipes, and coming up with  27 more tests to make.  At this stage I need to test 4 new glazes and 23 overlaps.

First I really needed to get the bowls and mugs trimmed and get handles on the mugs.  Everything had just gotten too dry so I need to add moisture in steps to get the pieces workable.  What a process.

By 8:30 ( I had gotten to the studio at 4) I had trimming done but no handles on the mugs but those tests really needed to get made so that I can stay on track for two firings on Sunday.

By 10:30 pm I had 15 test tiles in the test kiln – no new glazes but got some overlaps in.  I was totally beat at this point.  Now that’s okay because that was all I could fit in the kiln but this means I need to get more done tomorrow for sure.

So I can look back at what I got accomplished yesterday and see that it really doesn’t seem like much for 6.5 hours in the studio but there is so much I don’t take into account:

– Getting set up (which involves cleaning my work space before I can even get started because we have some very lazy people at the studio) and gathering all my materials from my 3 lockers and shelves.

– Getting organized

– Stopping to chat with others to discuss projects.

– Bathroom breaks – which involve having to clean up a bit ( clay covered hands) before making the trek to the restrooms at the other end of the art building

– spraying, wrapping, moving pieces and ware boards around

– Waiting to use a sink, a glaze chemical, the wedging board

– constantly having to clean mixing tools, sieves, buckets, containers, the workspace, etc

– calculating numbers and ratios for glaze recipes

– The time spent looking and thinking about what my next step is in any project

This list goes on…

But –  I  absolutely love every step of the whole process, except interruptions involving “chatting” although sometimes they are much-needed or I would never take a break!

Unfortunately I didn’t get anywhere in my goal of 150 tea bowls…

So today is the day job and then a decision has to be made as to whether I go out and spend some time with friends (two invitations on the table) or go back to the studio.