Kiln unloading no 43 - 7 favorite ceramic pieces from my latest firing

Welcome to kiln opening number 43. I number my kiln firings and host an Earthie award show about it right here. 

(I want to share with you the 7 best pieces or groups of pieces the kiln gave me. I affectionately think of these picks as "Earthies" awards. (Earth=clay). At the end of the post I am going to declare the Kiln Winner. I have declared a kiln winner ever since my very first glaze firing. The Kiln Winner is the ceramic piece that makes me the most exited to pull from that kiln firing.) 

To build on the excitement, here are the 7 categories. I nominate a piece or group of pieces for each one. The categories are:

1. 1. Noted glaze
2. 2. Knows its shape
3. 3. Pattern pot
4. 4. Flexing texture
5. 5. Favorite newcomer
6. 6. Stacks or groups
7. 7. Honorable mention

From this group of nominees I pick my favorite: the Kiln Winner. Here we go. 

I have been working on stenciling and hand painting lately. Here I tried my hand at hand painting some leafy branches with white underglaze on my sand colored clay, then dipping it in a clear. This is a technique I want to build on and getting more familiar with. 

I have also been working on this oak leaf shape. I really like it. It is based on one of my hand drawings of some oak leaves that I picked when I was in Denmark last year in the early fall. 

Noted glaze

Knows its shape

Something very exciting is that I have finally come to plate throwing. Here is my new appetizer plate with a leaf wreath motif. I debuted these plates for my Easter table this year. You can watch a video I made of my table setting on Instagram Throwing plates is something I have worked up to for years and it is so much fun. 

Next up is an experiment with a Sofee vase. You can see my Sofee bowl in my Valentines look book.

Pattern pot

Flexing texture

Along with the leaf appetizer plate, I also made some dinner plates. These measure about 11 inches in diameter. If you watched the video I just linked to on Instagram, you saw the leaf appetizer plate on top of this dinner plate. A good looking pair!

Next up are my new daffodil flowers. The centers are wheel thrown, then I attached the crown leaves. I can not get enough of these. They are mounted on a wire stem and work very well in a vase with some greenery as I have shown here. At my next sale I will have some of these for sale.

Favorite newcomer

Stacks or groups

The honorable mention this time is a vase with an attached flower. A vase I made in the middle of exploring ceramic flower design, something you have definitely not seen the last of.  If you follow me on Instagram you can follow along as I proto-type my way through new floral designs and much more.

These are the seven picks from my 43rd kiln opening and the winner is ... 

Honorable mention

I made 3 tries before I got this result with my daffodils. On this third try, I have to admit, there was quite some jumping involved when they came out of the kiln. They were even better than I had first envisioned and it has definitely made me want to make other kinds of flowers. Perhaps even some that *gasp* have some color to them. 

Here is the band all together again.

Group picture! *snap*