Anyway, the community studio has been gearing to do some different types of activities. We had a good set of possible ways to collaborate with the Community College, and this came in part from a professor there. But really nothing has gotten off the ground. Given time needed for schools to do things, we really are cutting it close to be doing something for next November.
But yesterday, I with Kuky and Laura met with a professor for UCCS who is doing a nutrition program. Really all the stuff we talked about, and then some, are things she would like to do and have the students involved with. So that might be making a move forward in some manner after all.
Ultimately, I know schools struggle with funding and at this point all of this is no longer ours to do much with. We need to wait and see. But still, it was nice to hear.
I was grumpy my Fermentation Crocks were not able to be fired in time to have them glazed and fired by yesterday. But, they were still drying!! Not quite used to dealing with dry time on large pieces. But I am using my prototype. And as of tomorrow it has sit for a full week, I'm making Kimchi.
So this is out of the book "Fermented Vegetables" by Shcokey & Shockey. In using the prototype there are some things I will need to change in the final design. Now I have already (as I mentioned) made a whole set, but they are all water lock style. After making the prototype I knew to adjust that piece. I did hold off on making the weights, and now that I have used this one I know what I need to do different there (size them for the top, not the widest section).
Also in reading about how to do wild ferment (no vinegar) I found that while large crocks are for sure a good idea, there is a use for ones much smaller for pickling garlic cloves, and carrots, and other things).
So here is the inside, you can see the double rim, this creates a valley to put water. That water creates a seal as the lid fits and sits into the water. Air, therefore, cannot escape. This is why I am making these deeper than I did on the prototype crock.
So here is the ingredients for the Kimchi, and then next I added the brine. I covered with the full cabbage leaves (first follower is what they call that), the weights, and finally the second follower. This was a gallon freezer bag filled with water and no air. The point is to hold down the mixture below the brine.
I then put the lid on it, check it daily to make sure it still looks ok. After a full week I can taste it, but really it looks like it needs a full two weeks. Given the inside temp of the house, I might reach completion a few days earlier.
Below you can see the Flower Pots. The non glazed are all Manzano clay. The glazed is the Sandia Red with only the rim and handles glazed. I have some other flower pots that need firing but they are still drying.
So these are a few pieces that came out of the last Oxidation Firing. Now we tried to bisque several days ago in the manual kiln and it got weird. Only the bottom section came to temp. So we needed to fix this. Two days ago we pulled it apart and found some fried wires. They need to be replaced and so a part has to be ordered. But problem solved.
However, the electronic one when crazy and we got the fail message. So we changed the thermocouple (luckily had an extra on hand) and we are back in business.
Below are two pix of the same bowl. It was made with a residue glaze that have some green tones to it when put on a white clay. Here it is on the Sandia clay, and there is some honey used. The honey brought out a very different blue than I have gotten out of any of our glazes before. Since it was a residue glaze, once it is gone it is gone. Actually this bowl sold yesterday.
The gallery at the community studio has undergone some rearrangement and while there is less work, it looks much better as a gallery. I still don't know that we get how business has slowed down so much compared to several years ago. It seems to be less people in for all things, and not just an economy thing. But they have a plan on that end, we will see how that goes.
There is a possible gallery out of town that might carry my stuff, so that could turn into something as well. I have the ETSY store of course. While I have had a lot more views, I have not yet sold anything out of it yet. But I am keeping my fingers crossed, I of course need to sell work to make money.
Yesterday actually a single man bought all of my noodle bowls I brought out. I got good response on both butter dishes and butter keepers. The fermentation folks I met were not there, but I didn't have any crocks anyway. I am hoping this of course all leads to steady sales.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/KickWheelPottery
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