I recently went in to my local Home Despot to pick up something to seal the surface of raku-fired pots with, to help them keep their color. After browsing through roughly two million spray cans, I chose something that looked appropriate and headed for the checkout. At the counter, a young woman asked to see my ID. I gave her a funny look.

"You card people for buying spray paint?"

"Yeah," she said. "You have to be eighteen years old - don't want kids doing graffiti."

"How much graffiti am I going to do with CLEAR spray paint?"

I made off with my clear acrylic.

Some good work from some great people to round off the semester, from a mix of kilns. I'm behind on updating individual student galleries at the moment - hopefully soon.

by John Andrilla

by John Andrilla

by Kaitlin Stair

A few things from the latest kiln-load of goodness.

by Kristine Kinomoto

by Lacey London

by Ola Wietecha.

by Robert Andrilla

Thanks to all you wonderful people who have been thoughtful enough to buy your Amazon purchases by linking through this site. You've helped raise $35 or so to date, which may not be a lot in the great scheme of things, but is enough to give a well-deserving student a scholarship to pay for her class fee. Pat yourself on the back - you've made someone very happy.

I finally finished my demonstration piece for our animal project. The rhino is reading - what else?! - Girl Genius vol. 2 by Phil and Kaja Foglio! He's such a fan that he's even got some steampunk/Girl Genius tattoos on his forelegs - you can check out more by clicking on the picture. And if you really want in on the fun, you can read Girl Genius here!

We did cone 10 and raku firings just in time for the holidays. Below is a sample of some of the work that came out, done by a few of the school's talented and hard-working students. You can always browse more at the gallery.

Olivia Burton spends a lot of time in the studio, and it shows in her work. This is raku fired.

Taras Telyatinskiy (by the time you say that three times fast he will have made another piece) was experimenting with horsehair raku. In this process, the pot is fired to around 1300 F, then quickly pulled from the kiln with tongs. While it is still hot, horsehairs are draped across the surface, where they burn and curl and leave rich black squiggles and smoke marks. You only have 30 seconds or so to work, so you have to be quick.

Half of each class is hand-building animals right now, from chihuahuas to tigers - some fun stuff coming soon. This is my demonstration piece, not yet fired - first time I've done this myself. It's around 23" long and 25" high right now (it will shrink), built hollow using soft slabs of clay; it's going to be a tight fit getting it into the bisque kiln! More pictures in a couple weeks when things are glazed and finished.

I am dedicating this school year to MAD SCIENCE - MWAHAHA!

Be prepared to have fun, and maybe a few explosions! Wait and seeeee what I'm going to build, and the things we're going to try . . . Join the madness! Fire! Smoke! Steam(punk)! Chemistry! Pottery! Cartooning! ART! Cookies!

Friends, by Kristine Lee