The most recent progress in the studio gets us that much closer to ready to produce. This week, in the evenings, I’ve prepared the plaster of paris wedging board, which is currently drying out. It’s big an heavy and should work nicely until I can wrangle a big slab of cured tupelo.

I also got something to sit on. After much searching, I decided to get the Shimpo potters stool which matches my wheel. It’s a nice addition to the studio. Simple, easy to adjust and quite solid. So, now I have somewhere to sit.

The Giffin Grip box was opened last night, and I had the pleasure of setting it up for my wheel. It impressed me how well-designed the Giffin Grip is. It’s a simple thing, but elegant and clear that a lot of thought went into it. It took about 15 minutes to get everything adjusted, and we’re now ready to trim

Also checked off this week, the third coat of kiln wash was applied and fired. The kiln is about to reach temperature at this very moment. The kiln wash supplied by L&L was cone 10 kiln wash, and it is a bit more powdery than the cone 6 kiln wash I’ve seen before. I had a nice chat with Dave Sturm at Bracker’s Good Earth Clays about the kiln wash and I’m impressed. Both with the kiln wash and with Dave’s willingness to answer noobie questions about the kiln wash process.

The next step is to get the wedging board fitted to the wedging table, and to make a trip to Fat Cat Pottery to pick up some clay and some glazes to get started. I’m also working on getting the KISS kiln monitoring set up. I had to make some changes in my plan to use an older PC. It didn’t like the USB interface, so I’m going to try using an Acer Aspire One netbook to handle the software. That’s another evening’s worth of excitement. And then there’s the heating and AC installation, and coordinating with the electrician and HVAC guys. Bottom line, I can start working soon. I’m targeting the beginning of May to get the wheel muddy.