traveled south this weekend to lovely portland for the NAME (national
association of miniature enthusiasts) convention. that’s a mouthful. a first time workshop teaching experience for jon. he taught an awesome hands-on raku firing workshop to 22 eager students, friends, fans and enthusiasts, of course!
we started out the workshop with a big screen movie. jon super-sized on the wall, throwing his pots in slow, fast and regular motion. it was the perfect, he explained the delicate process and steps involved as it played. jon has always been very comfortable with the ladies, which came in handy since 21 out of 22 were. each student was given a collection of five hand thrown miniature bisque pots. he showed the group how to glaze and had supplies set out on tables. everyone was eager to start and dove right in. since i was the official gofer i missed this part as i ran off to buy a fire extinguisher. when i arrived back it was time to FIRE AWAY! we had the perfect room at the red lion on the river in portland. the doors opened out onto a patio overlooking the water. jon helped each student fire their pieces in a gas kiln. he pulled most of the red hot pieces out of the kiln for them. a few did it on their own. he blew lots of hot air to get the newspaper and pots burning. never realized how close he gets his cute face to the flames. thinking bellows would be a good purchase. after the pots cooled, each person reached into their cans and searched for their new special treasures. this was the best part. loved the reactions as the pots were pulled from the burned newspaper scraps. lots of ooohs and aaahs. lots of smiles and "oh, it’s so pretty!" and "i can’t believe i made this!" lots of "when can i do this again, seriously when will you teach another workshop?!?!"
Coming soon-the new and improved……almeda pottery website.
