I was asked earlier to make these for a wholesale order. At the time, I she ordered 15 mugs and some other things to go with. She just emailed me last night asking to order 31 more mugs and 18 Christmas ornaments with their logo on them. I’m so beyond excited! This home town of mine is only 2300 people so it’s small. This order will be around $1150! So grateful!!!

No one has yet suggested a June challenge, so I thought I’d throw an idea into the ring 😊 After my recent visit with Lucy at West2Ceramics, we were chatting about doing a glaze challenge where a randomizer chooses 2–3 glazes for us to put directly onto a finished piece 😳 Now for some people, that probably sounds completely normal… but for me? Absolutely not 🤣 I ALWAYS test first. Always. So the idea of surrendering control and glazing an actual piece with combinations I haven’t carefully planned genuinely makes me feel anxious. But it also made me realise something… So much growth seems to happen when we push slightly beyond the things that feel safe and comfortable. Sometimes we avoid things because they genuinely intimidate us a little: • a process • a technique • a glaze • a form • sharing our work publicly • joining a live call • starting a YouTube channel • speaking up in the community • trying something we might “fail” at And yet when we finally take that step, we often end up experiencing things we never otherwise would have. Sometimes it’s a beautiful result. Sometimes it’s learning. Sometimes it’s confidence. Sometimes it’s simply realising:✨ “Actually… I CAN do this.” ✨ What I love so much about this community is how we all seem to help each other grow in different ways every single day 💜 So rather than making this just a glaze randomizer challenge, I wondered if June could simply become: ✨ Push Past Your Comfort Zone ✨ Your challenge can be completely personal to YOU. Maybe that means: • trying a new process or technique • using glazes you normally avoid • experimenting with a form you’ve never attempted • handbuilding instead of wheel throwing • carving, texture or decoration • finally reglazing that failed piece • posting your work online more • joining a Skool call for the first time • starting a YouTube or Instagram account • or letting randomness choose your glazes 😅 This isn’t about perfection. Its about experimenting, learning, sharing and maybe surprising ourselves a little along the way 💜

I’m planning on spending the long weekend in my studio (which will hopefully be ready by then!) and I want to start with some test tiles. I can’t decide what kind to make though. I keep alternating between something functional (small blows maybe) or standard flat or standing tiles that I can hang on a wall or shelf. What shape/style do those of you who do test tiles prefer and why?

We have at least 3 boxes of Kentucky Mudworks Iceman so 150 pounds that literally is not right to work with. It’s super firm and in my opinion short. I reached out to the company and gave the batch number. I received a reply on May 10 that it seemed fine when they did their test. They did ask me when I was noticing the cracking and on what surface I was rolling it out on. I responded immediately answering their questions and asked for suggestions. On May 13, I sent another email as I hadn’t heard anything to check in. On May 18 I got an email saying I’m sorry I’ll pass the information on to our clay tech Will. But for now I would suggest adding a bit of water to the bag and submerging it in water. She felt that since we received the shipment last November it could be drying out due to being old. OLD? Well I added a half cup of water to the bag, sealed it, and submerged it. Only to discover the next day when I went back that there was more water in the bag than I had put. The top of the bag was not submerged so I am thinking the issue was with the bag. No visible break though. Well it is now May 20 and I am still waiting for Will to contact me. I am disappointed to say the least. I keep wondering why I’ve never had this issue before. Have you had trouble with old clay? I just never thought my clay I ordered late last fall would now be old and difficult to use.

So I jumped into Suza’s May Challenge and honestly… I have SO many glazes I dislike that I barely knew where to start! The first victim was Mayco Robin’s Egg. I dislike this glaze with a vengeance 😅 I don’t enjoy the matte finish and at cone 6 I always seem to get that lumpy bumpy surface texture from it. So I decided to see if pairing it with glazes I DO like could rescue it a little… 🧪 Test 1 2 x coats Mayco Robin’s Egg all over2 x coats Mayco Raspberry Mist all over top 🧪 Test 2 2 x coats Mayco Purple Gloss2 x coats Mayco Robin’s Egg all over 🧪 Test 3 2 x coats Amaco Honey Flux (because let’s be honest… Honey Flux makes almost everything look better 😂)2 x coats Robin’s Egg on the top half And honestly? I still don’t really love any of them 🙈 So the experiments continue… Next up was another glaze I rarely reach for… Leather. 🧪 Test 4 2 x coats Amaco Honey Flux2 x coats Leather all over Now THIS has completely flummoxed me 🤯 It went BLUE?!?! Not brown. Not leathery. Not muddy. A genuinely gorgeous blue! At this point I’m questioning whether I accidentally picked up the wrong glaze jar because if this really IS Leather over Honey Flux then suddenly I may finally use my whole jar of Leather after all 😂 And finally… Mayco Galaxy. Another glaze I really don’t enjoy on its own. 🧪 Test 5 2 x coats Amaco Seaweed2 x coats Mayco Galaxy over the top NOW this one has potential 👀 Definitely a runner though, so I’d need to be careful on a real piece, but I can absolutely see possibilities here. So overall… this challenge is proving exactly why glaze testing matters to me. Some combos confirmed why I avoid certain glazes… but a couple genuinely surprised me. I WILL find a combo that makes Galaxy work eventually 🤣💜 Thanks Suza for a great challenge this month!