I unloaded another small test firing this morning, and as is the case with most firings, there were a few pieces that I really liked.
I fired three newt pipes in this batch, and they all came out pretty handsome, I think..
I glazed one in the blue-gray ash glaze I’ve been using primarily as an overspray. The weird reticulated pattern that ash glazes naturally produce is very evocative of amphibian skin coloration.
Another newt was sprayed with blue slip when leather hard and little spots incised along its sides. Glazed with a shiny celadon, this pipe seems particularly effective.
The third newt was sprayed with a pale lavender slip and dotted with crimson slip. The satin matte white glaze crystallized nicely over this pattern.
The most beautiful pipe in the whole load was a simple hand pipe.
This pipe was sprayed with deep blue slip, then lavender slip. The overall glaze was my white satin matte, oversprayed with blue ash glaze. The stem of the little pipe is reticulated like snake skin.
Pipes like this cause me to face a pricing dilemma. Do I price it like other small hand pipes, or do I charge based on my enthusiasm for the piece. Usually I go with the latter, and I probably will in this case, too. The glaze is simply luscious!
Click on these thumbnails to see larger versions of these photos, and see if you agree that this is one of the most beautiful pipes I’ve made yet.
I did some small effigy pipes as well, and they turned out pretty well, I believe. 
This little green bird was sprayed with blue slip. I wiped the slip from the details of the head, and dipped the piece in a celadon glaze.
I liked this little barking dog pipe, too. I glazed him with an iron saturation glaze that broke red on the edges, as such glazes often do. You have to look closely to see the details, because the iron glaze is so thick.
I’m busy building some more effigy water pipes to restock the shop, but I wanted to write a bit about the firing. I recently had to replace an element in the little test kiln I’ve used for most of these pipes, and the firing went more expeditiously as a result.
The pipes you see here, and many others, will appear in the store shortly.
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