Getting Close to First Firing for Uwharrie

I spent today preparing about 100 medallions for the Uwharrie Mountain Run awards. I'm making about 600 awards for finishers of an 8-mile, 20-mile and 40-mile race across the Uwharrie Trail in Montgomery County. The medallions are for the 8-milers.

The way I decided to decorate these pieces allows me to lay one medallion on top of each of the jars that I made for the 20-milers and 40-milers. I waxed the jars' rims before glazing. Firing a shelf full of just medallions didn't make sense since I'd run out of shelves pretty quick.

The medallions have a recessed area in the center that I carved a runner into. It gets glazed, and the outside remains unglazed and stained with a red iron wash.

So I spent the most part of today sanding and wiping off each medallion, staining each medallion, waxing a small portion of each medallion, and glazing each medallion. I had enough time left this afternoon to start loading the kiln, but I soon realized I needed more pieces glazed to fill the kiln.

I'll be glazing tomorrow, so I can get this first kiln load firing.

I brushed on red iron stain. Mary wiped the stain into
the clay, and then handed me another...and another.

I brushed wax onto one small portion of the stained rim.

The waxed area allowed me to
pour out the glazed once I coated
the inside.

Here I am loading the jars and medallions into the kiln.

A finished shelf of medallions on top of jars.