A few years ago I travelled to Italy to take a pottery course.  A few of us have stayed in touch and decided to travel to Portugal, see the sights and take in a couple of pottery workshops.  It is a wonderful way to experience a country and get to know “the locals”.  After a couple of days of sightseeing fun in Lisbon, we travelled to a wonderful small town on the coast called Estoril.

Our workshop was with Helena Brizido, an internationally known and very talented potter who is currently focusing on alternate firing methods as she creates unique sculptural pieces.  Three days working with Helena has inspired me to revisit alternate firings for some of my work.  Helena introduced us to some new twists to some well-known alternate firing methods such as raku, naked raku, and barrel-firing.

I am excited to get set up to work with all of these firing methods again but I am especially looking forward to exploring the ‘new to me’ India Smoke.  It will require some work to set up and some new equipment but I am up for the challenge!