County Fair

We have had a good weekend. Sarah and I worked on Saturday painting windows and doors in the new renovation. Later that afternoon we headed to the Cleveland County Fair. Our county has the biggest county fair in the state. I have been going since I was a kid and it's always an adventure and lots of fun. This year we went with our friends from Charlotte, Amy and Brian Sanders. I had told Amy about the fair on Friday night during our Circle of Eight meeting.

The first thing we did was go watch the pig races. Check out these little guys rounding the second corner. That little girl is really rooting her favorite on!

Here is another group in a later race.
And ducks too! I didn't get a shot of the goats but they were really cute.
There is a ton of stuff to do at the fair. We ate lots of unhealthy food...corn dogs, vinegar fries, fudge, caramel apples, and I had a big cheeseburger just before we left to drive my cholesteral into the red. I also played my favorite midway game, Fat Albert. We visited the exhibition halls and watched crazy people on the rides. It's easy to go through a pocket full of cash so we had to get home before we went broke. Around the time we left the evening crowd was piling in.

New Cycle

Here is part of this weeks output so far. There are also plates, soup bowls, animal jars, bird dishes, and oil cans. All this stuff is ready to be slipped which will happen after lunch. Some of you may be asking why I have not filled up these boards. It's all part of sharing the studio with Karma. I have to push things to the back so she doesn't get her paws on them while I am out.

Fun Stuff

I'll get a pottery post up later. For now here are a couple of sites that I found that really make me smile. Both by artist Noah Z. Jones.
The first: Almost Naked Animals, be sure to click on Meet the Gang to see each one.
The second: Idle Monsters again be sure to Meet the Gang.

Pots coming later.

Help in the Kitchen

This little guy showed up to give me a hand with dinner last night.


Thanks Remy, it was delicious.

Sale Weekend

I had a great turnout for my sale over the weekend. Many of the pots from the last firing went to new homes. I hardly got to spend any time looking at them before they went out the door. Thanks to everyone who came out. I had lots of returning regular customers, some who hadn't been here in a while as well as some new folks who saw the sign on the highway and even a couple of my new students from Clayworks made the trip out. It's aways fun for me to see everyone and catch up and share my work. Now it's time to get back in the workshop and make more!

Thanks again for coming out, I couldn't do this without all the support of my customers and fellow pottery lovers. Thanks also to everyone who visits this blog and supports me in that way. I hope you'll pass word of my work on to others who you think may be interested. Have a great week.

More Pots

Two beaky pitchers. I'll probably be making more of these too. I need to check out how they pour. Sometimes I do blue.
New deep soup/cereal bowls. I'll be keeping one of these for myself.
A good stack of plates.More mugs and some yunomi.

Unloaded

Good firing! A little on the light side but that was expected. That's due to this clay body and no body reduction. I think things look really nice. I had good soda coverage and just a few things that will become seconds, mainly due to glaze issues. So I am very happy. All this stuff now has to get priced and moved into the showroom. I'll put up some more pictures soon.

Below two pics are overviews of the entire load.
A new big dish. There will be more of these in the Oct. firing.
My new lobed cups. Fun.
They are designed for those mornings when you are only half (or less than) awake as they pretty much direct your coffee right into your mouth.

Old Vase

My neighbor Risa came by today to show me a few pots that she recently acquired. This one was given to her by her mother. I think this is a great pot. I really love it. I was probably made in the Catawaba Valley region of NC and fired in a groundhog type kiln. It is definitely made with native clay. It has an alkaline glaze on the inside only, which I think is unusual. This glaze is made from wood ash, glass, and the clay body. I can't say how old it is but I would say at least 65 years, maybe much more.
It has a great handle, just an ovalish, over the top sort of thing. No fussing on this pot! It was made so casually. I wish I had taken a shot from another angle, maybe I'll get Risa to bring it back by sometime so I can look at it again. I have a feeling this pot will inspire some new forms from me.
My kiln is cooling. I will unload tomorrow, check back in sometime after lunch for pics. I peeped in this evening. It looks okay just on the lighter side colorwise. I can't wait to get in there. I made a nice dish for supper tonight. I am getting lots of cooking ideas from 101 Cookbooks. I made an asparagus and brown rice dish tonight. Sarah loved it, she has gone dairy free and we are both eating less meat, we were almost vegetarians anyway. It's fun trying some new things, I have been having a good time in the kitchen.

Firing

The kiln is firing, probably up to around 1600 degrees F. I'll be in major studio/showroom cleaning mode for most of the morning, up until it's time to put the soda in the kiln. I've got to get this place whipped into shape for my sale this weekend.

I have a good load of pots in the kiln. All the work in the picture from the previous post made it in except for one plate, one tankard and one bottle. I love loading the kiln, it's a big, 3-D puzzle.

Gotta run.

Ready to Load

All my dishes down at the kiln ready to be loaded tomorrow.

Monday

The Circle of Eight show was great. We had a beautiful day and lots of folks came out to buy pots. We all had some really nice work, it's fun to see what everyone is working on. It seems there's a lot of transition going on, gradual, but sure movement. Thanks to everyone who came out! Below is a shot of my booth.

I have a big week ahead of me. My Home Sale is Saturday and Sunday. I'll be finishing glazing today and cleaning kiln shelves. I hope to load tomorrow and fire Wednesday. There will be pictures of finished pots up on Friday. I have to clean the showroom and studio too. Whew, I better get to work soon.

Keep checking in over the week, I'll post pictures of the loading and other happenings. Have a great Monday.

This and That

Tonight I am making Ultimate Veggie Burgers! Should be delicious.

Frank Black has a new release: Bluefinger. I love Frank! In my younger days thrived off Pixies and still crank them up today. Kim Deal rocks on bass.

My truck is packed to the max, ready to go setup for the Circle of Eight Show. I have a ton of pots.

Wanna learn about your Visual DNA?

I saw some these journals the other day at Binders. I wish I would have bought one now. Maybe I'll pick one up while I am in Charlotte this weekend. I've been through several Moleskins over the years and now I am into Canson field sketch books.

Okay I gotta go get dinner going, Sarah will be home soon.

Packing. Inventory

I am feeling pretty good right now about my inventory and my upcoming fall shows. I think I slacked off some last summer and that caught up with me around this time. Today I brought in the pots from the last firing (yes they've been sitting down in the kiln shed for a couple weeks) (I have went down to see them from time to time). I got everything sanded and priced and dusted. I organized things and got all the pots ready and packed up for the Circle of Eight Sale which is Saturday. I am hoping for a good turnout. I felt proud of the pots I brought in today, I think I really have to live with things for a while sometimes before I accept them as they are. I think all potters suffer from this kind of thing, expecting or anticipating what the pots will look like out of the kiln, often to have them come out different and then we are disappointed or dissatisfied for a little while.

Anyhow...my Kiln Opening is on the 22 and 23 so I will be firing this time next week. I unloaded and loaded another bisque this afternoon. I have lots of new bowls and mugs and plates and such (things you've seen in progress on this blog). These simple kinds of everyday pots are what I love and what I love to pass on to others.

So I feel good and prepared and hopefully this crazy fall season won't be too terrible. This is the time of year when I try to make enough money to make it through the winter months.

Well that's it for now. I hope you'll make plans to come to the Circle sale or my sale in Shelby. If you need info. just email me ronpots2 at yahoo dot com

Beaks. Monday

Okay. So Happy Monday to you, although at this point it's almost over. Anyhow, things here are good. I am feeling the fall rush coming, but at this point I am still pretty calm and ready. I am going to try and post a schedule of all my fall shows coming up, so be on the lookout in the sidebar for that.
My Home Sale is Sept 22 and 23. I spent this morning putting address labels and postage on 500 postcards. I got them all in the mail today so hopefully if you're on my mailing list you'll get it in the next few days. I was a bit disappointed with my image on the postcard, something got botched with the color, but I can't be too choosey at this point.

I have a bisque going and will fire another later this week. Not too much happened today in the shop. I finished some animal jars and ovals and made these three beaked pitchers. I haven't made them in a while, I used to have a gallery owner in South Carolina who loved these and was always on me to make them. We'll see how they turn out, I think they pour sort of like they look....kinda funny. Here's a pic of the floor we stained using the iron sulfate. I put 3 coats of sealer on it. Now I have 2 doors to hang and windows and baseboard trim to nail up. That will get done later this week too!
Circle of Eight Sale this Saturday!!

Today's Work

Today was a productive Thursday. I got most everything finished up from yesterday (or close to it) and I made another board of mugs, as well as some odds and ends that I needed. Below is a big dish after being slipped. Mugs drying upside down on the rack. Almost ready to be slipped.
Wide shallow bowls. I am in this fat rim, lobed pot phase at the moment. It will be neat to see how these turn out and if anyone likes them. These are an extension of the ones I made last week that were deeper. I think these would be good for pasta or noodles or salad.
A few yunomi, some lobed some combed.
It's been a good day when I come away looking like this from the neck down. I'm not very neat. When my dad comes by and sees me in this condition he always says, "Why don't you get some aprons?" I just like being messy I guess.
I am working towards the firing for my September Home Sale. The dates are Sept. 22 and 23. I got my postcards from the printer today, they look pretty good. I need to mix some racks of clay over the weekend and will start bisquing next week too. My class at Clayworks starts next Tues. so things are going to continue to be busy. Tonight I am off to the Arts Council for the opening of a photography exhibit. That's it for now.

Circle of Eight Fall Sale

Circle of Eight
Fall Sale Sept 15 from 10 am till 4 pm
1225 Dade St
Charlotte NC 28205
704 650 5662 for more info.
This year we have invited our friend Mark Peters to join us. So the line up will be: Mark, me, Julie Wiggins, Adrienne Dellinger, Greg Scott, Amy Sanders, Sandy Singletary, and Jen Mecca.
This is an exceptional group and I hope you'll make it out to see what we have been working on and find some new clay work for your collection.

Back

After a super long weekend and yesterday spent mostly at the Arts Council and out trying to track down a specific kind of floor sealer I am getting back to work in the studio today. Before that I have to put down a coat of sealer on our floor. So stay tuned for more coming later on.

Slipware

I got an email from my pal Doug Fitch a couple days ago saying he just unloaded his best firing ever. I've been waiting for him to post some images. Here is a great jar that he posted on his blog. Be sure to check it out to see what Doug has been up too.

My next big pottery trip is going to be to England for sure!

Floor Staining

I am sitting here at the kitchen table looking out at the work we have just done. We stained our concrete slab today in the renovated area. We used an iron sulfate that costs $4 for 4 lbs to do the whole floor. We added some coffee too! Anyhow this was about $200 cheaper than using a commercial product. Iron sulfate is sold in garden stores often under the name 'copperas' . It has no copper in it though. For more info you can go here and read up on it on Cathy Moore's site. (Thanks Cathy for sharing) Here is a close up of a still wet section. This is sort of what it will look like once the sealer is put on. This whole area used to be my pottery shop and the floor got quite abused over that 12 year period. So all that sort of shows and gives the character to the room.

I hate to keep harping on Linda Christianson but she was the person who told me about this and also recommended her friend and fellow potter, Lisa Buck, who has done a few of these projects. I never could get Lisa on the phone so we went with what we saw on the internet and in the end just sort of winged it. I think we'll like it once it's all sealed and the area rugs and furniture is moved in.