Hitting the Road

I am teaching again this evening and then off to Seagrove to stay with Tom while I attend the NC Potters Conference this weekend. The featured potters are Mary Law, Jane Hamlyn, and Robin Best. I am especially looking forward to seeing Mary who was one of my early teachers at Arrowmont. And of course Jane Hamlyn is amazing. It will be a fun weekend to see friends, lots of pots, and spend some quality time with Tom and his son Slate.

Today is going to be busy with a trip to town to get my truck checked out, laundry to finish, packing, etc. So......I decided not to fire until I come home. So you'll have to wait for that.

Yesterday I got this great soda glazed mug in the mail from my pal Scott Cooper. Scott lives and pots in Indiana. We communicate via email and the occasional phone call. I've been a fan of his work for several years and it's great to finally have a pot made by him. I'm sure I'll make an effort to get more over the coming years now.

Yesterday in the studio I worked on making some forms that I will be pouring plaster into for hump molds. I made a long tray form, a square dish, and a wide oval. I'll have to pick up some pottery plaster today while I am in the city.

I handbuilt this small soap dish using a slab disk and two coils that I pinched and sort of threw out on my banding wheel. I like the hard edge there on the side. I applied the white slip very early with a brush and wiped away the edges. I like the effect.
At the Circle of Eight meeting, my friends suggested that I apply a contrasting color slip, sort of randomly, and then disregard it when I do the drawing. So I gave it a go here and like the result. I tried doing the scraffito when the slip was bone dry. It made for a ragged line so I'll go back to doing it at the hard, leatherhard stage.

I tried to put some little bird tracks there around the rim. This shape with the hard edge will be my inspiration for my next batch of plates.

That's it for today. I'll be posting from the conference and hopefully getting a video up over the weekend. So check in and have a wonderful day!