Pots

Two bakers.
Tripod bowl and yellow jar.
Wow!
Close up of dessert dishes.
Yea, Oil Cans!

Firing

My firing went well. After going back and checking my old kiln logs I felt like I have been firing too fast at the beginning of the firing. So I slowed down, especially between 1400 and 1650. I also did a longer body reduction, 45 minutes instead of 20. Not a hard reduction, I'd say it was medium, long flame out the top front peep and barely a wisp out of the middle front. Maybe that's more neutral. This was at cone 08. Anyhow it's what I did. Then I oxidized for 10 minutes then back to neutral. At 2100 I oxidized again for 30 minutes. I started putting the chunk in when the 8's were going down. I put in 5000g of 'chunk' which 2500 of is whiting and the other 2500 is soda ash and baking soda (See Gail Nichols book, Soda, Clay, Fire). I tried to stay around cone 9, my colors seem to be brighter at cone 8 and 9. After I was finished putting the soda chunks in I soaked for 1 hour in oxidation. I then shut the burners down and crash cooled for 25 minutes by pulling out the damper and opening the soda/salt ports.

The stacking was a bit different. I don't usually put those tall pots in the middle of the stack, but the top has been so bad I didn't want to sacrifice them again. Turns out it would have been fine. Anyhow, the back of the kiln was dry in places. I need to work this out either by spraying some soda solution in or by putting 'soda cups' back there.

I did not go with the diagonal burner arrangement this time either, doing so may help push the soda to the back so I may try that in the future.

Okay that's my update. I'll post some individual pot images tomorrow. Thanks everyone for checking in and being supportative.

Stacks

This is the front stack. And the back.
I'll have some images of individual pots tomorrow.

Yes!

Just unloaded. Very good results! I will post some pics tomorrow and tell more about it. I am sort of on a tight schedule today, have been working on the house etc. I am so relieved to have had a good firing.

Friday evening

I peeped in the kiln just a while ago. I have mixed feelings...it looks a bit dry overall but up front a few things look like they got too much soda. I am trying not to get depressed about it, I'll unload tomorrow and hopefully be happy with most of it. Or all of it, who knows?

Right now I am listening to Pandora Internet Radio while waiting on the oven to get super hot so I can bake some pizzas. It has to stay on 500 for an hour so my pizza stone gets really nice and hot. The pizzas will cook in 8 or 9 minutes. I made my dough this morning and I am looking forward to some good eats.

That's it for now.

Firing

I am in for lunch while the kiln does it own thing for little while. I just checked and cone 5 was started at the front in the middle, which is usually the hottest part of the kiln. I have all my 'chunk' mixed up and ready to go. I am increasing that by about 1 lb and dropping the salt back from 3 lbs to 1lb. At least that's the plan, if the draw rings look like I am needing more salt then I will add another pound probably.
As Phil Rogers suggested I did a good body reduction for one hour. Prior to this I also fired a little slower than usual and really let the kiln have some time between 1500 and 1600 to burn out any carbon. I have been thinking and I realized that my bisque temperature is really all over the place. The bottom of that little kiln will be cone 06 down and who knows what the next two levels up are. Maybe 010 or somewhere. So I thought I'd do this soak during my firing to let anything burn out that I missed in the bisque.
Early on this kiln did great. At that time I was single firing and my firings were long. Sometimes 26 hrs. But the pots were always really nice. I always felt that long slow heat up was good and maybe it's what's been missing lately.
Well enough of all this. I will start putting the chunk in when the 8's start, till then I'm just going to hang out and read a little and listen to the rain on the tin roof.

I'm cool...well not really

Sarah shot this picture last night. She said I looked like a total geek sitting on the couch with all my kiln notes and books on salt and soda firing, not to mention my really hip attire. I aspire to be a really cool dude but it just isn't happening. I am more of a weirdo geek type with little artsy bits here and there.

I like nerds and geeks. After all I was a mathematics major in college. There are lots of types, you have the computer nerds, intellecutals, with pocket protecters and thick glasses, or the pimpley, shy, video game geeks, or the weird, fantasy loving dungeons and dragons type, and then theres the Napoleon Dynamite type, sort of out there in a rural backcountry kinda way. That would be me in a way I guess, especially on the dance floor.

Catching up

The first image is all the bisque ware in my shop this morning. I pre wadded everything and planned on loading the kiln tomorrow. But I got finished sort of quick and so I decided to go ahead and load the kiln and fire a day early. This is going to work out for the best weatherwise I think. Anyhow the kiln is all loaded so now I just have to come up with my game plan for the firing. If you've been following along you know I've had a couple problems with the last few firings. So I am going to go over all my old kiln logs again and take into consideration all the good advice I've been given and see what happens.

Ready, Set, Go

Monday morning and I feel swamped already. Lots happening this week but I'll get to that as it happens.
My weekend went well. The house renevoations continue, on Saturday we moved a water line and trenched a line down to my garden. That took the better part of the day and it was rather physical labor and dirty so we didn't get to anything inside. I hope this week to get a closet built and a header put in. I think the work we did on Saturday upset a mouse family because I caught 2 small mice in the house yesterday. I hope the others relocated outside somewere, or at least out of sight.
What about the Oscars? I only watched about an hour and a half. I thought Ellen did a great job hosting, good clean humor. Helen Mirin got lots of attention, but it looks like The Departed took the big prize home. I have yet to see that film or The Queen. I have seen Little Miss Sunshine, which I liked a lot.
I have a page on Southern Potters dot com now. Please visit.
My good friend Tom Gray has started blogging again. (Tom was blogging way back when Blogger.com was born, he's usually ahead of the times). He is a good writer so check it out often.
I've gotten my bisque going this morning and I am off to yet another committee meeting at the Arts Council. I will be firing at the end of the week!!!
Have a good Monday.

End of the Week

Today I finished getting the last of the pots slipped for the next firing. I will bisque on Monday and fire on Friday or Saturday next week. I am looking forward to it.
There's a good show up at Akar gallery in Iowa City featuring yunomi. Yunomi (as I understand it) means 'hot water cup' often called tea bowls or tea cups by western potters. These do not hold the same status as a 'chawan' which is a tea bowl used in the tea ceremony. Yunomi are more of an 'everyday' cup. Anyhow that's how it was explained to me. If I'm wrong on that please fill me in. These kinds of cups are fun to make and are good warm ups or ways to sketch out ideas before beginning a run of pots. We have lots in our home and drink juice, water, soda, and yes even tea from them.

Bowling for Dollars

Yesterday the Cleveland County Arts Council held it's annual Bowling for Dollars fund raising event. Here's how it works, potters donate soup bowls to the Arts Council, people pay $15 to come in and pick a bowl and then have a lunch of soup and bread and dessert at the Arts Council. The money raised goes to schloarships for school age kids to take art classes. This event always sells out and we are only limited by the number of bowls donated. This year we had right at 200. Gail Point and her crew do all the cooking on site, yesterdays soup choices were 'chicken and shrimp gumbo' and 'potato, leek and cheddar' . They were both delicious. My job is to carry big pots of soup from the kitchen, which is upstairs, down to the basement where everyone is served. The stairs are really steep and I have to make sure I don't get to the bottom too fast. Bowls awaiting selection.
The line to get into the 'bowl room' just before 11 am. (that's my display on the left, still up from the Treasures of the Earth show)

Cruets

Here are my pots with long spouts. Pretty good I guess. I am way behind on the pottery cruet craze that hit a couple years ago. Anyhow these were fun to make, we'll see if they work.

Better

I have an appointment with the doc in an hour so I came in to get all cleaned up and ready to go. I have had a better day in the studio so far. I got some inspiration this morning and made some deep dishes that I haven't done in a while and guess what else....2 cruets. Ha. Cruets. Really these were made to try on some new spouts. I pulled the spouts on a dowel rod and made them fairly long and tapered. Easier than throwing them. I saw the technique a while back on a video with Jane Shellenbarger. Anyhow I haven't gotten them on the pot yet and it will be interesting to see if they fire and stay in place. If I like them when I get them assembled I'll post an image. I like this clay too, I used it a lot years ago. It has a nice tooth. Okay gotta go.

Psyching Myself Out

One of my problems yesterday was that I got to thinking about the upcoming exhibit at NCECA and what pots I was going to send. I have a 3 pot limit and early on I said, okay I'll send a pitcher, an animal jar, and a set of mugs (I can get away with a set being one pot). Well I talked to my friends who are in the show and they are making teapot sets, or pitcher sets, or cream and sugar sets on a tray, or what ever, cruets on little saucers. See I'm pretty low key. I make a pot and that's that. No tray, no saucer, no fancy this or that. And I am not sending a teapot, there will be 1000 teapots at NCECA. So you can already see how this self depreciating talk began in my head. So I am standing in my studio (I don't have a chair in there), thinking that I have one or two days left to make whatever it is I am going to send, (I do have some pots set aside so it's not like I have NOTHING at this point) and just thinking I need something 'great' that will not get lost in the sea of glaze and color. Well after a half day of making 3 pots I just decided to be who I am and I'll send what I want. I still don't know exactly what that will be but I do have a nice fat jar with good orange peel texture on it, and I am hoping to get a good deep footed bowl out of this next firing. Oh yea and a set of mugs. I'm not changing what I do just to get attention or try and make a sale.

More Monday

Well today was a 180 from last Monday, much less productive. I just couldn't get going. I did finish up some oval vases and threw a couple jars before lunch. I am coming off this beta blocker that I have been on for several years and I don't know if that's making me tired or what. I have an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday. Anyhow I forced myself to make some bowls and bakers after lunch and I got most of my demo for class tomorrow night set up.

I am out of clay now too. I knew I was going to run out, the plan is to buy some commercial clay that I know pretty well and use it until late March, then mix up about a ton of clay. I hate mixing in cold weather and so I am just going to wait till things warm up a little.

Tomorrow I have a committe meeting at the Arts Council and then I'll have a little time in the studio before heading out to Charoltte to buy clay and then on to class. Long day.

Monday

I have my bisque going and hopefully my studio is warming up a little. I will be working on some last minute pots as today is going to be my last wet day for the upcoming firing. Not too much to report at the moment.

Stairs

Friday night I woke up at 3 am and realized I was very unhappy with the choice I had made for the new stairwell. This feeling had been building all day long, but it wasn't until the early morning hour that it hit me that there had to be a better way of doing this. The main qualification for this project is that there is a door to the stairs that can be shut to close off the downstairs from the upstairs. All of the things I had came up with had the door at the bottom of the stairs, this meant that the stairs had to become steeper in order to have to space at the foot of the stairway to accommodate a door and let it have room to swing open. After cutting the stringers for the new stairs I had this feeling of dread that I was going to have to go up and down these things several times a day. Espicallly down, I am not very gracefull and down could mean DOWN.
So between the hours of 3am and 5am I came up with what I thought would work...the door at the top. I waited until 7am before I actually got up and got my tape measure to make sure it would work. Yes it would. Now I had to clear it with Sarah, I don't think this was the conversation she wanted to wake up to on Saturday morning but my helpers were going to be here at 8 am and I had to break the news to them and be ready to do some work. Sarah was fine with it all and so was my brother in law who is a carpenter by trade, he said he thought it was a much better idea than what I had come up with before. So, we headed out to breakfast and then off to get some materials.
I am really pleased with what we accomplished. I got to keep my old, long, comfortable stairs. Sarah will get her door at the top, and we even got a new beam installed so the upstairs doesn't become the downstairs in the future.
I know this is probably confusing to many of you who have never visited our home. I will try to give a little house/pottershop history later on in another post. I slept well last night and I am actually looking forward to the next time we all get together to build a closet, and do some electrical work. Oh yea and move a water line. (The list is very long).

End of Week

I finished up things today. These 5 pounders got handles and will get slipped tomorrow. I made six but only 4 made the cut. Tomorrow I am working all day on tearing out the existing stairway and installing a new stairwell and stairs. It's probably going to be a long day. The new stairwell will have a door at the bottom, the new stairs have to be steeper to accomodate this change. I am going to miss the old stairs, I've climbed them many times over the past 10 years. Anyhow, change is good, at least that's what I've heard.

Have your cake...

Here is the flourless chocolate cake recipe. I got it off FoodTV's site courtesy of Tyler Florence. I'm not really an experienced baker so if I can make this anyone can. It was very tasty. I skipped making my own whipped cream and just used store bought.

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 stick unsalted butter
9 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 cup heavy cream cold
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.

Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about 1 inch of simmering water until melted. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs - this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate; then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture.

Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan (spray the bottom with nonstick spray) and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then unmold.

While the cake is cooking, make the whipped cream. Whip the cream until it becomes light and fluffy. Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar.

Serve at room temperature with the whipped cream.

No Flour

I baked this cake last night for our Valentine's Day dessert. Sarah had a late appointment with a client so I cooked dinner, Pad Thai, Sarah's favorite. It's also quick and easy. This 'cake' was pretty easy too. It has no flour but it does have 1 lb of bittersweet chocolate, and 9 eggs. Not so good for you but it sure tasted great...with a little whipped creme on top.

One more

I forgot to include these oval bakers in that previous post. Don't want to leave anyone out. So I hope to get a couple boards of mugs made tomorrow and then on Friday I'll have bisque. As soon as this other stuff dries I'll do another bisque (hopefully next week) and then I'll be firing the salt kiln.

Slipped

Here are a few pots I finished up today or yesterday,some freshly slipped. Big Dish
Dessert Bowls
Plates drying, and 2 oval servers
Mugs and salt jars
Jars, slip still wet.

Finishing up

I got all the pots finished up from Monday. Feet cut, handles attached, knobs and lids and all that stuff... ready to be slipped. That will have to wait until tomorrow as I am off to teach in about an hour.
While I was at the Arts Council today I checked in on my display and I have sold quite a few pots. The 'Toyoko pattern' seems to be popular. (that's the one with all the slip pours, I made up that name a year ago, I tell people it's my big seller in Japan, jokingly of course). Anyhow, I also sold one of my bigger jars, some mugs, and candle stick holders. I am really proud of the work, even with all the problems I've had with my kiln lately things are going well and I am making some good pots.
Well I think it's time for some green tea and a bit of chocolate before I hit the road. It's about an hour drive for me to Clayworks. Check in tomorrow and I'll have some images up.

Journalling

I have kept a journal since 11th grade. I had an excellent English teacher in high school, her name was Dixie Dellinger. She encouraged us to write a little something at the beginning of her class. My entries were often something along the lines of 'I had cereal for breakfast, I hope it doesn't rain much because I am going skateboarding after school', really deep and meaningful stuff. It did get better though as I wrote more and more. I realized that no one else would probably read this stuff, and that I could really get out what I was feeling, what I wanted, what was troubling me, or making me most happy. Of course being a teenager it was a lot of angst and worry and I am sure if I read some of it now I'd laugh. I never go back and read any of my journals. I still have them all, boxed up in my dad's attic and some more recent ones here in our attic. I journalled all through college, it was a particularly hard time for me, I didn't know what I wanted to do and I was faking it and quite sad most of those years. In my mid twenties I worked through Julia Cameron's The Artist Way. She encouraged writing 3 pages everyday. This was no problem for me. It was actually my favorite part. When Sarah and I met it was cool to find out that she too was a journal keeper. We would both wake up have a cup of tea and write for half and hour or so each morning. I still write everyday, not always 3 pages but at least a little something. I find it helps me to get things out of my head and onto the page, often my problems don't seem so life threating once they are out of the fantasy world in my imagination and made real on paper. These days I am also trying to incorporate some drawing into my journalling. Thanks to Danny Gregory and others like him that I have discovered in the past year this has put a new aspect into my journalling. My favorite journals have always been sketch pads, blank pages that I can scrawl out big angry words, or neat little soldiers of letters and ideas on the page. I like to use a pen, not pencil. (although I like a pencil for most everything else). Right now I am using Faber-Castell PITT artists pen, S or M point and my journal of choice is a Moleskine (the medium sized ones) These choices have been made due to the new drawing aspects. My older journals were often 8 1/2 by 11 Mead spiral bound sketch books.
Anyhow I just thought I share a little of this today as this blog is a journal of sorts for me, one I am willing to share. I would like the content to be a little more interesting at times, but I am fairly shy by nature and often insecure in expressing my opinions. However I hope you'll stick around and see what comes up from time to time. Have a good day!

Making Stuff on Monday

I got an early start and managed to have a productive Monday. Here's what I made today:
6 Mugs
8 Shallow Desert Bowls
4 5lb Jars with lids
2 Extra Lids (just in case)
4 Salt Jars/Garlic Roasters
3 Oval Bakers
2 Square Slab Bowls
1 Oval Slab Bowl

I cut feet on 6 dinner plates and got them slipped. I also got handles on my 18 lb deep bowl, I'll get it slipped tomorrow. All that stuff above will have to be handled, cut, whatever tomorrow to finish it up. I have a full day tomorrow with a board meeting at the Arts Council and then off to teach in Charlotte tomorrow night, so I may run out of time. If so things will get wrapped in plastic until Wednesday, which will be a full day in the studio. (And Valentine's Day).

It's nice to get in a groove and get some things made with no problems.

Reception

Here are a few pics from last night's opening of Treasures of the Earth.

That's my display in the background.
I'll try to go back and get more shots of pots. It was very crowded and I was socializing more than anything (I don't get out much you know). Anyhow, I sold quite a few pots and got lots of compliments on the work. It's nice to be the local boy.

Half day

I worked a half day today and got a lot done. I slipped all the spoon jars and deep bowls from yesterday. I also got feet cut on a couple 6 lb bowls and all the feet cut on my soup/cereal bowls. These all then got handled and slipped. I didn't get my plates footed, I'll do that tomorrow, they weren't quite ready and I tend to mess them up if I try and rush it.

I'll be heading out to the show in about an hour, until then I think I'll read a bit and hang out with Karma, she's been having a fun day out in the sun but is now in with me for a bit.

Oh yeah, my piece came out in the newspaper and was fine. One small typo. I don't know that anyone at the editors desk even read it. I could have said anything probably.

Productive Days

I had a productive day in the studio on Monday and then again yesterday. Yesterday I got a couple boards of soup/cereal bowls made and a couple boards of plates. I also got the feet cut on the bowls I made Monday and handles on all of them and the spoon jars I made. It was a good day.

My dad and brother in law came over last night and we cut the stringers for my stairway and discussed what will happen next on the renevation. Sarah came home and so that was another voice in the discussion. I got a bit overwhelmed and sort of zoned out and couldn't figure out what to do. I just want this whole thing to be done. I wish we had enough money to hire out the work and let other people figure out how to solve the problems that come up in a job like this. Anyhow, we will get through it and I'll be glad to have it done.

Tonight is the opening for Treasures of the Earth at the Arts Council. I went over yesterday morning to have a look at all the pots. It's a nice show. I'll take my camera tonight and get some pictures. The reception is always well attended and lots of pots sell this first night. My dad and his wife always come as well as my sister and her family. It makes me feel good to have them there. This is the 12th year of the show. I 've participated since it's beginning. I can remember the first pots I had in the show. They were electric fired to cone 4 with tan and brown glazes that mimicked salt fired pots.

I need to run out an pick up a local paper this morning. I got an email yesterday wanting me to write a brief piece about the show. I did so and submitted it to the person in charge. I hope it came out well. It's supposed to be front page.

That's it for now. I am off to cut feet on yestedays pots and slip all the other stuff. I need to knock off around 3 today.

Treasures of the Earth

This morning I have to get my truck loaded up and go into town to the Cleveland County Arts Council to set up for the Treasures of the Earth pottery show. This is the 10th or 11th year for this show and I have done it since the beginning. It's a month long exhibit featuring about 20 potters from the region. The work ranges from hobby potters to serious amateurs to professional potters. I got everything boxed up yesterday and my display all dusted off. It's a good show and the reception always brings out lots of pottery enthusiasts.
Here is a picture of my new favorite refired mug. I love the way slip broke on the edges to a light color. It's much more shiny than my work normally is .

Refires

I refired about 50 pots in my little updraft gas kiln. I had good success in the bottom of the kiln where cone 10 went completely down. In the middle I only got to cone 8 and I don't know what the top was probably 5 or 6. The pots that reached cone 10 improved greatly. My high silica clay got very very shiny and the slips really brightened up. The only problem was that the silica in the clay caused to wads to fuse to the bottoms of the pots so I had to grind them off. Nevertheless I came away with some first quality saleable pots from what I almost threw away. The refires were really metallic looking, not what I am always after, but in this case I liked it a lot. As a matter of fact I now have a favorite mug that came from the refire.

As to my slip problem, I am still thinking about the cause. I have conflicting information regarding body reduction. I do know I over reduced this kiln for most of the firing. I need a neutral atmosphere to get my colors to be bright. Probably with an oxidizing soak for at least one hour at the end. I would like to start salting a little earlier so that I could finish around cone 9 also. I think this will help with the color. I think my slip problem is something that is happening early in the firing, before cone 08. ? Maybe things are getting too hot too fast, or I am trapping carbon gas under the slip. I may need to improve on my bisque to be sure I am burning out all the organics. Or soak for an hour at 1650 to be sure during my glaze firing. The problem is only with the high alumnia slip. Lots of info and variables to think about.

Finally, Pots

Here are the pots that made it. I refired about 25 more today in my little gas kiln. I have never done that before so we'll see if it helps in any way. Pots on the showroom floor after being sanded and dusted.

Two oval serving dishes. One with Grolleg slip and pours; the other with helmar slip and incising.

Pots

Yunomi with various slips.

Two ovals. one with helmar slip and incising, the other with EPK slip and slip pours.

Square mugs

Owl candle stick holders, helmar slip.

Mugs with helmar slip and incising.

Problem

Here is an example of what went wrong. I have emailed several people for help today and gotten some good response. Phil Rogers says he had this problem for a while and believes it is a firing problem. He suggests a hard body reduction at cone 09 followed by a short oxidation then back into light reduction for the remainder of the firing. He believes the residual salt is sealing the surface when the pots get hot early in the firing and the reduction cannot get to it. He also mentioned I may be able to save these pots by refiring them to cone 9, 10 in a neutral or oxidizing atmosphere.

I'll be getting the pots brought in tomorrow. I'll get some pictures of some of the successful ones up then. Sarah took a look at the pots today and was more optimistic than I was. (She always is). She said it wasn't nearly as bad as my previous firing. Ha! She's right. I can be a person who sees the glass half full too....half full of poison. (stolen from Woody Allen).

Firing

I unloaded late yesterday. I was quite disappointed. I have had two bad firings in a row now. The problems are reduction related and my flashing slip is crawling, which really really irritates me. I am not getting the color I want with my slip when it does work either. Anyhow all the pots are down in the kiln shed, I went to look at them again this morning and decided that some of it was okay, just not what I am used to. I will post some pics as soon as I get my spirits up about the whole thing. I am going to make some calls today to see if I can get some insight as to what's happening. I went back through my kiln logs from the past 3 years last night and have layed out a plan for my next firing. I am going to try and make a quick load of bowls and easy pots so I can do it ASAP.

We are having a mix of sleet, freezing rain, and snow today. Yuck. I hope we don't lose power. I have to pack up some pots to send to a show in Ohio, luckily I have some things set back from previous firings to send.

Cold and Clear

Wednesday morning. It's beautiful out this morning although very cold, some where in the 20s with a bit of a wind. Nice and brisk which makes me feel alive. It will be several hours before I can crack the door to the kiln. I peeped in last night with the flashlight and things look good. I noticed one test slip that had crawled badly, but no worries as it's a test.

I had a good night teaching last night. I am really trying to share all I can with my students. I did and extensive demo on bowls and cutting feet. I see lots of pots out in the world that could use improvement and so I want to do what I can to help my students on their way to making the best pots they can. In turn, I learn a lot about my work and how I do things. My way is not always the best way or the "right" way. I tell them this and I tell them to try things, to look, to see, to explore, to not get attached. I tell this to myself too. Teaching is helping me become a better potter, a better communicator, one who listens and talks, and helps, and nutures, both the students and my inner student, me. Anyhow, I see that they are getting it. They are trying, and responding and asking questions and looking at what they are doing. That is rewarding. I got home last night alittle after 11pm, tired and ready for bed.

We are expecting a wintery mix of precipation tomorrow morning. I would love some snow but can do without the ice and freezing rain. I hope you all have a good day. Check in later for some pots.

Chunk

I finally fired yesterday. All went well so I am hoping for some good results. I cut back on the amount of sodium I introduced into the kiln. I went with 3 lbs of salt and a little over 3 lbs of soda ash and baking soda combined. I went with the Gail Nichols method of soda introduction where the soda ash and baking soda are combined with calcium carbonate (whiting) and water to produce a paste. This begins to set like plaster and you break it into chunks. This is then put into the kiln on angle iron, just like I do my salt. I have never liked spraying soda in the kiln. It's a pain in the neck to heat the water and use the pump up sprayer. I want things to be as simple as possible and not involve any extra apparatus, like a sprayer or compressor or whatever. I will unload late Wednesday or early Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed for some good pots.

South Mountain

Sarah and I went up to South Mountain State Park yesterday and hiked 2 miles up to the Chestnut Gorge Overlook. The elevation is about 2200 ft I think. You could see the Charlotte skyline on the horizon. It was a beautiful day and a good hike up and back.

Why change?

I have had a couple questions as to why I changed my burner position. I have wanted to try this diagonal position for a long time but haven't gotten around to it. I have also thought it would be cool to have 4 burners firing in from each corner. It seems the diagaonal placement is big in the UK on salt and soda kilns. I am thinking this comes from Peter Starkey who wrote a very good book on salt glazing back in the 70's. I had checked it out for a while from the ASU library. Starkey's kiln design had this diagonal placement. (I think). Boy, I'm not doing very well with my facts. Who cares...okay, to continue...more recent books like Phil Roger's Salt Glazing and Rosemary Cochrane's Salt Glaze Ceramics show lots of UK kilns with this arrangement. My kiln with the burners in the back, firing towards the front, has always been cooler in the back. Also lots of the salt/soda gets blasted up towards the front and so those pots get hammered. (I cut back on my gas pressure when I salt but this doesn't seem to help a lot). So my thinking is that the diagonal placement would help with evening up the heat, and also distrubuting the sodium better. Or at least in a different way. I haven't seen this arrangement in the US , except at Clary Illian's and in the four burner case at Blair Meerfeld's pottery in Colorado. Gail Nichol's in her new book on soda glazing favors the four burner set up. Ruthanne Tudball, the Queen (in my opinion) of Soda, has the diagonal set up. So anyhow that's my reasons for wanting to try the diagonal setup.

However it seems I will not be doing so on this firing. Yesterday upon further inspection, and after moving the burner back to the back, I found the problem to be with the burner orifice, not necessarily the positioning. The flame was burning out around the mixer which must have became loose or wasn't properly seated. I fixed this easily and now it is burning properly. I have disconnected my line up to the front of the kiln and do not feel like going to all the trouble to reconnect it. (I just want to get this firing over with). So for now I'll be back to my old setup.

What a long, not very concise answer.
I'll fire tomorrow, (keep your fingers crossed) and will post results soon.
Best, Ron

Mission Aborted

I loaded the kiln yesterday and was finished by 1:30. Prewadding everything made it go quick. I lit the burners last night at 10 pm and went to bed. I got up at 12:30am to increase the gas pressure. When I cut the gas up I noticed that the burner in the front of the kiln was firing on more pressure than the one in the back. Remember this is a new burner arrangement, instead of having both burners in the back, I moved one around to the front, opposite of the other burner. Well this isn't going to work the way I have it set up. I need to regulate the gas pressure to each individual burner. Evidently the long leg is getting more gas than the short leg and so I was going to be in trouble. So I shut down the kiln and went back to bed. Today I am moving my burner back to the original position. I will fire on Monday.

Mooving On

I am all set to load tomorrow. I went ahead and prewadded everything I could this morning and mixed one more test glaze. It was really windy today, but sunny and beautiful. The cows in the pasture behind our house were up on the ridge for a while until the wind got up.

I got my kiln shelves all scraped and then I hung a big tarp up in the front of the shed so that I can be out of the wind tomorrow. It's cooled down a lot today and the wood stove is all stoked up for the evening. Nice and toasty.

Tearing down the walls

I had a lot going on today. I unloaded my last bisque and got those pots all glazed this morning. After lunch I worked on my kiln for a few hours, getting the bagwall back into place, working on the floor some more, and clearing out the kiln shed.

My dad came over around 5pm to help with my renovation. My neighbor Tracy showed up too and my brother in law Ronnie. What a good crew I have. I am fortunate to have generous people in my life. Anyhow we worked for a while and discussed getting the header in place and what's to come. I am going to be busy for the rest of the week getting my pots loaded into the kiln and fired. So I probably won't get any major work done in the house until the weekend.

That's it for now. Sarah is working late and won't be home till after 9 pm. I've got to go scrounge up something for supper in the kitchen.

New Week

Monday morning. It's very soggy outside, not terribly cold though. I am looking forward to spring already. I'm not much of a winter person.
I got my bisque loaded this morning, I had some pots that were still damp so it will be a long slow firing. I wish I had one of those computerized electric kilns that I could program and just forget about. My little bisque kiln is fired with gas. I have to write a "X" on my hand in ink so to remind myself it's going.(Kinda like the string on the finger idea). I tend to forget about it for hours at a time.
I will probably spend part of the day glazing and later work on the renovation. I am hoping my dad will come over to help out and give me some advice. He's really good at this sort of thing.
I am hoping to fire my salt/soda kiln at the end of the week.

Weekend Recap

I spent part of Saturday tearing out this wall between the kitchen and what will become our new living room. The new space is what used to be my pottery workshop. I was very anxious doing this just because I guess it means a commitment to getting that space finished. Lots of work to come, money to spend, etc. I am sure I'll be really happy once it's done and maybe it won't take as long as I think. I'll try and keep a little construction log here as we go.

Sunday I met with the Circle of Eight. We talked about our upcoming exhibition at NCECA in March in Louisville Ky. We also hashed out some ideas about galleries we want to approach this year. We will be having a sale in Charlotte on April 28. If you don't know, Circle of Eight are eight potters from NC and SC. We have come together as a group to promote our work, to help and support one another and because we all really like one another and it's fun.

Sunday night we had supper over at Sarah's parent's house. It was good to see them and have a visit. They mean a lot to me and I am lucky to have such good in laws.

Friday Pottery Roundup

Yeah it's Friday! I had a productive day, more on that in a minute. Here is a shot of the pitchers. I got them handled and slipped yesterday. I am pretty happy with these, the handles are a challenge. Below is a picture of a group of home schooled kids that came out here yesterday for a little demo and pot talk. They are all taller than their teacher, Libby (far left). They were a good group, some have been out here before.

Today, like I said was a good day. I started off taking the household trash to the landfill, after cleaning out our deep freeze and some other junk I needed to haul away. Then I made a quick trip to the grocery before getting home and to work in the studio. I have finished all the pots for my next firing, I slipped a board of yunomi, some vases, and candle holders, and unloaded my bisque from Monday. I was a bit overwhelmed with all the pots that came out of the bisque, once they were inside along with all the stuff I made this week it's quite a lot. I have probably a load and a half. I sure hope this next firing is better than the last. I am trying some new slips and a new burner arrangement. Risk is good right? So the plan is another bisque on Monday, then fire at the end of the week.

Oh right, I also worked down at the kiln some. I fitted my new door in place, brick by brick. It went well but the door opening has moved over the years and of course it's not square anymore. That meant I had to 'custom fit' two bricks in each course. This involved rubbing the bricks against a cinder block to make it a bit smaller so it would fit. That took a while, and was a good way to end the day.

Pitchers

I made this board of pitchers yesterday along with some mugs and a teapot. These pitchers take awhile as they are made in two parts and I like to go ahead and get them done in one go. I throw the bottom and stiffen it up with a heat gun, then I partially throw the tops, add them to the bottoms and finish shaping the top before pulling the spout. I'll get the handles on these today I hope before I have to go teach. I made some square mugs and the teapot was made on a whim after I saw that I liked the shape of the bottom of these pitchers. I thought it would make a good teapot body so I tried it out. I'll let you know if it makes the cut.

Get Going

I've gotten a bisque loaded and going this morning. I am hoping to fire the salt/soda kiln on the 25th so I'll probably get another bisque fired early next week. I have plenty of pots but there are a few things I want to get made this week like some owl candle stick holders and some yunomi. Oh and some small bottles. And some pitchers. I better get busy.

We had a good weekend. Sarah and I celebrated 7 yrs of marriage on Sunday. I have a wonderful, beautiful wife and I look forward to many more happy years together.

End of Week

Today I worked some in the house. We are starting renovations on our downstairs area. This was orginally my pottery workshop. We are turning it into more living space now that I have the new studio all set up. So I didn't work on pots today other than slipping a few things and well that was that. It's going to be nice to have this new space. We are planning on building some closets and adding a bathroom too. We have no closets. Crazy huh? I'll be working tomorrow on moving the water heater and maybe some other small stuff.

Okay so that's it for now. I'll write more later. Here is a pic of my animal jars with all the critters attached.

Feeling better

I am feeling more like myself this morning. I hope to get some feet cut on some bowls and finish up my animal jars today. I'm not planning on overdoing it though.
I spent a good amount of time journalling yesterday and had time to call one of my favorite potters, Clary Illian, to ask her some questions. It was good to catch up with her. Here is a link to an article from 1999, read that and I won't have to say anything else about Clary. Except...she rocks!!

On Hold

I've been under the weather for the past couple of days. I have flu like symptoms, fever, achy body, headache. I am doing better this morning, but still plan on taking it easy and not getting in the studio. I took this photo when I went to out to feed Karma this morning. Everything is on hold, wrapped up in plastic until I get to it.

Sunday

Rain on our tin roof.
Laying on the couch.
Beatles-Love.
Reading...Anne Lamott &
newly arrived Ceramic Review backissues.
Hot cocoa in a handmade mug.
Karma bouncing around.
Fire in the woodstove.
Nap.
Rest.
Relax.
My kind of Sunday.

22 Beginners

On Saturday, Clayworks held 'Muddy Fun Day' in a effort to get folks interested in signing up for classes this upcoming session. I was asked to lead two, 2 hr. sessions which would introduce people to the studio and allow them some time on the wheel. We had 10 people in the first session and 12 in the second. Thank goodness I had some great volunteers to help me. It's a lot of work trying to coach someone through stages of making pots. Everyone had a great time and I think we definitely will get some to sign up for the beginners classes.

I really take for granted how far I've come in my own potting. Of course there is much to still learn, but I can still remember how frustrating it was not to be able to center the clay on the wheel head and how long it took to get the basics down. Some days it's still a struggle.

I am looking forward to getting back in the studio tomorrow.

Food, Tea, Pottery, Travel

I somehow found myself at Harris Salat's weblog last night. I don't know how, but I am glad to have found it. I love food, cooking, travel (and the idea of traveling more), pottery, tea, and all these things are found on Harris' site. The story of the olive oil touched me. My dad loves fried eggs too, over easy, but cooked in butter, LOTS of butter.

I love the image of the guy holding that big round of bread. He looks like he's thrilled to have his picture taken. And the size of that oven rocks!

I recently ordered some tea from Uptons and they included a free sample of darjeeling. Low and behold there is a story of tea pickers harvesting what will become a darjeeling tea on the weblog.

If you look on the side bar under catagories you'll find a story on Japanese potter Shiro Tsujimura.

I haven't explored Harris' site more yet but its a good start.

As far as traveling goes I have high hopes. I have a list of the places I'd love to go. It includes: Japan, China, Italy, Indonesia, Australia, England, Wales, and more. I have specifics but won't go into them. I don't know if I'll make it around the world but it's a dream worth having. I regret I didn't travel in my 20's. I have time left but need to get started. Sarah and I are talking about going to England this year. We also talked about Greece recently.

Okay that's it for now. Time to get supper on the table.

Rob Barnard

Rob Barnard is a potter living in Virginia. I have been visiting his website lately checking out his new work and reading some of his essays. I have to read some of his stuff twice before it sinks in, but it is well done and gives one something to chew on. www.rob-barnard.com
If you have trouble reading against the white background, click on 'printer version'. I found this helpful.

Today I got some pots packed and delivered for an exhibition coming up next month in North Wilkesboro, NC. It is a show featuring potters from the clay guild I belong to, Claymatters. After lunch I made some cups, tankards, and small jars. I realized that I have quite a lot coming up in the next two months and need to really start focusing on what I want to make. I jotted down a 'to make' list. I should have plenty of time over the next two weeks to get it finished and bisqued. I will fire at the end of January.

Tuesday

I got a late start but managed to get a few pots made today. Here's the 'Before' and 'After' shots.

These will get handles, feet, etc. tomorrow. I also finally got some test slips mixed too. I am looking to expand my palette a bit. I am the worst at mixing stuff up, I actually started doing it yesterday and botched up a recipe that only had 3 materials in it. That's pretty bad, need to pay better attention. This is one reason I am not a 'glaze person'.