Cups

A few more images from the studio today. Below are handle blanks ready to be attached to cups.

Here are the cups. They were made yesterday and have been drying. I usually turn them upside down as soon as I can to help even out the drying. They are ready for their handles.

And here they are. I love to make cups. It took me along time to really like them. Seven years. I remember when it all came together for me and my cups. Learning to make a good handle was a big part of it, and paying attention to the volume and gesture. I still make some not so great ones but I strive to be a good cup maker. Hopefully the rest of my pots are following suit.

Circle Spring Sale

We had a great day for our Circle of Eight Sale on Saturday. The turnout was good and we all sold some pots. It was good to hang out with the pottery crew. Our guest artist, Kelly O'Briant brought a nice selection of pots and we all enjoyed having her there. She fit right in with all of us and I enjoyed getting to know more about her and her work.

Below is a shot of my booth.Here is a partial shot of all the booths, I didn't get Jen Mecca and Sandy Singletary's booth in this picture. (Sorry girls).
Greg Scott, below with customers.
I wish I would have gotten more shots of everyone's work. Here is a quick shot of Kelly's work. For more images visit Jen Mecca's blog.
I'll be back to work in the shop tomorrow. I have another show this weekend here in Shelby. Check back this week for more.

Pots. Show.

I am getting all my things together and will be leaving shortly for Charlotte to set up for the Circle of Eight show which is tomorrow. See post below. I have all the pots and my display loaded in the truck.

I finished up a few pots this morning. Below are a few spouted mixers. I really like these pots a lot; we have two in our kitchen. They are great for scrambling eggs or mixing up dressings.

Here are some cups with incised star pattern. I haven't done this in awhile. Sarah's mother has a cup like this and I was looking at it when I was over there recently. It was so nice I decided to make a few more. These have the yellow slip so the contrast should be good.And here are a few honey jars. These are good sellers, I use ours every day.

I'll have some images from the Sale going up later in the weekend. If you are in the area please come by. Lots of great pots to choose from.

Process

Today I'll be finishing up the pots that I made on Tuesday and some plates that were made earlier that have finally decided to dry to the point of turning. I want to get all my pots boxed up to take to the Circle of Eight Sale also. We are setting up on Friday afternoon. I am excited about our Sale, we should have a good turnout and the weather looks like it will be nice.

My clay is drying in the racks and will be ready to come in in a few days. As it dries I will cut it into blocks. This allows me to bring in the blocks that dry sooner (the ones closer to the edge of the rack). I will store the soft clay in large, lidded trash bins. When I am ready to use it I will run the clay through the pug mill.

I am challenging myself to think of ways to change some of my more generic pots to give them some character. I think this will mainly involve paying attention to parts of pots like feet and rims and details like handles and maybe some little add ons. I could make some bowls with taller feet, or bottles and vases composed of parts. It's hard to put into words but I'm doing some sketches. I noticed in my last kiln load that I had some baskets that were really boring, not even worth firing really, and I had some small jars I felt the same way about. I guess I learned from that. It's easy just to 'make stuff ' , making interesting pots is harder. I think also for me it's learning to cut out certain things and go deeper with others. That's what I think I should do, 'go deeper' , explore, have fun, and see where that takes me.

Heaven

Last night I made a couple pizzas. This one was made with the Italian sausage that Tom gave me. Boy was it delicious. I made another with spinach, goat cheese and onions for Sarah. It was tasty too. Pizza is my favorite food by far and I can pretty much make a better pizza than any chain resturant. We do have a good pizzeria in Shelby, Doc's. They make a great pie.

I am feeling very off schedule this month. I am getting pots made but it seems I should be firing already. I will fire on the 30th probably. The thing that is throwing me off is that I have 2 shows this month and another in early May. I feel like I need to be firing before each show. That can't happen...well it could but it isn't. So things are on schedule after all. I have a load almost made except for some cups and a few other things I'd like to get in.

Circle of Eight Spring Sale

The Circle of Eight Spring Sale is this Saturday from 10 am until 4pm. The location is 1225 Dade St. in Charlotte. We will all have a good selection of work to choose from. We have invited Kelly O'Briant from the Raleigh area to show with us. If you need any information or directions call Amy at 704 650 5662.

Lunch with Randy

Today I had lunch with the potter Randy Johnston. Well, I had lunch while Randy made pots and talked on this dvd that I got called The Nourishable Accident. I just got it today. I have seen Randy make pots in person years ago at a conference, but it was good to see his methods again. It really reminded me that I needed to slow down. Really, slow down my wheel. I throw on a treadle wheel and it doesn't go very fast to begin with. The video shows RJ throwing on a Korean kickwheel and a treadle. The slow wheels and soft, sandy clay give his pots a beauty that cannot be had with any other methods.
After lunch I went out and made some 2 lb jars with lids and mixing bowls. Nice and slow. It's hard for me to remember to go slow. My 'monkey mind' gets going and before I know it I'm kicking up a storm. Maybe I'll put up a sign on my wheel or something. What could it say? 'Go Slow, Pots Ahead'?
Anyhow that was a good lesson for my day. Once my clay is out of the racks...my favorite body, the one with sand, and grog, and fireclay...I'll be sure to slow down and enjoy it. It is my hope that the pots will reflect this enjoyment.

Technical difficulties

I tried scanning in a drawing this morning but I am having problems getting it to post. Maybe later I'll figure it out.
Not too much to say just yet, I think my brain is on vacation and I am on automatic at the moment. The pots I left uncovered in the studio last night are still too wet to cut feet on or to handle. I'll be making some pots today including jars to take into class tonight to demo for my students. Covered pots are the focus this session.
It is sunny out today and not so windy so I'll take the tin off the racks so my clay can dry. It was too windy to do so yesterday, I'd have had bits of everything blowing in.
Okay, so that's a pretty lame post for now, I'll get something better up soon. Thanks for checking in.

Monday. Work.

Here is the pot I bought at Will and Douglass'. I love this tall foot.

I had a productive day back in the studio after playing all weekend. I got 2 boards of luncheon plates made, some mugs, and some shallow dishes that will get birds attached to them tomorrow. Also a few yunomi and shot glasses from my test clay. I am looking forward to my clay coming out of the racks next week. It will be a good change from the very smooth body I have been using for the past while.

It's incredibly windy here today. Gusts up around 50 mph. The sun is out and it's warm. I am ready for the weather to level out around here.

Circle of Eight is having our Spring Pottery Sale this Saturday in Charlotte. I am very excited. We are hoping for a good turnout. We have invited a guest potter to join us this time, her name is Kelly O'briant and she lives near Raleigh. I'll post more info. soon.

Weekend

I had a great weekend. Sarah and I went to see David Sedaris on Saturday. This was the first time I had seen him in person. We have all his books and I catch him on NPR from time to time. All of the material on Saturday was new as far as I could tell. He had the whole place laughing out loud only minutes after taking the stage. He talked about living in Normandy, and about a 3 month stay in Japan. The language barrier and cultural differences both present good material for him. He also told stories about his family, mainly his brother, and read a few passages from his diary. At the end he fielded some questions from the audience and then went to lobby to sign books. There's no new book out at this time but I hope for one soon. We'll definitely go see him again if the opportunity arises.

Sunday was a full blown pottery day. Julie and Adrienne from Clayworks were heading up to the Penland area to pick up some donated pots for Clayworks' upcoming fundraising event. We all knew that Will and Douglass at Rock Creek had recently fired their kiln so we worked it into the schedule that we would go there first and get some pots and hopefully have a visit. I was disappointed that we didn't get an earlier start and we didn't arrive until lunchtime. Will and Douglass had some guests visiting from Virgina, Warren Fredrick and Catherine White. I was really excited about meeting them. What was even better was that they had brought some of their pots down so we got to see them too. The highlight for me though was getting to see some of Catherine's journals, drawings, and collages. I could have stayed for several more hours and asked her questions but we needed to move on to our next stop. We did all get some great pots from Will and Douglass' showroom in the barn. I choose a nice tall footed jar.

Our next stop was at Suze Lindsey's and Kent Mclaughlin's pottery and home. Suze had us lunch ready but I was jacked up from having two cups of strong green tea at Rock Creek. This combined with all the pots in Suze and Kent's house had me very over stimulated. I get really distracted visually anyhow, especially with pots. So Suze told me to go look around. There were pots everywhere, many of theirs, but mostly of other potters from all over the country, many of my favorites. After I settled down a bit we all had lunch and a good visit. It was getting on in the day and starting to snow. Adrienne needed to get back home as she had lined up the babysitter for a certain time and we were already behind schedule. We made two more quick stops to get pots and by that time the snow was coming down in big flakes and accumulating on the ground.

We made it off the mountain and they dropped me off at my truck where we had met earlier in the day. Adrienne and Julie still had over an hour to get home, where as I only had about 40 minutes. It was an awesome day. Seeing everyone was great, the thing that is sticking with me right now are Catherine's journals. I told Sarah just the other night that I need to be spending my free time more creatively. I get my pottery time in every day just fine. What I'd like to do is take more time to draw and play in some medium other than clay. Seeing Catherine's work has made that desire more strong and I feel like I'll act on it, as a matter of fact I did a drawing this morning.

It smells funny around here.

I have had a good day of doing things around the house. I just had a nice shower and I think I'll call it a day. I got my pots slipped and the yard mowed and 2 racks of clay mixed. I also made a much needed trip to the landfill. It's been nice to be outside today...with one drawback. The man who rents the pastureland behind our house is putting out fertlizer today. Not just any fertilizer but 100% chicken manure. He's been at it all day. I guess someone cleaned out their chicken houses and he got the manure. So there's a wonderful smell enveloping my surroundings. It's fine indoors. I have the windows all shut up. Anyhow, it's not so bad, just part of living out in the country. I grew up on a farm so I am used to cow manure and the like. (Chicken s*#t is the worse smelling stuff there is though). I am glad that he is using something natural, he could be spreading chemical fertilizer instead which would definitely run off into our creek.

Tomorrow I have to teach a beginner class at Clayworks and then Sarah and I are going to see David Sedaris!!!!! Yea!!! I can't wait. Sarah got the tickets for me for my birthday. I am totally excited.

Thursday Mixing

I spent yesterday finishing up these jars and getting them slipped and I also cut the feet on 6 plates and two 16 inch bowls. I got them slipped later in the day and will put some pours on them today. I also mixed up a new bucket of white slip and my blue/black slip. I have been putting that off for months. My big 20 gallon buckets of slip needed screening too because little dry flakes have been falling off the sides into the mix. So getting all of that sieved and taken care of should do me for a while. Today I am going to mix two racks of clay. I am not committing to more than that right now because I want to test this clay with some silica added to it or a combination of silica and sand. I mixed up a 5 lb test batch yesterday with silica added. I'll get that test in the next kiln load.

It is amazing how much time is taken up doing things other than making pots. Lots of things have to happen before a pot can actually be finished. Glazes and slips have to be weighed out, mixed and sieved, clay mixed or pugged or wedged, shelves scraped. Making pots is a small part of what we potters do. I bet many people think we just sit around and throw pots all day. Wouldn't that be nice.

Working. Playing.

I finished my taxes yesterday. I always wait until the last week. It's not that it's really complicated, it's just the dread of it. I am glad it's finished, they will go in the mail today. We'll be getting a bit of a refund which is nice.

I have made very little work this week. I have a good stock for now. I am planning on firing towards the end of the month. I do need to mix up some slip and mix clay. It was very rainy yesterday. I may mix tomorrow or over the weekend.

I liked reading about how Michael approached getting in the studio to work. All the information is in there, you just have to make yourself go in there and work, go in and get it. He said he'd set a goal to make a dozen pots, then finish them the next day. If he wanted to make more than 12 he would, but 12 was the goal. For someone more production oriented it may be more, or less for someone else. I think having that discipline is great, and it's okay to know you can't meet it sometimes. I usually have a 'make list' for each kiln load. I work from it, adding or subtracting as I go. I would like to set aside some time each week or a month each year to just play or experiment. I try to pay attention as I work on my standard ware for anything new that will come up. If something does I'll set it aside or do a drawing so I can pursue it later. I realize that play is important, but I don't do it nearly enough. This past weekend I played with Sarah's niece for about an hour or more making things out of Play Dough. We had a blast and I felt creatively charged when we finished, and lighthearted.

I know another potter who says she makes 4 cups everyday. That's her start, it's a warm up and a place to play and try some new ideas on a pot that only takes a few minutes to make.

I want to spend some time really looking at what my strengths are and what it is I really enjoy doing. I like to make pots on the wheel. I like soft clay and the gesture I get from working on my treadle wheel. I like movement and volume. I want to pots to come out of the kiln looking wet, covered in the thin salt and soda glaze. Sometimes it's nice for them to be a bit dryer too though, with variations in color of the slip. I like handles and feet and torn clay and rough edges. I like the character of the clay to be there. I want to think about this stuff and really start to own it, push it, exploit it, move it around and play with it. It's all out there waiting for me in my studio.

Pots,Pattern

Early on I was drawn to a certain kind of pot. Strongly thrown, simple forms, functional, easily accessible, neutral colors, I think are the attributes that I would give the pots. Tom Gray was one of the first potters I met whose pots I got to handle and understand. Then there was Rock Creek Pottery, Michael Simon, Mark Hewitt, Warren Mackenzie and a few others. My pottery beginning is a pretty good story and I like to recount it, but I'll save that for another time. For now I'd like to talk more about Michael's pots and how they influenced me early on.

For one thing they were salt glazed and this is something I had been introduced to through Rock Creek's pots. I loved that surface and the color. I also loved the decoration of Michael's pots, and Rock Creek's.

Here's a quote from the Michael Simon Studio Potter article. "From the beginning, I was attracted to pots that had painting on them. I would look at Hamada's pots, where he had made just two or three movements with a brush and made the bamboo pattern and the grass pattern, and I just loved it, I wanted to do that really badly. I thought it really took me to the pot, it had a lot of power."

I felt this too early on when I was getting introduced to pottery. And I feel it even now. It is amazing how powerful the image on the pot is. I do feel that the pot, not the image is the most important thing over all. I think a strong a pot has great power, but it takes most people (who aren't potters or artists) longer to learn that or see it. They don't see it immediately. Look at Svend Bayer's pots. They are very powerful pots, amazing in form.

I have struggled with wanting to put images on pots from the beginning. At first I copied Michael and Rock Creek and a few others. My forms weren't very strong and the patterns weren't mine, so really those pots weren't mine. But they did help me learn, and hopefully to see. I eventually gave up trying to put a pattern on most of my work. I felt I could never reach that level that I had seen. Maybe I gave up too soon, or didn't explore enough. I still have that longing to make pots with some kind of pattern or image. I think it is just taking me a while to get there. I think that by reading this article and hearing how Michael describes it opened me up alittle to more possibilities. I like that he uses the word 'pattern'. This can mean lots of things and it doesn't have to be something literal, like a fish or bird or a bicycle. Even someone's pots like Ruthanne Tudball has a pattern. It's not a painted surface, instead it's texture.

So right now this is one thing I'm thinking about. Pattern, and what it means to me and my pots. I am glad I gave up struggling with it for a while because it let me focus on my forms (which I still hope to continue to improve). I want my forms to come first, but I do hope that at some point I am able to incorporate some elements that 'pull at the eyeball'.

More to come.

Inspiration

My friend Niel called Friday afternoon. Niel and I always have a good pottery talk when we call each other. We met at Penland several years ago and have kept in some sort of random contact. As we talked on Friday, Michael Simon's name came up. We both like Michael's pots a lot and both of us own quite a few. Michael (who lives near Athens, Georgia) was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago and his output of pottery has dwindled. I am not sure what the state of his health is at this time and I don't want to speculate.

Niel mentioned that there was a good article in Studio Potter (June 2006) about Michael and also an interview online, from which the article was written.

As luck would have it I was meeting my friend Julie for supper that evening and she had a copy of the Studio Potter. When I got home that night I sat on the couch and read it. I was very moved by the article. It reconnected me with my passion for pottery that I think has become a little diluted over the years as I have had more things added to my life, and as the worries and concerns of marketing my work or finding my personal 'style' have sort of occupied much of my thought.

There were several things said by Michael in the article that surprised me, and some good insights too. I will be writing more about those later.

If you get a chance I hope you will read the interview online. It's rather long and I took it in a couple sittings. Michael's work is really some of the best pots I have ever seen and used. His sense of volume and form are amazing. Also the marriage of pattern to pot is unmatched I think. The Studio Potter article has a nice portfolio of his work included and I guess you can do a Google image search of 'Michael Simon Pottery' and see some good examples too if you are unfamiliar with his pots.

Anyhow I do want to write more about what I personally took from this. So if you are interested check back in. For now I have to get started on my workday.

A Few Pots

Here are the two teapots I said I made last week. I didn't think I was going to like them too much but as it turns out, I do. I have been wanting to make some teapots with longer spouts and bigger, fuller bodies, and this is what I got. I was sort of unsure about what to do about the handles but I think this worked out for now. I like back handles on teapots, but these seemed to call for over the top handles. They were going to be plain and undecorated, but I have decided to explore the Toyko pattern in this next load of pots. So they got the slip pours and I am happy with that. I also made some yunomi to do some pours on. Here they are.
I am feeling really inspired lately. I actually worked in the studio last night for a while. I hardly ever work at night and never on Saturday nights. So that was fun. I made a couple of jars and some 16 lb. platters. I'll talk a little more about why I am feeling inspired in my next post.

Dogwood Trees

The dogwood trees are blooming down by the creek in our back yard. I love these trees, they are probably the first tree I knew by name as a child. The dogwood flower is the state flower of North Carolina, and I remember my mom telling me the story of the dogwood flower and the crucifixion.
Yesterday I was looking at Diana's blog and saw a dogwood flower there.

Sarah is off work today so we slept in a bit. I am getting ready to head out to the studio for a while. Tonight I am going to Charlotte to meet with the Circle of Eight. We have our Spring Sale coming up on April 21.

Thanks

I want to thank Douglas Fitch for putting me up on his blog this week. I can tell I have generated some hits from it. I haven't mentioned it to Douglas yet, but my mother's maiden name is Fitch. I think that's pretty awesome. I don't know much about my family history but this has gotten me interested to find out more. Anyhow check out the website to see his slipware. Doug makes some fine pitchers or jugs as they call them over in the UK, as well as many other pots.

Quick post

I drove up to Asheville this morning and picked up my dry materials so I can mix clay next week. It was a beautiful day, the mountains were greening up with the trees budding out, the sun was shining, and the sky blue with a few high white clouds. I didn't hang out in Asheville long although it was tempting, it's such a 'happening' place. I needed to get back home and unload all this stuff and get the pickup truck back to Roy.
I finished up a few pots from yesterday including some teapots I made earlier in the week. They aren't really me I don't think but it was good to make them. It informs of what I like to do and don't like to do. These pots were a little too finished or tight or something. I'll post a pic tomorrow after I get them slipped. I think I'll make a few more teapots for this kiln load, probably more like the ones on my website.
The weather is tricking us. After some days in the 80's we are now only in the 50's and are expecting lows down around 30 for the weekend. I guess we'll have to wait another few days for the warmth to return. Sarah and I have to take Karma to doggie school this evening, I'm going to make Sarah wear her longjohns, she about froze last week.
I'll try and get something a little more interesting up in the next day or so. Until then.

Not Swinging

I'm having a hard time getting back in the swing of things in the studio. I made a few pots today but couldn't get motivated to do much. I need to be using this time to build up some stock on my everyday pots and maybe take some time to work out some newer forms. I'd like to come up with a tall vase shape that isn't too generic. I'd like something oval or flattish, maybe even three sided with feet. I'd like for it to be 10 to 12 inches tall, maybe even 14. This is going to be something I build from slabs or stack two pieces. I'm not so good at throwing really tall forms. I did make some platters today, I sold the one that was hanging on the wall and so I want to make more along that line. I also need to take time out to top off my buckets of slips and glazes for the summer. I hate mixing stuff, so I need to do all this and have plenty to last a while.
I called Highwater today and they are getting my big order ready to pick up on Thursday morning. It's a 90 minute drive up there but it will be worth it to have enough material to make up a ton of clay. I guess I'll mix one day next week.
Today I figured out how to get my Newsletter onto the blog. I had to go to a site where I could upload it and then link to it from the blog. I may eventually do away with my website (it never gets updated anyway). I enjoy posting to the blog and can find ways to do most of what I need to.
Well it's about supper time. I am making some pasta featuring the Italian sausages that Tom Gray brought me on Saturday.

Good Monday

Today was sort of a hodge podge of a day. I ran out to the grocery this morning and then over to the bank to make a deposit, (which is a change from my usual withdrawl). Back home in the studio I made a few teapots after I got my displays down out of the workshop and the pots all back in the showroom. I spread some mulch after lunch and hung out with Karma for a while. It was a pretty laid back day for the most part. I also switched over to Blogger beta which allows me to post and layout my blog more easily. Right now I'm down in the kitchen frying up some fish for supper. We are having fish tacos. I have Pandora radio going, Sarah should be back from walking Karma in a few minutes, just in time to eat. So I guess I better run, don't want to burn anything.

New Cycle

My Spring Sale weekend is over and was a success. Thank you to everyone who came out. It's always fun to catch up. I'll be getting the studio back in working order tomorrow and probably make a few pots. I'd really like to head up to Highwater Clay in Asheville this week and pick up some materials. I need to check in with my father in law and see if I can borrow his big pickup to bring home the 1600 lbs of dry materials that I need to buy. I will also probably get back to work on the renovation here in the house. I'd really like to get some progress made this month. Lots to do but somehow it will get done.
We had some rain this first day of April (April showers), everything is green and beautiful and many trees and plants are in bloom or budding out. I love this time of year, it makes me feel alive and energized.
I hope you all have a great week.

Visitor

The highlight of my day yesterday was Tom Gray walking through the door of my studio. It was a total surprise and I was smiling all day. We have been friends since I met him at his home and studio in Seagrove, NC in 1992. He has helped me countless times through the years. We usually see each other once or twice a year so this unexpected visit was really special.

I had lots of folks come by for the Sale yesterday. Things tapered off after lunch (Doc's pizza, which Tom highly approved of), and we had time to hang out and talk about pots, kilns, food, and other things. Tom brought me some Italian sausage from Giacomo's market in Greensboro which I am looking forward to incorporoting into a recipe this week. It was a great day and I am blessed to have a friend like Tom.

Spring Pottery Sale

The Spring Sale starts tomorrow
Saturday, March 31 from 10 am till 5pm
also Sunday April 1 from Noon till 4.
If you need help getting here you can email me
ronpots2 at yahoo dot com
or Mapquest my address
757 Wallace Grove Rd
Shelby NC 28150

If you'd like to receive my latest newsletter please send me your email address and I'll send you a pdf copy.

Pots

A few images of pots.

More oil cans, it took me forever to come around to making these and I really like them.
I love having this variety of plates. In our kitchen we have a big mix of plates, I think it's a lot more fun that way, you're not eating off the same thing each day and you have your favorites for different foods.

This pot has been sitting on the bisque shelf for months. Maybe a year. Anyway it was one of the best in the kiln. This is the first pot I've ever made that can actually hang on the wall. It's Art right? You could always take it down and use it for a party.

Showroom Images

I have gotten the showroom all set up for the weekend. It looks good and I am glad to be ready before 10pm tonight. I'll get some flowers in a few vases in the morning to brighten the place up a little more and then hopefully some folks will show up and take some pots home with them.

Unloaded. Good Firing!

I had another good firing! Yea. I think it was probably a good thing my sprayer failed. This firing was on the light salt side with nice flashing and neutral atmosphere. I like it a lot. I didn't get to take any pictures of individual pots but here are some shots just out of the kiln and another after unloading onto the showroom floor. I'll try and get some close ups tomorrow. I had some nice plates, oven pots, oil cans, yunomi, soup and serving bowls, and lots of other things. I have to finish getting it all set up in the showroom and in the studio tomorrow.
Tonight we took Karma to doggie school. It was fun and she was pretty good. She needs to be around more dogs. Sarah and I always get a good laugh at ourselves, we have differenting 'parenting' styles and approaches.
Okay check back tomorrow for more. I hope some of you make it out in person this weekend.

Shoji Hamada Pottery

I saw this video posted on Douglas Fitch's blog and thought I'd put it up. It is Hamada making a hot water bottle. I am not sure of the orginial source. Enjoy.

Cleaning

All the dirty work is done and now my studio is sparkling, well maybe not sparkling but I don't stir up a cloud of dust when I walk in and I scrubbed all the clay spatter off the walls. So it's an improvement.
The kiln is cooling and I'll be able to unload tomorrow around lunchtime. I am almost all set for my Sale which is Saturday and Sunday. I did peep in the kiln earlier. I think it looks okay, but I never can tell until I get the door down.
I had some new ideas for some future work this evening while sitting outside with my sketchbook. I'm not sure when it will come to fruition, if ever, but it was fun to come up with some new drawings that were influenced by my immediate surroundings.
Check back soon.

Cluster Map

I put the cluster map on the blog a few weeks ago because I thought it would be cool to see where my hits were coming from. Almost immediately after putting it up I thought about taking it off because I doubted that I'd be seeing many hits from anywhere other than the south east US. To my surprise I have had hits from all over the world. That is so cool. Today I noticed I got a hit from Africa. It's amazing to know I've had folks from all around the world come to my tiny spot in the blogosphere. Thanks!

Cleaning day

It's nice out this morning. All the birds seem to be singing or chattering. The air is cool and the sky is blue. I will be cleaning the studio today and trying to get set up for my sale this weekend. I got all the pots in the showroom dusted and the shelves cleaned yesterday. I am glad to have that done. I'd like to be ready to bring the pots in from the kiln on Thursday and just put them all in place.
I haven't peeped in the kiln yet. It's still pretty hot. I'll wait until tonight when it's good and dark out and the kiln has cooled a little more. I will unload around lunchtime tomorrow.

Learning My Lesson...

again...the hard way...again. I finished my firing about 1/2 hour ago. Things went well up until the point I got ready to spray in my third round of soda solution. That's when the sprayer clogged. I took the nozzle assemble apart, cleared it and reassembled. It still wouldn't spray. So I tried again and still no luck. Time was moving along and I needed to get some soda in the kiln. So I just decided to forget the soda and put in 4 lbs of salt. And then another 1.5 lbs just for good measure. The draw rings looked good, the pots looked shiny, and I saw build up on the shelves, so I think I did okay and things should be fine.

Okay so I need to back up a little, I said I was going to use the 'chunk' method and only spray a little, mainly for the back of the kiln. Well since I got the new sprayer I thought I'd just spray it all, no chunk, and see how that would go. Now I know the answer. I think the problem was that I had my solution too saturated with material. I used 3.5 lbs of soda ash, 2 lbs of baking soda, and .5 lbs of borax in 2 gallons of water. I heated all this up on my propane burner and it dissolved fine. Little did I know it would start to crystallize once it was in the sprayer. So that was not good.

I started out as a salt glaze potter. That's what I am, that's what I know. I can put salt on a piece of angle iron, dump it in the fire box and it does the rest. No sprayer, no mixing stuff up, no problem. I do like the chunk method of soda introduction (that post is a few weeks back), because I can just dump it in. If it would disperse a little more I'd go with that. Why do I want to use soda anyway? Mainly because it's less damaging to the kiln and I do like the directional quality of it. I'm done with trying to spray it in even though that seems to be the most popular way. I do know some potters who blow it in dry, but that involves an air compressor, etc, etc, ie more stuff to malfunction AND make noise.

Okay so I am through venting. I think (hope) (pray) that this was a good firing regardless of the sprayer dilemma. I'll keep ya posted.

Stacked

I'll get the fire going tonight and finish up tomorrow. I went out today and bought a new sprayer. My other one needs some new parts. I don't have time to fool with stuff that half works, especially when my livelyhood relies on it. Anyhow, this loading took a little longer than last time, I had lots of different pots, but got most everything in there.

Monday Morning

The birds are singing and having a busy time this morning. I love that it is warm enough to have the windows open in the house, especially at night. I slept in about 30 minutes later than usual today so I am a bit behind in my morning routine. Today I'll be loading the kiln and getting ready for my Home Sale which is this weekend. I'll fire tomorrow and unload on Thursday. I am planning on using the solid chunk method of soda introduction again, but I am also going to spray some soda in the back of the kiln since it was a little dry back there last time.

We had a good weekend. We got to spend some time with friends, got the house cleaned, and visited with Sarah's mom and dad on Sunday. The dogs also got a bath and I serviced the lawn mower and got a little work done on the renovation. I have to get things all in order here and looking nice for the coming weekend. That means cleaning the studio and showroom and dusting the pots in there. It's going to be a busy week but it will all be done by 10 am Saturday morning.

I hope your week is off to a good start. Check in later for some pics from the loading.

Spring Pottery Sale
Saturday March 31 10 am till 5 pm
Sunday April 1 Noon till 4 pm

I have my bisque going this morning, it will probably be slow and long since a few things are still a bit damp. I am getting excted about my next firing which is early next week. Then my Sale that following weekend.

I have a visual arts selection committee meeting at the Arts Council this morning at 10. I am also on the board there and we are starting our fund drive for the year soon. I am not too excited about this. It's my first year on the board so this is all new to me. I am very supportative of the AC and I like being active but I hate asking people for money. I guess I need to detach myself from it in a personal way and realize that I am doing it for the good of the AC. Asking for things is very hard for me, especially money. Maybe I'll bring it up to some folks there and see what they suggest that could be helpful.

It is nice and Spring-like out today. I love this time of year. I need to try and savor it before the summer heat and humity kicks in.

Dad and I have been working on my renovation some this week and plan to work tomorrow. I need to start cleaning the studio and showroom and getting a jump on setting up for my Pottery Sale which is March 31 and April 1. If you want to receive more info. let me know. I hope we have a good turnout, I have LOTS of good pots.

Well I am off to walk Karma and then have a bite to eat before heading to town. I hope you all have a great day.

New Equipment

Toyota is now manfacturing pottery equipment. Here you can see their latest, a drying rack-truck. It works great and keeps the work up out of the reach of curious little dogs. I had my pots up there all day and at the end of the day it was ready to go in the bisque kiln for firing tomorrow. I think the drying time could have been hurried along if I would have used the 'take it on the road' feature. Maybe next time.

Fun

I spent the last two minutes having fun here

It doesn't take much to entertain me...moving the mouse round and round. Try a left click now and again too.

His Eminence

I had the last class of this session on Tuesday. We had a potluck dinner and watched The Art of the Potter. One of my students brought in this carrot cake. I learned the name of one of my favorite tools this session from another student who is in the medical field. It sort of took a life of it's own and has been added to the 'Philbeck Pottery Vocabulary'. I use my thenar eminence over and over when making plates, bowls, and other dishy shapes. I take it with me everywhere. I am hoping to get some tee shirts made soon, I'm not quite sure what they'll say yet.

Finishing up

Yesterday I finally got everything finished and slipped. Today the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny so I'll have boards of pots sitting out drying. I want to fire a bisque tomorrow and hopefully load the salt/soda kiln on Sunday or Monday. I have 150 of commercial clay left, I need to mix clay. With the warm weather coming on I'd like to mix a ton or at least 1000 lbs.

I hope I have another good firing. There should be lots of pots here for my sale which is next weekend. I am glad spring is here. The trees are budding out and the birds all seem very happy too. I haven't made much of an effort in the garden yet or on my yard, other than putting out some fertilizer last weekend.

I'll get some images posted later today of pots. Have a great day.

Work

I got back in the studio yesterday after lunch to make pots to finish up this kiln cycle. This morning I threw some small vases and yunomi and that's it. I am waiting on some test clay to dry out a bit so I can make a few small pieces out of it. As soon as yesterday's mugs are dry enough I'll get them handled and hopefully everything will be slipped by the end of the day tomorrow.

I saw hundreds of pots at NCECA. It seemed that the majority of the work was functional, which was nice. Lots of bottles and cups, going along with the whole bourbon theme of many shows. I often come away from shows or workshops feeling down about my pots or my direction. Thankfully this wasn't the case after NCECA. I came away feeling like I could push certain things a little further and make some improvements here and there. Mainly regarding form. I felt good about my handles. Seeing some of the salt and soda fired work made me want to explore heavier sodium deposits, and reduction cooling. Since I am not a big decorator I want the kiln to have a say in that process.

I will be firing next week for my Home Sale. Newsletters went out yesterday and I'll send out email versions today or tomorrow. If you'd like to receive one please let me know, I'll be happy to put one out to you.

I am off to teach my last class of the session tonight at Clayworks. We are having a potluck and watching the Hamada film.

Opening

Below are the pots I sent to our show. The jar up top was sent by my influential artist, Mary Law, from Berkley Ca. I'll try and post a few more images from the show later.

The opening at Mad About Art went well. We had a pretty good turnout and we were all so excited to have a show of our own. (this lighting is terrible from the sun coming in the front window).

Highlight

One of the highlights from NCECA was getting to meet Gail Nichols and viewing two of her magnificent bowls at an exhibition. Gail gave a slide presentation and talked about where she lives in Australia, her kilns, pots, and firing process. These two bowls were awesome. If I would have been in the gallery alone I'd probably have licked them! That's how juicy they were. They were quite big, I guess 16 to 18 inches in diameter.
If you are in interested in soda firing you should checked out Gail's book it is packed with information.

Back Home

I got in from Louisville last night around 11:30 pm. I had a great time at NCECA with all my friends that went and it was fun to see everyone there. I was so pumped up and excited every day. I am still getting settled in here at home. I will post some highlights and pics over the next few days.

Off to NCECA

I am leaving today for Louisville, Ky for the NCECA conference. I actually may not even attend the conference. The main reason for going is that the Circle of Eight has an exhibiton so we are all going down for the opening, and also to go around to all the galleries to see other shows.
Our show is at Mad About Art which is on the Louisville Stoneware Gallery Route.
The show is called Circle of Eight and Their Influential Artists. We each invited an artist who was an influence on our work or way of working. Here's the lineup.

Adrienne Dellinger invites Cynthia Bringle
Greg Scott invites Ron Meyers
Ron Philbeck invites Mary Law
Julie Wiggins invites Suze Lindsey&Kent McLaughlin
Amy Sanders invites Julia Galloway
Dale Duncan invites Tony Clennell
Sandy Singletary invites Sandy Pierantozzi
Jen Mecca invites Linda Christianson


It should be fun. Our opening is this Friday from 5 till 9.

Nina Hole

While we were in Boone on Sunday we went by the ASU art department and saw the Nina Hole sculpture that was built and fired there last fall. It was really incredible. I wanted to go up for the construction and firing but was unable to. It was awesome to see it.
Here's a shot with me in it for scale.

Posts

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I had a good weekend. My birthday was Sunday. Sarah and I rode up to Boone for the day. The weather was beautiful and sunny. It was really nice. I had a good birthday, 37 this year.
I have been finishing up pots today and trying to get myself ready to go to Louisville. I had some foot issues on these last bowls I made but I think I have them worked out for now. I need a cutting tool with a bigger loop to get the curve I want. I am firing a bisque too, which I need to go check on.
Anyway, this isn't much of a post but I did want to check in. I probably won't be posting while I am away, but you never know.
Also I was really surprised to see some hits from unexpected places on my little map counter I installed the other day. So thanks.

Pots in Progress

Here are images of some of the pots I worked on today.Group of plates with poured slip. Tokyo pattern.

Oil Cans. Just slipped.

This is a new 8 lb bowl. I made 2 more of these and three six pounders. They will get feet cut and slipped over the weekend.

Bowls awaiting cutting and mugs ready to slip.

Tankards drying upside down just after getting handled.

Irons

Yesterday it felt like I had way too many irons in the fire. I had wet, freshly thrown pots, leatherhard pots that needed handled, leatherhard pots that needed slipping, pots that needed spouts attached, oval bakers that needed bottoms, a big wet messy pile of recycled clay on the table, and thoughts in my head of a new bowl I wanted to try. I found myself talking out loud to myself, "what am I doing?", "what are YOU doing?", "I need to finish these.", "I am getting tired.", "do one thing at a time." , "which one?" At the end of the day some things were finished, some still partly finished and lots of stuff covered in plastic for today. So I have a committee meeting at the Arts Council at 10am and then it will be back here to try and put an end on some things. I keep forgetting to take the camera out to the studio but I will try and get some shots of these things in progress. Have a good Friday!

Pots for NCECA

Here are the 3 pots I decided to send to the Circle of Eight Show at NCECA. I had a hard time deciding, especially after having a good firing last week and actually having some pots I was really proud of. I struggled with the reasons of choosing the pots. I found at first I was being really ego based about it and wanting to send work that was 'the best' so folks who saw them would say 'this guy's good', 'look at these great pots' , 'blah, blah, blah'. Then I thought about what people might actually buy, and should I send things that would sell. Pricing is hard too, I admit I marked things up a good bit compared to my home prices. I looked on the web and found pots that were comparable and used that as a guide, still I marked mine a bit lower, but higher than usual. I had some real gems from the kiln, an oval baker and an oil can I really liked. I can't part with them just yet so I didn't send them. Instead I picked the bird dish and the other oil can that was good but not the 'racer'. I thought about keeping the oval vase too, it got some really nice flashing. But I sent it along, I would like to have had a professional photo of it. Anyhow so this is how stuff works out in my head, maybe I make it too complicated. Honestly I'd like to keep the best pots here for my locals to buy at my sales, I am going to have to start holding some things back though to get photographed and to send off to exhibitions in the future. Anyhow enough of all this. I must get some work done.

Back to work

Well here it is Wednesday. I made lots of pots on Monday and they have been wrapped up in plastic until today. Yesterday I had to finish up the Guild's Newsletter and the Newsletter for my upcoming sale at the end of the month. I also packed my pots for NCECA and took them to be shipped. I had to be in Charlotte at 4:30 to participate in an event at the Arts and Science Council, and then on to teach. So I got nothing done at all yesterday in my workshop.
I will post some images later of what I get finished today.

Here they are.

Below is a selection of pots from this weeks firing. Really nice stuff. I am not sure how some of this happened, for instance the three jars have some pretty wild flashing, they were in the back and the atmosphere back there seemed to be pretty crazy, plus other yet unknown factors. They are cool for sure. A lot of these pots have a wood fired look I think. Anyhow, enjoy and please post any comments. Tumblers with various slips.

Pots

Oval Baker. This will probably go the NCECA show.
Oval Vase.
Detail of above vase.
Three wild pitchers.
Rectangular Baker.