Monday Night

What a weekend. We had a stray dog show up on Friday and she is still here. I think I have found a home for her. She is a pit bull, chocolate, and very sweet. She is sort of skidish, I wonder if she was mistreated, but she has no scars so I don't think she's been fought. She likes Karma, but I am nervous and keep her on the leash.

On Saturday I got an email letting me know my friend Tom Gray had a heart attack that morning. He is home now and I hope to get to talk to him in person tomorrow. Tom is a VERY important person in my life and so I am wishing him a full recovery.

Sarah and I went to the County Fair on Saturday too. It was sort of a wash. It's always a blast to people watch, the Fair really brings the locals out of the woodwork. Sarah's favorite part was going to the livestock barn and looking at (and petting) the Brahman bulls. She said "we should get one, they are so sweet." "And tasty too," was my reply. Just kidding, no bull.

I got some work done in the studio today. I have a board meeting at the Arts Council tomorrow and then later I have to teach at Clayworks. Hopefully, I will get a few hours in tomorrow to finish up what I started today.

That's it.

I woke up in a bit of panic thinking about getting everything made and fired before the end of the month in time for the ACC show in Charlotte. I went down and lit my bisque kiln and came in for some tea and journalling time. That seemed to help some and I figure I'll be as ready as I can be and that will be that.

To perk me up more I tuned into KEXP Seattle. Where else can you hear the Pixies at 7:30 am?
I am off to the studio now to make some slab trays, and servers, and finish up yesterdays pots. I really need to get some speakers wired in there from my laptop station here in the house.

Thursday morning

It's going on 10 am and I am finishing up my morning tea. I got a bit of a late start, but the dogs have been fed and walked and so have I. I did a couple drawings this morning too.

I had a pretty productive day in the studio yesterday, even with a bum finger. I need to get started on some vases of various sizes today. I have some jars to finish too.

We got our DSL connection last week and I am having a blast zipping around the web. Last night I was looking at Danny Gregory's site and found out about Stephen Whitshire. He is amazing. Check out the videos of him drawing if you can. The human brain is capable of such incredible feats. Most of the time I feel like I'm using about 1%, if that. If those damn voices would quiet down maybe I'd get up to 2%. Ha.

I am also enjoying listening to WXPN out of Phiadelphia. Great programming.

Well, it's taken me forever to peck this entry out. My jkl; hand is one finger short which is slowing me way down.

Have a great day.

Smash

Monday evening I was helping my dad clear a fallen tree out of my grandmothers yard. We were loading a big log into the bucket of the tractor and I put my right hand in the wrong place. The result was the tip of my index finger getting smashed. It hurt terribly. Right now it's swollen, purple and white, throbbing, and I will be having the fun experience of loosing the fingernail sometime soon. Just thinking about it makes me woosey. Typing is a problem. I did manage some pots yesterday using a rubber finger cot to keep it all covered up. It's not the best time for me to be injured as I have several shows to prepare for and need to be working.

Monday

I had a great weekend. I went to Charlotte for a couple days for the Ron Meyers' workshop. Ron is one of my favorite potters. I am a little embarrassed to say that I have been to 5 of his workshop demos. The first was back in 1994 or 95 I think. He captured my attention very soon after I had started making pots. I love the way Ron handles clay. His pots have been touched by his hands over and over in the process and it is left to show in the final pot. I like his immediacy with the material. He is direct and intentional. He has a great sense of play, whimsy, and humor.
Needless to say I came home inspired to work. I feel that over the years I have absorbed some of what Ron does into my work. I don't want to make Ron Meyers' pots but I would like to make pots in the 'spirit' in which he does.
Anyhow I am off to the studio to catch up on things from last week that have been wrapped in plastic for the whole weekend.

Back to work

I got back in the studio on Monday and made a several boards of bowls. Yesterday I got the feet cut on them and made some mugs, salt jars, and bird dishes. It looks like I'm going to try and fire twice in October to get ready for shows I have in early November.

Sale Weekend

I had a good turnout for my Pottery Sale over the weekend. Thanks to you all who made it to the studio. I always want to have some photos to post from the Sale but it seems I get so caught up in talking to folks, and wrapping up pots that I forget to take any. Oh well, maybe next time.

Today I need to get the studio set back up in work mode so I can throw a few pots. I have one show in October and 3 in November. I need to get busy and figure out a firing schedule. I still have a nice selection of some items but I do need to stock up on some things.

More later.
Ron

New Pots

I unloaded today. Good firing with some new exciting pots. Tomorrow I will be getting the showroom and studio all set up for the sale. Lots to do.

Anyhow here are some of the pots. Owl candle stick holders.
Trays with incising. I really like these! Sorry about that glare.
Two new teapot shapes.
Same idea but the one on the left is Oribe inspired deco. I like both of these a lot.

Mugs with incised flower design. I am into this idea of drawing and incising on the pots. I can't wait to make some more pots and see where this goes. Sarah was very excited about all of these too. It will be interesting to get some feedback from my customers this weekend. And from you all also. Comments??

Pots

Here are a few more pots from the firing. Candle holders. I'd never made these before.
Jar.
Oval baker with incising.
Small jars with new knob idea. Nice firing on these.
Oops. Here these are again.

Loading, etc

Here is a shot of the kiln all loaded up from Monday. I finished firing Tuesday around 3:30pm and I think it all went well. Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind as I had to go teach last night in Charlotte.

Today I have a couple of visitors coming and I need to unpack from last weekend's show and start cleaning up the studio and around the house.

Tomorrow I will unload the kiln so come back to see how it all turns out. I'll be sanding, dusting, and pricing pots and moving things into the studio tomorrow and Friday. It is nice and cool this morning and the temp is only supposed to get into the 70's. Nice.

Lots to do so I better get on with it. I am already late for Karma's morning walk.

Quick

Quick Entry
Yesterday I loaded the kiln.
Today I fired and now I am off to Charlotte to teach.
It's been tiring and looks like I'll be getting home late tonight.
I'll post some pics tomorrow from the loading, and check back on Thursday for pots!!!!
Sale this weekend!

Circle of Eight Show

Circle of Eight had our first group show yesterday in Charlottle. We had a great turnout and everyone was excited and encouraging about this new venue the eight of us have started.

The day was beautiful and folks started showing up alittle before 10 am. It was really cool to see all the pots set up around the yard, we are each very accomplished potters in our own right and the work certainly reflected it. We had a good crowd for most of the day with people coming in to buy pots for themselves and some who got an early start on their Holiday shopping.

At the end of the day the eight of us all felt the sale had been a huge success and made plans for our next meeting to discuss when we'd like to do this again. We also found out we have been asked to do a group show in November in the Davidson area. More on that when I get more details.

Busy Times

I am trying to get ready for two upcoming shows. One is this weekend in Charlotte with a group of 7 other potters. We call ourselves Circle of Eight and we are having our first group show on Saturday the 16th. If you want info. email me ronpots2 at yahoo dot com. I am really excited about this group. We formed sometime last year and have big plans for ourselves. We get together from time to time to have dinner and talk about pots, marketing, shows, exhibits, etc. It's a good support group, and we are able to help each other solve problems, critique our work and realize that we are not alone in all of this as individual artists. We just found out that we got accepted to show at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference which will be held in Louisville, KY in March 2007. The show will feature the 8 of us plus 8 predominate potters in the field who influenced each us. It's a very big deal. (More on that sometime later)

My Fall Sale is September 23 and 24 here in Shelby. I hope you will make it. I will have a very large selection of pots. I am firing next week and will post pictures from the firing on Thurs or Friday. This new clay body I am using is great. It gets some super nice orange peel texture and shows off the incising well. I have lots to do around here before then whipping the place into shape and getting all set up.

In addition to these things I have been working on a grant to buy a new wheel. It's due tomorrow and I think I have it all together. I am teaching in Charlotte at Clayworks once a week, and serving on the Board at the Cleveland Co. Arts Council and as a member of the Travel and Tourism group in Cleveland Co. I have never been this active in so many things at once. Not to mention the two committees I'm serving on at the Arts Council. It's a lot but it's doing me some good to get out of my studio and be around other humans.

Okay I gotta go box up pots and load a bisque. Have a great day.

New Beginnings

Here is my sweet wife leaving this morning for her first day at her new job. The position is with Behavioral Wellness in Shelby. Now, instead of the hour drive to Charlotte she had for her internship, she has a 10 minute drive into town. And she's getting paid!!! Yea!! I am so proud of Sarah. I am fortunate to have such a great woman in my life.


I also have something new (and that pays) starting tonight. I have been asked to join the instructor staff at Clayworks Studios in Charlotte. I will be teaching intermediate wheel throwing for the next 10 weeks. It's once a week, but I hope in the future that maybe I can pick up another class. I am looking forward to getting out and interacting with students and sharing some of what I know about clay.

Process: Bisque firing

I bisque fire all my pots before glazing and then firing in the salt kiln. For many years I single fired meaning I would load the salt kiln with greenware and fire to maturity, skipping the bisque. I stopped doing that a few years for a number of reasons. Anyhow I fired my bisque kiln this past week and thought I'd put up a few pics. Most people fire bisque in an electric kiln, I don't have one so I built this chamber out of soft brick and made a lid out of ceramic fiber. There is a burner in the back that shoots the flame in under the shelf on the bottom. The lid has a hole for the 'chimney'. It's essentially an updraft kiln, very basic, and yes it fires unevenly but not enough to matter (for me). Bisque kiln

Here are the pots on the top shelf.

All these pots were in the kiln. Around 60 in all. Bisqueware is nothing great to look at, pink and plain. I'll be firing my salt kiln next week. That's when the magic happens.

One Year

Today is the one year birthday of my Blog. Yea! I've posted 155 times in the last year. I guess that's pretty good.

Not much exciting happening in the studio today. I fired a bisque and brought my clay in out of the racks. I had a nice group of visitors from out of town. I need to start taking some photos of folks who come by. We had a good visit and they headed on up to Morganton.

Big news!! Sarah got a job offer!! It looks like she is going to take it. I think we are both very relieved. It's here in Shelby and has lots of what she is looking for.

My sale is on the 23 & 24. Postcards go out tomorrow so look for them in your mailboxes next week.

Thursday, Back Home

I've been away for a few days. I'll try and get a decent post up tomorrow sometime. Check back. Thanks!!

Sprout

I've been in a weird mood today. Cranky sort of. It's been a good day so I'm not really sure why I feel so emotional and raw. We had some friends from Charlotte come by today to get some pots and have lunch. That was a nice visit. And I had two customers drop by and buy pots. That was really great because we need the money and I have a good selection of pots in the studio that I like seeing go out to good homes.

Something's going on with me but I can't put my finger on it. We are going out of town for a few days starting tomorrow. We took the dogs to be boarded this morning. The vet was really busy so that was like a whirlwind, "here they are...see you later." I hope they do okay.

I had this memory the other day about when I was a kid back on the farm where I grew up. I had a sand box that my dad built. I guess it was about 8 ft square and filled with white sand. I had lots of die cast metal tractors and plows and trucks and stuff. I loved playing out there. I'd make rows with the tractors and then I'd go down to the real tractor shed and find some stray soy beans to plant. The memory is of these soy bean plants. They would pop up so green and fresh, two leaves each. I had little rows of them. I'd never let them grow into big plants, I guess I tilled them up. Anyhow the image of the soybean sprout has been moving to me lately. Growth, life, innocence, childhood, summer, tenderness...these are all words that come to mind. Anyhow, it's good to remember.

Clyde Edgerton

Last week I went to the library to return some books. I had nothing in mind to check out. So I said to myself, "I'll walk through the stacks and see what catches my eye." I like doing this, I find some good books this way. Here's what caught me that day. Redeye by Clyde Edgerton. I was pretty much hooked by this drawing on the cover by Laura Levine. Nice eh?

Looking in the jacket I read that Clyde is from NC. Cool. I never read local authors. Don't know why. I read Redeye in about two days. It takes place in south west Colorado around what in real life is now known as Mesa Verde (which Sarah and I visited a few years ago). It's set in the late 1800's. Anyhow it's a great read. I'm not so good a giving synopses, so I won't bother (maybe this is something I'll work on). Just get it and read it. You'll be glad you did.


Okay now I am reading Clyde's first book, Raney. It is set in 1975 in a small NC rural town. Not unlike where I grew up. Well maybe a little smaller. Let me tell you I can relate to so much of this book that it's scary. I found myself laughing out loud before I was on page 10. There are issues of race, ignorance, religion, naivete, marriage and all sorts of things. It is humorous and serious both. Being raised in the South I have experienced and heard much of what is written here, most of it from my own family or close neighbors and friends.
The main character is Raney, 24, newly married to Charles, a "booklearned" young man from Atlanta. Raney's family is typical rural NC. Charles has "new" ideas that challenges much of what Raney knows. Again, read this, it will stir you up one way or another and make you laugh all the same.

That's it for tonight.

From the Studio

Here are a few pics of some things I've been working on.Bird dishes, slipped, ready to fire.

Here's my studio mate hanging out.

This is a bowl shape I'm trying out. Weird handles. It's kinda big, made with 12 lbs of clay.

These are sort of new teapots, combining ideas from a couple influences. I like the simple boxey shape of the body, I'm sure I'll get some comments on these spouts from my pal Tom . Anyhow, I have ideas for decoration for a couple that will be in the Oribe style, but with my own take on it.

Today I made some 4.5 lb bowls, some 12 lb bowls, sections for a large 2 pc jar, and finished up some trays and small stuff I made yesterday. It was a good day. I am sort of biding my time, waiting for my clay to come out of the racks. I could have 2 firings before the sale but I'll probably just pick out the most important things I want to fire and only have one.