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The Korean Potters Are Coming!

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Jeff has been planning this exhibition with the Arts Council of Moore County for over a year. It’s exciting now that the time draws near. Jeff and I will be hosting the three potters in our home. Thankfully, one of the potters speaks some English, and Jeff knows a little Korean. It will be a great experience for all of us! 
The exhibition opens with a reception on Friday, June 3rd. The next day there will be a festival on the grounds of Campbell House Galleries with area potters selling their work, Korean kick wheel demonstrations, along with traditional Korean food and North Carolina barbecue. 
On June 2nd, the three potters will present a talk and slide show at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove. The presentation begins at 6pm with a potluck meal. There will be an interpreter to help facilitate communication.
If you are in the area, save the date.  

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Getting Wild

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Jeff has really been enjoying digging and processing the “wild” clay in our yard. When the area for our kiln shed was excavated, it exposed a lot of this luscious, orange, goodness. After blunging, screening, and drying on plaster, it was ready to be wedged and thrown.

Yesterday he finished one of the tea bowls he made, using the Mishima technique of inlaying slip. Jeff applies the slip with a brush. Then scrapes away the excess, which also pushes all of the slip into the stamped areas. When it’s dry, he will sand away any remaining slip, using a green kitchen scrubbie.
There have been a lot of Mishima instructional videos on the internet lately and I have been a little disappointed when watching them, to discover that they aren’t really about Mishima, it’s about applying wax to clay, carving a design, and brushing on underglaze. While this technique produces some nice designs, it isn’t Mishima by definition. Just call me a purist!

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Catching Up

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I am starting to feel like I am catching up on work. Since the last firing was a good one, lots of orders were shipped out. I am also feeling more confident moving forward with new work, knowing that our firings should be more consistent since Jeff has worked the kinks out of the new kiln.

I have been working on a wholesale order that includes lots of mugs. Some in designs that I haven’t made in awhile. I enjoyed getting out the slip trailer and making dots. 

And then there were pigs to assemble. Not sure if a making cycle would be complete without the pigs.

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Meet Kate

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Kate is my friend Candace’s little sister. Candace and I were teachers with neighboring classrooms in a community based early learning program in Nashua, NH. Kate joined our close knit family of co-workers as a teaching assistant. The kids loved her and she loved them. She was barely out of high school back then, and was finding her way in the world. Eventually, she left the child care program for a better job. Much later, I moved on to sell real estate. I have always stayed in touch with both Candace and Kate. Now that I am 800 miles away, facebook has helped keep us connected.
I knew that Kate has had some struggles in her life, but I never knew the details. Her family isn’t one to air their troubles on social media. Yesterday, her sister, in desperation, reached out to all her friends because Kate needs help. She has been battling an opiate addiction.
Heroin. 
Her family is desperate to save her. Kate has gone through detox and is now at an intensive 28 day treatment program, but her insurance deductible is huge. The program will only keep her if she can find a way to pay the deductible. Her family has already been stretched thin with helping to cover the costs of getting her through treatment. Candace has started a “go fund me” campaign to raise the money. 
Heroin addiction affects families of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Addiction knows no boundaries.
Please considering donating. No amount is too small. If you can’t afford to donate, please share.

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Third Times a Charm!

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We unloaded firing #3 over the weekend and we are happy to report great results! The shinos are a nice toasty orange and the celadons, perfect.
Jeff plans to back off the reduction just a little on firing #4. You can see that some of the greens have a some red/brown blush, which happens when it gets a lot of reduction. Luckily, I think it works on these ginkgo leaf pots.
The BEST part of this firing is that there was NO pin holing on the nuka white glaze!!! That was our biggest concern, because we use it a lot and it has typically been so reliable. We were totally worried that something had changed in the clay that was causing a bad fit.
I am finally catching up on back ordered salt pigs that had been pin hole victims, and I now actually have a couple in stock and ready to ship. The other cool news is that some pots with pin holes that we re-fired also came out great. That means some of the sad looking pigs on the shelves, may get a new life with second go around. 
Jeff and I are breathing a huge sigh of relief. I think we are now finally back in our groove.

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Second Look

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We unloaded firing #2 the day before my family arrived. Jeff and I sanded and packed all of the pots that needed to be out the door right away. I had a quick look at some of the pots, before moving on to being the hostess.

This little pig came out of the kiln, and my first thought was, “Damn, the shino isn’t coppery-orange”.
He was an Etsy order, and I thought I would just fire another, since I had some time and have piggy banks already made. He was set aside, and left on his own for the remainder of the week.
Last night I decided to take photographs of him. After spending time with him, I realized that although it was different from the listing photos, he was really a handsome pig.

The aqua is really bright, and I like the contrast of it against the black/gray overlap of the two glazes. I sent photos to the buyer and she loves him too. Today he is off to his new home.

Many times when I am disappointed with pots that don’t turn out as I expected, I have found that photographing them, lets me see them in a new light. I think that translates to lots of situations in life.

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Glazing Ginkgo Leaf Pots

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When I am glazing pots with the ginkgo leaf design, I often wonder why someone who doesn’t really care for glazing, chooses a time consuming method of applying it?

As anyone who works with shino glazes knows, shino is applied first. It typically doesn’t like to be on top of another glaze. If it is, cruddy things usually occur. After the pots get a dip or a roll in the shino, I wipe it back, or away, from areas that I don’t want it to be. Once the glaze dries, I cold wax rims or handles, that I either want to keep shino, or avoid drips when pouring in the gloss green glaze. Can you tell I am confident that firing #3 will be reduced beautifully? Why else would I commit to so many shino pots?!

Speaking of ginkgo leaves, last week a potter in town, gifted me something very special…

My very own baby ginkgo tree! As soon as it has grown a little more, Jeff and I will find the perfect place for it our yard.

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Firing #2

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Firing #2 of the new kiln was a mixed bag. The mugs in the photo above came out great, exactly what the customer wanted. They also ordered watercolor mugs and the glaze pin holed on some of them. We will give them a re-fire to see if it settles them down.

The wide mouth piggy bank was a special order. If you didn’t know how the dots usually turn out you would think it was wonderful. In reality they are usually more subtle, like the dot on the ear.
Our shino glaze looked a little under reduced as well as my Temple white glaze. Jeff wants to start firing #3 later, so that we can be in reduction at night. That will allow him to better see what’s happening in the kiln. Our kiln is located in a sunny spot, and there was a lot glare on firing day.

It takes time to work out a new kiln, along with patience, and getting over disappointment quickly.
Onward!

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Family

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I did the bare minimum of work for six days, but I had a really great excuse…
I had family visiting from New Hampshire! It was Spring break in the north country. My sister flew south with Dad and her grand daughter Arianna. I don’t think they were at our home for more than 5 minutes when we found Arianna on top of the giant tire swing in the backyard.

 There was a couple of evenings of pottery lessons…

and a day trip to the North Carolina Zoo.
My sister and I convinced Dad that a renting a wheelchair was the way to go. The zoo is very hilly and she and I got a great workout pushing him around. A motorized scooter would have been a better option, but then again his driving skills aren’t the best, and we may have had pedestrian casualties.
 Snoozing polar bear

 Carousel ride
The harbor seal and sea lions are always fun. I think it was the most I had seen my Dad smile and laugh in the two years since my mother died.

On the last day, Jeff made a small bottle that Arianna turned into her own little pig. She did a great job and is very excited about getting it back, glazed in purple, when we return to New Hampshire in the summer.

My favorite photo, Dad and Arianna. Taken just before the trip back to the airport. I never thought that my father would be able to make the trip to visit us in Seagrove. We created some wonderful memories that we will always treasure.

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New Technology

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Jeff has a new toy, I mean tool! During the first glaze firing of the new gas kiln, one of the burners shut off during reduction. We have baso valves on the burners, so when the flame cut out, the gas shut off. Jeff wasn’t sure how long it was out before he found it, but it couldn’t have been too long because we didn’t lose too much temperature. The next day he was searching online for a webcam. He thought it was a good idea to have one, since our kiln isn’t quite as close to the house as the last one. Now no matter where we are – in the studio, house, or yard, we can monitor the kiln via our laptops or smartphones. Wouldn’t you know, we had a burner go out on firing #2 as well. Thanks to Jeff’s webcam, he caught it right away. Now we are researching what’s going on with this burner. I hope we get it solved by firing #3.

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