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Tied at #11

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Each year, Pottery Making Info announces the top pottery blogs of 2015. This year I tied with Garth Clark’s Cfile for #11. Not too shabby if I say so myself. I am also in good company with Gary Rith (#2!) and Linda Starr (#5), and Barb Rogers (#8). The announcement was perfect timing for today’s post.
I have been working on a small dinnerware order. The pieces all have wavy rims, which can make trimming a challenge. Using a foam trimming bat makes this job so much easier.
The foam grips the piece quite well, and centering is easy because of the concentric circles, drawn onto the foam.
I learned about making a foam bat back in 2007, when Emily Murphy posted the “how to” on her blog. JZ immediately went out and bought some foam and made this bat. The instructions say to use a new clean bat, but JZ used one that we had in the studio. Clean it up and let it dry thoroughly and it will work just fine. I have been using this bat for nearly nine years and it’s just now showing signs of wear.
You can find the instructions here: PotteryBlog.com
My point is… I have learned so much from reading blogs and writing my own blog. I have made friends with other potters, some who I have met in person, others who I feel like I have met! I appreciate each and everyone of you, and how you have touched my life in a meaningful way. 
2016 is going to be an awesome year. We are off to a great start.
Happy New Year to my Blogger Buddies and Readers!

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Kiln Moving Day

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Jeff spent the last week taking down our gas kiln at the log cabin. He did it almost entirely by himself, while I kept the gallery open at home. Brick by brick, it was unstacked, packed in boxes, and placed on pallets. Today we hired someone to come out with a forklift, load the pallets on a truck, and drive them a mile and half up the road, to their new home.

Of course it rained like crazy. Just like it has every day for the last two weeks. Since the yard is like mush, the forklift dude had to park his truck and trailer in the driveway and travel through the yard with each pallet of brick.
 the kiln site at 505 E Main

One of these days it will stop raining long enough for our form to dry out so that we can pour some concrete.

The moving took less than two hours, well worth hiring someone. It would have taken Jeff and I all day to move brick in our trailer. Never mind how our backs would feel at the end of the day!

Jeff got out his power washer and helped Mother Nature wash the mud off of the driveway. Our parking area is clean ready for pottery shoppers!

We can’t wait to have our kiln up and running again. When we rebuild, it will be bigger and better! Getting through the holiday season, without our kiln, has been a real struggle. I am looking forward to the day I can sleep through the night without worrying.

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Fake Plastic Trees

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Jeff and I never go “all out” for Christmas, we like to keep it simple. I was sure I would want a nice big fat Christmas tree, since we have room for one in our new home. But life’s been crazy here, and money is tight. We decided months ago that we weren’t buying presents, so I couldn’t see shelling out dough on a tree that would have nothing underneath it. I dug my little fake one out of the closet. Low and behold it’s a perfect fit to sit on the fireplace hearth… along with my 1954 light-up plastic Santa. When my parents sold their home, 5 years ago, they gave me all their window candles. I finally have window sills to put them on! Despite our tree-less home, it’s feeling quite festive here.
Although I think all my ancient light up decorations scare Jeff a little.
We also had a last minute change in Christmas dinner plans. Jeff’s sister Susan fell and broke her hip. She will be spending the holiday in rehab. The family will meet here on Christmas day and travel together to see her. When we return, Jeff and I will host a low key dinner. I love the thought of having Christmas dinner here at home, I just wish it wasn’t under these circumstances. Susan loves Christmas and often does a lot of the cooking. I am sure she is disappointed. 
My view of Christmas changed completely the year JZ died. It was less than two weeks before Christmas. I couldn’t bring myself to shop that year, and never mind cooking. What I realized that year, was that Christmas happens without the ribbons and bows, and that it is more enjoyable without the stress. I guess you can say I stepped off the holiday treadmill in 2008.
Wishing all a Merry Christmas, no matter how you celebrate it.

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Sheep Building

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 This year I have sold all of my small animals, except for one lone piggy rattle. It’s not really the pig’s fault, he has been sitting on the peninsula in the kitchen, not out in the gallery.

Time to start building some new clay animals. I always go back to the sheep first. 

His head and body are hollowed out.

I apply the “wool” with a tiny Kemper extruder tool, using what I call the spaghetti die. Some day I might find another use for the tool, and the other dies that came with it. So far it’s only been useful for creating sheep.

Despite the hollow body, his “wool” makes him quite thick. I will let him dry a good long time before going into the bisque kiln.
Next on the list… piggy rattles.

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Brunswick Stew

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…Sorta…more like BBQ Soup

 

Brunswick Stew or should I say BBQ Soup
Brunswick Stew or should I say BBQ Soup

If you want to call this a recipe…

Saute onions & garlic, then add: 1 part smokey shredded BBQed meat , black pepper and vinegar based BBQ sauce. Cook that on high until it starts to stick to the bottom of the pot…then deglaze the pan with a half bottle of good IPA … then add…2 parts caned tomatoes(or more).1 part beans(I use butter beans) 1 part corn, 1 part okra(to taste)…. 2 parts chicken stock(or more)simmer that for an hour, while you add…cilantro and more garlic, cumin and what ever else you what….(to taste)

Winter Blooms

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The camellia bushes are starting to bloom in our yard. This New Hampshire native is still amazed, even after living here in North Carolina for over five years, that these flowers bloom late fall, into early winter! There are about five of these bushes around our house. They are loaded with buds. Each day I go out and check to see what has bloomed and what is on the verge.

The rain today changed our plans. We were all set to do another cone 10 glaze firing in our raku kiln, but it was way too wet to manage. One day won’t set us back too badly and it’s not worth the risk of making mistakes in judgement because you are cold, wet, and tired. The weather will be better tomorrow and we will be able to fire with clear heads. Everything is glazed and loaded and we will get an early start. Our last orders will ship on Monday… arriving for the Christmas holiday with no time to spare. We are living on the edge, like most potters this time of year.

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Progress!!!

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Our kiln move is starting to seem real!!

Jeff and his brother John built the forms this week to pour the concrete pad for our kiln. We are so grateful that the temperatures have been with us to do this outdoor work. Today our man with the tractor, Keith Cagle, came and did some grade work for us. Keith is a hard working guy with reasonable rates. We are so glad he was recommended to us. Our budget is limited (very limited) and we appreciate all he has done for us.
When our work is done here, Jeff has gone every evening to the log cabin to start breaking down the kiln. We need pallets to load the brick on and after posting on facebook, of our need, we had lots of offers from area potters, to borrow pallets. What a great community we live in!!!!
While Jeff and I work hard to fulfill holiday orders and prepare for kiln building, Sophie cat has taken advantage of us…

This is the first time I have EVER caught her sleeping on the coffee table!

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Holiday Open House Weekend in Seagrove

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Put on your flip-flops and head to Seagrove, NC this weekend. Temps are predicted to be in the 70’s and lots of pottery shops are celebrating the season with a Holiday Open House. Listings for all the events can be found on the Seagrove Potters facebook page. Be sure to “Like” it while you are there.

Jeff and I will be serving blueberry bars and homemade brownies, along with hot coffee… perhaps I should rethink that and make it ice coffee! Jeff has some really nice wood fired tea pots and tea ware in the shop, along with the Gong Fu Tea Set in the photo above.

The piggy banks have been flying out of here this month, even the ones that didn’t have wings. Out of the kiln this week came these two sweet piggies that weren’t spoken for. I am sure they will find new homes by the end of the weekend.
Here are the details:

Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery
505 East Main Street
Seagrove, NC
You will find our new home in between Pottery Junction and the Big Red Barn
Saturday, Dec 12th 10am to 5pm
Sunday, Dec 13th 12pm to 5pm

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Jeff saves the day!

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What a week it has been. Remember our firing over the weekend, the one with all of the Christmas orders? When we un-bricked the door on Monday, half the kiln was filled with hideous glazes. It seems that the bottom reached temperature and the rest was spotty. We also weren’t sure if our new batch of green glaze had some bad gerstley borate in it. I just wanted to puke. My mind raced ahead to letting everyone know that they wouldn’t have their pigs for Christmas and having to refund boatloads of money. Jeff told me to calm down.

He was going to re-fire everything in the raku kiln. We couldn’t re-fire in the bigger gas kiln, because we are getting ready to have the tank moved and we pretty much drained it with this firing.

Here are examples of the re-fire results in the raku kiln…

I love the way this glaze combination re-fired! The orange is beautiful.
Jeff also got great copper reds from this little kiln. He had some tests that were a rich, deep red.
The green pigs were packed and shipped before I took photos, but they all looked awesome.
Nuka white always looks good. This double bowl was fired in the raku kiln. Luckily all the whites in the bigger gas kiln also looked fine. What a relief. I told Jeff he is the kiln wizard.
I have spent the last couple of days packing pots. Late yesterday I took a car load to the post office, just before they were about to close. When I got out of my car, there was a despondent looking woman, sitting in her car with the door open. She asked if could help her. Of course my first thought was, she is going to ask me for money.
I was wrong.
She said that she needed to pay bills, her English wasn’t good, and she didn’t know how to write the dollar amounts in english. No one in the post office would help her. I told her I would bring my boxes inside, and then I would see what I could do to help.
She had three bills. Her checks were all signed, she just needed me to hand write the dollar amounts and find on the bill, who to make the check payable to. It took maybe five minutes.
She was so very thankful and appreciative.
We all hear so much negativity towards non-english speaking people in our country. Most commonly heard is if you are living in the United States, learn to speak english. 
My grandparents spoke both English and French. My great grandparents lived in this country for a long time and never learned to speak English. I wonder if they experienced prejudices back then.
The Kiln Gods (and Jeff) saved me from a major stress this week. It was a small token of repayment for me to help someone else who was distressed and needing a helping hand.
…and that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

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