Tag Archives: pottery lessons

Throwing Bowls

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Like many potters, Jeff and I have always supported Empty Bowls. I am sure you all know the premise; potters donate bowls, restaurants donate soup, people come to the event and purchase a bowl that is then filled with soup. All funds raised support agencies that feed the hungry in your community. Since moving to North Carolina, we have been donating to an agency that has a very large Empty Bowls fundraiser each spring. This year they contacted us to make 50 bowls for them. They will pay for a portion of the bowls and we donate the rest.

Since Jeff is the production potter in this studio, the throwing of the 50 bowls was left to him. If I were doing the throwing, we would have had to start a week earlier! He is able to throw a soup bowl that needs no trimming. Yesterday was the day he got them all done.

He wheeled a ware cart out into the driveway to allow for quick drying. I kept a watchful eye on them, thumbing smooth the foot and stamping with Jeff’s chop and his Empty Bowls chop as soon as they were stiff enough. Tonight he is loading them into the kiln for the bisque firing. Our glaze plan should go quickly as well as fun to do. More on that next week!

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The Results Are In!

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Sunday morning the door came down on the kiln. Overall, we are happy with the results. The few issues that we had, had nothing to do with kiln design itself, but with a burner that was not firing clean, and a glaze that has been acting up.

Front stack, there was a stack of plate setters on the top that we removed before I snapped the photo.
We fired a lot of student pots in this round and they all came out great. 
The back stack was pigs and the big pots. We are really happy with the two ginkgo vases. The large vase on the front right, will get re-fired. Jeff thinks it would look best put in a salt firing.
I love the patterns of brick in the catenary arch… it almost intrigues me as much as the pottery inside.
A better shot of the two ginkgo leaf vases. They will both be available for sale during the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour, here in Seagrove, NC. April 16 -17, 2016.

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Warning: Politics are Involved in this Post

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I typically avoid posting about politics, but the HB2 law, that passed in North Carolina has me more than a little concerned and I feel the need to talk about it. This law might be referred to as the “bathroom law”, but it extends much further than that. I am sure you all know the details and if you don’t here is a link to an article in the Charlotte Observer that breaks it down quite well: Understanding HB2. 
I feel like the state has taken a backwards step in time, and a lot of people are going to be affected, not only LGBT, but businesses across the state. Everyday new companies and organizations are boycotting North Carolina.
How will this law affect our pottery sales here in Seagrove? Only time will tell. The annual Spring Studio Tour is next weekend. We really need this boost in sales after a lackluster holiday season and a slow winter. I hope that pottery collectors realize that the small minded decision made by NC legislature is something that Jeff and I are against. North Carolina needs our vote, please continue to support us.
In order to lighten the mood, I’ll end on a humorous note…

The local grocery store is now selling paper products by the pound! I wonder if it’s a better deal that way? 🙂

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Here We Go!

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Jeff and I spent the last couple of days glazing and loading the kiln. The big pots are sprayed with ash glaze and lined with tenmoku. The big pots and three vessel sinks take up a lot of the space in this kiln, but there is still a good variety of pots in there.
It was a pleasant couple of days for working outside, and we are really enjoying the view that surrounds our kiln shed. 
The door was bricked by 5:30 pm. We had an offering of sake to the kiln gods, before calling it a day. The cup on the right was made with clay, dug in our yard. A fitting vessel to toast the first firing.
Jeff lit the burners this morning.

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Load ‘er Up!

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Our first firing in the new kiln will be a load of bisque. Typically we bisque fire in an electric kiln. Our electric kiln sits in the basement waiting to be wired. Originally, the plan was for our electrician to hook the kiln up to the box that currently is used for the old baseboard electric heat in the house.  We quickly learned this winter, that the heat pump is expensive to run when it’s really cold, and it’s foolish for us to heat 2000 square feet of house for two people. After our first ginormous electric bill, we kept the heat pump thermostat down to 58 degrees and turned the baseboard heat on in whatever room we were in, to take the chill off. Doing this cut our electric bill down significantly. We have decided that we need to keep the old baseboard heat, thus costing us a bit more to hook up the electric kiln. Until we can afford to do that, we will bisque in the gas kiln. It’s probably less expensive. One load of bisque equals two or more glaze firings. The electric kiln was two firings to equal one glaze firing in the gas kiln.
So why bother with the electric? It’s less time consuming to fire the electric kiln. No adjusting burners, just turning up switches as needed.

 The rebuilt kiln is 4″ bigger in each direction. 4″ doesn’t sound like much but it makes quite a difference. We can now use Jeff’s larger Advancer shelves in the front and the back stack.

 We can fit some larger pots in there, and not have to switch to my smaller shelves until we get closer to the top.

Since we are now in a permanent location, we will mud over the fiber to encase it… and perhaps we will color the mortar and paint a cool design. Our wheels are turning, both literally and figuratively!

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Discovery

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Spring in a new home is always exciting. Each day there is a new discovery of something growing from the earth. I was tickled to death when I found we had wisteria growing along one edge of the yard. I love seeing it’s bright spray of purple, hanging from trees. I also know that it can take over quite quickly, so we will have to keep an eye on it.
There are two dogwood trees in the yard. They are in full bloom.
A little cluster of iris is blooming on the edge of the lawn, near the kiln. This fall I will break them up and transplant some to the front of the house. 


Last week, Jeff came home carrying an armful of lilies. It was a special treat to have a big bouquet in the house for Easter weekend. 

As March comes to a close, I have much to look forward to in April. My sister and her granddaughter have booked a flight to visit us at the end of the month… and they are bringing my Dad! It’s hard to believe that almost a year ago, he fell, broke a hip, then had a stroke. Last April I never imagined that he would be well enough to travel here.  His recovery has been remarkable. He is 89 now, and gets around the house just fine, but has one of those souped-up walkers, with brakes and a seat, for outings. I think the visit will be good for him. Good for all of us.

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Art from Nature

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We have lots clay in our yard and also lots of fire ant mounds. Jeff dug up an abandoned mound and bisque fired it. It’s still quite fragile, but I thought it looked pretty cool. He has bisque fired dirt dauber nests in the past. Those fire quite sturdy, because they are probably made with the clay from the studio.
If you are celebrating Easter this weekend, I wish you a happy one. We have a group coming for lessons in the morning and in the evening we will cook a ham dinner. The Easter Bunny may even bring some candy, since we have been a good boy and girl. 😉

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Kiln Fillers and Happy Birthdays

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Our kiln is 99.9% completed, which means we have to get busy making pots to fill it. While Jeff made large pots, I made some kiln fillers. It’s always good to have little things that can tuck under vessel sinks or fit on the bag wall, utilizing space that might otherwise be wasted.

The kiln fillers always sell quickly, which is the BEST reason to make them!
and of greater significance today…
Happy Birthday to my movie star daughter Danielle! 
She’s still rockin’ the sunglasses 30+ years later.
P.S. This guy also had a birthday over weekend…

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Time Adjustment

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I am not a fan of daylight savings time. It seems the older I get, the harder it is to adjust to the time switch. My typical waking time is 7:00 am. Which means that I am now waking at 8:00 am. Eventually I will shift back to 7:00, probably as it becomes lighter in the morning.

One reason that I mention this is, remember that propane tank delivery? We were scheduled for today, but the gas company mentioned that if they could squeeze us in they would come sooner. Jeff and I had to head to Charlotte on Monday so I figured I would call the company and check on the schedule. It would be my luck for them to come the one day out of the month when we weren’t home. I woke at 8:00 am, had a cup of coffee, called the gas company at 9:00 am. Of course they bumped the delivery up to that day! But they would come before noon, so we were still good to go. Jeff went outside to set the burners for the kiln in place… THE TANK WAS ALREADY THERE.

They must have come early.
While we were sleeping an hour later than usual.

So now they have to come back and connect the gas line and do the pressure test. Which may take another week.

Boo to daylight savings time, and Boo to the gas company for not calling ahead to let us know you were coming.

On a happy note… pigs are happening in the studio again. Salt and Pepper pigs.
And a new white and blue spotted pig. Have a great day… the weather has been awesome here.

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The Oval, revisited.

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I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling good about the clay again. I figured I better post some photos to back up the words. These ovals are a little smaller than the ones I usually make. The stamped pieces in the foreground will get some slip applied for mishima technique. Once the slip has dried I will scrape it off to reveal the pattern below.

A few of the ovals got the ginkgo pattern. I am doing it a little different this time, placing a few leaves within panels. There is white slip in the panel, but it’s hard to see in this light. My glaze plan is sprayed ash, foregoing the usual green and shino. I have been really digging the brown lately. The interiors might be lined with shino. I will make that decision later.

My work this week is a good jumping off point to get more creative in between making pigs. Today it’s back to the pigs. I am feeling ready for them!

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