Tag Archives: pottery

Shaking things up

Image
I have been making animal rattles this week. Most started out as small orbs that were then transformed into pigs, sheep, and one cat. The larger pig started out as a little, wheel thrown jug. All of them are small and will fit in the palm of your hand. I will probably finish them in a variety of ways, incorporating some of the techniques gleaned from the workshop I went to at the end of August. The rattling animals were filler work while waiting for pig bodies to firm up for assembling. These little guys will make great kiln fillers as well. They can tuck in underneath all those vessel sinks that Jeff has been making.

 Today we awoke to cool, dry, air… it’s only 61 degrees here at 9 am. It feels so good to have windows open with fresh air and sunshine streaming in. Not sure how long it will last, but I will enjoy it while it’s here.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1ONtBV3

Put on your hard hat

Image

 No studio work yesterday. Our day off was spent doing construction work.
Remember the ugly louvers…

Half of them are gone now.
While Jeff and John did the hammering and nailing, I primed the bottom edges of the siding. To get this project finished and within our budget, we are using T 1-11 siding. Once we have some extra dough, we will cover it with cedar shingles.
The yard looks like a construction site. I guess it has to get messy in order to get better.

Today it’s back to the pottery studio. I am working on some animal rattles. I’ll share more about that tomorrow.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1J02HEs

Out of the kiln

Image
We unloaded the gas kiln a few days ago and then moved right on to other things. I am finally getting around to looking at the pictures I took while we unloaded. Overall it was a really good firing. 
I was a little disappointed that one of my large carved bowls slumped. It’s hard to see in the photo, but in person it’s very obvious. The conclusion is that the foot ring was too small to support it. The slump is definitely around the foot ring. I also probably trimmed a little to thin around it. I have three more similar size bowls to fire. I am hoping they will survive.
One is a wedding gift that I need at the beginning of October.

 Remember the creepy face jug?

He came out pretty creepy.

… and look at Jeff’s kimchi jar back there, SWEET!

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1hQ5slZ

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Image
Jeff spent two days this week power washing the interior of the carport to prepare it for studio/gallery space. It seemed the best solution to rid the ceiling from years of grime and layers of peeling paint. If you have to work in 90 degree weather, this is probably the best work to do. When Jeff was done, it looked like he had been out playing in the rain all day.

You can see from the photo below what a difference it made in the color of the ceiling!

The louvers are being removed and replace with solid walls and a couple of windows on one side. We will still have some scraping to do before Jeff applies a texture and paint to the ceiling and beams.

It’s exciting to see things moving forward towards being able to work in our digs. The one mile commute down the road is killing us.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1JH4zFT

Getting out of my comfort zone…

Image

 A while back I signed up for Carolina Claymatters summer workshop. It’s free for members and at the time I thought, what the heck, by August 30th we should be done moving and a workshop will be a real treat. Yeah, right. That didn’t happen. I really had no business taking a day off and driving to Charlotte, but I did it anyway. It was a long day, but a good diversion from the stress of getting our studio moved.

The workshop presenter was Allison Luce. She is ceramic sculptor, works in raku clay, and fires to ^2. Her work really has very little relevance to what I make but I was able to take away some interesting techniques, as well as new ideas for my own non-functional work.
The focus of the workshop was creating depth in the work by layering oxides, underglazes, acrylic paint, and shoe polish. Yes, you read that right… shoe polish.

 Cream shoe polish can be purchased in a multitude of colors. The brilliant colors of many of these sea life inspired pieces, were obtained with shoe polish. The shoe polish is applied after the final firing.

 One idea that is now bouncing around in my head, is incorporating underglaze and shoe polish into the finish of my orbs. Typically, I have wood fired the orbs. That means I only make them about twice a year. I am definitely going to give this a try. It’s never too late to learn new tricks.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1fRBOeQ

Working Out. . . . side

Image
We are enjoying some fabulous weather here in Seagrove, NC. Warm days, cool nights. Windows open and A/C off. Perfect days to glaze pots outdoors.

 I don’t usually make face jugs. I am not really even a fan of them. A few months ago, while making luminaries, I turned one into a face jug. It’s been sitting on a ware board all summer, waiting for glaze.

I brushed this creepy guy with red iron oxide and wiped most of it off. He was then dipped in shino and dusted with wood ash. He has copper red dripping from his ears and dotted on his eyeballs. I went all out “Halloweeny” on him. Perhaps seeing all the candy corn that is already on the store shelves inspired me. It’s now up to the kiln to enhance his creepiness.

The last of the “Mugs for Moving” are glazed and ready to fire. If you are still waiting for yours, you’ll be getting it soon! Thanks again to all who helped us out.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1UhKNnm

Progress

Image
We are on a tight budget to set up our studio and gallery. Jeff and his brother John can handle the carpentry, which saves us a boatload of money. Our other new best friend is the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Last week Jeff and John scored some great doors and a window for the walkout basement.

$45 dollars for all three doors!

The window will go to the right of the patio doors in the exterior view. The opening was framed for an overhead garage door, but that would have cost much more money and would not have let in as much light. If we are going to work in the basement, we want it to have as much daylight as possible.

Our kiln will be located outside this area. It will be a nice walking distance for glazing and loading. We are really excited about being able to put our glaze buckets on wheels. It will be the first time that either of us have worked in a studio with a level concrete floor!

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1WOcBUg

Juggling work and moving

Image
I spent part of this week making pots for wood firing. Since we will be leaving this Japanese Maple tree very soon, I decided I should make pots with the leaves while I still can.

 I also revisited an old form.

The clay is StarWorks “Seagrove Clay”. I am really not crazy about throwing with it, but it looks great wood fired and can really take the heat. I scrapped a couple of forms because I thought they were too heavy. There is something about the grogginess of this clay that gives me poor judgement as to wall thickness. I also threw some mugs and tumblers with my favorite Laguna B-mix for wood. I really love the buttery look of B-mix when wood fired. I didn’t bother with photos of them. They are simple pots that the wood kiln will kiss with it’s magic (hopefully).

The bisque kiln was loaded on Friday and fired slowly on Saturday. I am really excited about the large shallow bowl at the top! I threw a few large bowls, and carved them before the New Hampshire trip. I didn’t get to really look at them until I returned home. I won’t take a chance with them in the wood kiln. I am probably going to spray them with ash glaze and fire them in our own gas kiln.

In between the work, we do a little packing each day. Jeff and his brother are installing new doors in the basement today. Things are slowly taking shape.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1WNfNj9

Boxing it up

Image

 While packing, I came across John’s sketch books from his days at Alfred College of Ceramics…

His first year at Alfred was the fall of 1969.

I am really trying to lighten up on all the “stuff” I own. I considered tossing them.

But I boxed them up instead.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1JqMBuf