Tag Archives: Travel

And The Door Comes Down…

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The pigs are gasping for fresh air!
This firing had a very creative stack. Jeff has a commission for an installation of sixteen, 16″ platters, to be installed on a wall in the dining room of a new assisted living facility in Pinehurst. There were twelve in this firing. Flat things are often problematic.
We utilized plate setters to squeeze in smaller items and student pots.
Overall it was a great firing.

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Remember “Big Magic”?

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Some of you may remember the blog post I wrote after reading the book “Big Magic”. If you missed that post, you can find it here. At the time I was struggling with being known as the piggy bank potter. I vowed to take some time this year to work on more creative things, while continuing to think of piggy bank making as my day job. Here we are in June, at the half way point of 2017. I thought I would check in and write about how things have been going.

The piggy banks are still selling well, and I really do enjoy making them. Etsy, in general, has been very good to both Jeff and I this year. As for my creative pursuits… I am feeling like I am not following through 100% of my goal.

But I am not giving up!

A few weeks back I read a blog post by ceramic artist Whitney Smith. She mentioned rediscovering gel pens, more specifically using white gel pens on dark card stock. The line quality with this pen reminded me immediately of sgraffito. I thought, what a great way to work out designs for clay on paper! I was able to find the pens in a nearby craft store. I cut card stock into smaller pieces, some in varying sizes, and went to work. My goal has been to do a few of these each week. I have found the perfect time to work on these “small works of art”, is when dinner is simmering on the stove or roasting in the oven. Time I might otherwise be wasting on facebook.

My goals for this project are threefold. The first is to discover some new patterns for carving in clay. Second, I will have some “small art” to send off with letters to my Dad. Getting mail is the highlight of his day. Third, I am going to start a new art journal. I have gotten out of this practice and it’s something I need to return to.

I will revisit my plan via a blog post in a few months, and honestly report if I have been following through on my plans and ideas.

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Just Work.

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Jeff spent a lot of hours working on this thrown and altered vase. He paddled it into a hexagonal shape, then rolled foot. In this photo he is adding his signature texture.

When he was ready to put the handles on he asked my opinion… two or six? I said SIX! Isn’t it a beauty?

The next morning we woke up to this…

Can you see that crack? Into the slop bucket this beauty will go. Cracks are one of the hazards of pushing your work to the edge. Luckily it doesn’t happen often and Jeff doesn’t let it stop him from creating more.
If it were my piece, I might have cried. Heck, I almost cried and it wasn’t mine.

The moral of the story is:

 Shit happens and never give up the strive for excellence.

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Spicy Goodness

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We ended the long weekend with one last night of grill-a-pa-looza. This time I did all the cooking, even manning the grill in a light rain. This is my favorite recipe for chicken tikka masala, if you want to give it a try, the recipe is here. The only thing that I did differently this time, was cook the chicken on the grill instead of under the broiler. I can’t take credit for the naan. It came from the grocery store. It is on my to-make list, because it should be an easy bread.

There was no fancy table setting last night. We carried our plates to the living room and streamed a little TV.

I will leave you today with this little pig. Not a great photo, but the glaze on this guy came out great. I will list him in the Etsy shop later, where there will be some better photos. Have a great week!

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Samgyeopsal

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Day three of “grill-a-pa-looza” weekend was wonderful! Jeff barbecued pork belly for samgyeopsal. The meat is sliced in strips, then cut into smaller pieces with scissors. Rice and pork belly is placed on lettuce or perilla leaves, rolled up, and eaten in one bite. We are not very good at the one bite tradition! I also made a version of the traditional dipping sauce, ssamjang. The ssamjang is salty sweet, with just a little heat from gochujang. If you are wondering about the scissors, they are used for cutting the pork belly… no knives on the traditional Korean table!

One of the greatest joys of being a pottery collector, is choosing just the right dish when serving food. I particularly enjoy it when we cook Asian influenced meals. So many little dishes filled with sauces, vegetables, and rice. While many of our pots go into the dishwasher, most of these get hand washed, which gives me the opportunity to spend extra time with each one. I always hope that our pots go to homes where they are used, either for everyday meals or reserved for special occasions… no matter which, as long as they are enjoyed.

P.S. We had a little bit of kimchi in the fridge, and I bought a small jar at the grocery store. Not as good as Jeff’s homemade, but we made do!

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Holiday

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Jeff and I may not get a three day weekend to celebrate Memorial Day, but we still get in the spirit of the holiday. The last two days were spent prepping pots to fire a bisque in the gas kiln. Jeff finished the loading last night while I started the process of grilling pizza. 
I have dubbed this weekend, “Grill-a-Palooza.”
Fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, pepperoni, vidalia onion… drizzled with balsamic vinegar glaze
We kicked off the weekend with bbq chicken, corn on the cob, and salad. We ate so late that I never thought about taking a photo. Chicken isn’t that exciting to photograph anyway!
Jeff is going to be the cooking star tonight. He is making samgyupsal, which is a Korean recipe for grilled pork belly. We will have lettuce leaves to wrap it in and the other sides have yet to be determined. I am sure jasmine rice will be involved. Sadly, we are all out of kimchi (GASP). 
Memorial Day has now become the kick-off of summer, but I still remember what this day is really about… honoring the men and women who lost their lives while serving this country. 
Peace to All

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New Letter Stamps

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I have been struggling with some of my letter stamps. I have 4 or 5 different sets. Some are rubber stamps, one interlocking set that is designed for clay, and another metal set that I believe are jeweler’s stamps. My largest font are rubber stamps and they are not well made, making it difficult to line the letters up. They are also not very deep, which means I am often carving them out. The stamps that I use on the standard piggy banks is starting to show some wear, particularly the letter “A.” Last month I searched the web for a deeper set of stamps, with a font that appealed to me. The only one I found was $66 dollars. The size was fine for the standard size piggy bank, but really too small for the large pigs. I decided I needed to think about it before plunking down the dough.

Lo and behold, last week on facebook, another potter posted a link to these “stone stamps”. She was using them to letter dog bowls. I was able to order a set for under $5 and have them shipped to Walmart for free. I wasn’t sure how easy they would be to work with, since there is no handle or guides on them… but for less than five bucks I was willing to take a chance.
I practiced on a salt pig and once I got the hang of it, moved on to orders. The size is great for the big piggy banks, and will work well for short names on the smaller banks. Lining them up was pretty easy. Now I wish they were available in a smaller font too!

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Making Sets

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When we unloaded the kiln last week, Jeff commented that my order for dinnerware with flower stamps was a big one. In actuality, it was two orders not one big one. It was sheer coincidence that two people who have been collecting this pattern, ordered new pieces within days of each other. 

I wish orders like this happened more often. It is much easier to get in the groove of making one style of work for a day or two, never mind the fact that glazing goes really quickly.

I usually make extras whenever I do orders. No extras of bowls this time, but I did make an extra of the sugar and creamer set, as well as mugs. You can find those in my Etsy shop.

Today, I am back to making piggy banks.

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Kiln Fillers

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I am not a thrilled about making sponge holders. They seem too much like work to me. But we sure sell a lot of them, even after raising the price to $20. They also can be placed any where in the kiln and take up could be empty space. I even put some of them on the bag wall… especially the ones with shino glaze. 

To move things along more quickly, I have a bin of pugged clay that was dropped through a harp to measure each lug to 3/4 of a pound. No weighing or wasting time. Just sit at the wheel and throw those little guys.

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