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Onward…

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Jeff and I are done making pots at the log cabin. We will fire the gas kiln once more before the end of the month. This weekend I started to pack the studio. I am taking time to wash my tools and tool containers. It will be good to get a clean start in the new space.

When I left my studio in New Hampshire it was very emotional. Yes it was exciting to start a new life in a new state, but I was leaving so much behind. I don’t have an emotional attachment to this studio. I am happy to have had the opportunity to work here, it has been a great place to get established in Seagrove… but it’s definitely time to move on to our own space.
…and to make it our own..

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Each day brings us something new

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Yesterday we became the new owners of an 8 foot drainage pipe and 2 yards of gravel… how is that for excitement?! The drainage pipe at the end of our driveway is completely plugged up. The DOT is doing drainage work in the area and they are going to clean it out. Since the end of our drive is quite narrow, they agreed to extend the pipe and cover it with gravel, if we bought the materials. We had to jump on this opportunity quickly and our new lawn guy delivered everything in time for the work to be completed. Of course the DOT let us know yesterday that they were coming on Monday… it was a scramble to organize it all while trying to finish loading the gas kiln. In the end we held off firing until today so that it wouldn’t be an all nighter.

What is really exciting is that our lawn guy bush hogged behind the house and we now have a sweet spot cleared for a nice big garden. Our plan is to clear a few more trees and brush, which will give us a nice view of the neighboring pasture. We’ve also discovered that we have quite a few pecan trees and more blackberry bushes!

And now for something completely different…
Last week we were a little disappointed that we would not be able to watch Steven Colbert host the late show. None of the streaming services that we have were going to carry it. There was no way we were going to pay for another service to watch one show. So what was our low tech solution?

We bought an old fashioned antenna! It was cheap ($40) and arrived yesterday. Last night Jeff took it out of the box, placed it on top of our empty CD rack (still haven’t unpacked those) and, VOILA! Crystal clear picture and lots of channels. Imagine how much better it will be when it’s on the roof.
Our home sits on top of a small hill, overlooking Seagrove. We figured we were in a good spot for an antenna…
Now if  DISH network and Time Warner would stop sending me junk mail, every other day, with all those fabulous “deals”.

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Leaving the wheel alone

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It’s been a weird week for me. I haven’t been feeling the groove with wheel work so I decided to get out my hump molds and do some hand building. 

The square bowl has little feet to lift it up

Today I will add little feet to the bottom of this hexagonal plate. Yesterday it was too soft to support the feet. You may remember that I have had trouble in the past with this mold and a larger one. I have either had cracks, or they fired too flat and humped up in the middle. I wish that the mold was a little deeper. I think that would help eliminate the slumping.

Hand building is slow, maybe more so for me than others. If I had a slab roller it would speed up the process. I have to make slabs with a combination of throwing on the table and the old fashioned rolling pin. When I think of the time I put into just these two pieces, they should be priced at $100! I know I won’t get that much for them, but I will be back at it today, knocking out a couple more of the square bowls.

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Shaking things up

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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.

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Put on your hard hat

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 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.

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Out of the kiln

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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!

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Scrub-a-dub-dub

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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.

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Getting out of my comfort zone…

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 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.

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Working Out. . . . side

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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.

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