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Prep Work

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A fews weeks back I posted about using my small hand held extruder to make my piggy bank parts. I prefer putting a die on the pug mill and using it to extrude parts. It’s much quicker and the lugs are a little chubbier with this die. The other night Jeff pugged clay and before he wrapped the pug mill up for the night, we made the piggy parts.
LOTS of piggy parts.
This is the smaller of the two pug mills in the studio. The large one is not de-airing and is still disassembled from the cleaning I gave it before the move to 505 E Main. Once we get our basement organized, I will put that one back into use. I actually don’t mind that it’s not de-airing. It’s a work horse with a large hopper and I can process more clay in a shorter amount of time.
The holidays are right around the corner and I will be making many, many piggy banks. I keep the extrusions wrapped in plastic they will keep for quite a long time. Occasionally they may need a misting of water. After a week of making, trimming, and carving bowls, I am ready to switch to piggy bank assembly… so bring on the pig orders!

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American Craft Week Continues – Saturday, October 15, 2016

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Wood Fired Teapot by Jeff Brown
The Seagrove Potters have been celebrating American Craft Week, which is actually the first two weeks in October. This is the last weekend of events and with good weather predicted, it should be a great time to get out and explore Seagrove. Lot’s of studios are offering demonstrations and workshops. We will be serving Korean, Japanese, and Chinese teas throughout the day. Guests will experience the joy of serving and drinking tea from handmade wares. Jeff has a nice selection of Asian inspired teapots and tea bowls available for purchase.

There are also some new cheese stones in the gallery.

And of course there are some nice pots with the ginkgo leaves.

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Pigs and Plants

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My new piggy bank design came out great!

I am excited to offer a new option. It also keeps the fun in the making when you can mix things up a little. This design will look nice whether it’s personalized or not.

Outside the pottery, I was totally surprised that one of our yucca plants bloomed this week!

We had yucca’s at the log cabin that never bloomed. This plant is one of a group at the end of our driveway. Jeff cleared the area of brush awhile back, maybe that helped. I also read that they need a special type of moth to pollinate them. There were lots of caterpillars and moths this year, perhaps we had just the right kind. It would be sweet if all of them would bloom.

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Taking A Second Look

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I wasn’t thrilled with a few bowls from the last firing. I would have preferred a lighter spray with the ash glaze. Jeff kept saying they were fine and beautiful. I decided to take some photographs and after looking at them in a different light, they began to grow on me.

Since we weren’t going to the CCM show in Charlotte, I sanded and priced them and put them out in the gallery.

Believe it or not, we were fairly busy on Saturday, despite the steady rain from hurricane Matthew. I sold a few of these bowls over the weekend! 
Sometimes we are our own worst critic.

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Staying Home Today

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Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival won’t be happening today. Early yesterday they decided to cancel. Two days of rain means the grounds will be very wet. We are happy to not drive to Charlotte in the pouring rain, never mind setting up a booth and spending the day in it.

The show is postponed until next Saturday, October 15th. Sadly, Jeff and I won’t be able to participate. We are committed to the “American Craft Week” celebration, here in Seagrove, as well as an appointment with a customer for a vessel sink.

We have had some beautiful weather here, leading up to the storm. Comfortably warm days with cooler nights. Great weather for doing all types of activities. In the studio, Jeff and I collaborated on a couple of vases as well as some larger cheese stones. I think the stones are going to look awesome with Jeff’s texture on them.

I am also working on some small lidded jars. These will be a good size store coffee.
I started carving yesterday, but they really were a little too soft. I uncovered them this morning and hopefully I can finish them later today.
Cooler temps always inspire me to do some cooking that’s more complicated than lighting the grill. First I made gnocchi. Mine isn’t the most beautiful gnocchi, but it sure was delicious.
Next up was ravioli! I hadn’t used my pasta machine in over 10 years. I have a ravioli attachment that I had never used. Last week I decided to give it a try. 
It worked really well, but it makes very small ravioli, without a lot of room for filling. The filling was roasted butternut squash and it was delicious. The machine didn’t allow for a good ratio of pasta to filling. I ended up filling and cutting half of them by hand. My pasta was a little dense. I couldn’t find semolina flour at the grocery store so I used all purpose. If I can’t find it locally, I may have to order it from Amazon. As soon as get semolina, I am making fettucini…with Alfredo sauce and grilled shrimp!

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Ash glaze, Tenmoku, Ginkgo Leaves, and Hurricanes

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Jeff and I unloaded the kiln yesterday. Overall it was a very good firing. I had a few ash glaze pots that I sprayed a little heavier than I wanted too… but that was my error, no fault of the kiln. They are still fine pots, just not what I was expecting.

Here are a few of the pieces that I was really happy with.

I made these last winter. I put a couple in the first firing of our new kiln and they got some kiln crud chunks in the bottom. I set a couple more aside and they finally went in this firing. This one made me do the happy dance!

Everyone has their eye on the hurricane that is heading this way. I am really hoping the storm will not impact us or if it does, it will happen before Saturday. We have an outdoor show in Charlotte this weekend. Chances are we inland enough to be spared the brunt of it, but it doesn’t mean we won’t have high winds with lots of rain. Outdoor shows in the rain suck. Outdoor shows in high wind are dangerous. I am sure the show will be cancelled or postponed if it’s too dangerous for us to be out there. Stay tuned for updates!

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Pottery Buddy

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After a few days of much needed rain, we had a beautiful sunny day. Perfect timing to prepare greenware for a bisque firing. While I was giving some pots the kitchen scrubby treatment, a green anole crawled on to the sponge holders.
He was a brave little guy and hung out with me for quite awhile.
Occasionally, if he thought I was getting a little too close, he hopped from the shelving unit to the stand that holds the bricks for the kiln door. 
I have been in North Carolina for over six years now, but I am still fascinated by these charming lizards!

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The New Pig

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Last week I had a request for a piggy bank for a boy. His sister was gifted the whimsical flower pig last year and Mom wanted something similar but with carvings for a boy. I have to admit I was a little stumped about what to carve. I told Mom that my carvings are typically flowers and leaves… so she said, “Do leaves!”.  So here it is… the whimsical design with leaves. After the bisque fire, I will apply the black underglaze to the leaf design and leaves. I think this pig will be the perfect pairing with it’s sister pig.

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Putting the Parts Together

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Last night, while I slaved over a hot stove, Jeff slaved over the wheel making pig bodies. I guess neither one of us was really slaving… I typically enjoy cooking and Jeff LOVES to throw pots.
We usually use our recycled clay to make piggy banks. I like to extrude tubes to make the legs and ears. It’s easier to measure the parts out and keep some consistency in the end product. Since we haven’t pugged clay in a few weeks, these pigs will be made fresh clay. I have a die for the pug mill that I use for extruding tubes. When I have fresh clay, I get out my Kemper clay gun to extrude the tubes. 
The gun came with a couple of dies and a couple of blanks to make your own. I have to admit that the only thing I have ever used this clay gun for is piggy bank parts. Aside from extruding handles (which I am not fond of) I think this clay gun isn’t worth purchasing. 
One of my complaints is that the plastic disc that pushes the clay is poorly designed. The screw always comes off and I usually have to put it back together in between reloading with clay. You might also be able to see in the photo that the disc is cracked. It’s been like that for a number of years. So far it hasn’t affected it’s working capabilities, but I am wondering if I can order a replacement part.
I am writing this post while I wait for my parts to firm up a bit. If you read yesterday’s post you know that we are working with a very wet batch of clay. If I use these parts straight away, I fear my pigs won’t be able to stand up on their own little legs!
If your needing a pig, there a few nice ones in my Etsy shop that are waiting for new homes…

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