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Clear the Decks

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Or in this case the racks. I loaded the salt kiln yesterday and fired off today. That pretty much wiped out all the pots I had made save a few odds and ends. This is nice as I am ready to move on and make some earthenware for the next few months.

This evening I got the frame for my fiber roof all welded together and ready to go. I have to fire some clay 'buttons' that I'll use to hold the fiber to the frame.
So far I've not spent a dime on this new kiln. I had all the brick in storage and I found a 10 ft. piece of culvert pipe to use as the chimney. I have the burners too so hopefully by the time I get a few pots made I'll be ready to fire it off.

I took a little hiatus to Athens Ga late last week. I needed to get away and Athens is a place I really love. More than Asheville even. Anyhow, I'll write a bit about all that later. Hope everyone had a great Monday.

Young at Heart Chorus

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For some reason my text didn't get printed below with the video so here it is...

I saw The Young at Heart Chorus on CBS Sunday Morning today. They are pretty amazing! Check their website out here.

They are popular on YouTube also. They do a moving rendition of Coldplay's 'Fix You' and a rocking version of 'I Wanna Be Sedated' by the Ramones. (I think Paul and Doug are featured in that one). :-)

Good Grief

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I hadn't intended to go into all that psychological stuff in the last post.
Anyhow thanks for all the comments.
I really just wanted to say it was fun to laugh when unloading the kiln. (and I hope to do more)

Sarah is off to the beach for a few days with a friend. What mayhem will ensue now that I am here alone? Guzzling milk from the carton? Hamada video marathon? Using one spoon for all my meals and tea stirring? Letting Karma stay up past her bedtime?

We'll see. I may head out of town myself for a day of pottery related fun.

A Bit Silly

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I've been meaning to write about when I unloaded the kiln last time before the Circle sale. I have to say I don't think I ever unloaded my salt kiln or my old cone 10 glaze kiln and had a chuckle at the pots. It was usually something like, 'oh, nice flashing, good orange peel on that one.' or something another. When I unloaded all my goofy long neck birds and fish and piranha and such they just made me laugh. I have always wanted to be this 'serious' potter (whatever that means. I have this stupid dogma in my head about that but no need to go into it now).

So I'm trying not to think too much about all this new stuff. I tend to really get ahead of reality and make up all kinds of stuff in my head if I'm not careful. It is fun to be messing around with some new pots and being more lighthearted about it all. I think they are pretty good. I am having to be careful not to worry too much about what I think Potter X would say about them. Or my dreaded Inner Critic. My Inner Critic likes to pretend he's Potter X or Potter Z and give me a bunch of grief. Maybe I can get my I.C. to lighten up and play alittle with this new stuff.

Here's a cup I kept for myself out of the last firing. I like the shape a lot and the places where my fingers were when I dipped the slip.

Well I just wanted to mention that bit about laughing while unloading the kiln. Didn't mean to go into all that therapy stuff. Anyhow have a fun day, do something silly.

More Progress

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I got the flue box built for the small kiln today. So things are coming along. I'll get the culvert pipe put up on top of this and through the roof soon. I've got to replace some tin on the kiln shed anyhow so maybe all that will happen in one day. The burners are going to be easy to pipe in from my existing setup. I had one burner on the old bisque so I'll put on a second and be set to go.

Update

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Yesterday I delivered a nice selection of earthenware pots to Lark & Key Gallery in Charlotte, NC. If you are in the area be sure to go by and check it out. Lark & Key is a great space and I'm happy to be there.

Southern Pottery in Columbia, SC has plenty of my salt/soda glaze work on hand. Those pots went out last week so I'm sure they are out on display.

I have been invited to participate in "Animals, Animals, Animals", a show that will open on May 2nd at Hand in Hand Gallery in Flat Rock, NC. Many mediums are represented and it should be fun.

Circle Sale

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The Circle of Eight Spring Sale was yesterday. The weather was rainy at times but we still had a nice turnout during the first part of the day. My sales were very good. I only showed the earthenware and it was well received. Honestly it's the best show I've had in awhile (other than my Home Sales), so needless to say I was pleased. It does make me a bit anxious that this new work is selling well. Sarah said, "Ron, can't you let yourself be successful?". I guess I can, it just feels funny.

Everyone's work looked great. Each of us has had made some changes in our work since we started this group a few years ago. It's neat to see us grow as individuals and as a group. We have secured a couple exhibits this year and I'll post about them later.

Our guests were Blaine and Laura Avery from Seagrove NC. We were happy to have them. They had a bit of truck trouble, Blaine says Charlotte, NC is sort of jinx town for them. Something always goes wrong. They both make great work and the customers enjoyed buying their pots and tiles and meeting them.

I picked up a new gallery while in Charlotte this past week. I am happy to say I'll be showing my earthenware at Lark and Key Gallery in the NoDa District. It's a wonderful space and I'm very excited to be there. I'll be delivering work to them this week.

Preview

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These are some of the pots that I will have this Saturday at the Circle of Eight Sale in Charlotte. The sale is from 10am till 4pm. The address is 1225 Dade Street, Charlotte, NC 28205
You can use mapquest to get directions or call 704 650 5662 if you need help getting there. Our guests are Blaine and Laura Avery from Seagrove, NC.





Same. Different

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After at least a month of being idle on my kiln building project I got back at it today. I've been thinking whether it would be best to stick with the 4.5 inch walls or go ahead and make it a good 9 inch wall. With propane costing what it does I decided it would be better to go ahead and make the walls thicker and therefore more insulating. I spent about 2 hrs scrounging up and sorting brick at my secret brick storage facility. I've had these for years, I may as well put them to use. Once back home I took down what I had originally built, re aligned the cement blocks for a wider and deeper foundation, and started fresh.

Above is where I am at this point. Hopefully I can follow through on finishing up the walls this week and get started on the steel and arch next week.

Monday

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Just in from the Arts Council where I made sure the cones went down in the kiln. I'll unload tomorrow and load another glaze load which will come out on Thursday. All this in preparation for the Circle of Eight Sale on Saturday. I've got to get my little gas kiln finished so I can fire here. I will probably be working on it this week along with some repairs down on the kiln shed. The roof is leaking badly so I'll need to replace a few sheets of tin.

It seems the blogger crew all forgot their cameras or were just having too much fun to take any pics at Doug's big opening. Hopefully Hil took a few and Doug will post when he gets back home.

My session starts tomorrow at Clayworks. It should be a grand time. A full class once again. We are going to concentrate on faceting and fluting.

Better get going.

Clayworks Spring Sale

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The Clayworks Spring Sale kicked off last night. We had a good turnout and everyone's pots looked great. Here are a few shots of my set up. I mainly sold cups and a few plates. This work certainly sold better at Clayworks than my salt work has in the past. I got plenty of encouragement from folks who were seeing the pots for the first time. The Sale continued today, I didn't make it up there but hopefully I sold a few more things.

Just Out

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I unloaded the kiln this morning. These pots will mostly go to the Clayworks Spring Sale which is tonight. I was quite happy with everything. Here is most of the load.I had lots of cups. I'm hoping these sell tonight. They are really fun I think. I love to make cups, they are an opportunity for a good handle, and now an image. I really had no idea that I'd be about to draw on something the size of a cup. But I think these are pretty successful.

I'll get an image of my display tonight to put up for later.

I loaded a bisque today too and have it going. I never thought I'd get all those pots in that electric kiln. It is packed to the hilt. I should get two glaze loads from it next week in preparation for the Circle of Eight Sale.

Getting Things Dry

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I have converted one wall in the showroom to a drying rack. I've the heat up to 75 in there and the fan going full blast. Here are a few pots (most of them upside down) drying in there. I need to load a huge bisque tomorrow so I can do two glaze firings next week. Crazy.This is a long oval I made last week. I have one more drying out.
Some dishes, just decorated. I did a couple with the birds in the square, one with the long neck, and 3 of the stripe and dot.
Here are the small handled dishes I made by cutting away at the rim. This little group was sort of a breakthrough for my newly developing decorating skills.

Bring on the Night

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I rarely work at night anymore. I sort of view my pottery as a day job and try to work it as such, although the hours certainly are longer and it's usually 7 days a week.

Anyhow I did work for a couple hours last night doing all the drawing on pots that I'd made this week. I found it to be a nice time to be in the studio. No one calling wanting me to do something, no need to stop for lunch, just pure interrupted time. I found that sitting down to do all the deco at one time allowed me to get in a groove, take my time, and just let the ideas move onto the pots. I've found I have 4 or 5 main things in my repertoire right now along with a few new little marks I'm making that let me get through the process without too much stress. All this is new to me but and I find that this part of the process to be very time consuming, but fun and interesting at the same time.

One problem I am finding is that I don't know exactly how to sit or stand or whatever to do the decorating in a comfortable position. I found myself all bent over a few times and twisted up over top of bowls trying to find the right angle to draw on the rims. I guess I'll sort all this out over time.

All those pots are spread out on boards in the studio now with the fan blasting on them. I'd like to get them into a bisque tomorrow. Maybe a few pics later on or tomorrow.

Pots from Tuesday

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Today was a good day in the studio even though I got off to a slow start and had some running around to do.

Below is an image from Turning Point, the book on Oribe that I recently acquired. This is a clog shaped teabowl, named Waraya, which means 'Straw Hut'. Made in the early 17 century. Pretty cool eh.
H. 7.8 cm Diam. at rim 13.8 cm. Mino ware. Black Oribe type. Stoneware.

The Black Oribe (kuro-oribe) typically had black glaze applied to only part of the surface, the rest was left white for the design area. These pots were removed from the kiln during firing and cooled rapidly.I made a few yunomi today, including 2 clog shaped (kutsugata). These will get footed tomorrow.

I am sort of making a hodge podge of things in small families, no large runs of anything. Firing this electric kiln changes everything. I can basically have a load made in a day. Right now I have about 2 1/2 loads probably. Lots of stuff under plastic waiting for me to slip or decorate. I think I'll make a few more mugs tomorrow and some tankards and that will be it. The Circle of Eight sale is the 12th so I'll need to get it fired.
Now that I'm doing this deco thing I see each pot as an opportunity for the image. So I made this board of mugs today, all different. Also some plates and jars.

Okay that's that. Time to get supper going.