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Thursday

in
Hey folks. Just wanted to make a quick post. No potting today. I hardly even stuck my head in the workshop. The first part of the day was spent in Charlotte...teaching and having lunch and going to pay my clay bill. After getting back home and a short nap I had to go to the Arts Council for our Annual Meeting and reception. So now it's evening and the day is pretty much a goner. Tomorrow, back to work.
Hey, I got my electric kiln yesterday. So look out, some finished pots will be coming soon.
Thanks for checking in, I promise to get on with something more interesting in the days to come.

Slow Start

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Karma and I are just hanging out inside for a while this morning. Every now and then she'll bring me her bone and I have to throw it across the room. (I am well trained)

Had a long night at Clayworks last night and then sort of stayed up too late once I got back home. So I am just now having my first cup of tea and doing some drawing with the dip pen.

I've gotten up for the past 3 days and walked/ran on the treadmill. I hate to exercise. I had a membership at the Y for a while but I just hated going over there. It's just not my thing. Anyhow, so we got this treadmill a while back, I do need to be working on my cardio and watching what I eat. I read somewhere that if you do something for 21 days straight that your brain gets programed to do it and you form a new habit.

I have some vases and jars to finish up in the studio today. Tomorrow I'll start glazing and fire for my home sale over the weekend.

I'll get some pics up later of pots or whatever. Have a good day!

Short Day

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Only a half day in the shop today. Slipped some bowls and cups after getting the cups handled early on.
These are somewhat heavily D.F. influenced.
Finished up these two odd guys also. They'll have to wait until tomorrow for slip. I'm off to Charlotte for my last class of the session. It's been a really good class. We'll be having a potluck , helping load the gas kiln, and checking in on Becky and Elaine's barrel firing. It should be a fun night.

Productive Monday

in
I got quite a few pots made today. Most of them ended up under plastic before I had the camera out though. Anyhow, I made mugs, tankards, a couple bowls and jars and some small pitchers. Oh yeah and one casserole.

This cup was left over from the Mint demo and had dried out. I usually do the incising when the pots are leather hard but I had a shot at this one with the needle tool. I got this nice fine line through the white slip.
I've been doing some cross hatching in my journal with pen and ink so I figured since I was getting the fine line that I'd give it a shot on the cup. It worked out okay.
After seeing more of Doug's great jars I decided to try my hand at this more traditional shape. Honestly, I like these kinds of pots, but I really have never been to fond of making them. They just aren't wobbly enough for me. And, well, I haven't taken the time to really work them out. But I gave it a shot and made three, six pounders. The other one is waiting for some slip pours tomorrow.
So here's a chunky, sort of wobbly jar with birds. I made several jars that have this sort of feeling last week. I'll get some shots of them up sometime. All of those had drawings but I'm going to make a few with ladled slip and dots too.
Well that's at least a few things from the workshop. I'll get all my cups and such handled tomorrow and slipped too. I am getting ready for my Summer Sale which is in a couple weeks. I've got to start glazing and firing soon.

Saturday Morning

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I slept in a bit longer than I had wanted to this morning. Oh well, it's going to be another scorcher of a day here.

The Mint demo went well. Thanks to those who came out and saw me. I have no pics to share. I was wired for sound and the Mint marketing team was shooting film for a promotional video to come out later this year. So maybe I'll get 20 seconds or so of an appearance in that.

Not sure what the weekend holds. There are several new movies we want to see so I think Sarah and I will head out to the cinema tonight. Sex and the City, Indiana Jones, and You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

All for now.

This and That

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It looks like today is going to be another sunny day here in NC. I am looking forward to getting out to the shop and making some pots and slipping my cups.

I put my window AC unit in yesterday. I may as well be comfortable at work right? Last year I thought I be a tough guy and just sweat it out, that lasted until around July and I noticed I didn't even want to go out there after lunch. I'll get more work done this way. I've also decided I'm going to invest in a decent set of computer speakers so I can put those in the workshop and listen to NPR or whatever. These little laptop speakers just aren't getting the job done.

Tomorrow I'll be out on the street in Charlotte. No, not begging for change, but making pots. The Mint Museum of Craft and Design is continuing their "Taste of Art Fridays" and tomorrow I am the guest artist. Come out if you can! 11:30am till 1 pm

I am getting ready for my Summer Pottery Sale. I'll order the post cards today. The dates are June 28th and 29th. If you'd like to be on the mailing list just send me your address to ronpots2 at yahoo dot com.

Gotta go. Have a good day.

Today

in


I'm not much of a happy-go-lucky guy, although I probably fool most folks who I come into contact with on a daily basis. I'd like to be, really I would. There's no reason I shouldn't be more optimistic. It just seems like a lot of work. Ha, that's kind of stupid, but it's how I've trained myself to think about it. At the moment I am feeling pretty good though. My bisque firing was a success and I'm looking forward to getting these pots glazed and fired soon.

I think these new pots with the drawings are some kind of attempt to connect with the fun part of me that lurks inside and comes out on occasion. There is a reason this stuff is stirring up thoughts of how I feel and how I perceive myself (and how I want to be perceived by others) (and if that last part really even matters). I think as artists we struggle to make work that is our own, at least I do. I struggle terribly with it. So is this me, or just another attempt at figuring it out? I don't know yet. Being in the question is hard, but I am finding that it's a better place to be than being comfortable.I had a good talk with my pal Julie last night. She had just unloaded a great firing and her pots were exceptional. We had a little "pot on the spot" critique and went over many aspects of Julie's work. Of course the whole time I was asking myself, what questions do I need to be asking myself about my pots? How can I improve this or that? Talking to Julie about her pots allowed me to talk to myself about mine. Of course I'm looking forward to having a day soon with some of the Circle of Eight crew to come out and go over things with me.

Sorry if I do the whole psycho-analytical thing here a lot on the blog, but it kinda helps me out. blah, blah , blah....

So here are some upside down pots ready for slip.

I had a little breakthrough this afternoon that I think is going to be helpful. I have gotten into the habit of slipping the whole pot. Today I made it a point to leave some bare clay on the large jars I made by doing some 'controlled, random, pouring' of the slip. I can now use these areas to draw in, or in and out of.

After I figured that out I felt really good about continuing on making more of those jars, up until that point I had no idea how I'd proceed.

Well that's all of that. Good night.

Future Customer?

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My new pots are a big hit with the 1 year and under crowd!


This is Emily Murphy's nephew with a cup I gave Emily when we met in Minnesota.
Emily is having a Pottery Sale this weekend. If you're in or near the Chicago area go by and pick up some great pots. Details HERE.

All Stocked Up

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Becky and Elaine from Clayworks are planning a barrel firing next week. Becky, knowing I live out here in the country, asked me if I would be able to get them any 'cow pies' for the firing. Well I'm not stranger to cow pies. We had cows growing up and played in the pasture all the time, eventually someone would pick up a dried pie and throw it at someone like a Frisbee. Good fun those days. So yesterday morning I walked around the surrounding pastures picking up a couple buckets full of dried cow poop. It was nice to get back to my childhood. I even found a really long snake skin that had been shed recently. I gave that to Becky for the firing too.

As a gift for my cow pie picking Becky presented me with this great selection of green tea. Boy, did I come out ahead on that deal! Thanks so much Becky! Sarah too was happy as the jasmine pearls are her favorite.

So if anyone out there is in need of cow pies just let me know what you to trade for and I'll get you a big box shipped out ASAP.

Confusion

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Does my green slip have 6% or 3% copper? I think it's 6%. No that's my green glaze. No, the green glaze has 4 % copper. I've got this here in this notebook somewhere....don't I? Okay right, 4%. That's the glaze not the slip. What does the slip have? I've got it here somewhere. I think it's 6%. I'll have to make some tests to be sure. God, I thought I had this all written down. Why does this test look the wrong color. It's not the same color as the one in the bucket. Did I use copper carbonate or black copper oxide? I'm a good note keeper, really I am. No you're not! Shut up. Okay so it must be black copper oxide. Yes that's right I remember, and it's 3 %. Here it is in the note book. Okay that's the slip. What about the green glaze? I think it's carbonate. Yes. That's right. Okay how much? 4% right? Right. Sure? Yes. Maybe. Shut up, it's 4%, see right here in the margin? You've got to keep better notes. Quiet! All sorted out now? Yes. Maybe. Yes, maybe.

A Few Pots

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Today I finished up some decorating, made a few experimental jars and got some things slipped. These 4 jars got the feet turned and also slipped they will get the deco rotation tomorrow.I've made a few money boxes. After seeing Doug's and Matt's I've been inspired to try some of my own. There are some really wonderful ones on the Museum of London's site

I had a leak in an underground water line and I had to work on that for part of the evening. It's still not resolved but I've got it under control until tomorrow. So tomorrow I'll be playing plumber as well as going to an Arts Council Board meeting and then to Charlotte to teach. That won't leave too much potting time unless I get an early start. So we'll see.

My bisque is still going, it's almost 10pm so I hope the cones are down soon. I am in bad need of seeing some finished pots. Hopefully I'll get a glaze firing in this week. My critical voice has been giving me quite a brain full lately and I'd like to feel good about some of this new stuff.

Well I best go check the cones and then maybe do a bit of sketching before turning in. It's good to be back home.

Back Home

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We had a great time at the beach. The weather was nice and we did nothing but relax.
I gave a big wave to Doug over in Devon but I'm not sure if he saw me or not. I think he may have been at the Pub.
Today I'm firing a bisque and finishing up things that have been wrapped in plastic for the last 4 days.

Have a good Monday. I'll post again soon.

Catching Up.

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I've been trying to catch up on the pots I made yesterday and Monday. Things are in different states of completion. These two little pitchers are ready for the rack.Most of this stuff needs slip or deco. Those plates in the foreground are finished. I have some small jars and a board of mugs that will get taken care of tomorrow along with wrapping all this stuff up. We will be heading to the coast sometime tomorrow afternoon so I doubt there will be a post until Monday.

Finishing a Square Dish

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Gay asked how I finished off the square dishes so I thought I'd put this sequence up.

This first image shows the bottom of the pot after it has reached the leather hard state.I basically hand trim it with a loop tool. Just cutting away the clay on each side in turn. I don't do this with the wheel turning, I just use the tool to remove the clay. A Sure Form rasp would be another tool you could use.
The finished pot. I smooth the edges with the side of my thumb.

Keep Practicing

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Well, I tried to do the traditional zig zag pattern on my platter but it didn't quite turn out. Wrong motion with the trailer. My practice run on the batt turned out better. Putting it on the real pot makes it risker, and I probably panicked a little. So it is what it is. Not bad really I guess.

Monday. Holiday?

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Well today is a national holiday, but my boss said I had to get in the studio and at least make a few pots. It went rather well for the first half of the day but went downhill when I tried to make pitchers after lunch.

This is platter no. 4 on the left. I am throwing the feet on these. I did some slip squirting on the ones I made last week.I am trying to square off some dishes on the wheel using the 'Briscoe Technique' of pushing the floor with a board while still on the wheel head. It seems to be working and makes for a loose pot. Also a few 4 lb. bowls.
I got these luncheon plates thrown before lunch and then made about 10 pitchers in the afternoon. I only kept those five on the right. (I've all the spouts pointing toward the wall).
Anyhow the boss let me kick off at 3pm. What a generous fellow.

It's getting hot and humid here in the South. Today was the first day I've really felt it out here in the shop.

Sarah and I are taking off for the coast on Thursday. I'll be working steady between now and then so check back often. Thanks!

Spring Fling

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Looking for something fun to do this weekend?? How about a nice drive around Scotland visiting artists in their studios? Sounds like a great time. It's the annual Spring Fling.


Hannah and her studio mates are #54 on the Red Route, just below Castle Douglas. Hannah's got her studio space all in order. You can see a little video clip here.


Okay , here's the map....get going!