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Shift. Part 2.

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Goat_thinkingSo, it's exciting to me to be thinking along the lines of my work continuing to change.  I see that it will probably happen slowly, or in spurts, just as it always has.  I am aware that I am using  some of my old ideas and techniques in new ways.  Making a complete switch to earthenware and low fire has been the best thing I could have done for myself.  I have seen others make dramatic changes and it never made sense to me.  Now it does.  I had to wait for the right time for that to happen though.

Why worry about all this?  Does it matter?  No, not to every maker or to every person who may want a handmade pot.  But for me right now I am enjoying this challenge, the questions, the new-ness of it all.  I feel like I am where I am.

I feel less worried about what others think about what I am doing (I struggle greatly with this).  I feel like it's okay to be using this electric kiln and these materials. I even feel okay doing these goofy drawings.

A little background here on that last paragraph.
I have always had in my head that I want to be what I called a "serious potter".  Now what is that you ask?  For me it meant some one who made 'serious pots'.  I had my mind this little canon of British potters, Mike Dodd, Jim Malone, Phil Rogers, Richard Batterham, some others.  Very Leach-like potters, nice jugs and jars and local material oriented type of potters.  Others too, who I won't mention.

Of course I had other potter's who fit in my "serious potter" category who didn't quite fit the mold I had created.  Ron Meyers being the most obvious.

I say all this just to acknowledge that I struggle with these silly things in my mind.  They seem even more ridiculous when I put them out here in the world.

A Shift. Part 1

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Baker_stripes_washlineI had a good chat with my pal Jen Mecca yesterday about the surface of my pots and how to keep improving that surface, with more depth and interest.  You can see there on that baker more of the latex resist technique that I talked about before.  I am really anxious to get some of these fired.

Jen and I brainstormed about having two different slip colors for this type of application also.  So I will test that out on some of the cups that are waiting under plastic.  Another idea was to use wax over the bone dry pot, draw/incise through the wax and introduce stain into the lines so the drawing sits on top of the surface as opposed to being incised into the surface (as I'm doing now).  This technique was used by my hero Michael Simon and I recently saw some good examples of it being used on Monica's blog.  Michael also used a technique of resisting around an image.  Monica is also doing some of that.  These techniques would happen over my latexed slip layers.  Lots of work huh?  Which leads me to another topic Jen and I have been talking about....

Making fewer pots but really making them like we want them.  I feel like I am moving towards a distinct look in my pots.  I can sort of see it in my mind, but I don't really know how to get there or really even what it is yet.  I do know that I am slowly moving though.  So what does this mean?  For now, it means experimening and asking questions and trying new ideas.  Taking risks.  I have to make pots to do that, but I think many of these pots will fail and will go into the waster pile.  Others will be stepping stones and hopefully some will be worth selling.

This is a leap for me because over the years my main concern has been to make many pots and get them in peoples homes.  I sort of latched on to the Warren Mackenzie philosophy early on.  Warren makes loads of pots, some great, some poor, with the majority being quite good.  His method is to work towards a standard and the way he does that is by making lots of pots, in doing that occasionally the excellent pot will unconsciously arise.  (At least that's what I think he's doing).

More in Part 2.

Spring Cleaning

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I threw away some old bisqueware as well as some pots that I was tired of looking at yesterday.  That bucket on the tractor got pretty full by the end of the day.  Karma took it all in stride.

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I'm finishing up the last pots today for my Spring Home Sale which is coming up this weekend.

Catching Up A Bit

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Just wanted to get some images up here and say Hi.   Hi!

I have loads of pots under plastic in various stages of making.  Some are ready to be drawn on, others are ready for handles, or latex, or slipping.  My Spring Sale is next weekend so I am going to work through the weekend getting everything finished and ready for the kiln.

The county side is greening up all around me.  Karma and I took a nice walk on Wednesday.  We stopped by the livestock yard to visit the piggies.  They were happy to see us (thinking we would feed them I'm sure) and ran around and around stirring up the dust.  The pots are a few jars I made the other day, basically the same body shape with various lids.  I hope I don't ruin them when I go to do the deco.

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That's all for now. Just wondering how you like this little gallery format for images?  Would you rather have the full size image posted?  Or is this okay from time to time.

Have a good Friday.

Latex Resist

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I'm taking a break from making some 8 lb jars to come in and make a cup of tea.  It's been a productive throwing day, plates, mugs, oval bakers, and now jars.  I took time to draw on some pots that had been under plastic since Monday too.  Below if you click you'll get a bigger image and will see some of the experimenting I'm doing by layering thin slip with latex resist between the two.  I think it's gonna be fairly subtle, which is fine. (as I've said before that orange mark is ink and will burn out).

Tea is ready, so it's back to work.  More later maybe.

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Footing a Plate

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My studio has been a wreck for about two weeks.  I could stand it no longer so I took the better part of the morning putting things in their places, throwing stuff out and sweeping the floor.  It's much better and I'm glad to get in here and work.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf2lzaNnyjU

NC Potter's Conference

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I am happy that I got to attend the Conference this year, even though it was very last minute and I missed the first day, I brought home lots of information and ideas to think about and work through.  Mark Pharis has been an inspiration for many years.  He started out as a thrower and studied under Warren Mackenzie at the Univ. of Minnesota.  I see Pharis as someone who has pushed the boundaries of functional pottery, from forms and surfaces to marketing and philosophy.  He's way smarter than I am but the little pieces I can grab onto certainly give me food for thought.  It was also good to hear him say he hasn't figured certain things out.  I wish I would have seen his slide show on Friday, I would like to know more about his early days as a potter.

sm_pharis

Of course Phil Rogers is one of my all time heroes.  I've seen Phil make pots before and heard him speak.  He is a contemporary potter with a solid traditional background and skill set that is appealing to me.  He comes at pots from the Leach/Hamada school of thought.  I certainly love his forms and understated way of finishing pots.

Allegheny Meadows on the other hand seemed to come from a more art school background.  He is a thinker too, an analyzer, smart and well spoken.  My impression was that his inspiration for pots comes from nature as well as a cerebral place.  I can appreciate what Meadows knows and does, he's certainly a skilled maker.  His pots however don't particularly appeal to me in the same way that Roger's pots do.  I'll try and talk about this more later.  I think it's very interesting why one kind of pot is more appealing to me than another, why this is so, and how that may change with time or other circumstances.

sm_pr_al1When I first attended this Conference over 10 years ago it was for me more about techniques and watching how the presenters made their pots.  Now it's more about learning why we make pots a certain way or how things change or do not change over years of making.  It's also a good place for me to see and learn how other makers think, what inspires them, and to realize that really whatever I do I can develop my work and mind and put pots out there that speak of me and that hopefully will speak to others.

Last but not least, this Conference is so wonderful because I get to see old friends and make new ones (which I did plenty of this year esp.).

Okay, s0 more later, for now it's out to work.  I'll put up a video of me footing a plate soon.  Have a great Monday.

The Universe

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universeMy wife Sarah is a big fan of  The Universe.  She's always saying,  'just put it out there to the universe and see what happens.'  Or, 'Trust the universe'.   Or something like that.  It's worked well for her over the years.  I put most of my faith in chaos theory...mainly because I feel like I'm running through time with no direction.

All this does have a point AND it's pottery related.  (sigh from Dan and Hannah and others).

So I didn't register this year to go to the NC Potter's Conference.  I go almost every year.  This year I didn't think I had the resources or the time.  So yesterday I got really frustrated that I wasn't going.  I thought, I really need to be putting myself and my work out there, I need to be talking to other potters, making connections.  The Conference is a good place to do all this and to see some great potters making their work. Plus some blogger buddies are going to be there!

I sent out an email to my friends saying  how I could just kick myself for not signing up and after I called to see if I could get in I found out there was no more spaces.  Aggggggggrrr.

To get to the point... my friend Julie overheard another studio potter at Clayworks mention last night that she couldn't go to the Conference and wondered if she could find someone to take her spot.  So Julie calls me at 10 pm to tell me and now I'M GOING!  Yea!!!!

On top of that I called my pal Gary this morning, who I knew would be going, and asked if he'd share his hotel room.  Once again the Universe said "Yes".   Totally cool.

So I'm all set to head out. It's gonna be fun.  Phil Rogers, Allegheny Meadows, and Mark Pharis are the presenters.  Simon Leach is there too.  I'm taking some new pots to put out for sale and postcards for my Spring Sale, maybe I'll drum up a little business.

We'll see if the Universe throws something else at me while I'm there.  Have a good weekend.

Thursday.

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img_0008My firing this week was another good one.  I did try some trailing of glaze and really it was terrible so I'm not going to put any of those pots up here.  Basically the color was way too strong and the component of the trailing just didn't fit with the whole pot.  So, that learned I may try again with a different approach.  I haven't fired any of the pots with the latex resist yet.  I feel like those are going to have a very subtle way about the surface, which may be more successful.  Also I am going to test this amber glaze with less colorant.  I really like the amber and want to use it more with the drawings.  I do think it's a bit dark now and maybe if I can drop the oxide down by a few % then I will like it better and I may even be able to layer the two.

Okay that's that.  Thanks for checking in.

Mec-Beck

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Jen Mecca made this pitcher and I slipped, decorated, glazed and fired it.  Not bad.  Jen requested a possum.  There's also Molly and the Goat.img_00042Hey, today's my birthday!  So I'm pretty much just putzing around the house doing odds and ends.  I spent the morning with Sarah and we had lunch. She's baked me some cupcakes for my birthday dinner dessert.  (I already ate one!)

Unloaded the kiln this morning with good results.  I had tried some glaze trailing on some dishes and pretty much ruined them.  It just didn't all jive up.  So back to the drawing board on that.  I'm gonna be making some jars tomorrow and getting another bisque through early next week.

That's it for now.  Time for some tea.

Geek Stuff

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Cynthia recently turned me on to some information about netbooks and about Ubuntu.  I checked out the Dell Insprion Mini online today, it's a cool little machine for less than $3oo.  Considering I do most of my work online and could store most of my info on a external drive or online this seems like a good solution for me.  I like that these are small machines and very portable.  4 hrs battery life is okay, there are some netbooks out there with up to 9 I've read.  If any one out there has a net book or is running Ubuntu leave me a comment.  I'd like to know how you like it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke-kel9zOFo

Salt Pots

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The salt firing went well.  My dinner ware came out looking fine although a good many of these are slightly wobbly.  I find it difficult to get a good flat plate in a salt kiln.  The plates have to be made to withstand being set up on wads, plus in my case my shelves aren't too flat either.  There is the alternative to putting alumina on the feet, but I don't like the way the foot comes out of the kiln dry.  So anyhow I made enough to cover some warpage.

Ron's plates

Below are some of Jen Mecca's pots.  Jen usually works in porcelain but did plenty of salt firing in college.

Jen Mecca's pots

There were more pots in the firing but they have been packed up and taken home.  Ralph Mello from Charlotte had some nice bottle forms with roped deco.

Here's a pic of the kiln for those of you who haven't seen it before.

Salt Kiln

I also had an order for an animal pot that had a turtle with a bird on it's back.  I used to make these often.   Which ever one isn't picked for the order will go up for sale on my Etsy site.Turtle and Bird jars