This and That

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Tonight I am making Ultimate Veggie Burgers! Should be delicious.

Frank Black has a new release: Bluefinger. I love Frank! In my younger days thrived off Pixies and still crank them up today. Kim Deal rocks on bass.

My truck is packed to the max, ready to go setup for the Circle of Eight Show. I have a ton of pots.

Wanna learn about your Visual DNA?

I saw some these journals the other day at Binders. I wish I would have bought one now. Maybe I'll pick one up while I am in Charlotte this weekend. I've been through several Moleskins over the years and now I am into Canson field sketch books.

Okay I gotta go get dinner going, Sarah will be home soon.

Packing. Inventory

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I am feeling pretty good right now about my inventory and my upcoming fall shows. I think I slacked off some last summer and that caught up with me around this time. Today I brought in the pots from the last firing (yes they've been sitting down in the kiln shed for a couple weeks) (I have went down to see them from time to time). I got everything sanded and priced and dusted. I organized things and got all the pots ready and packed up for the Circle of Eight Sale which is Saturday. I am hoping for a good turnout. I felt proud of the pots I brought in today, I think I really have to live with things for a while sometimes before I accept them as they are. I think all potters suffer from this kind of thing, expecting or anticipating what the pots will look like out of the kiln, often to have them come out different and then we are disappointed or dissatisfied for a little while.

Anyhow...my Kiln Opening is on the 22 and 23 so I will be firing this time next week. I unloaded and loaded another bisque this afternoon. I have lots of new bowls and mugs and plates and such (things you've seen in progress on this blog). These simple kinds of everyday pots are what I love and what I love to pass on to others.

So I feel good and prepared and hopefully this crazy fall season won't be too terrible. This is the time of year when I try to make enough money to make it through the winter months.

Well that's it for now. I hope you'll make plans to come to the Circle sale or my sale in Shelby. If you need info. just email me ronpots2 at yahoo dot com

Beaks. Monday

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Okay. So Happy Monday to you, although at this point it's almost over. Anyhow, things here are good. I am feeling the fall rush coming, but at this point I am still pretty calm and ready. I am going to try and post a schedule of all my fall shows coming up, so be on the lookout in the sidebar for that.
My Home Sale is Sept 22 and 23. I spent this morning putting address labels and postage on 500 postcards. I got them all in the mail today so hopefully if you're on my mailing list you'll get it in the next few days. I was a bit disappointed with my image on the postcard, something got botched with the color, but I can't be too choosey at this point.
I have a bisque going and will fire another later this week. Not too much happened today in the shop. I finished some animal jars and ovals and made these three beaked pitchers. I haven't made them in a while, I used to have a gallery owner in South Carolina who loved these and was always on me to make them. We'll see how they turn out, I think they pour sort of like they look....kinda funny. Here's a pic of the floor we stained using the iron sulfate. I put 3 coats of sealer on it. Now I have 2 doors to hang and windows and baseboard trim to nail up. That will get done later this week too!
Circle of Eight Sale this Saturday!!

Today's Work

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Today was a productive Thursday. I got most everything finished up from yesterday (or close to it) and I made another board of mugs, as well as some odds and ends that I needed. Below is a big dish after being slipped. Mugs drying upside down on the rack. Almost ready to be slipped.
 Wide shallow bowls. I am in this fat rim, lobed pot phase at the moment. It will be neat to see how these turn out and if anyone likes them. These are an extension of the ones I made last week that were deeper. I think these would be good for pasta or noodles or salad.
A few yunomi, some lobed some combed.
It's been a good day when I come away looking like this from the neck down. I'm not very neat. When my dad comes by and sees me in this condition he always says, "Why don't you get some aprons?" I just like being messy I guess.
 I am working towards the firing for my September Home Sale. The dates are Sept. 22 and 23. I got my postcards from the printer today, they look pretty good. I need to mix some racks of clay over the weekend and will start bisquing next week too. My class at Clayworks starts next Tues. so things are going to continue to be busy. Tonight I am off to the Arts Council for the opening of a photography exhibit. That's it for now.

Circle of Eight Fall Sale

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Circle of Eight
Fall Sale Sept 15 from 10 am till 4 pm
1225 Dade St
Charlotte NC 28205
704 650 5662 for more info.
This year we have invited our friend Mark Peters to join us. So the line up will be: Mark, me, Julie Wiggins, Adrienne Dellinger, Greg Scott, Amy Sanders, Sandy Singletary, and Jen Mecca.
This is an exceptional group and I hope you'll make it out to see what we have been working on and find some new clay work for your collection.

Back

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After a super long weekend and yesterday spent mostly at the Arts Council and out trying to track down a specific kind of floor sealer I am getting back to work in the studio today. Before that I have to put down a coat of sealer on our floor. So stay tuned for more coming later on.

Slipware

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I got an email from my pal Doug Fitch a couple days ago saying he just unloaded his best firing ever. I've been waiting for him to post some images. Here is a great jar that he posted on his blog. Be sure to check it out to see what Doug has been up too.
My next big pottery trip is going to be to England for sure!

Floor Staining

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I am sitting here at the kitchen table looking out at the work we have just done. We stained our concrete slab today in the renovated area. We used an iron sulfate that costs $4 for 4 lbs to do the whole floor. We added some coffee too! Anyhow this was about $200 cheaper than using a commercial product. Iron sulfate is sold in garden stores often under the name 'copperas' . It has no copper in it though. For more info you can go here and read up on it on Cathy Moore's site. (Thanks Cathy for sharing) Here is a close up of a still wet section. This is sort of what it will look like once the sealer is put on. This whole area used to be my pottery shop and the floor got quite abused over that 12 year period. So all that sort of shows and gives the character to the room.

I hate to keep harping on Linda Christianson but she was the person who told me about this and also recommended her friend and fellow potter, Lisa Buck, who has done a few of these projects. I never could get Lisa on the phone so we went with what we saw on the internet and in the end just sort of winged it. I think we'll like it once it's all sealed and the area rugs and furniture is moved in.

From the workshop

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Here are these new deep soup/cereal bowls I mentioned the other day. No foot, thrown with soft clay on my slow moving, low momentum treadle wheel. The lobes sort of made them even better I thought, 'lobing' seems to be my new element. I am going to try to work it into some ovals tomorrow, and maybe some mugs. This is my favorite stage of the pot, soft leather hard. I made two boards of these, ten in all. I can't wait to get them fired. I love to pat these edges, the clay moves up in a natural, soft, friendly way. I like for the pots to show the process and not be too 'finished' or pristine looking. Cutting pots off with a twisted wire leaves another 'signature', process mark. Little things like this are what I love to see in pots.
I finally got these ovals handled today, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow to get a coat of slip.
And some square mugs. I should have taken a pic of the bottoms of these, they are rather nice. I'll try to remember tomorrow.
This jar was inspired by Mackenzie, there was a large one similar to this (better though) in the exhibit. I am not sure where this shape comes from but I'd guess Korea. I'll have to check it out.

New Start

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Monday and Tuesday have been productive days. Here are just a few of the pots I made on Monday. I also made some shallow ovals, mugs, tankards, and oval vases. On Tuesday I threw some new cereal bowl shapes, dinner plates and small mixing bowls. It's nice to just get in the workshop and make pots that are uncomplicated. I am trying to work slowly, meaning 'slow wheel', showing movement in the clay, gesture, 'the hand of the potter'. I'll get some images of those cereal bowls up later and you'll see what I mean.
Today, Wednesday, I have to go to Charlotte and then on my way home stop by the grocery. Everything is wrapped up in plastic out in the workshop since I won't get in there till late. I hardly ever work evenings but tonight may be an exception. My Home Sale is in a few weeks and I'd like not to fire at the last minute.


I am reading a great book, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It's a fiction set in India in '75 during the State of Emergency. I am a little over half way through. Last night I came upon the passage in the book from which the title is taken. "You see, you cannot draw lines and compartments, and refuse to budge beyond them. Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and dispair."

Also I have been listening to The Current from Minnesota Public Radio. Great programming.

I was turned on to the book and the station by Linda Christianson. I hope you'll check them out.

More Pots

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Here you can see a variety of color on these mugs. All have the same slip, the lighter ones were in the back of the kiln and the one on the front left was up front. My refired jar improved a bit, it went from metallic black to blue. Three small ovals. The two on the left have the same slip. The one on the right is bare clay and was right up front in the middle of the stack, it got hammered with soda.
Here are a couple pilgrim bottles. Sorry about the glare. We have one of these we keep by the sink for dish washing detergent. They are good for cooking oil too. You fill them through the spout.
 These pots will be going to the Circle of Eight sale that's coming up in a few weeks. I'll be posting more about it later.

Pots

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I had a good firing. There was a lot of variety in color from front to back. The front is usually more reduced and hotter whereas the back of the kiln is more neutral/slightly oxidized and cooler. The front will get cone 10 and the back is somewhere around 8 or 9. This doesn't bother me really as I can use one or two slips and get a lot of different looking pots just from where they are in the kiln.
The past two firings have been totally salt. Most of the time I do a combination of salt and baking soda, sometimes some borax. For this firing I went with all soda ash and the results were good. In my last firing I used almost 20 lbs of salt, I don't know where most of it went but I had little orange peel. In this firing I used less than 3 lbs of soda ash sprayed in as a solution and got great orange peel. Some pots in the front got hammered but all in all it was a good mix.



Kiln Loaded

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I got the kiln loaded today before lunch. It went pretty quickly since I had prewadded most everything. I will light the burners tonight and fire off tomorrow. I loaded fairly loose in anticipation of using mostly soda and less salt.

My clay is coming in out of the racks. I am looking forward to getting back to making next week. After seeing all the great pots on my travels I am really inspired. I am going to try some new large jar shapes as well as some faceted bottles and vases. I have been jotting down my 'to make list' over the past couple days.

Impact

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I am slowing getting back to work here. My clay is coming out of the racks. I fired a bisque yesterday. I am planning on firing the salt/soda kiln later in the week unless I decide to just keep making pots and fire twice in early September. I don't know yet.

My friend Tom wrote asking me how I was impacted by my pottery trip and what effect, if any, it will have on my work or way of thinking.

First off, I've never traveled much by myself. Actually this is the first long distance trip I've ever done alone. So just in doing that I feel like I have more confidence in that I am capable of going off by myself. I did have times when I felt like I should have been doing more or spending my time in some 'exciting traveler' way. But I did what I wanted, when I wanted and that's fine. I feel like I got way out of my comfort zone by going alone. I made an effort to talk to strangers and to relax and let things happen. I am one who tends to 'plan, plan, plan', often I try to plan things I have no control over. So going with the flow was fun and scary for me at the same time. And I survived.

As far as pottery goes, I don't know that I am going to do much different in my work. In visiting all the potters I saw that everyone is working very hard to make a living. Some do shows, some sales from home, exhibits and often some form of teaching. No one seems to have all their eggs in one basket. I feel like I am on the right track. Linda's advice was 'keep making'.
I did come away inspired to continue to make simple functional pots. Seeing the work of Mackenzie from the past 50 years was inspiring in that most of those pots were modest pots, many of which had been used in peoples home. There were 'show pots' too. Bigger jars, platters, bottles, vases. Again eggs in different baskets, but none of these were pots that were loud, or complicated in any technical way. They were deep in their simplicity and history. That is inspiring to me.

I would like to pay more attention to my lifestyle. Slowing down is important. Eating well, exercising, reading, listening to music, taking time to play and relax. I'd like to draw more and cook more. I feel like I am pretty involved here in the community, I'd like to get folks out to the pottery to my home sales. I am planning on continuing to teach at Clayworks and I'd like to teach some workshops. The Circle of Eight is going strong, and I think that avenue is going to help all of us with our careers.

So for now that's how I feel. Maybe other things will come up or change. We'll see.

Visiting with Linda

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My visit with Linda Christianson was really wonderful. She and her family welcomed me into their home and Linda took lots of time to spend with me. When I arrived Linda showed me around the new studio that she and her husband Jeff have been working on for the past few years. It is nearing completion and it is a wonderful space. Linda's two chamber, bourry box, wood kiln is finished and has been fired 3 times since the spring. Her studio space is almost finished too. We discussed all the options for lighting. Jeff has a wood working space and a nice area for hot glass.

Over dinner preparation we discussed favorite radio stations, books, pots and caught up on what has been going on since we last saw one another. I spent the night out in the studio and it was a beautiful cool night. I got up once very late and walked outside to look up into sky. It was a dark clear night and there were a million stars visible over head. The next morning after breakfast we looked at images of pots on my laptop and pictures from home. Cecilia, Linda and Jeff's daughter, joined us out on the porch. She's grown so much since I was there last. The day went on and I got to check out some nice pots that Linda had in her cupboard from the UK. We used a nice bowl of Lisa Hammond's for mixing up a fruit salad for lunch and Linda showed me her favorite bowl to use for cereal, one by Micki Schloessingk. These are two of my favorite potters so it was a treat to see the pots.

After lunch I selected some of Linda's pots to purchase and bring back home. I got a nice cereal/soup bowl, a square mug, and a slab tray. I would have loved to have had more but I can only get so much on the plane.

We ended the visit by me giving Linda and Cecilia a little ride up to the mailbox in my rental car, a PT Cruiser, which everyone said looked like a little German car. Linda marched up and down the drive like a soldier as I drove off. She made me laugh more than once while I was there. She's a very kind and generous person and I am grateful to know her.

Minnesota Cont.

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I am back home now. I wanted to post on the last few days of my trip after my visit at Warren's. Below is a shot from the banks of the St. Croix river in Stillwater. I went down one evening and enjoyed some music along with all these folks. It was nice to just relax, everywhere I went on my trip felt comfortable and homelike. On Thursday I headed up towards Taylor's Falls. On the way I stopped by to visit Guillermo Cuellar's studio. He was in Peru (and thankfully uneffected by the earthquake), however his wife Laurie showed me around and I bought a nice bowl and yunomi. Guillermo has worked on and off with Warren through the years and I really like his work.
After that I stopped by Franconia Sculpture Park. It was nice to just hang out there and walk around the fields looking at all the art work. There are several residents working there. The big farm house is for their housing and there is a big work yard with hoists, welders, and all kinds of stuff I don't know anything about.

I also visited Taylor's Falls. It's a nice little town with shops and resturants etc. There I went into Interstate State Park and climbed around on the rocks and enjoyed myself up high above the river. After a couple of hours I headed in to town and had coffee before going off to see the potter Linda Christianson.

I'll write about my trip to Linda's later so check back in .

From Minnesota

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I am having a great time here in Minnesota. The Mackenzie exhibit in Rochester was amazing. The space was huge. There was no photography allowed so I have no images to share. The pots were all displayed on eight tables that were about 8' x 8' and knee high. There were also lines on pots on the walls, jars, platters, bottles, and serving plates. It was so cool to see pots from the last 50 years or so all brought together. I could tell many had been in regular use and some had been repaired from chips or breaks. On entering the exhibit space I was confronted by a large white wall with 3 long inset shelves each holding 7 yunomi. This was a dramatic display too. There were large photos on the wall of Warren working and images from the past. There was a beautiful display of a dinnerware set made early on (I'll check on the date) and decorated by Alix. Also 3 Hamada pots and 2 Leach pots from Warren's collection.

Yesterday I started the day by going to visit Warren for a few hours. I had written and called weeks ago so I was expected. I was greeted by Nancy, Warren's wife, and also by Joan Mondale who had just arrived also. Joan and I went down to the workshop and talked to Warren while he made yunomi. It was a great visit, made easier for me (I'm somewhat shy) by Joan's presence. We all chatted and Warren and Joan worked along until lunchtime. We went to the house for a nice lunch with Nancy who was also stewing plums for jelly and cooking Japanese eggplant for a later meal. After lunch it was time for me to move on and I headed into the city to the Northern Clay Center.

Later, I drove west to Randy Johnston's pottery in River Falls. Yes, I know I'm going all over the place. That's the great thing about traveling alone and having no agenda. I got to Randy's around 4 and made a selection from the showroom. I walked up to the workshop and who did I find there with Randy? Warren. It was sort of funny. They were busy talking about glaze materials, so I talked with Jan, Randy's wife and a great potter. Anyhow I didn't stay long after Warren left as it was late in the day and Randy and Jan were preparing to go off to teach at Anderson Ranch for two weeks.

That's it for now. I'll post more later. I have a busy day planned today, I am heading north. I have one more day tomorrow that is pretty wide open. I feel like after today I will be more than ready to get back home.

Studio

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Here are some images from the studio. Pots waiting to be bisqued or glazed. I am getting my things together today to go to Minnesota. All this stuff will be waiting for me when I get home. I'll have a bisque and then fire the salt kiln hopefully around the 24th. I may post some while I am away so check back and see.