I unloaded yesterday and shot this video. It was a good firing. Mostly things I had made for orders, lots of bowls and plates and cups. I'm still working on my video skills.
Friends. Pots in Use
Everyone has a great time at Conference. Nothing like a bunch of fun loving potters all together in one place. I was delighted to see some friends of mine had brought along some pots that I made to enjoy their morning coffee in. Below is my dear friend Vicki Gill with a big tankard of mine. Vicki and I have known each other for a long while, she is a fine potter. 
I caught Leon and Ann enjoying a sweet snack and some coffee during a break.
Another tankard of mine caught in action. This is Ju-Ian from Charlotte. She is a regular at Clayworks, it was fun hanging out with her this weekend. She and I got Norm Shulman to give us a little talk on a few of his teabowls while we were in the gallery.
The life of the party, Gary Rubin, was there in fine form as always. So of course I had to tag along for any fun that may suddenly break out. Gary makes pots in Charlotte. Gary and I are both married to therapists if that says anything. Sarah and Katie sure have their hands full, each being married to the likes of Gary and myself.
I caught Leon and Ann enjoying a sweet snack and some coffee during a break. 
Another tankard of mine caught in action. This is Ju-Ian from Charlotte. She is a regular at Clayworks, it was fun hanging out with her this weekend. She and I got Norm Shulman to give us a little talk on a few of his teabowls while we were in the gallery.
The life of the party, Gary Rubin, was there in fine form as always. So of course I had to tag along for any fun that may suddenly break out. Gary makes pots in Charlotte. Gary and I are both married to therapists if that says anything. Sarah and Katie sure have their hands full, each being married to the likes of Gary and myself.
Jane Hamlyn
I truly enjoyed Jane Hamlyn at the Conference. She was really delightful and told many stories and shared bits of wisdom from her years as a potter.
One of the common threads that all the women had in common was that problem solving kept their work progressing. Jane spoke of how she had problems with her slip early on (something I know about first hand) and how this lead her to switching to the blue slip, which behaved better.
I asked her about this, my impression was that maybe the blue was more of a marketing decision (ie blue sells better), but in fact it was not. She said at the time blue was rather frowned upon. She mentioned how Leach had hated blue pots and had spoken against potters making them. She went on to say that of course Bernard never 'had the bottle to make salt glazed pots'. We all had to ask what 'bottle' meant, and she explained that it means 'courage'.
She also spoke of how the blue slip works best on pots that have this sort of 'hard edge', that the blue would not look the same on Mary's pots. I have tried blue on my pots and it's true that it works best for me on certain forms. On a casually thrown pot, it's no good. On Jane's pots, and Walter Keeler's, it really complements the forms.
Jane has been experimenting with some new forms and has had good success. They are very spare cylinder shapes that she calls 'Empty Vessels'. They are quite beautiful. You can see them here. A bit of wisdom from Jane, "It takes lots of courage to do things simply". Amen.
One of the common threads that all the women had in common was that problem solving kept their work progressing. Jane spoke of how she had problems with her slip early on (something I know about first hand) and how this lead her to switching to the blue slip, which behaved better.I asked her about this, my impression was that maybe the blue was more of a marketing decision (ie blue sells better), but in fact it was not. She said at the time blue was rather frowned upon. She mentioned how Leach had hated blue pots and had spoken against potters making them. She went on to say that of course Bernard never 'had the bottle to make salt glazed pots'. We all had to ask what 'bottle' meant, and she explained that it means 'courage'.
She also spoke of how the blue slip works best on pots that have this sort of 'hard edge', that the blue would not look the same on Mary's pots. I have tried blue on my pots and it's true that it works best for me on certain forms. On a casually thrown pot, it's no good. On Jane's pots, and Walter Keeler's, it really complements the forms.
Jane has been experimenting with some new forms and has had good success. They are very spare cylinder shapes that she calls 'Empty Vessels'. They are quite beautiful. You can see them here. A bit of wisdom from Jane, "It takes lots of courage to do things simply". Amen.At Last
Okay, finally Blogger is letting me upload some images.
The NC Potters Conference was great this year. The three presenters were (left to right) Mary Law, Jane Hamlyn, and Robin Best. They had never met before, but of course knew of one another by reputation. They got along wonderfully and had great discussions and interplay while each one worked. I have been to this Conference many years and this was only the second time I've seen all the presenters interact so well together.
I took a two week workshop with Mary Law at Arrowmont Craft School early on in my pottery days. She taught me a lot and I feel fortunate to have chosen her class. Of course, being a salt glaze potter, I have forever admired Jane Hamlyn. Here are a few of her pots from the gallery. Robin Best makes wonderful slip cast pots in porcelain. She worked through her process from beginning to end. She is a wonderful maker. She had only brought a few pots and sadly I didn't get any images. You can find her work on the internet.
Below is a covered jar with bamboo handle by Mary.
I'll be talking more about what I took away from the weekend at the Conference as the week goes on.
The NC Potters Conference was great this year. The three presenters were (left to right) Mary Law, Jane Hamlyn, and Robin Best. They had never met before, but of course knew of one another by reputation. They got along wonderfully and had great discussions and interplay while each one worked. I have been to this Conference many years and this was only the second time I've seen all the presenters interact so well together.
I took a two week workshop with Mary Law at Arrowmont Craft School early on in my pottery days. She taught me a lot and I feel fortunate to have chosen her class. Of course, being a salt glaze potter, I have forever admired Jane Hamlyn. Here are a few of her pots from the gallery. Robin Best makes wonderful slip cast pots in porcelain. She worked through her process from beginning to end. She is a wonderful maker. She had only brought a few pots and sadly I didn't get any images. You can find her work on the internet.
Below is a covered jar with bamboo handle by Mary.
I'll be talking more about what I took away from the weekend at the Conference as the week goes on.No Pics Yet
I can't get my images to load this morning. So stay tuned for a proper post at some point today. I am happy to be home from the Conference. Lots to report so be sure to check in often all week long, I will be posting quite a bit.
Must go check the kiln now!
Happy Monday.
Ron
Must go check the kiln now!
Happy Monday.
Ron
Hitting the Road
I am teaching again this evening and then off to Seagrove to stay with Tom while I attend the NC Potters Conference this weekend. The featured potters are Mary Law, Jane Hamlyn, and Robin Best. I am especially looking forward to seeing Mary who was one of my early teachers at Arrowmont. And of course Jane Hamlyn is amazing. It will be a fun weekend to see friends, lots of pots, and spend some quality time with Tom and his son Slate.
Today is going to be busy with a trip to town to get my truck checked out, laundry to finish, packing, etc. So......I decided not to fire until I come home. So you'll have to wait for that.
Yesterday I got this great soda glazed mug in the mail from my pal Scott Cooper. Scott lives and pots in Indiana. We communicate via email and the occasional phone call. I've been a fan of his work for several years and it's great to finally have a pot made by him. I'm sure I'll make an effort to get more over the coming years now.
Yesterday in the studio I worked on making some forms that I will be pouring plaster into for hump molds. I made a long tray form, a square dish, and a wide oval. I'll have to pick up some pottery plaster today while I am in the city.
I handbuilt this small soap dish using a slab disk and two coils that I pinched and sort of threw out on my banding wheel. I like the hard edge there on the side. I applied the white slip very early with a brush and wiped away the edges. I like the effect.
At the Circle of Eight meeting, my friends suggested that I apply a contrasting color slip, sort of randomly, and then disregard it when I do the drawing. So I gave it a go here and like the result. I tried doing the scraffito when the slip was bone dry. It made for a ragged line so I'll go back to doing it at the hard, leatherhard stage.
I tried to put some little bird tracks there around the rim. This shape with the hard edge will be my inspiration for my next batch of plates.
That's it for today. I'll be posting from the conference and hopefully getting a video up over the weekend. So check in and have a wonderful day!
Today is going to be busy with a trip to town to get my truck checked out, laundry to finish, packing, etc. So......I decided not to fire until I come home. So you'll have to wait for that.
Yesterday I got this great soda glazed mug in the mail from my pal Scott Cooper. Scott lives and pots in Indiana. We communicate via email and the occasional phone call. I've been a fan of his work for several years and it's great to finally have a pot made by him. I'm sure I'll make an effort to get more over the coming years now.
Yesterday in the studio I worked on making some forms that I will be pouring plaster into for hump molds. I made a long tray form, a square dish, and a wide oval. I'll have to pick up some pottery plaster today while I am in the city. I handbuilt this small soap dish using a slab disk and two coils that I pinched and sort of threw out on my banding wheel. I like the hard edge there on the side. I applied the white slip very early with a brush and wiped away the edges. I like the effect.
At the Circle of Eight meeting, my friends suggested that I apply a contrasting color slip, sort of randomly, and then disregard it when I do the drawing. So I gave it a go here and like the result. I tried doing the scraffito when the slip was bone dry. It made for a ragged line so I'll go back to doing it at the hard, leatherhard stage.
I tried to put some little bird tracks there around the rim. This shape with the hard edge will be my inspiration for my next batch of plates.
That's it for today. I'll be posting from the conference and hopefully getting a video up over the weekend. So check in and have a wonderful day!
Inky
Yesterday while in the city I went by Cheap Joes to pick up a new journal and some ink for my dip pen. It's been years since I've drawn or written with it, so I dug out my nibs this morning and just had a blast. I've got nice black splotchy fingers now and 3 or 4 pages of fun drawings. I have had trouble with my regular pens as I am kinda hard on the tips. My heavy handedness is wearing them out . So the dip pen will be fun to play with .
Off to meet my mom for breakfast.
Off to meet my mom for breakfast.Firing Later This Week
With the kiln all loaded I am planning to fire on Thursday. It's been a miserable, rainy, windy day here and I've had to work at the computer and go to a meeting. Also a hair cut was in order so that's taken care of. Off to teach soon. I got the postcards for my Homesale designed and ordered this afternoon too. I am always glad to get that out of the way. I had to call Amy twice as she's more Photoshop smart than I am.
Well, that's not much of a post, but it's all I've got for now.
Best, Ron
Well, that's not much of a post, but it's all I've got for now.
Best, Ron
Monday
I had a great Monday. I got the kiln stacked and my pal Amy came by for lunch. We had fun talking about pots and such. Amy's gonna be a mom in a few months, she makes really wonderful pots and has been a big part of my earthenware experiments. She encouraged me today to keep going with it and have fun. That's what I've heard from most everyone so that's my plan. I was going to fire the salt kiln twice this month but I have decided to fire this load and then concentrate on getting two small loads of earthenware made before my Home Sale at the end of March. I'm excited about getting back on the wheel .
This next shot is for Paul, to prove I have some mess in my studio.
This next shot is for Paul, to prove I have some mess in my studio.
Hal Mayforth Podcast Interview
It's Monday morning, bright and sunny with an expected high of 71 degrees. Okay that's the weather report. I will be loading the kiln today, it should be a nice day for that.
This morning while having tea I listened to a great interview with Hal Mayforth. Hal is an illustrator and if you don't recognize his name you will surely recognize his work. The podcast can be accessed through Danny Gregory's website. Hal has great energy, it comes through in the interview and certainly shows in his drawings. So check it out today over lunch or in your spare moments. It's about 30 minutes in length.
More pottery related news later. Have a great day.
This morning while having tea I listened to a great interview with Hal Mayforth. Hal is an illustrator and if you don't recognize his name you will surely recognize his work. The podcast can be accessed through Danny Gregory's website. Hal has great energy, it comes through in the interview and certainly shows in his drawings. So check it out today over lunch or in your spare moments. It's about 30 minutes in length.
More pottery related news later. Have a great day.
Workshop Tour
Okay, so this is my 2nd video. Just a little tour of my studio, which is actually fairly clean at this time. Maybe I'll get around to doing some demos sometime in the future.
Bowling for Dollars
Messed around and deleted my last two posts. So here again are the images from the soup luncheon at the Arts Council. Folks lined up early to get first choice of bowls.
We had 250 bowls donated this year. Here they are in the board room.
These are just a few of the ladies who were responsible for delicious soup that was served. They were having a bit of fun when I shot this image.
It was a great day and everyone left happy. This is one of the most popular events we have at the Arts Council. Good food, good pottery, good people, what else could you ask for?
We had 250 bowls donated this year. Here they are in the board room.
These are just a few of the ladies who were responsible for delicious soup that was served. They were having a bit of fun when I shot this image.
It was a great day and everyone left happy. This is one of the most popular events we have at the Arts Council. Good food, good pottery, good people, what else could you ask for?Southern Potters dot Com
Check this out. Click here.
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I made this video yesterday and it's taken me this long to figure out how to upload it. So there may be more in the future.
Feedback. Thanks.
Thanks for all the comments. I got home late last night from teaching and it was cool to get all the feedback. I do feel like my testing has paid off and I have a good, simple base of slips and glazes to work with. Basically I have a white, a green and a black slip, an amber glaze and a cream glaze. I have settled on a clay body I like to throw and is nice and tight at cone 03. With these few materials I have all sorts of possibilities.I really like the black with trailed slip and I have always liked ladling slips to get blocks and stripes. I've done dots off and on over the years on my salt glazed pots and the x's and o's show up a lot in my journal drawings. I'll settle into some things that I'll do more than others for sure. I need to work out some things composition-wise when I try to draw on pots, but that will come from drawing in my spare time and just experimenting. I'm pretty optimistic about my decorating skills becoming more developed, something I've never felt before. I don't want the deco to
become 'slick' or fancy, I just want it to work visually, have some edge, and some tension. (I should have went to art school for at least a year).Well anyhow here are two pots that didn't get photographed yesterday. A small knobanall (that's knob and all, because you throw it all in one piece and then cut the lid) and a green mug with incised lines.
I'm volunteering a lot at the Arts Council this week, we are having an event tomorrow called Bowling for Dollars. People pay $15 for a pottery bowl (donated by local potters) and come in for a lunch of homemade soup. It's always very successful and sells out way in advance. I think this year we had 240 bowls donated. I was just there and the ladies in the kitchen were getting ready for the big soup cookoff. It smelled great. I'll get some images up tomorrow.
A Few More
I'm pressed for time to go teach so I'm not going to say much about these right now. I think they can speak for themselves for the most part. More in the morning. Leave a comment if you'd like. Thanks!
New Pots
Okay here they are. It was a good firing and I am really happy with everything as far as clay and glaze goes. My green slip needs to be thicker. I need to work on my design sense on some things, but other things are pretty good I'd say. Sorry for the terrible lighting on some of these.
Ready to Fire
We had a great dinner last night with Sally and Scott. Sally lived in Italy for a while so I was nervous making pasta for her, but she had nothing but praise.
Today I've been to the Arts Council to unload my bisque, glaze and reload the electric kiln there. I am hoping this will be my last firing there. I should get my little gas kiln finished before I'm ready to fire again.
These pots will come out on Tuesday.
Today I've been to the Arts Council to unload my bisque, glaze and reload the electric kiln there. I am hoping this will be my last firing there. I should get my little gas kiln finished before I'm ready to fire again.
These pots will come out on Tuesday.
Saturday Morning
Just sitting around this morning having tea and watching Jamie at Home. I really like ol' JO, he's better than anyone on FoodTV. Well, I like Alton too but he's a totally different animal.
Jamie had a sweet little earthenware dish on the show. It had a a scalloped edge and mottled green glaze and the edges were chipped from use.
Tonight we're having friends over for dinner. Homemade pasta and bread. Sauce and salad. A fun time...looking forward to it.
Have a good Saturday!!!
Jamie had a sweet little earthenware dish on the show. It had a a scalloped edge and mottled green glaze and the edges were chipped from use.
Tonight we're having friends over for dinner. Homemade pasta and bread. Sauce and salad. A fun time...looking forward to it.
Have a good Saturday!!!
Latest Tests
I've never been so thorough in my testing as I have been over the past month or so. I think it will pay off in the long run. Remember in my last earthenware firing I ruined a bunch of pots because I went straight from a small test batch to a large batch and didn't figure in thickness of application etc.
Well, I didn't want to make that mistake again, so after I mixed up two 5 gallon buckets of glaze earlier in the week I went ahead and dipped several tiles and fired them. The results....great. To make sure I am consistent with my glaze thickness I weighed 500 ml of each glaze and made a note. That way I can check it in the future to see if it needs more water. Of course how I dip the pots will factor in too.
I have switched clays too. These tests show the glazes on the new body. I am happy with the whole package. My 200+ lbs of earthenware came out of the rack yesterday. So I am ready to go.
Today I am firing a bisque load of earthenware. I'll get them glazed and hopefully fired by early next week. Cross your fingers.
Well, I didn't want to make that mistake again, so after I mixed up two 5 gallon buckets of glaze earlier in the week I went ahead and dipped several tiles and fired them. The results....great. To make sure I am consistent with my glaze thickness I weighed 500 ml of each glaze and made a note. That way I can check it in the future to see if it needs more water. Of course how I dip the pots will factor in too.
I have switched clays too. These tests show the glazes on the new body. I am happy with the whole package. My 200+ lbs of earthenware came out of the rack yesterday. So I am ready to go.
Today I am firing a bisque load of earthenware. I'll get them glazed and hopefully fired by early next week. Cross your fingers.