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.

Last Day

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Hanging out this morning having tea, listening to Rama Hughes on Danny Gregory's podcast. I really like using the dip pen. It just really puts the ink where I want it (and sometimes where I don't).

March flew by. I think March is my favorite month of the year and I feel like I kinda missed it this year. So maybe I'll savor today, try to. Right now the grass is wet from a shower we had last night, the birds are out, it's a bit cold but I feel the promise of warmer weather coming. Have a good Monday. March Thirty One.

Wiped Out for Now

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The Sale went well and I am so thankful for everyone who came out and got pots as well as you all out there in the blogosphere and email realms who send words of support.

We knocked off at 4 today and headed over to Sarah's parents for dinner. After that I handled the mugs I made this morning now it's time for a cup of herb tea and some quiet time on the couch.

It'll be a full week, making, filling in teaching for a friend, firing, and the Spring Sale at Clayworks on Friday. I'm sticking with the earthenware for a while more. The cream glaze with green was a big hit. The green in general was a hit. Well it was all a hit thankfully. So I'm gonna keep at it.

I got a lead on Thursday about some brick clay in the area. I may try to give a call in about that and see what I can find. I am also going to give a call to some folks on the west coast who at one time at least were doing some wood fired earthenware. It seems that's rare here in the States.

Anyhow that's it for tonight. Hope everyone has a good start to the week. Many of my customers commented on us... us bloggers who are all linked up, so that was fun, we are all well known in some household or another. Cheers, Ron

Day One

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I had a good turnout during the first part of the day on Saturday. The weather turned rainy and cool which I think worked in my favor as folks didn't head out to work in their yards or off the the golf course. Around 1:30 things slacked off and some time later my pal Michael Kline and his sweet daughter Lillian came in. We all had a great visit.

So today we'll hopefully have a few friends come by and check out the pots and take some home. Yesterday the new earthenware outsold the saltglaze 2 to 1. Hum....

I got up and made a couple boards of cups this morning. I'm going to try and get them handled later this evening. I'd like to have them fired and ready for the Clayworks Sale this Friday and Saturday.

Thanks to everyone who came out so far.

I.D.

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Does anyone know what kind of bird this is? I'm just a country boy and if it's not a blue bird or a buzzard then I'm kinda lost....or a chicken. Anyhow I'm guessing a pigeon of some sort. It certainly wasn't too scared of me. Maybe it flew in from the city for my Pottery Sale. Karma got a rouse out of it as it sat up on the corner of the house for a half hour or so. Well whatever it was it sure tasted good.

Here are Some Pots

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I'm all set up for my sale tomorrow. The pots look good and I 'm happy with my earthenware and funny drawings. This teapot has a couple fish incised on it and some dashes of green slip. It will be interesting to see what my regular customers say about this work. I think they will be shocked when they walk in tomorrow. Color and decoration! They will think they are in the wrong pottery.

I'm liking these new owl candle stick holders. Much more contrast than the ones I make in the salt kiln. I think these will be good sellers.