Monday Morning

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There's a pretty good frost out this morning. The kiln has about another 2 hrs to go before being finished. New pots out tomorrow, so check back for those.

Last night an ambulance went up the highway with it's siren on and set off a group of coyotes howling just up the creek from my house. It was the first time I'd heard them. Neighbors have told me they have heard them recently. It was a great sound. It sounded like 6 or more of them. Maybe some young. I know most people don't like coyotes, including most of my neighbors and they may end up shot (the coyotes, not the neighbors). I hope not.

Coyotes are new around here. I saw a couple a few years back. I guess they are increasing in numbers. Being pushed here from somewhere else.

Week before last a deer walked into a shop in downtown Shelby. Right off the street in the middle of the day. It did some damage and lost an antler before the shop clerk got the back door open for it to get out.

I'm sure the coyotes are doing their part on keeping the rabbit and small rodent population under control, I've not heard of any livestock being killed. I did hear of one person who said his dog was attacked, but I don't know if it was a coyote who did the damage or just another dog. It was a Jack Russell and probably ran down the wrong hole. Who knows.

Okay gotta go have breakfast and then off to the workshop.

Check back later.

Friday

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Rainy day today. I took it pretty easy in the studio, it is Friday after all. Made these few pots and finished up some 8 lb bowls. The bisque is all loaded and will fire off tomorrow.

I am having a good time coming up with some new deco. I need to get into my drawing journal a little more seriously each day. Well not really seriously,but you know do some drawing.



I've liked brushing the slip on pots versus pouring or dipping the pot in the slip. I can get this nice 'dry brush' thing happening and can get thick and thin areas of slip on the surface. I can also impart a sense of movement.

Brushing perpendicular to any previously incised line will leave the line exposed.

None of these pots have been glazed and fired yet so I'm excited to see what they will look like finished. My plan has been to try and create a more layered look on the surface; more depth. Of course I can work with that during the glazing process too.
Hopefully I'll have a load of finished pots by Tuesday.

Obamaware Update

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Here is the email that I got from Ayumi this morning. Please help spread the word.

Hi Ron,
Here is the latest, and hopefully the final word, on the sale.

Obamaware will now be up for auction on Ebay starting:
Sunday night, October 19th, at 8 pm EST and will be up for 3 days

I recommend getting an account early so you'll be ready to bid. Each piece will have a Buy It Now option, which is 200% of the retail price, so first come, first serve. The entire auction, though, will be up for 3 days. The bright spot in all this is that we hope to raise even more money for our favorite candidate this way.

Nothing is up yet on Ebay, the Preview continues on my site (crossing my fingers for no crashes) until it goes live on ebay Sunday night. Since the last time I emailed, I've added almost 30 new pots from Elizabeth Robinson, Kirk Mangus, and Ron Philbeck.


Read more about the Obamaware artists


Again, my apologies for slow loading and crashing sites- who knew this would get so huge? The blogosphere has picked up this event with lots of passion and support. Thank you for all your patience and support and good luck bidding!!

Please help spread the word about the rescheduling!

Ayumi

Loosening Up

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I drew on these after I had finished that basket. The slip was still a bit damp. I like this line quality with the clay at this state. The main problem is that it creates a lot of burrs and they have to be removed at the bone dry state.
I think I'll be making some more bowls tomorrow. This was fun. These are all around 12 inches in diameter (30 cm).

New Ideas

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Following the "Plan" from the other day I brushed slip on the pots today instead of pouring it. Well I did pour it on some cups, but anyhow. This basket is sort of a new idea. It needs a bit of work and since I didn't feel very attached to it I decided to immediately draw on it after I applied the slip. Being in that adventurous mood i thought why not try some things off the top of my head. So came the fork and spoon, knife and box grater, pot and pan, and some carrots. Hey that was fun...so I moved on to some bowls...(next post).

Coolest Pour Ever

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I've been pouring slips over pots for a long time, both to coat them and as a decorative effect. This is by far the coolest pour I've ever made. It was done in one continuous pour from a measuring cup full of slip, while holding the mug upside down over the bucket. I moved the measuring cup up and down while pouring and rotating the mug. I've never made that pattern before.

Now....can I do that again?

Shinos for Andrew

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Andrew, these first three pots I made and have the Gustin shino on them. When that glaze is thick it's white when thin it's toasty. The clay does need some body reduction for it to look decent. You can see the thick and thin areas on these pots. Jazzing up the surfaces helps too, texture on the pot. Or like you are doing and like I did on the jar, wiping through the glaze to thin it out. The plate has a matt black trailed across it. I think shinos, unless they are the carbon trap variety, need something else going on on the pot. A pot covered in shino is sometimes boring. Try texture, paddling, roping, incising, whatever, things that will let the glaze go thick and thin. I have some pots with shino and ash on them somewhere here, and a cup that's this same glaze but thicker and really white. I'll try and find them.




This cup was made by Randy Johnston and has some kind of shino on it. It would be pretty boring if it didn't have that little band there in the middle.Try getting a high iron clay too. That will change the whole thing.
Looking good. Keep up the good work.

Nic Collins

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Nic Collins will be holding an on-line exhibition/sale of the 20 best pots, chosen by him from the winter firing of the groundhog kiln. The exhibition/sale will take place at 6 pm on Friday 5th of December and will continue until 6pm Friday 12th December.

I was introduced to Nic's pots by Doug Fitch. Doug has helped Nic fire over the years and has been influenced in many ways by Nic and his work.

It will great to see the progression of the work as it makes it way from the wheel to the kiln and on to the exhibition. Check in often.

Obamaware Preview

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Hey! The Obamaware Preview is up!! So many visitors yesterday that the site went down for a while. Sadly, my pots are still missing in action somewhere in the postal system. (which totally sucks and is making me sick).

However there are some killer pieces on there and they all go on sale tomorrow at noon. So get ready and be there.

Monday. Back to Work

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Okay here is the Plan:


I learned a good lesson last week when I made some pots that had hardly any surface variety, and then no glaze depth. BORING! Flat. Lifeless. Yuck. So I'm making sure now to jazz things up a bit. When I was firing salt I had to do very little to the surface because the kiln atmosphere did it all. I'm learning by trial and error with this slipware, and from paying attention.

Made some cups and bowls today.

Decorated these and a couple more boards from last week.
If you've been looking at the Obamaware site and wondering where my pots are, well, I had some bad news on Friday. My package got mis-routed. I think I screwed up the zip code. Hopefully they will get there before the show goes live on Wednesday.
Frustrating, but out of my hands for now.

Response

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Here are some examples of what I heard on Saturday.

"Wow this is new!"
"This doesn't look like your work Ron."
"Hey is this your work? I like it."
"Are you still firing your salt kiln?"
"We walked right by here and didn't know this was you"
"I love that amber glaze."
"These drawings are great. I love the piranha."

I visited some other potters in their booths and they asked, "Are you here? Where are your pots?" I'd tell them and they'd say, "Wow that's new, it doesn't look like your work at all Ron, I really like it, are you still firing your salt kiln? Is this earthenware?!"

Ha! Anyhow it was fun to introduce my slipware to folks who haven't seen it before. It was well received and I think it even surprised some folks that I could do something different. Maybe too it was a reminder that we don't have to do the same thing forever.

I took this photo yesterday. Sarah is rooting a plant on the window sill, with the curtain pulled over, it gave nice silhouette.

Off to the workshop. Have a good Monday.

ClayMatters Fall Pottery Sale

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It was a beautiful day for the ClayMatters Pottery Sale yesterday. This event is held at the McAlpine Business Park amid the old dairy barn and silos. Its a great venue.



I didn't bother to put up a tent and brought my minimalist display to set up. I was flanked on either side by Vicki Gill and Jen Mecca, good neighbors for the day. I had pretty good sales considering all the hubbub going on with the banking market in Charlotte and all the other national economic stuff. I did notice a considerable drop from last year though. I was happy to sell my first harvest jug! I also took a few orders for plates.


Below are pics of Vicki Gill's booth and Jen Mecca's.

Vicki and Jen will be showing next weekend at Vicki's Studio in Gastonia. Check Vicki's blog this week for info.
Well that's it for now. Check in later for now.

MADE

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I got an email from David Jones this week. David and his wife, Tess Doran, are amazing jewelry makers. They used to live not far from here and Sarah took a class at Penland under them some years ago. Take time to visit Dave and Tess' blog, This is MADE. I really love the picture of them in the header. Dave has a keen sense of style, I always like seeing him at shows. I feel like such a brown paper bag next to him in my jeans and tee-shirt.


Amazing news....Sarah got into her studio recently and made some jewerly. She's had little time or energy to do that sort of work in quite a while. I don't think she's been in there but a handful of times since grad. school. It was so wonderful for me to hear her back there hammering. Music to my ears. We both worked at home for about 7 years after we were married. I miss those days. I know she wants to be working in there more. I'll get some pics up of the pendent she made that day later on.


All for now. I'm off to the library this morning and then back to get my truck packed for tomorrow's show in Charlotte.
Happy Friday!

Show this Saturday

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Started getting all my stuff together today to go to the ClayMatters Pottery Sale this Saturday, Oct. 11 from 10 am till 4 pm.
Location: McAlpine Business Park at the Barn
8300 Monroe Road Charlotte, NC

I'll have a good selection of pots: mugs, plates, jars, bakers and such. This is a good time to get a jump on your holiday shopping. I hope to see ya there.