Saturday's Meetup with MK and KC

Well, I had a great time getting together with Michael and Kyle.  I really need more 'man time'.  I very seldom get to hang out with the guys and after Saturday I told Sarah how much I need to work on my social activities and need some male friends that I can see more often.

We talked a lot about Etsy and how we wanted to increase our exposure and sales this year.  We all brought our iPads so we geeked out and shared apps and Kyle schooled Michael and me on some tricks and shortcuts.  We discussed pricing, shipping, galleries, special events, tee shirts, photographing our work and I can't remember what else at the moment.  A good day for sure.  I know that I had more to say than we had time for plus the fact that I'm so socially isolated that I was bit giddy with just being around these guys.

This sausage and onion pizza plus a few beers kept us sustained though our discussions.

Kyle worked on few pots that needed attention.

The ever relaxed Michael Kline

It was really good to talk about some ideas that I have been knocking around and Michael and Kyle both had things they shared too.  So look for some exciting things from us soon. (Well maybe, or we may be so subtle and sly that you hardly even notice that something is happening). Ha.

Today I worked on a wholesale order and experimented on some jar shapes (which got trashed at the end of the day)  Here's most of the day's output.

I also got this Flower and Vine Platter listed in my Shop.

 

Getting ready for my Holiday Sale

The bisque is loaded with a week to go before my Holiday Studio Sale.

I worked on some new deco on a few of these pots and I look forward to seeing them fired.  I have about 10 more pots that could potentially get decorated and fired before next weekend too.  These are high end jars and a few plates.  I'd really like to get them through the kiln but I felt like I needed to focus on the bread and butter pots first.

Some of you potters out there may wonder about that photo above.  I don't stack pots in the bisque like most folks do.  This is because my slip fluxes a bit at cone 04 and if the pots are stacked they may stick together and pull the slip off.  So I just stack like a glaze load.  It's no big deal and it actually helps me to see how I'll get the next load set up after glazing.

Here's the info on my upcoming Studio Sale

Saturday Dec. 3rd.  10 am till 4pm
Sunday Dec. 4th  Noon till 4pm

757 Wallace Grove Road Shelby NC 28150

I am going to have some really nice pots so I hope to have a good turnout.  The first weekend in December is when every potter in NC and his brother (also a potter) has their Studio sale.  I'm hoping my locals turn out as well as folks from afar.

The showroom will be open through Christmas by appointment or by chance.  It's a good idea to call ahead as I may be taking a nap or gone to the grocery.  704 480 6046

Yay Monday!

I sort of mean that.  I'm having a hard time getting going today but maybe after another cup of tea I'll get rolling.

It's good to be home and settled.  I think it took me two good days to recover from NYC.  I do love living out here in the country.

Today will be a big making day.  I have less than 2 weeks until my Holiday Studio sale and I need certain pots to finish filling the shelves.  I've made a list and hopefully I can knock a chuck of it out today.

I've been posting new pots in my Online Shop.  There will be 4-5 more going in today.

I feel really good right now and excited about the last few shows I participated in.  It was great to see folks and to get my newest pots in their hands.  I'm going to do a little post on that later probably.  For now, I'm off to get my hands in the clay.  Have a good week everyone!

 

Catching up

This week has crept by for me but I'm glad because I have had a lot to do and it looks like I'm going to be ending in a good place.  I've not felt terribly productive but as I look back on each day it seems I've gotten enough done and that things are moving forward.

The bisque kiln is filling up.  I have 10-12 more pots to decorate today and then I think I'll go ahead and fire it up.  I've made a bunch of cookie cutter ornaments for Christmas this year.  I'll give some as gifts and the rest will go to some hometown type shows and gift shops that I'm doing.

Sarah and I have been sleeping in all week. I don't think we've gotten up before 8am on any given day.  I guess it's the oncoming winter and cooler temps.  I do feel like I need to be rising earlier, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it right now.

Loupie is all snuggled into the cat bed this morning.

Karma would rather be playing ball than watching me write this blog post.

Scott Garrett is an illustrator and budding potter in East Sussex, England.  He sent me these two prints a while back and I finally got them matted and framed.  I really dig Scott's style and humor.  You can visit his blog HERE and Online Shop HERE.

Dead Ends by Scott Garrett

Fred by Scott Garrett

I found these two older pots in a box at the Arts Council.  It's neat to look back and see where I have been.

I'll be updating my Events page later and hopefully sending out an email Newsletter on Monday (so sign up to be on the mailing list if you haven't yet.  Over in the right sidebar)

I've been adding pots to the Online shop too.  Click HERE to go over and see what's there.  Thanks!!

Opening at Maddi's Gallery

Last night I had my opening at Maddi's Gallery in Charlotte, N.C.  I had a very nice selection of work and the display looked great. (Thanks Celia for setting it up for me!)

It was great to meet some new folks and also see my friends who stopped by.

Maddi's debuted two pieces that I made especially for the gallery.  These were a bottle/vase and a tile with a crown and the word Charlotte on them.  For those of you who may not know, Charlotte is know as the 'Queen City'.  These two pieces make nice keepsakes for visitors and for residents.

My showroom is looking pretty bare and I have several more shows coming up.  Looks like I'll be busy making pots next week.

Last Wet Day. Sort of.

Today was my last day throwing for the Thrown Together Show on Sept.  24th.  Sarah and I are going on vacation next week so I want to have all the pots made, slipped and some decorated before we leave.  I'd like to get a bisque in too.  So this week I'll be finishing and hopefully load a nice bisque on Friday or Saturday.

So it was the last wet day in the studio but it looks like there may be a day or more of very wet weather in store for us as tropical storm Lee drenches much of the south.

Thanks for all the comments on the last post about disconnecting!!  This seems to be something that many of us could use some work on.

I have a few small strategies in place.  I'm not going online until I've been up for at least 2 hours.  I'd like to try and even move this on into the day, maybe not get online until lunchtime.

I'm trying to only check my email 2-3 times a day.  When I check it I respond to the emails that come in or file them to be responded to.  Right now I'm doing pretty good at responding to what comes in.  I've also unsubscribed from several sites and changed my settings on social networks so I don't get notified  about stuff.

If I think of something during the day that I want to look up I make a note of it on paper and then try to do all that at one time, usually in the evening.  The evening is a bad time for me to get sucked in.  If I stick to the list, check my mail and sign out then that's good.  Not being successful at this all the time though.  I should probably set a timer and go for a certain time and then log off.

If I am working on a document, or something in Photoshop, etc then I sign out of my browser so I'm not tempted to check my blog, or Etsy, or email.

I'm really trying to only do a couple posts to FB or my Fan page per day and not get caught up reading what everyone else is doing. *

I'll keep y'all up to date on what's going on as I try new disconnecting techniques this week.

The boxes are almost done and ready to deco.  Today I got them slipped and the lids cut.  They will get a lid flange tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in.  I know we all have little time to spare but it's nice to be connected here on the blogs and I plan to keep on posting and to keep reading as many others blogs as I can.

*Did you follow those hyperlinks?  Hum, that can get us in trouble too can't it?!  Well if you did I hope you didn't get sucked in and made it back here quickly.

And now you're off to whatever is next!

The Desire to Disconnect

I've been working yesterday and today to try and get some of my 'junk' organized.  'Junk' being all the stuff on my desk, the kitchen table, the table by the window, and on top of the bookshelf by the door.  Piles. Stacks.  Stuff of varying importance. Or no importance.

As it is now I've moved most of it to my upstairs desk, which is to become my Control Center, the place from which I am going to build my Empire, or at least where I'm going to spend the next hour working to clean out my Inbox.

In the last month or longer I have seriously noticed my addiction to being 'Connected'.  I check my email several times a day, and my blog comments, and my facebook, and my Etsy, and I also have the weakness of getting sucked into surfing for god knows what on the internet.  It's not good.  It's eating away my time, my creative time, my time for tea and drawing and reading and napping.  I need to Disconnect.  I need some structure to my time on the internet.

I have a plan. I'll share more about that later.  For now lets just say that I'm happy that I've decided to work on this.  I'm not saying I'm going to do less work or use the internet less to market my art or to communicate with others.  I'm just going to do it in a healthy way, that doesn't eat so much of my time up, and make me crazy.

I'm getting some help from some of the materials and posts on this site.

The Gallery Crawl uptown went well last night.  I was in charge of the food at the Arts Council and with the help of my fellow board members Fredia and Donna we put out quite a spread.

My work at Two Doors Down looked fab and I sold a couple pieces from there.

Thanks for checking in everyone.  Have a good Friday!!

Very Happy Thursday

Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh could think of something.
Pooh could. "We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish everybody a Very Happy Thursday.
Come on, Piglet." 

I love Winnie the Pooh.  I think he could teach us all something.  That part above is from The House at Pooh Corner. Chapter 8.  In which Piglet does a very grand thing.

Well, I'm having a cup of tea in my new Rat cup as I wait for my oatmeal to cook.  I think it's my new favorite cup!  I was very happy with that last kiln load and look forward to some of those pots going off to new homes.

That book there by Gregg Levoy is very good.  The title is Callings.  I'm only 50 pages in but I'm really enjoying it.  It's about learning to hear/recognize and follow (or not) callings in our lives.  With the hope that this will lead up to living a more authentic life.

I worked on a few rectangular boxes yesterday.  They are fairly time consuming pots, each made up of 8 parts total.  Then the deco is pretty intensive too.

This first shot shows the three bodies, thrown without bottoms and then gently shaped.

And here they are now after I've shaped them a bit more and attached the tops and bottoms.

They are currently under plastic to allow everything to even out before I cut the lids and attach the feet.  That's probably not going to happen until tomorrow as I have a full day of getting ready for the gallery crawl in town tonight.  I'm in charge of the reception at the Arts Council and I have pots on display at a local shop.  Looks like I'll be in the kitchen most of the after noon.

Here's a paper cut sign that I made for my display at 2 Doors Down.

  One thing I learned while making this, be careful when working on paper cuts because if you poke your finger with the scalpel and then bleed all over your paper it pretty much ruins it and you have to start again!

This next part is for Anna but may be helpful to others too.

This is a close up of the tools I use for sgraffito and carving away excess clay.

 I want to mention that the working ends of the tools on the right should be filed with a flat edge as shown below. (As opposed to a knife shaped edge).

I keep a small file on hand when decorating and give them a sharpen when needed.

Okay that's quite a lot of info for today.  Breakfast is ready so I'll sign out, have a great Thursday!!

Just out of the kiln

Some of the pots from yesterdays unloading.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAp61klMKg

Tomorrow, September 1, is the Gallery Crawl in uptown Shelby.  My work is featured at Two Doors Down, 12 Warren Street.  I also have work at ETC Gift shop in the Arts Council and at Buffalo Creek Gallery, also on Warren St.  I hope the locals will come out and support the arts and our local businesses.

Beginning to End. Goat Portrait

Shot this video yesterday. I really feel like the drawings are beginning to come into their own.  After about 8 cups I really began to loosen up and get some nice action in the lines and expressions.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--RaEi0Ceik

Of course I want to make sure that I'm making good forms right from the start.  I take a lot of pride in my mugs.  With this last batch I increased the size just a tiny bit and as always gave extra attention to making a comfortable, accessible handle.

I'm getting a nice full load in the bisque kiln.  I'll finish up a few more cups today and move on to the bigger serving dishes.

Deco. Videos

I shot these two clips showing pots getting drawn on, layout and working towards some finished etched pieces.  I'll try and write a bit more about this and what I'm thinking as I do this soon.  For now here are the videos.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X9p3SpJapk

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZbiF6wnrDs

Salt Glazed Cups

So here are the cups that I had in the salt firing from last week.  It was really fun for me to sit down and just make a run of these yunomi all in one sitting, making each one different, or mostly so.    Some got a coating of slip, others were glazed with temmoku or a copper glaze.  Some of these will be going into the Etsy shop later in the week.

 

More Animal Fun

I made a few more Animal pots/sculptures today.   I am having fun with these,maybe too much fun in the case of that Turtle.  Still, it's good to try something new and I'm not taking these or myself very seriously at the moment.  That can only be a good thing I think.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N40b_4p40Q

Hopefully I can pull off some sort of terra sig finish on these.  We'll see.  For now I just have to make sure I don't knock anyone's ear or leg off!

Finished pots

Here is a video of pots from yesterdays unloading.  Many of these pots you have seen getting made and/or decorated over the past week or so.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPvFLsVW8oE

I'm disappointed that the amber glaze had problems.  Most of the bubbles are on the backs of the dishes.  I'll mark them down and sell them as seconds.  Still nice pots.  I'm going to run some tests with a different recipe over the next few firings and also try applying it by brushing.  These low fire glazes are so finicky.   I'd be happy moving up a few cones if the glazes would behave and provided I didn't loose too much of the redness of the clay body.

I'm looking forward to getting back to making next week.  I'll be throwing more bowls with tall feet and I'd like to get back to experimenting with some box shapes.  The boxes are challenging in both the making and getting the deco on them.  I have also been drawing some vase shapes that I'll try.

All for now, thanks for checking in.

My Cup(board) runneth over

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in5VqG7qHN0

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ixZ76zC-zA

I've listed some new pots in the Etsy shop this week.  Have a look. Thanks.

A Few New Pots

I have the Joara Pottery Festival this Saturday.  Here are a few pots that I'm adding to the inventory that I already have to take to the show.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4bbdvPZ0ac

I'll have a very fine display of pots for the show so come on out if you can.

Working on the Jar Ideas

Below are a couple of videos of me showing some work in progress and talking about moving these pots forward.

It's good to be in this place of not knowing exactly what to do, or setting up some problems to be solved.  I feel like most of this sort of thing gets worked out in the 'doing' as opposed to the 'thinking about it'.  Both ways are valuable, but for me I have to see it in clay to really know what works best.  You'll see I did some sketching in the first video.  That's an okay jumping off point, but honestly I don't sketch pots too much.  If I do it's just to remind me of some idea that I had so that I remember to make it later.  This leads me to more thoughts but I'm saving that for the next blog post.  It will be about risk and ruining pots and so on.

For now here are the videos.

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

 

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

Video Tour

Here's a tour of one of our cupboards.  I had fun doing this and I'll do another one soon.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bASe9h6a60

Sorry I used the word 'nice' so much.  I didn't even notice I was doing it until I got finished and watched the video.

I didn't realize the camera timed out about 2 minutes before I finished. So I just faded out at the end.  You only missed about 3 bowls, I'll get them in next time.

Thanks for watching.  That was fun.

Burger Heaven

Sarah and I went into Charlotte yesterday so that I could see the Grainer Collection at the Mint one more time.  Mr. and Mrs. Grainer were actually in the gallery but I didn't go up and start handing them my business card or anything.  I got to drool over the Maltby pots again and look really close at Grayson Perry's large urns with all their insane glaze treatment, gold luster, and decals.

For lunch we went to Big Daddy's Burger Bar on East Blvd.  It was hopping! I have been wanting to go for about a year now.

I ordered the Sam I Am burger which is topped with American cheese, rosemary ham, a fried egg and pesto.  Oh my, it was heaven.  I'd had a turkey burger w. a fried egg at the Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis a few years back and loved it, so it was good to have another. (really good...yuuummmm)



Sarah had the black bean burger with green chilies, Monterey jack cheese, avocado, and chipotle ranch.  It was really good too (even though there weren't two meats and an egg on it!!!)

Later that night, after coming back home for a bit we went out to the new Ni Fen Wine and Tapas bar in Shelby.  Jeanette Sun has been missed for some time here in this town.  It's great to have her back in this new setting.  We had some drinks and I was treated to a wonderful piece of Jeanette's tiramisu.  If you live in Shelby, or nearby, please check out Ni Fen, you'll be glad you did.

It was an awesome birthday, spent with my favorite person, my sweet wife.  I got lots of warm wishes on my FB page that really made me feel great.   Well, here's to another year in the making.

(Today: Eat my veggies)

Getting the Bisque In

I finally got enough pots decorated to load a full bisque.  Good grief I feel like it's taken me all week.  I have to say I haven't been putting in full days so I can't complain.  It will be nice to get this load fired, glazed and fired again.  Many of these pots are going to the Lillstreet Gallery in Chicago.

The last pot I worked on today was this 12.5 " shallow dish.  I got the design penciled in yesterday.  I timed how long it took me to do the 'scratching'.  Any guesses??

Time for a bit of Tai Chi practice (I started a 6 week course last week) and then homemade pizza for supper!!