Visiting Hal

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I had supper with a bunch of friends last night over at Hal Dedmond and Corine Guseman's  house.  Hal and Corine are both local potters.  We all had a good time and I shot a few photos while I was there.  Click below to see larger images of Hal's wood kiln, the goats, Hal with the cat, and a few of Hal's pots that were sitting out on the porch.[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="post_name"]

Teapots and Test Tiles

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Today has been a great day.  It's taken me almost a week working off and on but I finally have everything together to send out some packets to galleries.  I went out today and bought CD's and sleeves and envelopes and such.  I'll get them all together and off tomorrow.

Here are two teapots from yesterday.  I'm sort of into these squatty guys lately. I like the size of the opening on the right one.  It's easy to get the tea leaves cleaned out of it.  The one on the left has a special feature.  Since the spout is small I cannot drill strainer holes.  So it gets a little built in strainer added inside the pot.

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My test tiles came out much better this time.  Remember the bubbles?  I must have made a mistake in mixing that first batch b/c these look great.

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New Day. And some Power Pop

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Off to a fresh start today.  No kicking over buckets I hope.  And I'm going to wash all my dirty pottery towels!!

What do you get when you put Taylor Hanson (yes of Hanson!) together with one of my all time favorite drummers Bun E. Carlos (of Cheap Trick, that dude is sooo smooth), the killer guitar sounds of James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and on bass none other than Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne!!!)???  You get Tinted Windows.  John at Clayworks told me about them last night and I had to check them out this morning.  Pretty cool power pop tunes.  Good for summertime no doubt.  Have a listen.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-7y1UxNkHM&annotation_id=annotation_955415&feature=iv

Man, that Bun E. is so relaxed.
There's a podcast of the band on NPR HERE.
I haven't listened to it yet.

Okay have a good day.  I'm off to dig up some old Cheap Trick songs.

Not Over Yet

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It's been sort of a crazy day in the shop.  It's 4 pm and I'm beat.   I still have to teach class tonight.  That's an hour commute each way too.  Agggh.  Too much going on at once today.  Finished off my big jars from yesterday, kicked over a bucket of slip (which I had to have today so I mixed another one), made some teapots, deco'd some cups, got my ovals glazed, had a visit from a huge brown hornet too.  Also put some handles on that little baker I made in the video yesterday.

Time for some tea and chocolate.  Then off to class.
Some pics from today. Click for larger image.

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Cutting the Rug

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Sarah and I had a fun weekend in Raleigh at her niece's wedding.  Everything went well and the rain held off for the ceremony.  Afterwords we had a blast with the rest of the guests at the reception.  Here we are dancing away, we also danced with each other but alas no pics of that.

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Old Pots. And One of Ruthanne's

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While we were visiting Sarah's sister today I snapped some images of a few pots of mine that she's gotten over the years.  There were lots more but I felt kinda silly going around taking pics of my own work.  The small guinomi sitting beside that little jug/creamer was made by Ruthanne Tudball.  It's a cutie.  I felt in such good company there beside it.[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="post_name"]

Ovals. Drawn On.

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Pushed these guys through today, will get them in a slow bisque tonight with some other things.  Click for larger image.



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I've felt a bit too comfortable with things lately.  I'm ready to shake the tree a bit and try some new forms, or variations on old ones really, well and some new ones too.   A lot of that will happen while I'm at Penland I'm sure.  The energy will be high. It's still several weeks away but I am already getting super excited.


I'm pretty much finished for this week. Sarah's niece is getting married this weekend so we have wedding functions to attend.  I'll probably post on and off so check in now and again.


Have a good Friday.

Tea Break

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Ayumi Horie mug. Green and Black Choclolate

I'm having the last of the ginseng oolong in my Ayumi porcelain mug along with some G&B chocolate that has ginger crystals in it.  Man, that's all good stuff!!!!  Lucky me.

Waiting on these ovals to dry just a bit so I can draw on them.

img_0151Finished up taking images and getting things together to send out to galleries.  Well I'm actually sort of still working on my new artist statement but it should be done soon.

I've put 3 of the wall tiles on Etsy.  I'll get some pots in there soon.

Teaching and the Universe

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hubble_arp274Last night I had my class at Clayworks in Charlotte. I've been teaching there a few years now and I have to say I've really become attached to my students.  They are so energetic and love pots.  I have seen many of them make great strides in their work.  It's very rewarding to me.  Last night, Jane reported that she had made the trip to Minnesota over the weekend to go to the Potter's Tour.  Wow!  She told us all about it.  Also, Rick, who has been in my class since the beginning, brought in a Warren Mackenzie teapot to share with the class.  Rick bought it 30 years ago in Warren's showroom, it was stamped and everything.

I never thought I'd enjoy teaching but now that I've done it I understand.  Of course there are aspects that I hate, like dealing with administration or just general stuff that happens to the 'small man at the bottom'.  For me it's about the students and the pots.

On a differnt note,  Sarah and I saw some recent images from the Hubble Space Telescope on television the other day.  Last night after coming home from class I stood outside and looked into the sky.  I thought about the vastness of space and just how very, very, small I am.  Also I thought about  how amazing it is that I am part of it all.  Yes, a very, very small part, but a part none the less.

Okay that's all for now.

Chimney Pot

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medianlI want to make a chimney pot for our chimney.  I don't know the style yet but I got some ideas here.  We have a square flue liner but I think I'd like to have a cylinder shape.  I like the idea of the spiral in there too.

We need to stucco our cement block chimney pretty soon, preferably before we build the porch.  So I have to get some tips on doing that.  Anyhow I think a chimney pot would be totally cool.

Oh, maybe I'll sculpt some birds on top too.

Coming to a Shop Near You....Eventually...

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yunomi_washlineI've been sorting images for the last hour.  I want to get together a packet to send out to a few galleries.  This is something I keep putting off, but I've got to just do it.  I've also updated my resume today and I need to work on my artist statement a bit.

I need to just set a goal of getting this done this week. Okay I will do this by Thursday.   I will send out 6 packets by Thursday.  Somebody needs to hold me accountable, who wants to take that on??

I don't really have my work in any shops outside of North and South Carolina.  I have a list of several but if you all have suggestions send them my way with a website or contact info.  That would be awesome.

Another goal for the near future is to put out there that I want to teach some one or two day workshops.  I've done a few, but I really want to get out there more.  I have a great time doing these and I feel like I'm good at it.  So if your group is looking for someone send them my way.  I want to put out a packet for this too.  I feel like I have a lot to offer in several areas.  I have my whole background on salt/soda firing, raw glazing and single firing, my current way of working and making pots, blogging, selling online, selling from home, building a local clientele and probably more that I can't think of right now.   Plus I'm fairly entertaining, and I can talk and throw at the same time.

Okay enough for today.

Barbara Chadwick-Bland

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bird-broodingHey Folks. It's a rainy Monday here and I'm not potting.  Instead I've made a few trips to the landfill.  Yes, three.  My recycling has been piling up, up, up.  So now it's all gone along with the general garbage and some old carpet that I needed to haul away.

Exciting eh? No not very.  That's why I thought I'd introduce you to someone you may have not found out here in Blogger land.  Barbara Chadwick-Bland makes really fun pots that I totally dig.  She was just down the row from me on Saturday and she had a killer day.  By the time I got down there she'd sold loads of pots.  That's how great they are.  Of course I got one for me and Sarah and I also did my Mother's Day shopping with Barbara.  So any how check out her blog when you can, it's sure to put a smile on your face.

Reactions

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the-ratIt's been really amazing to me to view people's reactions to my pots when they visit me at shows or here at that pottery.

Almost everyone who came into my booth yesterday laughed or giggled or turned to a friend and said something like, "oh look at these, how fun."

Of course the reactions are due to the drawings.  The drawings on the pots are the eye catchers and the part that gets people excited about the work, but, thankfully, they also pick up the pots and talk about how they would use the pots and how fun it would be to have dinner on a plate that has a rat on it or their morning coffee from a mug with a goat that's pulling down a wash line.  So folks know that this "art", if you will, is very functional, and fun at the same time.

Yesterday I even had a lady recite a poem to me.  She said that the pots reminded her of Ogden Nash's poetry.  I asked her who he was and she immediately responded with a poem by Nash.

Behold the hippopotamus!
We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.

Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look all right to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.

That was certainly something that has never happened to me at a show before.  Wow!





ClayMatters Pottery Sale

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I had a great day at the ClayMatters Pottery Sale yesterday.  I was one on the lucky exhibitors to have a booth in the shade and that certainly made it nice for me considering the temps went into the 80's.  Many folks turned out to see all the great pots.  After a week of rainy weather, Saturday was sunny and a bit breezy at times.  Thanks to all who bought pots from me yesterday!

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A Few New Pots...

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and some really bubbly glaze tests.

I was pleased with my firing even though there were some problems with a few things.  First of all the glaze tests were insane!  Bubbles anyone?  I think I may have put the wrong frit in this test.  All these were the same base with different colorants.  So I will try these again after I mix up a new batch.

The flower blocks looked great but are un-saleable due to small areas of slip flaking off.  Why?  I slipped them too late, they were a bit dryish.  So I know what's up with that and  I can fix it.  It's when I don't know what's happening that I freak out, no need for that here, I know what I did and can correct it.  I am disappointed that I won't be able to have them at the sale this weekend.

Click for larger, complete image.

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I was pleased to have some more tiles to mount and I will be debuting those to my Charlotte customers tomorrow at the ClayMatters Sale. (Not those bubbly ones of course)

Okay gotta go finish packing.  I probably forgot to say something but if so I'll add it later.  Thanks for checking in.