Thoughts...

I've gotten to this place where I  want to be putting only my best work out into the world.  I feel like if I'm doing that as I go then I'll be happy and my customers and collectors will be better off too.  It's a bit difficult of course because I'm accustomed to making quite a lot of pots and of course not all of them hit the mark.  And this earthenware work is still evolving so after periods of a few months or more I feel like I've out dated the older work.  Not all of it, but some.

So I'm left with the question of what to do with the pots that were the 'stepping stones' or in some cases pots that I can now see just missed the mark.

I am making fewer pots than I did when I was salt glazing.  I am also trying to put more into each pot and be happy with the pots before they ever go into the kiln.  (That pretty much has to be the case when firing in an electric kiln, because it sure doesn't do anything for you like a salt kiln or a wood kiln).

It sort of all comes down to some sort of judgment on my part.  Really looking at the pots at various stages, just after the making, handling, decorating etc.  Also I have to be willing to discard things or know that I'll just keep them around long enough to learn from them.

Right now I'm faced with a number of pots that I've pulled out of the showroom.  I'm no longer happy with them completely and would be be fine with just putting them in the shard pile.  Of course, that does seem wasteful as they are all first quality and I could get some money for them or just give them away.  I don't really want to have them out for sale any longer, and I've come to the place where I don't want to have discounted pots for sale just to get rid of them.

I told Sarah this morning I'd rather make up some small boxes of 5 or 6 pots and take them far away to distribute in the city or neighborhoods as little surprise gifts for whomever comes upon them first.

I've seen other potters who have dealt with this in numerous ways...clearance sales, 'second' sales, smashing things up and selling as mosaic, etc.  None of that really appeals to me.  So maybe my shard pile will just get bigger.  I always feel very cleansed whenever I do away with things in my life that are no longer needed/wanted.

So if you'd like to discuss, please leave a comment.   And no, you can't come by and haul them off for me :-)

Saturday Out

Sarah and I went to the Potter's Invitational today at The Mint in Charlotte.  It was such a good show.  Tons of pots.  I didn't take tons of pics but here are just a few from Fred Johnston and Carol Gentithes booth.  Carol makes these amazing sculptures that are covered in decals.  I love them!!!  We have to have one someday.

Of course I went right to the beaver....

Fred had made a big beaver jar too...

We chatted a lot and saw many fellow bloggers including: Kyle Carpenter, Bruce Gholsen and Samantha Henneke, Ronan Peterson,  Ron Slagle and  John Ferraris.   (I hope I didn't forget anyone.)

So it was a great day.  No fried chicken though, I just couldn't talk Sarah into it, but we did have a healthy Vietnamese meal.

What day?...

I can't believe it's Friday already!  All day yesterday I thought it was Wednesday.  Well it was a good day all around anyhow.  I finished up some things and got started on others.  I finally got around to making some lists of pots I need for upcoming shows too.  That helped a lot.  I feel more focused now.

I'm making fewer kinds of pots than I did when I was salt glazing.  I feel like I'm focusing more on making each pot work, getting the deco right, getting the forms right, trying to marry it all together.  I feel like I had worked out most of my basic forms when I was doing high fire.  Now I'm fine tuning them a bit.  And of course the drawing and glazing part has been a new challenge.

I'm getting ready for my Fall Sale which is the 26th and 27th.  The showroom is a bit of a mess right now.  I talked to Sarah about it last night and I think over the weekend I am going to pull all the pots off the shelves and decide which one's are really worth putting back out.  Of course most all of them are good in some way, but I am at the place where I really want to show and sell my best and most current work.

I have lots on my mind but I'm not doing very well getting it out here this morning.  I'll see what I can do later.  For now, Happy Friday.

In use

This bowl came out of the kiln this week.  I thought I'd give it a bit of a test run this morning at breakfast.

Warren

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Nhi_23Eyk

Rowing Along

I had a couple good firings over the past week.   I am working at 2 different temps at the moment to try and get my glazes worked out.  I have issues with both tempertures.  At the higher I have a clear glaze crawling problem.  At the lower, I don't quite have the colors I want.  It's all getting sorted, but slowly.  In the mean time I'm content with the pots, knowing that I'll eventually find my middle ground.

I do feel a bit 'out at sea' lately.  I have shows coming up and I haven't really set out a make list or dates to be working towards.  I'm making progress, but it'd be nice to know I was headed towards shore.  So this evening I plan on making a calendar for the shop and setting up some lists of pots for each event.

That said, I'm updating the Events Page too.

Also, the Etsy shop is currently empty.  I plan on having an inventory of pots in there ASAP.  I'll keep ya posted.

Regarding keeping you posted.....sign up over in the right side bar to receive emails periodically.  Thanks!!!

Price's Chicken Coop

I've been hearing about Price's Chicken Coop for years.  It's a Charlotte  landmark, in business since 1962.  I've driven by a couple times when in the city to see what it's like.  Today I finally stopped.  I have to say I've never stopped before because I was a bit intimidated by the crowds and I've heard you have to know what you're doing when you go in there.  Ha.  I know that's kind of silly but still...

So today I'm in Charlotte picking up some clay and it's around 2pm and I decide that I'm going to Price's.  It's after the lunch rush so the place is pretty quiet and I follow a businessman in through the front doors.  There's a couple of small lines, just enough time for me to scan the menu board, step up and order.  Easy.

I ordered a 1/4 chicken sandwich. White.  And a side of potato salad.  The lady was real nice (she knew it was my first time I bet).

This is what I got...

Now, I had talked to folks and I knew what to expect.  As a matter of fact it's why I ordered the sandwich.  I knew that it was gonna be a bun with two pieces of bone-in chicken in the middle.  Cool huh!!

Since I had ordered the white meat I got a breast and a wing.

Price's is take out only. So I sat out in my truck on the side of the street and slowly picked the meat off the bones of  this juicy, delicious fried chicken. On the other side of the street, parked in the opposite direction as me, the business man was doing the same. (Except he was driving a big SUV and wearing a tie).

I ate the potato salad and bun as side items.  The chicken was amazing.  I'm going back to Charlotte on Saturday and there's a good chance you may find me on the side of the street there again.

Busted

I went up to the Soda Chicks and Chet Pottery Sale this past Saturday.  Sarah told me before I left not to bring any pots home.

Oops!  I tried.  I really did.  I ended up buying a bowl and mug made by Bob Briscoe, who was one of the visiting artists for the Sale.

I didn't bring the pots in the house when I got home.  I thought I'd gradually work them into the rotation.  But Sarah saw the bowl in the studio yesterday and I was busted!  (It's not like she wouldn't have noticed a new bowl in house once I brought it in anyhow).

Yes, I have a problem.  I am a pottery addict. Oh well, it could be worse right?

Work in Progress.

Okay so I am still around and getting some things done.  I fired a small load of pots last week and I'll try and shoot a few images of those later.  For now here are a couple of plates with deco seems a bit more loose than what I've been doing lately.

I feel like this work is still growing (as it should be) and I am trying to really pay attention to what makes me feel good and what direction(s) I am heading in.

It's fun to be excited about each little thing.  Just drawing those circles, crossed lines and chicklet shapes in a more casual manner really feels like progress and more natural to me.  Then I notice that that kind of drawing looks better on the plates that had more wobble in the rims (compared to those that were more precisely thrown).  It all goes together.

More drawing to do...

Square Dishes

Ah, more wet slip.  I had a hard time keeping myself from immediately drawing on these.

Anyone want to take a shot at identifing the two cups in the background?  (Be quick 'cause Brandon is sure to get them!)

Below are the "forms" that I made these dishes on.  It's really low tech., just some coils to prop up the edges of the slabs.  The sheet is there to keep the slab from sticking to the coil.  These coils could be bisqued and used again.

Imperfections=Goodness

This was one of the first pots I made when I switched to earthenware.  We use this serving bowl pretty often and I really like how it's aged just in a short period of time.  I made this before I had done much research into clay bodies or glazes.  The body is fairly groggy and underfired.  The cups I made out of this clay seeped terribly.  Needless to say I didn't sell those and came up with a body that wasn't pourous.

The slip was rather refractory too and the amber glaze crazed. Honestly all these imperfections have made this a nice pot.    I love the raw clay underneath and how the glaze is a bit messy there in that one spot.

Of course it's nice to have materials that work, clay that fires properly and glazes that fit.  I don't want my cups to leak or glazes to be fragile or chipping off.

I want to keep this pot in mind as I continue to work.  Hopefully I can get some of these nice qualities working with some of the more refined materials I'm using now.

Happy Day.

Ah, wet slip.....



I made 6 of these square dishes today.  They are meant to be a bit rough. I'll thumb the edges tomorrow and get some slip on them.  I've got some ideas for the deco, should be fun.

Here's a little peep under the sheet.  The slab's edges are supported by these coils to give them a bit of lift.

What a good day it's been.  I feel excited about what I'm making these days.

My pots made it to the McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas,Scotland today.  Yippee!

History

A friend of mine bought this pot at a flea market this past Saturday.  She paid a quarter for it!!!  Ha.  I made it in 1994.  That's when I was single firing pots in an electric kiln to cone 8.  This is some sort of ash glaze I concocted with a bit of slip trailing too.

Getting a Few Pots Made

I spent the first part of today getting pots glazed and mixing some tests.  I've got the little test kiln fired up now.  I should have some new infomation by tomorrow morning.  Hopefully a couple of new accent colors that I'll use in the next firing.

After a break at lunch time I got a few pots made but it seemed that my brain had forgotten how to make cereal bowls.  Well, I did increase the amount of clay by a half pound and it took about 6 tries before I was happy with the new pot.  I couldn't get the curve right either for some reason.  Anyhow I've settled on 8 for now but probably need to get back in there and crank out another 8 just for good measure.

Brandon has a nice video up on his blog of him making a couple dessert plates.

It's kinda funny how you can do this work for a long time and still have days that just seem really difficult.

I hope everyone's had a good Monday.  I think I'll go make a few more pots!

Mary Wondrausch Plate

(Mary Wondrausch Plate. 9" dia)

This is the little plate we bought from Mary Wondrausch at Art in Clay.  I really love the thickness of her slip trailing lines and the unconnectedness of those lines in the drawing of the rooster.

Bluebird Mixer. Help Please

Does anyone out there have experince using a Bluebird mixer like the one pictured here?

I have used this sort of mixer a couple times years ago and I may be using it again.  I haven't had very good luck with the mixing process.

I can't remember exactly what went wrong when I used this mixer, maybe that the blades just pushed the clay up and didn't continue mixing. Resulting in my having to stop the mixer and push the clay back down a lot.  Or ?? Heck I can't remember.

Anyhow if anyone has a method of  using this thing, please advise.  I am pretty sure I was adding all my dry materials,  doing a quick dry mix and then adding water with a hose.  Then probably cursing a lot.

Thanks.

Friday Drawings

I drew on a bunch of pots today.  It's good to get this little batch almost ready for the kiln.  They have to all dry out enough for me to knock off the burrs and blast them with the air hose before going into the bisque (probably Sunday).   This is a test run of clay and I'm going to fire it with a commercial clear glaze and some line blends of another glaze to try and solve my crazing and crawling problems.

The bird image on the bowl on the right is  from an English jug made in the mid 1800's by Robert Fishley.  It's a bit folky but I like it.

The design on the bowl below  is a copy of a design I saw on an Italian majolica pot.   I'm trying to learn to do the whole viney/flowery thing.

You can click on these for bigger images.

Fremington Pitcher

I didn't find this image on the Internet.  I am the proud owner of this Fremington jug, given to me by Doug Fitch.   It's a beauty for sure.  Just look at that handle placement!!!  It's in great condition too and stands just over 12 inches.  Doug told me he bought this jug at a car boot sale for (I think he said) 2 quid!

I have loved this style of jug for many years and to finally have one is such a treasure.  It's all the more valuable in that it came from Doug and I got it while in England.

There are still more pots to see from the trip that I'll be posting in the future.

Long Pitcher

The shape of this pitcher is to die for.  Amazing.  If I'm not mistaken it's 1300-1360 Italian.  Wow.  I wish there was a view of the handle.

Upcoming Show

I sent off a big box of pots to Scotland today for the A Feast of Pots exhibition.  The show opens on Sept. 6th at the McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas.  I'm very excited and honored as this is my first time having pots in a show abroad.  Yey!!!!

My dear friend Hannah McAndrew is in the show too.  I owe much thanks to her for introducing my work to Jill and Zoe Blamire at McGill Duncan.

I am really thankful for all the great things that have come my way over the past few months.  I feel validated and excited about it all.  I really desire to continue to put my best into everything that I am making and to keep pushing myself.  Thanks to everyone who visits here to check out what I'm up to.  This blog has been a huge part of my pottery life since 2005, I want to keep it fresh and worth coming back to.

Well it's time to make dinner so I'm off to the kitchen.