Making Molds

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This video quickly shows a couple things I got started on today so that I could make some rectangular slab dishes.    I'm not sure either one is going to be that successful.  I do have one more idea that I'll get on to tomorrow.  For now though here's the clip...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHZb6WTc08

Just to clarify.  The clay mold is solid right now.  After I refine the shape I'll hollow it out and bisque fire it so that I can drape a slab over it to form the dish.  The wooden mold, once finished, will have a slab draped over it to make the dish.

Visit to Bandana Pottery

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After leaving Kline's on Saturday I took winding NC Hwy 80 over to visit Bandana Pottery where Michael Hunt and Naomi Dalglish were having their Pottery Sale.  Shawn Ireland was  showing with them.

I've known Michael and Shawn for some years now and have always loved the way they approach clay and make pots.  They both make good use of local materials and fire with wood.  Their pots have an ancient look to them.

Shawn Ireland Candle Sticks


Shawn and Jo in front of some of Shawn's pots


Some of Michael Hunt and Naomi Dalgish's Pottery


Naomi with Jeff and Martha from Johnston City, TN


I should have taken more images but I was too busy catching up with everyone, looking at all the great pots and eating watermelon.  I ended up buying a small Ram dish from Shawn.  I could have left with a lot more but I'm on a bit of a pottery budget these days.  I didn't get a pic of Michael Hunt either.


Here is the Ram Dish along side my Sheep.  Ha.




For more images visit the Bandana Website HERE.


and Shawn Ireland HERE. and HERE.

Monday's Pots

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Threw all the pots for a gallery order today.  Nothing too difficult, soup bowls, mugs, small plates, salsa dishes and double dishes.  I will get these all finished up tomorrow and ready to slip.



All for now.  I'll do the post about the visit to Bandana Pottery on Tuesday.

Saturday Outting

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I drove up to the Penland/Bakersville area Saturday to deliver pots to Crimson Laurel Gallery.  If you've never been to Crimson Laurel I highly recommend it.  They are easily one of the finest ceramic galleries on the east coast.

I left them with over 40 pots so they are well stocked with my new work.  I got a message from one of the owners at the end of the day saying that they sold 6 of the new pots after they were put out.  Awesome!!

After dropping off pots, I headed over the Sawdust and Dirt headquarters to have a visit with Michael Kline.  It's always good hanging with Michael.  We talked about blogging and the internet (of course) as well as marketing, how to get folks out to our pottery shops, the beauty of iron rich glazes, and cup shapes.  (Just to name a few things).  We also invented a new device that will come in handy for millions, just as soon as we work out the kinks and get the patent.

Michael's daughters, Lillian and Evelyn, joined us in the studio too.  Michael received this tee shirt from Simon Levin in the mail.  Evelyn modeled it for us.


We had a great lunch that Stacey and the girls made for us out on the picnic table.  Of course we were surrounded by fine pots.


After lunch Michael introduced me to the new chickens and we talked more about ...you guessed it, pots and the internet and selling and just all that great stuff.


It was great to have some time with MK and his family.  I left with plenty to think about as I made my way on the winding mountain roads over to Bandana Pottery.

(Check back later for my post on the Bandana Pottery Sale and my visit there)

Some New Pots

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These are a few plates and serving bowls out of the kiln this morning.  Click for larger, more complete image.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="2" orderby="title"]

These are all potentially going to a gallery. The ones that do not will be listed in the Online Store next week. All these pots, along with many others are now at Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, NC.

I really like the Rabbit and Dog plates.  Those seem to be evolving nicely by adding the lines on the border and the Vine and Flower deco behind them.

Plan for the coming week

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This week I'd like to get some serving bowls and plates decorated, bisqued, glazed and fired before Friday.  They are ready and waiting on the shelves.  I also want to get cracking on an order and test some color stains on top of my glaze.  Fingers crossed that I don't fall into a funk right off the bat on Monday.  It's been a low key weekend, but a good one. I'm so happy Sarah is home.  There has been plenty of napping on the couch, reading, and drinking tea.

Here are some mugs that I unloaded on Friday.



See ya!

2 Wood Kilns. Pizza and Chanterelles

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Sarah is in Flat Rock this week for a workshop.  That's about an hour away so I drove up last night to see her.  She's staying with our friends  David Voorhees and Molly Sharp.  David is a potter and Molly is a jeweler.  I've known David for a long time and Sarah apprenticed with Molly.

Right after I arrived, David and I headed out to his friend Robert's place. Robert has a small wood kiln that was being unloaded.  It was nice to get to see the pots from the kiln and meet some new folks.

Back at David's, I got to see his new Bourry box wood car kiln.  It is first class! and even has a woodfired pizza oven between the fire box and the chamber.  David had fired up the oven earlier in the day so we all made pizzas for dinner.  They were amazing.

The pics of the chanterelle mushrooms were taken out in Molly and David's yard.  Wow, I'd never seen them before.  They had quite a few growing out there and are going to harvest them for the special occasion of Molly's birthday coming up soon.

Click for larger image.

[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="title"]

Sarah will be home tomorrow. It's been lonely here without her.  I'll be happy to have things back to normal.  It was really great to catch up with Molly and David.  It's been a few years since we've gotten together and we must make a point to do it more often.

Mugging it up

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I received an email from Hannah after I posted my pots this morning.  It made me laugh.  Here's what she said,

" WHAT have you done with that blue! Good god man what where you thinking?
;)

Only joking , well it's pretty erm striking shall we say. However I do love that you just keep on trying such new stuff, where do you get the energy? It's fascinating to watch."

Thanks Hannah!!

Here is a group shot of some mugs from today.

This is the other side of the goat mug


And the goat sheep figure got slipped

Not too baaaaaaa d.

Right. Time for supper and then probably penciling in some more images on other pots.

Bad Blues

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Below are images of the plates that I tried some loose glaze brushwork on.  I'm not really happy with them.  The blue it too strong and I'm not sure it's even a good idea.  These first two are the ones that sort of worked.  First off the base slip is thin, which I planned and I like, I think it adds some depth.  I like the drawings and the color on the drawings is fine.  The blue brush work is not too bad since it's over that sgraffito.  The tee-shirt plate has a little amber on the rim too.


I don't like these next ones.  Again that blue is just not what I'm after.  I'm not liking those dots at all.  I do think the drawings are okay.  I actualy like removing the slip around the animals for a big contrast.  That swipe of blue on the goat plate isn't working.


All the cups were a disaster. Here are the two that I can barely stand to show you. These would have been fine had I not put that insane blue on the top.  It's a terrible color and it crawled like mad all the way around.


To end on a good note. I made this sheep yesterday just for fun.  I'll get some white slip on it later today.


Sarah is away until Friday.  It's very lonely here without her.  I'm trying to keep the house tidy and do my dishes.

Oh by the way there were more pots in that kiln but they are for a show and I'm not posting them until later in July.   They all came out great!  So I'm not too bummed about it.  Off now to pack some pots for shipping.  Have a good Monday!!

Small Plates and 2 Cups

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Just a sampling of some things I drew on today.

These are a bit realistic.

These are fun.


And I like these cups too.  I'm going to try some cobalt wash around the tops of these cups and maybe around the borders of those fun plates too.


All for now.  Here's looking to a great Friday!

Tests Fired

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Remember awhile back when I said my new motto was "Keep doing what you're doing"?  Why didn't someone remind me of that yesterday?!  So here are the glaze fired tests.

I tried inlaying black in some of the line drawings.  When I go back to wipe away the excess most of the black comes out of the lines, not good, and I have to spend time wiping the residue off the background.  I don't really like the end result either. So that's out. Next time I mention "black lines" someone tell me not to bother.

I'm not really pleased with the underglaze color on any of those animals above either.  I do like the energy of that chicken.  The green and blue washes on the top tile are over glaze.  That seems to work okay and would be nicer over some sgraffito.


The next tile is okay.  I don't think I'm going with the brush drawing though.  There are several reasons.  First off I feel like I'm better with the incising.  I just need to keep at it and work on some different line qualities, maybe experiment with some new tools.  And, I have a lot of Ron Meyers' imagery stored in my brain and if I pick up a brush it's going be hard not to copy him.


This plate...oh, it's just horrible!! Ick. It looks like a cheap painting on a Chinet paper plate.


The oxide/stain tests gave me some good info.  They need to be applied like a thin wash.  The copper needs work and that MW stain was supposed to be blue. Maybe if it's super thin it would be.  I'll try it again.


For now I'm back to sgraffito through white slip on red clay with some overglaze color. Basically what I've been doing.  But maybe pushing it a bit further along.

These tests help me get some of the "What if " questions out of my head.  Which lets me move forward and not stay stuck in the question.  That's until new questions arise.

Tests Pt. 1

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These bisque pieces came out of the kiln today.  Now I'll glaze them to see what the final results will be.

This photo below shows 3 tiles, the uppermost and the one in the lower left have been incised and then colored with underglazes. The lower right has a black line drawing done with a brush and then colored in with underglazes.  I'm trying to use these underglazes like water colors.  If I put them on too thick then they fill in the incised lines which I don't like.

Similar things happening on this next one


Which do you like?  The black out line drawing done with a brush or the incised drawings?  Just curious.  I like both for different reasons.  I like the process of incising, it feels more like working with a pen, more physical.  It's also a precise line.  The line quality of the  black brush drawing is capable of more variety, which I like.  But I don't know if I can do those little socks and such with a brush.  The drawings would change a bit if I went to a brush as you can see in the next image.



This pear tile is all glazed. It was incised then the black was inlayed into the lines.  Then colored with glazes.  This is basically what I'm currently doing other than adding the black inlay.  What do you think about the black line vs. the brown line ? The slip is a little too thin in the background but if it were thickened up a bit in places it would be a nice effect.


And here are some oxides and stains on bisque scraps.  These will be glazed with my clear glaze.  I can tell some of these are too strongly applied and will be very metallic when fired.  This is another option for coloring, opposed to using glaze or underglaze.


I'm doing all this mainly to work out a way to get color on the animals that I draw.  I pretty much have the clothesline deco worked out with the little dabs of color glaze.  Honestly though I don't want to have more than one way of doing things so whatever I choose then I'll move everything in that direction. (I guess)  Or I'll just be stuck for a bit longer.

There are other solutions here, but that's for the next post.

Hot Day. Cold Cider

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It was hot today in the shop.

I don't think it was that hot though, this thing is at least 30 years old. But it was hot because the bisque shut off at 2pm.  I should fire it at night, but Karma sleeps in the studio and I don't want to roast her.



I did get some work done.

And I made a chicken


I ran into one of the beer distributor reps last week at the grocery.  I asked him if he could get some cider and he said his company stocked Magners.  So I ordered a case and it came today!!


Of course I had to have one when I got home.  Sure it was 11:30 am but I had to make sure it was good ya know?  It was!  And it reminded me of this time with my Sweet Wife when we were in London.


All right, so the tests should be out of the kiln tomorrow.  Looking forward to that. And  have some more small tests in the little kiln going right now.  They will have to be glazed and go in the big kiln, hopefully on Thursday.


Stay tuned.

Winding Down. First Day

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Ah the first day of summer.  I love summer.  Even though it's hot and humid here in the South it's a great time of year.  I hope to take time to enjoy myself this season and not let the days slip by.

Today was a hodge podge.  Trimming plates, handling cups, glazing and lots of experiments with color on greenware and bisque.  It's all going in the kiln together tonight.  My glaze and bisque are both to 04 so I'm firing a mixed load.


Above you can see that I've glazed two more of my Fuller inspired pots along with a serving bowl.   In the glass is some cider from Eve's Cidery.  Yummy!! My toast to the longest day of the year.

Just A Few

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Unloaded this morning.   Everything looked okay, I'm not showing the Killer pots since they are going to exhibition.  I have a few more to make though and will do that tomorrow.

Here are my Fuller influenced pots:


A serving bowl with Goat portrait

And a Running Birds plate



So there was more but that's all for now.  I'm ready for a new work week.