Morning Tea with Lisa Hammond

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I'm having my tea in this mug made by Lisa Hammond. Soda glazed stoneware.  If I could go work with Lisa for 6 months I'd be in heaven.

Lisa's new website is still under construction but you can visit it HERE.

For more pots Click Here.

I'm heading up to Allentown, Pa on Friday to teach a workshop over the weekend.  I'll be spending the rest of this week getting ready for that so little or no potting.  I'll be catching up on my blog reading though and hopefully getting in a post or two.

Thanks for all the comments on the hats. That was fun.

Hats

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They say potters have to wear lots of hats to be successful.  I thought I'd try on a few while I was at the hat store in  Blowing Rock, NC over the weekend.  I could have done this for hours but I was worried about getting us kicked out.

Click for larger image.

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

Money Boxes

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Quick post as Sarah (the birthday girl!) and I are getting ready to head out the door to the mountains.  Here is a quick video of the new Money Boxes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuLGIh_y5oc


More when I return.  Have a good Friday everyone.

What a Great Day.

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This morning I drove up to Penland after having made plans earlier in the week to meet up with San Francisco ceramic artist Diana Fayt.  Diana is spending a few days in NC between teaching workshops at Mudfire Studios in Georgia.


(Ron, Diana, Michael, and Lillian)


I've known Diana via the internet for a few years and I was delighted to get to sit down with her today and chat about pots and all sort of other things.  Michael Kline was there for the day too and we three knocked around Penland School for several hours, having lunch and visiting the Gallery during a super heavy downpour.

Diana makes amazing work and I've always been in awe of her etchings on her pots.  Of course with Michael and I both around we had to talk about blogging and selling online and all that techie stuff.  Diana busted out her i-Phone a few times to show us some cool photo apps and to record the rain falling.

We headed over to Crimson Laurel around 5pm to look at all the amazing pots in the gallery there.  I then had to head back down the mountain in time to cook dinner and get some pots glazed and into the kiln.

A bit more on all this tomorrow.  Now it's time for me to hit the sack.

Cluck. Cluck. $ $

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These money boxes went into the bisque today.  I just made a couple so I could find out if the holes for the stoppers in the bottoms are going to work.




It was a very busy day with appointments and errands.  I only got  a few hours in the studio.  I'm having lunch tomorrow with my clay pals, Jen, Julie and Amy and then later in the day I'm heading out for an exciting meeting.  (You'll have to wait to hear more on that.)

I have a few lobed bowls for the bisque.  Which do you like better, the cross hatch behind the subject or removing all the slip?



I hope you all had a good Monday.  The Etsy shop is getting low so I'll really, really try and get some new items listed this week.

Getting some things in order.

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Sarah and I worked this weekend to get her studio in order.  That space had became a catch all for tools, cleaning supplies, my photo setup and Etsy inventory as well as just loads of stuff we had no where to store.

So now Sarah's area is all in order and she can work on her jewelry when ever she wants.  Yay!


My photo booth and Etsy pots are all organized.


I'll be listing new pots for sale this week.

Today I mixed up some colored slips.  Test tiles made and drying out.

If these work okay, don't pop off and look good under my glaze then I'll be doing some trailing soon!!



Fixed.

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I took my laptop to get worked on this morning and I was lucky that the guy had just finished up his last order and got to me right away.  By 5pm he had called with my machine working.

Thankfully, he was able to recover all my documents and images before re-formating my hard drive and re installing Windows.

I did loose a couple of programs.  I lost all my book marks too.  But I can get all the back in time.

Cost $85. This weekend I am going out and buying an external hard drive!!

Computer Problems

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I'm writing this post on Sarah's computer.

My laptop is out of commission.  It looks like my hard drive is out of whack. So I may be off for a while.  Fingers crossed I didn't loose all my information, esp. my mailing list.

Tip of the day: Back up your hard drive Right Now!

New Pots Out

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No more drawings at the moment  but here is a video of pots from today's unloading.  Enjoy.  Feel free to leave any comments. Thanks.

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

I am really happy with these pots.  I'll probably get into some more sgraffito this week! Ha, ha, and maybe some painting on a few pots too.

Drawing and Thoughts

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I shot this video after doing some brush and ink drawings this afternoon.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ci-ahq9hCM

I get this idea in my head every few weeks that I want to do something different with my imagery.  My thoughts have been that I want the drawings to be energetic, with some anticipation of action, or action taking place.  I've never been good with a brush, but I'd never been good with sgraffito until I started practicing.  So I can learn.

Still, I sit here drinking out of a yunomi that I made with a bird drawn into it and I see that I really like it.  I think, maybe I can 'keep doing what I'm doing' and just add to it, or change it a little.

Most of this comes because of my long day glazing yesterday.  Tomorrow I'll unload the kiln and more than likely I'll be really happy with what I see.  And I'll say,' Okay next time I'll try this' and stick with the sgraffito.

I do think it's important for me to remember that I am not beholden to anyone but myself and if I want to have some fun and do some drawings with the brush I can.  It may lead somewhere or it may just reinforce that what I am doing now is what I need to be doing now.

Okay that's all. Thanks for listening.  I'm going out to get some ice cream!

Newsletter

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I just sent out an email containing my July Newsletter.  If you'd like to see it you can visit this LINK.

If you would like to receive future Newsletters or announcements be sure to sign up over in the right side bar.  Thanks.

I forgot to mention in the Newsletter that I have new work avaliable at Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, NC.  Visit online HERE.  And if you are up that way be sure to stop in!

Glazing Monday

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I just finished glazing a load of pots.  It was only about 50 pots but it was a loooong day of putting dots of glaze on leaves and flowers and socks and panties and tee shirts and birds and bunnies and all that other stuff.  Whew.


I have to say I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to carry on with this current deco. scheme.  It's very tedious and time consuming.  And my pots aren't nearly expensive enough.  My cups could easily go up another $10 or $15 for all the time in them.

I really like the deco I am doing now.  I mean it looks good, it's evolving, it sells well too.  I do have a cramp in my right shoulder blade from being hunched over with a brush in my hand though.  I did take lots of breaks today.  Still though it feels rough and I think I need to get my eyes checked soon too.  Ha!!!  Not complaining really, I just want to put it out there that this is more work than I've ever put into glazing pots.  My salt glaze days were a breeze compared to this.

Most all of this load is a wholesale order and I'm looking forward to the check.  (Better not count my chicks before they hatch though).

Okay off to cook supper now.

Rejection and Acceptance

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I got a letter letting me know that I did not get into the Strictly Functional Show this year.  Last year was the first year I had pots accepted and that was great.  I was a bit disappointed not to get in again but these things are pretty much a crap shoot sometimes.

I did get accepted into the Lillsteet International Show-Bowl Me Over.  I had 2 serving bowls accepted and I'll be sending those to Chicago this week.  I'm excited to have pots shown at Lillsteet.  I hope to visit there someday. Any time I think of Lillstreet Art Center I think of Emily Murphy who made pots there for quite some time before her move to Minneapolis.

Anyhow these are the two bowls that will be going to the show.



I am still waiting to hear from a Cup show that I applied for, maybe I'll get in that one too.  Fingers crossed.


Tomorrow is a big glaze day.   I hope you all have a great start to the week.

A few new bowls

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Most of today's deco session was vine and flowers to finish up that wholesale order.  No pics of all that.  But I did snap a few of some experimental  bowls that I finished at the end of the day.  I like the way the lobed, handled bowls look and I'll be making more of those.










Stoppers and Stains

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Just delivered, a  box full of goodies including some Mason stains, rubber stoppers, and a Dolan trimming tool.


The rubber stoppers are for money boxes.  I've made a few in the past but they didn't have a hole to remove the money easily.



Now I can make some new ones with stoppers.  They will have to have some little feet to give clearance for the stopper but that's no problem.



My base slip has a Mason stain in it that has been discontinued.  So I had to order two stains that I'll mix to make the discontinued one.  Here is a CHART that may be helpful if you have found your favorite Mason stain has been discontinued.


Drape Molded Dish & A Few Other Things

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Hi. I hope you all had an okay weekend. Mine was very nice. Visiting with family and friends, eating a lot of great food and having fun.

I finished up the Oval Drape dish today.  I wish it was a little deeper so I am going to increase the height of my cut out board and make another tomorrow.

The photo below was taken after I flipped it out of the mold and cut off the excess.


I Surformed the edges, brushed on slip and then impressed the edges with a shell.  I'll get it drawn on soon.


I also worked on the other mold form I made the other day.  I hollowed it out a bit and now I'm in the process of rounding down the corners some.



I made these funny little bowls too.


All for now.


Drape Mold Oval Dish

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After all that work on those two molds yesterday I decided I didn't really want a rectangular shape after all.  And I didn't want those hard corners either.  So I moved on to plan C.


httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWu7PS3Y1E


httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcttoqR-Ia8


I think I will like these bigger ovals with the soft curves better than I would have the rectangles.  We'll see.  It will probably be Sunday at the earliest before I get to show a finished dish.  Check back.  Thanks.