Self worth

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Sarah told me of an article she read about people who get their sense of self, or approval, or self worth from all their cyberspace interactions such at blogs, twitter, facebook etc. I wonder if my last post gave her cause to worry about me?  Ha.

So my friend Anne send me this picture of an old pot of mine that she found in an antique store in Asheboro, NC.

That's a pretty nice little jar.  I'm glad Anne got it.  I should have asked her what she paid for it.  I think back in the day I sold those for $28.  At one time they were probably even cheaper.


This is my new favorite dish that Anne and her husband Adam made.


Salt glazed porcelaineous stoneware with inlay deco.


I love the flashing around the wad marks on the face of the plate.



Check out Blue Hen Pottery for more about Adam and Anne.

No Comment

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Back in the saddle here, getting some special orders all made today.  I feel like I haven't made a good run of pots in ages.


Next week I'm starting in on something brand new, sort of.  Just to keep things interesting and to take some risks.  You'll have to wait and see what that's all about.


I have noticed a decrease in comments here on the blog, but looking at my stats I see I still have boo-coos of visitors each day.  I remember early on when there were just a few pottery blogs that the comments were very much like a discussion board.  Now, with all the blogging going on it seems like we all leave fewer comments.   I read several blogs a day, or check in and I don't comment like I used to.  My Reader is pretty much overflowing with unread posts of others blogs.  I like commenting when I can but it's become hard to chime in to all the posts.  Anyhow, thanks to those who occasionally, or frequently, leave me a comment, and thanks also for those who are checking in when they can.

More From the Penland Weekend

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Here are a few more pics from my trip up to Penland.


Above: Looking at pots in Micheal Kline's yard.  MK had put the pots out for his studio sale a few weeks ago. Since then the grass has grown so it was a bit like searching for four leaf clovers.

Soda fired porcelain at Gay Smith's pottery.


A tall vase at Stan Anderson's studio.


Michael Hunt (in red) talking to students in front of the showroom.


Recent pots from the Hunt/Dalgish kiln.


 



Pots from Shawn Ireland's latest wood firing.


More of Shawn's pottery.  Shawn will be having a Home Sale this Friday, Sat, and Sun during the Trac Studio tour.

Stanley Mace Anderson

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Ronan took his class out to visit several potter's studios in the Penland area while I was there.  I was excited to hear that they were going out to Stanley Mace Anderson's pottery, so I decided to go along too.


Stan is an icon in the majolica world.  He's been producing his unique style of majolica pottery since the late 70's. (See article HERE).

Stan was very generous and talked to us all about his pots and process.  I love Stan's brushwork and the expressive quality of his forms and decoration.  He had shelves of work waiting to be decorated.


He had been working here at his wheel on some trays when we arrived.

This next image is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a workshop. Stan's pots of colored stains.  I imagine these have been 'growing' here as they have been used over the past 2+ decades.



There were also shelves full of finished works.  Cups, yunomi, bowls of various sizes, many, many plates, platters, and other tableware.  All useful, all beautiful and rich in color.  I had to have a yunomi.


Stan shared that he has been brushing some white slip onto the work at the leather hard stage. This is not normally done in majolica.  The slip is loosely brushed over certain areas and sometimes he will scratch through it.  The slip gives some sense of movement under the majolica glaze and the marks give some texture.  I thought this was really brilliant.

I totally fell in love with the separately thrown and added foot on the yunomi.


I'll be trying this soon.  Stan also does this on some tall footed bowls and tureens, as well as ewers and tall teapot forms.


This is the first majolica pot I have ever bought!!  I am happy that it's one of Stan's and I'm pretty sure next time I go back I'll be getting a plate.

 

Penland Weekend

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Good day from Penland School!  I came up yesterday to be a visiting artist for Ronan Peterson who is teaching a class here this session.  It was so nice for Ronan to ask me to come up for a couple of days and it's really been fun for me to share some of what I know with his class.

A few early birds in the studio on Sunday morning.


Collaboration in progress between Ronan and me. (Thanks to Mark Errol for suggesting that I do the Rabbit motif and placement on right hand jar)


A few of Ronan's finished pots.


Some of the pots Ronan is working on.


Today we are going out to visit some potter's studios in the area.  I'm looking forward to that, but first Brunch!!  The food here at Penland is always delicious.


More later.

Happy Friday Everyone

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Yay Friday!!  Where did this week go?  Well who cares, I've got a good weekend planned and I'm ready to get on with it.

I'm heading up to Penland School to visit with Ronan Peterson's class and do a couple demos for them.  It will be nice to have some time there in that environment full of energy and creativity!

Here's a paper cut that I've been working on this morning.


I am doing okay getting the outlines done, I have to work on getting the little detail cuts inside now.  This is approx. 7" x 4" or so I think.


I broke a pot yesterday and Sarah just broke one this morning! Not good.  Thankfully they were both ones that I had made.  I broke a nice cereal bowl with an Owl and Sarah broke her favorite coffee mug, an Obamaware pot that I made back in 2008.


Thanks to everyone who viewed the videos.  More to come.

New pots for Osmosis

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I'm all packed up and ready to head to Seagrove tomorrow.  Here are some of the pots that I'll have at the Osmosis show this weekend at Tom Gray Pottery.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBGdEy4s4A

I am also excited to be in Seagrove during the Cousins in Clay weekend.  I'll be heading over there on Saturday to see all the great pots!

Contest!

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Hey, its been a long time since I've had any sort of contest here. So here goes.

The first person to correctly name who made the pots in the following photograph will win a paper cut.  (If one of the pots is yours then you can't participate, sorry)


Good Luck.

Cuttin' Up

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I was going to title this post "I'm a Cutter" but I didn't want my therapist getting a bunch of calls.

I got my scalpel, blades and cutting mat today!!  So I dove right in and did a few cuts.

Oh, I haven't mentioned this have I?  Right, well I got a bit interested in paper cutting when Hannah was here.  We were at a shop in Charlotte called the Paper Skyscraper and Hannah pointed out a Rob Ryan mug.  She told me how popular he was in England and said I should look him up.  So I did and I totally love what he does.

And it looked not too different than what I was doing with the deco on my pots!  So I ordered a scalpel and some blades and a cool cutting mat.  "Why a scalpel?"you ask.  Why not just use an Exacto knife?  Well, first off because R.R. uses a scalpel AND totally because it's much more cool than an Exacto!!  "What kind of tool do you use Ron?"  "I use a scalpel."  "Wow! You're totally rad!"  Okay so that's just in my head right.

I did this first.

Which I glued to the wall on top of my favorite Tommy Kane print.


Here are my new toys.


And a few more cuts I did.




So I'm just fiddling along, I have no books on this or anything, but it seems pretty straight forward so far. I want to make some bigger ones and some circular ones too.  We'll see.


Fun!!!

Time Matters

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I worked all day yesterday decorating 20 or so pots.  It was a nice day so I worked out on the porch.   I  had the layouts penciled in on most of the bigger pots so it was just getting down to the etching and carving.  Spending 8 hours just on decoration for 20 pots seems like a lot but I've realized that I have to spend this much time to get what I want out of my work.


I've always striven to make good pots and I feel like one of the things I learned early on was that I have to put the time in so that I can  good pots out of the kiln.  Where the time is spent varies on the pots and the firing.  I have friends who put in hours and hours of work in developing glazes and testing them before they ever go on a pot.  Likewise, some woodfire potters spend days stoking wood into their kiln.  Hours of cutting and stacking wood and loading the kiln have been spent before the fire is ever lit.

When I was making salt glazed work the firing dictated the end look of the pot.  I spent time on the wheel to prepare for the firing and little happened between the pot coming off the wheel and being loaded into the kiln.  The firing was very important and I payed a lot of attention to atmosphere, how much sodium went in the kiln, cooling time and other factors.

Now with an electric kiln I spend so much more time on the pot before it ever goes into the kiln.  The kiln is really giving me nothing, I'm setting up what I want to happen before the pots go into the firing.  These days I can pretty much see what the pot will look like before it's ever fired.  I know if I like the pot soon after I make it and decorate it.

My point in saying all this is that time matters.  Where you spend that time working on your pots matters.  Whether it's in the making,  formulating the glazes, applying the glaze, stacking and firing the kiln, post firing effects, etc you have to dedicate some real time and effort into getting good pots.

The kiln is clicking away out in the studio as the bisque reaches temperature.  Tomorrow I'll unload and spend a good part of the day glazing the pots to go back into the kiln.  My main glaze has to be brushed on to avoid any problems and get the final look I want.  It takes so much more time to brush the glaze than it did when used to just dunk the pot in a bucket.  It's time I have to spend though to get what I want and I'm happy to do it.

 

Clay Matters Spring Sale

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Thanks to everyone who came out to visit and to buy pots this past Saturday. It was a very good day for me and I'm thankful for all the support and patronage.

Turnout for the sale was very good despite the cloudy skies and bit of rain we had.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47APthL80P0

This cute guy was very happy with his Goat sticker.


I am working on pots today for the Joara Pottery Festival which will take place this Saturday in Morganton, NC.  Click HERE for details.


Then on May 28th I'll be at Tom Gray's Pottery in Seagrove NC for the Osmosis Pottery Sale.  More on that to come soon.

Big is

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back and as bad as ever!

I made this big (ish) pot today. But it was heavy, heavy.  And not v. good form.  It was fun to make but not really worth keeping.



I also made some espresso cups today!  Those were fun...and small (pics tomorrow).


I had a very nice visit with Gail Turner from Cape Cod today.  She and her friend Lee came by this afternoon.  Gail was one of the folks who was instrumental in getting Hannah and Doug over for the workshops.  I was a bad blogger and didn't get any photos.  It was a pleasure to meet Gail in person finally and to get to know Lee, who lives in Durham, NC.


Quiche in the oven right now made w. local eggs, herbs and asparagus!  Yum.  Cheese too, but it's not local.


Thanks for all the fun comments about shoes and the dress and all that!!  Ha! Good times.


 

Balance

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Life is about Balance.



I've been up and down quite a bit over the past few weeks.  Putting on Hannah's dress was definitely one of the 'up' moments. Ha!

Things are good right now.  Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post and those who send me emails.

It helped to get back in the studio yesterday and make a few runs of pots and have another go at some larger pitchers/jugs.


I'll get the handles on these today.


I've been reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.  I had read A New Earth a while back and it's good to get into his first book to see where some of the material was first presented.  Tolle's ideas jive up with my fondness of Zen/present moment teachings.  Being in the Now/Present is good practice for me.  Not allowing my thoughts to be in control or to get stuck in the past/future is helpful. It's hard for me to write about this, but the point is that I feel better when I am in the moment and not allowing my thoughts and emotions run my life.


Also, on a very happy note, I think I found a place to get totally cool socks!!  I checked the Ted Baker website last night and found all these.  I am totally digging the Sentos and a few of the others.


Sarah is encouraging me to get some sort of appropriate summer shoe.  I can't find any type of sandal that I like.  I used to have this great pair of Birkenstocks that were made for water.  They discontinued them b/c they were prone to tear at the straps.  Since then nothing has suited me.  I have some Chacos that I hate.


I did break down and buy some flip flops last week!  What was I thinking?  I almost wore them out in public yesterday but couldn't bring myself to do it.  They are strictly 'around the house' wear.



My perfect summer shoe would be blue in color, slip on, no back strap, nothing between my toes, water friendly, easy to rinse off with the hose, comfy, not a clog, and nothing some frat boy would be wearing.


Okay well, that's quite a range of things covered in this blog post.  See, that's what you get when I go AWOL for a week.


Later!!


Ron

Pulling a Fitch

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After watching Doug make several jugs while he was here it's only fitting that I felt the need to have a go at a few.  Doug makes it all look easy and it's really fun to watch him make a big jug all in one go by using the weedburner to speed things along.

I made these two today and they seem okay for the most part.  They are about 11" tall and rounder than most pitchers I usually make.  I used the burner and got them this far.


I'm going to let them rest over night before coating them in slip.

I haven't really felt like blogging too much to tell you the truth.  After having Doug and Hannah here for so long it's not very fulfilling to be here in the virtual world. " There's nothing like the real thing baby."

I'm sure I'll get back in the swing of it as time goes on.  I'm struggling with being a bit down and I feel like one of the best things I can do is practice being in the present moment.  Maybe I can blog about that.  Well, we'll see.  For now it's back outside for some time w. Karma and then off to the Gallery Crawl in town.

Cheers everyone!