Pugging Again

My new pugmill bearings arrived yesterday and I was happy to get the mill back up and running.  I rely on this machine so much.  I have found over the years that soft clay helps me achieve the look and feel of the pots I want.  I use to mix my own clay and could control the water content and softness.   Now I buy clay from a supplier and it's always too stiff for me to use.  When I get ready to make pots I slice the block of clay into chunks and put that in a bucket of water.  I then feed that clay into the pugmill.  The extra water gets incorporate into the clay and I'm a happy potter.

Using soft clay was a big breakthrough for me early on.  It really helps in centering and not struggling as you move the clay.   Of course there are times when stiffer clay is beneficial.  You'll figure this out, but if you are struggling try softening your clay up and see if it helps.  

Hey, did you read the comments on the video post??  T Moss wrote me a poem.  Go check it out.  I'm going to post it up later but you can read it now and maybe make a comment if you want.  It certainly got me thinking.  (Thinking = Good)

Pugmill Repair

Hey folks, Thanks for all the great comments from yesterday's post.  I'm going to respond to some of those in my next post.

For now I just thought I'd put up this video of my pugmill repair.  One of the bearings came to a screeching halt yesterday so I took it apart and ordered two new bearings.  May as well replace them both while I have it torn down.

Facebook is Killing this Blog

Hey there.  If you are still one of the folks that drop in to see what is happening then I thank you.

Looks like I've not posted here since mid June.  I have however put loads of images and posts on my personal Facebook page and the Ron Philbeck Pottery FB page.  So maybe you've seen that, or maybe you're one of those people who 'don't do' Facebook.  I know there are a number of you out there.

I feel like I'm in a weird place with these three online venues.  This blog has been my mainstay for over 6 years.  However, Facebook makes it so easy to post and for others to 'like' or comment that I have found myself using it more and more.

Also, this blog's audience seems to be mainly potters.  I have certainly enjoyed interacting with all of the potter's who read and comment here but my intention with this blog was to reach the general public and to tell them about my work and to promote it.  I think it has been successful in doing that to a small degree but not as much as I had hoped.

Facebook on the other hand reaches way more of the general public and there is the opportunity for those people to Share what I put up there.  And I have to admit, it's super easy to use.  I love that I can put up  20 images in an album and have loads of people see it and comment on it.

I do feel that my current platform here on SquareSpace hasn't worked out as well as I'd have liked.  Going from Blogger to WordPress now to SquareSpace, it seems I've tried them all and nothing has been as friendly as Blogger was in the beginning.

Having both a personal FB page and a "Fan" page seems to cause me some confusion.  I post mostly to my personal page but I do have Followers on my Ron Philbeck Pottery page who are not my Friends on my personal page.  So do I post to both?  Do I create photo albums of my pottery related material in both of those places?  And then, I have to come here to the blog and do something!

So you can see that I'm thinking about all this.  I'm not sure where it will end up.   Maybe this site will become more of a general web page than a blog.  I'm not sure.  You'll have noticed that I haven't inserted an image here yet.  It's because it's a pain in the ass

to do it here on Squarespace.  At least 3-4 steps for just one image.  Okay well I'll go back and insert one or two.

One more thing and then I'll shut up.  I do realize that I couldn't have posted a long ramble like this on FB with any hopes of anyone reading it all.  It's a different way of communicating there. So that is something to think about.  (Now I have to hit the spelling check button here, FB would have been correcting me all along the way)

Tom Gray and I at the opening of By Example at Greenhill Gallery.

Okay you're only getting this one image because I had to resize it 3 times and then it still wouldn't do what I wanted and finally I got it on here!!!!!!  AGGGGGGGH! I'm going to FB now to do a post on this post.  If you want to Friend me then please do so.  You'll be much happier.  And here's the LINK to my Ron Philbeck Pottery page on FB, get on over there and LIKE it.  Thanks !!!!!  ~Ron

 

Two Firsts

I have been makeing bread off and on for several years now.  I have the best luck with a basic white loaf made in a boule shape.  Last week I bought a delicious loaf of mulitgrain bread at the farmers market in town.  It made me want to try baking in a loaf pan and also making a multigrain.  The result was pretty good.  I mixed white and whole wheat flours, added some flax seeds, sunflower seeds, quinoa, steel cut and rolled oats.  I wanted to add some millet but we didn't have any on hand. 

It wasn't overly dense like some of my failed attempts with a pure whole wheat loaf.  I would have liked for it to have been a bit taller.  I'll be making another loaf over the weekend so there's always the next time.

I am firing the salt kiln this weekend along w. 4 other folks who are paying for experience.  I made a few porcelain pots yesterday to include if there is room.  

I'd never thrown porcelain before so it was a first.   I liked it.  I really like that it's white and clean and not brown and muddy!  Ha.  I figure if I ever go over to this sort of thing I want to make thin lipped, sort of off center pots that are all white, no color.  You can see what I tried in the pic there.  We'll see how they look after a coating of salt glaze.

Well that's all for now.  I'll put some info about some upcoming exhibitions later.  Thanks for checking in.

~Ron

Redneck Tee Shirt Designing

Here's a fun project for your weekend.  Go to the grocery and get a bleach pen.  Draw on tee shirt.  Let sit for 2 hrs.  Wash tee shirt by itself.  Wear proudly.  (be sure to put a piece of cardboard on the inside of the tee when drawing so the bleach doesn't go through to the back)

 

New Pots. Video.

I'm getting ready  for the Joara Pottery Festival which is happening tomorrow in Morganton, NC.  I fired a small load of pots to add to my current inventory.

 

I have been enjoying making the Animal Jars.  I thought this Bird Jar turned out great.

 

I'm working the inventory back up in the Etsy shop.  You can click HERE to check it out.  I listed several new pots in there this week including a Leaf Tray and a slip trailed Bell.

I've been a bit more active on my Ron Philbeck Pottery Facebook page than I have here lately.  Click on over and LIKE me there.  I'll be having some special offers for FB Friends on that page in the near future!!!

Thanks for checking in and Have a Good Weekend Everyone!!

 

 

Fun Video. Might Make You Dizzy

Yesterday I saw a neat video made by David Chesar.  I had to give it a try.  

It was fun to make.  I give complete credit to David Chesar for coming up with this concept. The camera is mounted to the batt on the wheelhead. I don't have an electric wheel so I had to stand up on the seat of my kick wheel and try and throw a pot. It wasn't easy, especially considering that the camera was whirling around on the side of the batt and I could have easily knocked it at any time. It's not a natural throwing position so I'm pretty happy that I got this simple cylinder made. 

A fun thing to try. I hope it doesn't give you motion sickness.

Here's David's video



This is the set up I used to do the filming.  Very professional...

Containment III at Crimson Laurel

Containment III opened at Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, NC over the weekend.  Here's the LINK to check out all the great work in the show.  (I don't have anything in there, but I do have pots at CLG so go in there and check them out!!)

I really love this salt cellar by Richard Nickel

 

 

 

Plan

I was working on these Animal Jars today.  The Turtle gets a bit of a different slip treatment than the others since I like to leave his head and feet bare clay.  

My brain was shuffling through the process of whether or not to stick the figure to the lid before or after slipping when I said out loud to myself,  "You know Ron sometimes you've gotta plan ahead, otherwised your screwed."   And I knew what to do.

 

I promise I have some nice images from the Thrown Together Sale to put on here.  They are on my iPad and I have to move them.  So that may happen soon, or later. 

It was a very good weekend.  Saturday was quite slow and I was worried that it was gonna be a bust but Sunday came and we had loads of folks show up!! Yay!  Thanks if you were someone who came out either day.  I sold two of my best pots on Sunday, a large jar and a large platter.  That sure felt good. 

It was our first time having both a Saturday and Sunday Sale.  We usually just do Saturday from 10 till 4.  I like to do it in one day and get if over with. But this time Sunday saved us all.  Does anyone out there have any opinion about 2 day shows?  I'm more interested in your thoughts as a customer.  If it's only one day do you make a point to go out? or is a second day a good thing b/c then you have more of a choice?  maybe the weather is good one day and not the next so you go on the good weather day.  ?

Gotta get out and do some drawing.  Thanks for reading!

 

Animal Jars

The Thrown Together Sale went really great this past weekend.  I'll put up some images and talk more about that later.  For now I just wanted to get these Animal Jars up.  


Getting Ready for Thrown Together Sale

Hey folks,   It's been a busy week but I feel like I have some breathing space here at the end.  

As you can see below I am all packed up and ready to go.  Feels good to be a bit ahead of schedule.

The Thrown Together Sale is this weekend
Saturday and Sunday  10 am till 5pm
1225 Dade Street, Charlotte NC

I have some really great work.  I hope to see some of you there. 

Snap. Lost an Ear.

I had  jars under plastic that I needed to finish today.  They all needed animals/birds so I got those modeled and put on first thing. 


 I rushed the slipping by a few hours and due to the wet clay and thick slip things got ugly.

So I scalped him, wiped all the slip off his head and did some ear replacement.  He'll get a new slip job from the neck up tomorrow.

I went to my first Clay Club meeting last night.  The meeting was held at WPCC in Morganton.  We had a good turnout and it was fun to hang out with a bunch of my fellow clay people.  (you know what I mean)

I had been asked to give a talk on the whole Online/Etsy/Facebook/etc/etc thing and how I use it all in my business.  It went really well and there were lots of contributions made by the group. I think everyone had a good night.  

I mixed up new test glazes today for the next firing.  I'm wanting to start using the amber glaze more often but I'd like to have a couple variations of it, one light and one dark.  I'm also testing a new clear glaze based on Ferro Frit 3195.  That frit is pretty much a cone 04 glaze all on its own.  I'll let you know how these turn out.

Inspiration for Tuesday

I should have known better than to throw more pots today.  I had 24 in waiting from yesterday and things are drying out pretty quickly.  But I got inspired (obsessed) last night when I found the work of Johannes Peters on the internet.  Here's a small pitcher, there are plenty of images on his website. (Link above)

I wasn't surprised to find that he had studied with Jean-Nicolas Gerard as their work has similar elements and approaches.  Johanne's work is stoneware, Jean-Nicolas' earthenware.  Both have very direct methods and their pots have a nice soft quality to them.  They are a bit quirky, odd handles, abstract markings, most look like they are lifted right off the wheel head when finished.  I also like the thick/thin application of slip that both use and the warm honey and amber glazes.  Cobalt comes in to play in both men's decoration too.  It's nice.  It really speaks to me and I think I'll do a post on that later.

Anyway, today I decided to make some pots inspired by the two.  I worked on the kickwheel to be sure that I wouldn't over work the pots and I picked them all off the wheel head...even the plates.  I didn't get any pics of them but I will show them tomorrow.   I did decide to put some playful handles and knobs on these two pots I made yesterday.

A little odd, but why not do this as opposed to the regular 'dime a dozen' handles and knobs that everyone does?

I'll leave you with a very short clip that I shot from the studio window this afternoon.

Thanks for watching.