I Love Summer Winter

This must be what it's like to live in Florida.  Beautiful, warm, porch sitting weather in December.  I don't want the cold to come.  I think it's supposed to become more winter-like later in the week.  So I'm going to enjoy this while I can. 

I'm reading The Fall by Albert Camus.  That pronounced, al-BAIR ka-MOO.  Just so you know.  French.  Yep.  I know we call called him Albert, like Fat Albert, and Camus, like campus, but without the p, when we all read him back in the day. Back when listening to The Cure and the best thing we had to do was sit on the roof of  Aaron Lee's mom's house drinking cheap wine.  Oh, I don't miss those days.

Anyhow, I shipped a bunch more pots out today and even had some customers drop buy to get to pots for gifts.  I am starting to feel the itch to make some things.  Tomorrow I'll make a list of what that will be.
 

A Post. Don't Have a Heart Attack.

Each year, the first weekend in December marks the beginning of a time of rest for me.  I have fired my last kiln of the year.  My studio and showroom have been cleaned and put in order for my Holiday Sale.  And there are no deadlines to be met for orders.  

So today is a perfect day for me to jump in here and try to write a blog post.  I have absolutely nothing that HAS to be done today.  It's a rest day for me at the gym, the groceries were bought yesterday, and the house is in fairly good order. 

Lately I have been thinking about taking up blogging again.  Oh, I shouldn't even mention that.  No promises.

Anyhow, here I am and now I'm feeling a bit more comfortable so I'll just write some things and try not to be too judgmental about it. 

Pots!  Pots, god there have been plenty of pots made this year and I am really happy with where things have ended up at the end of 2015.  My soda kiln has been fired 12 times now and I really, really love the surfaces that I am getting.  Somewhere along the line this year I decided to start impressing and stamping the surfaces of the pots more and that took off.  It's the perfect way to decorate a pot for soda firing.  I also labored this year over getting a green glaze that I like.  Or actually a green glaze that is somewhat consistent firing to firing.  So far, no luck.  But!  I did, over some months, learn to really like a blue glaze that I formulated.  I've always avoided blue and here I find that I actually am liking it on my pots.  Wow.  Who knew?

My Holiday Sale here at the Pottery went well last weekend and I've had visitors come to buy pots since.  I still have one more official day of being open this coming Saturday and I'll be here by appointment up until Christmas.

So maybe that will all for now.  I don't want to go crazy here.  I'll pop in a few pics now and let that be it.  


July 28th Free Shipping in My Online Shop

Pots awaiting pickup. Folks are taking advantage of the FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy shop. Coupon code is SUMMERSHIP at checkout.

Other than packing up pottery today, I went to the landfill, the grocery, and by the eye clinic. Then it was home for more glazing. I'm almost done. Honestly, I'm taking it pretty slow and easy. It's nice to not be rushed and be able to take my time. Glazing pots is not my favorite part of being a potter. It will be great to fire and have some new pots soon.

July 27th Glazing

Starting to glaze today. It's always nice to have a definite shift in the studio from one task to the next. Making is done, pots have been bisque fired. I find multitasking to be unproductive not to mention messy and confusing. I'll work this week towards the loading which will happen Friday or Saturday. 

What's Going On Here?

Hey Folks.  So over the past couple weeks I've been putting more energy into my Instagram feed and I thought it would be good to somehow share that information and those images here on the blog.

I've not really been very excited about blogging for several years now.  I'm sure there are many reasons behind that but I don't really think it's relevant to go into it.  What I am excited about is my Instagram feed.  I've been using the app for awhile now but really had the inspiration to use it as a blog after looking at some other feeds.  It's quick and easy for me to do from my iPhone and I feel like I am reaching a new audience out in the world.

However, I didn't want to just ignore those who have followed my blog here on the website (and mostly old websites) in the past.  So today I added about a weeks worth of back posts taking the images and text from my Instagram.  That's what you'll see as you scroll down.

A few thoughts:  Number 1.  I'd love for you to Follow me on Instagram.  My user name is ronphilbeck.  I think the Instagram platform is just a fabulous thing.  The square image format really appeals to me and of course the filters are totally cool.  Number 2.  Well, I can sort of see by looking at these images here on the website that I could use a little more consistency in style.  Not that it really matters, but maybe it would be nice and of course it would something challenging that I could consider.  Number 3.  Is it redundant to post here on the blog the same content that is in my Instagram feed?  Maybe, maybe not.  Who cares?  Mainly I'm doing it because I once had this love of blogging and I was reaching quite a lot of folks here.  There was commenting and discussion and all that good stuff.  I don't know if that still happens out there in the blogosphere.  It doesn't matter.  I can do this for a while and see what happens.  I really want to share what I'm doing and it's great to have folks follow along and be interested.

So that's that.  You will notice that there is now also a link in the header labeled Instagram.  If you click that then you can see the last 20 posts as seen on instagram.com.  It's probably redundant to have that up there as well, but that's okay.  It may disappear if I think things are going well here on the Blog tab.

Okay! Thanks so much for reading all that.  Ha.  Cheers.  ~Ron

July 24th Insta Blog. Faceting Yunomi

Faceting. It's not just for diamonds. 💎 I was introduced to faceting pots at a two week workshop with potter Mary Law in 1996. Those two weeks at Arrowmont Craft School were such a time of accelerated learning for me. Mary's approach to throwing and finishing pots right on the wheel has stuck with me until this day.

July 24th Insta Blog. Kevin Crowe Mug

Morning coffee in a favorite mug made by potter Kevin Crowe. We have loads of pots made by other potters. Using these pots reminds me of the person who made them and of times I may have spent with them. Also, the pots are good teachers. This cup for instance is unlike one I have ever made. It's larger than most of my cups and the shape, with the mouth being so wide, is different than what I'd do. Also, the handle attachment is low down and I've never tried that. It works beautifully! The lower handle provides a nice balance point for the pot and the wider mouth is perfect for when I make coffee using my Aero Press. What a great pot to use. Functional and of course, it's beautiful as well.

July 22nd Insta Blog

A few small jars ready for the bisque. Rock Creek Pottery, Will Ruggles and Douglas Rankin, made these sort of pots when their pottery was here in NC. They always had a variety of animals, dogs, cats, birds, fish, etc. Sadly they moved away and aren't making pots any longer. It's nice to make these pots and to think of Will and Douglas and how they touched many potters lives. And how the pots they made continue to do so.

July 17th Insta Blog

Small oil can. After being at Penland and getting work out of essentially 5 different kilns I'm really looking forward to my upcoming soda firing. Nothing like your own pots in your own kiln. 

July 17th Insta Blog

I've made a few of these covered oval dishes for the next kiln load. It's been ages since I've made a lid like this but they all seemed to work out fine. Hopefully they will still fit after the firing. About three more days of wet work then I'll have enough pots to fire.

July 16th Insta Blog

Yesterday I mentioned the little crocks I made way back when. Here's the one I have left. It sits beside my wheel and holds a variety of tools. Made in 1994 from a speckled clay, glazed in 'bean pot brown', and fired to cone 4

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