Holey Bowl

This week I have glazed a bit.  This bowl turned out the way I wanted it to.  I think that I will make a few more of these types of bowls.  The rest of my favorite pieces were posted on Facebook.  Be sure to check them out.

Lately I have been working quite a bit on the Carolina Claymatters Guild website.  I finally figured out how to add documents using Google Docs and it's made the site so much better.  I am happy that I am able to keep the site up-to-date.

Glazing. Glazing. Glazing.

Since it was a sunny day today, I decided to glaze.  I had to mix up 3 glazes, which I had run low on.  My last post stated that I need 2 glaze loads, well, I think it will be more like 4.  Today was the Dragonfly glaze day.  Tomorrow I will do Redwood & Moss.  The Sunrise glaze will have to wait for a Sunny and calm day because of the spraying of glaze.  Today was too windy and in the coming week, there is alot of rain forcast. 

I got the canister set in and hope it turns out.  There was also a nice teapot and some vases.

More Basket Weave

Today I made some more candy dishes and small vases.  This vase is very different from the usual.  I decided to try the basket weave again.  Later I will finish putting the candy dishes together, then start the kiln with a bisque load.  Next week I will do my final 2 glaze loads to get ready for my first show of the Spring.  Look for photos by the end of next week.

Sunday I went to the Mint Museum on a tour provided by the Carollina Claymatters Guild.  We had a good time and got alot of inspiration.  You can see the photos I took on the website.

Four More Tall Vases

Today was a really beautiful sunny day.  So, I decided that it was a great day to make extra large vases. Each piece takes two thrown pieces put together.  A sunny day is neccesary so that by the time I have thrown the eight pieces, the first set is ready to be attached together.  I sold the two vases that I had in my dining room to the Seaworthy Gallery in Hattaras, NC.  Two of these pieces will go in my dining room and hopefully at least one will be good enough to enter in the juried competition at Mint Hill Arts in June.  The piece on the far right was fun.  Hopefully others enjoy it as much as I do.

Wednesday I worked at Ruby's Gift in NoDa.  The owner has moved my pieces to a new shelving unit.  It's nice because the shelves are farther apart, allowing room for large platters & bowls.  I removed some pieces that had been there awhile and brought in some new.  The dragonfly design is new to the store.  

My first show of the spring season is coming up in a month.  The NC Pottery Festival will be April 15-17 in Greensboro.  After that I have 3 more shows at 2-3 week intervals until June. In the next week I will just be stocking up on regular items, then I will finish up glazing for the first show.

Dinner Plates

Very excited to finally get my own dinner plates.  I have been saying for about 2 years now that I wanted to make myself a set, but it seemed like there was always something more urgent to be made.  Even after throwing these about a month ago, I debated on how to glaze them and finally went with this glaze because it goes with my current kitchen and dining room.  I have a canister set, utensil holder, appetizer plates and cereal bowls already in this glaze. The pattern on each plate is different. There were 11 thrown and 2 are still waiting to be glaze fired.  I wanted at least 8 to turn out and was pleasantly surprised to have all 11 turn out.  That never happens to me.  Usually a few warp or the glaze has problems.

Today I made some mugs.  I always get asked at shows if I have mugs and my usual answer is no.  This is mostly because I do not drink coffee or tea and I just do no feel any joy at making them.  But, I decided that it was time for the challenge and to see if I could make mugs I am happy with.  Time will tell.  I also tried a basket pattern made with a lemon zester, that I saw on John Baumans blog recently.  I look forward to trying this on other pieces.

New Style Vases

Last week I made these two vases.  They are very different from my usual style.  Today I made some soap dishes.  I unloaded the glaze load from yesterday  and reloaded with a bisque load.  Tomorrow I have to pack some pieces up for shipping.  Later this week I would like to try some large vases, like the ones done at the Potters Conference. 

NC Potters Conference 2011

This weekend I attended the NC Potters Conference.  The topic was about Porcelain from Jingdezhen, China.  Each potter has a specialty (throwing, trimming, decorating, etc.)  The average pieces are very large.  I will have to try a few of the shapes seen this week, perhaps even making a large vase.

I went down to the conference with 3 others from my guild.  One of our group was able to design a pot for the thrower to make (left).  We all helped come up with the design and Verna was able to have the piece afterwards.  He threw about 6 pots that were designed and did an amazing job of quickly making the designs to scale.

The underglazer was amazing and painted beautifully.  The plate (right) was one of his pieces.  I came home with the yellow vase.

Casserole Dish

Yesterday everything I made had many steps. I haven't made oval casserole dishes in a while and thought that I would try again. I did some square cutouts for designs on the sides and handles, which was fun. I also made some vases, bowls and candy dishes. Today I made brie bakers, which is fast & easy.

To me nothing is more stressfull than packing up a shipment.  Today I packed up the order for the Seaworthy Gallery.  It all packed up "seamingly" nicely in 4 boxes.  I really hope that there was enough bubble wrap used (2 rolls).  I need to finish typing up the packing lists and take to the post office later.