Disaster

Can you see it?  Can you guess what happened in this bisque load? Hint:  The pots are grey instead of pink.  I fired the bisque to cone 5 instead of 05.  In the past 4 years of firing in my own kiln this has never happenend to me.  I am not sure what will happen if I glaze these pieces so I will try a few tomorrow along with good pieces.  There were two weeks worth of work and I am just sick about it.  The punch bowl set was in there along with mugs (which as stated before, not my favorite to do), plus the top rectangular sushi tray I have had for a few years waiting until I had an idea how to glaze the top.  Well guess I better work extra hard this week to catch up.

Has anyone noticed my new header on the site?  Since I have been changing my glazing, I thought that I needed to revamp my logo.  What do you think?

New Glaze Load

Today I unloaded the kiln and here are a few of my favorites.  The plate (left) was the technique learned from Bill Van Gilder.  The brie bakers I have been making for a few years but I started doing double rims on some of them for variation.

I love making candy dishes so they are always changing.  The dish below has a double rim plus the new hollow feet I have been working on.  This is a miniture of the punch bowl I made this week.

If you have been following my work the last few years you will notice that this is a new glaze.  It's actually lighter in person.  The photos make it look very dark.  It actually has a very light mist of blue/grey.  Next week I will glaze the light green on white.

Today I also worked on a few new items.(below)  Yesterday I looked thru a Raku picture book for shape ideas and made some sketches. These are some of my favorites.

History of pottery

On another blog I follow there was a post today on the history of pottery. Check it out here.  It is amazing how long humans have been making pots out of clay.

Today I made cracker trays, yesterday bowls and brie bakers, boring stuff really.  Tomorrow I plan on glazing as long as the weather is good.  Be sure to check back here and on the Facebook page for photos of new work possibly Friday.  Next week will be a bigger push to glaze so many more photos of finished pots to come soon. I'm getting ready for two shows coming up soon.  May 5-6 is the Sanford Pottery Festival and May 12th is the Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival.  Because of my decision to change my look, I need to glaze alot more pieces than usual.  A bunch of the pots from last fall that were left after my last show in December are now on Etsy for sale.

Mugs

Today was mug day.  I know that some potters make 50-100 in a day, but I am not super fond of making mugs.  Probably because I don't drink any hot drinks and I just don't get the love of mugs.  But, there are people that want my mugs, so I made 12 today.  I tried to make each mug different, mostly by making the handles different.  Later I will add some beading on a few of them.

Our guild does a Festival twice a year and I do the online PR.  This week I started adding the Festival to event calendars and sending our press release to medai outlets.  It is fairly time consuming and boring, so I do 3-4 per day.  I also worked on the website and Facebook page.  Daily I post a photo and short blurb about potters that will be participating in the Festival, now until the Festival.  If you like to see great pottery, join our Facebook page. The Festival is May 12th.

Sugar and creamer sets

Today I made some sugar and creamer sets.  I changed them up a bit from my usual.  First they are smaller (I have figured out that in the past I made things for my husbands family, which is huge), second the lid is made differently, third I decided that there is no need for a handle on the creamer since you can quite easily hold it in your hand.  I also made a molded tray using the technique learned at the Potters Conference.     

I have become addicted to making treasuries on Etsy and generally checking out the teams and stats all day long. Here is my latest attempt.  I am hoping that eventually this will help with sales, but right now I feel like it's a big waste of my time.  Lately I hadn't been featured in many treasuries and was getting a little sad but today I finally was featured in a few. Check them out. Here, Here and Here.  Feel free to comment and favorite if you like.

More Extra Large Vases

Today I decided to make extra large pieces.  They need 3-4 weeks to dry before they can go into the bisque load, so I thought that I needed to get them done so I can have them for sure by the Sanford Pottery Festival.  These pots require two pieces being attached together to make a large pot that I couldn't do in one throw.  I have shown how I do this before but figured that it has been awhile.  First I throw the two pieces.  Then after they are both leather hard, I score and slip the two adjoining pieces.  I place the pieces together and with hand on the inside and outside, I press the clay from the top pieces down and over the bottom piece with my thumbs.  Then I use my metal rib to smooth the outside surface.  My hands usually ache after doing these vases.   You can see below the three pots I made today using that technique.  The pot on the right has hand built feet and the one on the left has a split rim.  I also made 2 pitchers.

I  realized last week that I needed to in gear and start making lots more pots.  So, over the weekend I made brie bakers, berry bowls, cake plates and pedastals.  These are items I can make large quantities, quickly.  But I did make half of them with split rims which I think makes them look more elegant. 

More inspiration pieces

Yesterday I worked on more pieces inspired by recent workshops I have attended.  The plates to the left are my attempt to facet/etch the rim of a plate. There was one try that didn't work and went in the scrap bucket. 

Bill VanGilder made this plate (right) using a streatched spring and using an up and down and side to side motion.  My first attempt (upper right) I only did the up and down.  The third try (upper left) was better.  His plate looked better than mine.  I imagine that he has had a lot of practice. 

                 I tryed the two casserole dishes Bill made.  The first one was made by throwing a round casserole dish and cutting out two slices (see left) then squishing the sides until the slice closing up.  This makes a rectangular shaped dish. (upper right). The other dish (upper left) you throw a round dish with a inch wide rim, then you cut away most of the rim, leaving two handles.  Sides are flattened for oval.

At the North Carolina Potters Conference Jake Johnson had these condiment dishes on display in the gallery(right).  He didn't show how he made them, but I liked the concept and made my version (below). I started with three but one didn't make it to completion. After this photo was taken I pushed the center up to hug the dishes more.  I may make some spoons later.

Check back for more inspiration pieces.  I have more ideas.  Some of the pieces are more complex and will take more time.

Inspiration pieces

                        Today I worked on pieces inspired by workshops taken the past few months.  The pitcher above used the technique of making legs with a triangle shaped slab attached to the bottom. I tried this a few weeks ago on a few candy dishes and liked the look.  Alison did her demo on a bowl (left).  The cup was faceted, one of the techniques Bill Van Gilder showed.

 At the Potters Conference this weekend Martha Grover made a lidded box out of porcelain (above). I really enjoyed her style so I decided to give it a try.  See my attempt at a butter dish/lidded box below

I am not very adept at handbuilding, so this is always alot of work for me.  I hope it turns out.  The jar next to it is thrown in one pieces then cut to make a lidded jar.  I have seen this before but never attempted it.  Both Ronan Peterson and Bill Van Gilder had a version of this so decided it was time to try.  It turned out well. 

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Falling Rivers Gallery & Potters Conference

Thursday I set up my booth at the Falling Rivers Gallery in Albemarle.  The gallery is a cooperative sales venue of the Stanly Arts Guild and is staffed by vounteers who show and sell their creations.

Then I traveled on to Asheboro to attend the 25th Annual North Carolina Potters Conference.  This is the 4th year I have attended.  I really enjoyed the format this year.  They invited 3 master potters (Cynthia Bringle, John Glick, Jack Troy) who then in turn invited an up and coming potter (Ronan Peterson, Martha Grover, Jake Johnson)  This made for a very full weekend of non-stop ideas.  I do not know what  pieces to try first.

Today I had to attend to my children.  One was sick and the other is moving home for awhile.  But I will be in the studio tomorrow and I will be trying out all the ideas from this weekend and the workshop two weeks ago.  You will see more photos from the weekend compared to my attempts at making items.

In the next month I need to buckle down and throw new pieces.  In May I have two shows and right now I only have a few boxes of pots available for shows.  Most of the items I had available either went to the Falling Rivers Gallery or are now for sale on Etsy. 

Over the weekend a yarn bowl of mine was featured on Uniquely Yours' blog.  It's a fun blog that features items from Etsy.