Catch Up

All the pots I threw this week finally dried up enough to take to the next stage so I've been trying to catch up on all the finishing the last few days. I finished these small jars and am getting ready to slip them. The ones with the two lug handles on top of the lid are the forms that I weave a reed handle onto later after the firing. Below are two larger 8 pound jar forms I threw yesterday. Today I'm going to finish up some pots and hopefully throw some tumblers.



This bark basket will have a reed handle over the top of it, too. The other night I wove two reed handles onto two bark baskets that were recently fired in Will's kiln, I''ll post some of those pictures later after I dye the handle in a tea bath. Have a great weekend!

The Juggling Act

Today I didn't complete much in the studio besides throwing these small pitchers, bowls and jars. So now I have a lot of jars that will all be ready to trim at once, which is probably what I'll end up doing tomorrow. Today and Monday I spent helping Gay Smith for the Soda Chicks sale this weekend, unloading her kiln, sanding pots, pricing and packing. I'm still juggling odd jobs here and there in between the full time pot making and show going. As I've said before, in this older post, it's refreshing to get out of the studio for a few hours each week, see a different perspective, get away from my own thoughts, and help someone else.

“Hope begins in the dark,
the stubborn hope that if you just show up
and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.
You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”

Anne Lamott, b. 1954

Pots, Patterns, and Puddles

This white detail within my carving is applied after I slip the pots in flashing slip. I made slip out of some porcelain clay and use that to brush in the small white areas. After it is bisque fired, I wax these whites areas and then brush in my glaze over the carved panel. The purpose of the wax is to repel the glaze from getting in the white areas so I have varied tones and depth within the carved area.

There is another soda firing potter on the Salt and Soda Network, Colleen Riley, who uses vitreous colored slips using mason stains up to Cone 10 in soda. She has really achieved some beautiful results on those tumblers (check out the link). One day I'd like to do some testing with some colored slips. After I dip the pot in flashing slip, I could brush in the colored slips and not have to wait until after the bisque to brush on glaze. Plus, I think this process might be more inviting because I prefer working with leatherhard pots rather than bisqueware. The reaction between the colored slips and the soda could create some interesting results. It's definitely an idea to ponder and test that's been percolating around in my head.

This is one of the beginning stages of an oval basket, draped upside down. The clay is really soft right now so it'll be a long time before it firms up to stand up on its own right side up. Then I have more texturing to do around the edges and some handles to add.

My creek just outside the door is usually one of those soft gurgling, babbling creeks. Today after two days of steady rain, it's roaring. I worry about others in this area who probably have had some flooding. The patterns in this puddle in the sidewalk captured my attention today:

Where Am I?

I've moved onto some small jars now and finally caught up on all the mugs. Sometimes I work on lots of different forms during a week, but this time I had decided to make all the mugs at once just so I was sure I'd have time to make a lot of them. I always seem to need a lot of mugs. It's nice now to move on and let my hands throw another form, though. Sometimes when I'm throwing a lot of the same thing, I find my mind drifting somewhere else. Then I snap myself out of it and refocus on the pot on the wheel that all along I've still continued to throw. I don't even know where I've been, sort of similar to driving the same route and getting somewhere only to realize you don't even remember the drive. It feels refreshing to move on and throw different forms to stretch out my fingers. I know other people's thoughts must wander, too, though.

We finally had some rain, which means none of these will probably be dry enough tomorrow to work on, so maybe I'll throw some different pots.

The Soda Chicks and Chet

This Labor Day weekend in Bakersville, NC, the Soda Chicks and Chet are having their home sale at Fork Mountain Pottery. The "soda chicks" are potters Suze Lindsay and Gay Smith, with Kent McLaughlin as "Chet". Guest artists are Nick Joerling and Lisa Bruns. For more information, check this link out. You should definitely not miss out on seeing some beautiful pots if you're in the area. These chicks are five minutes away from my studio, so feel free to visit me if you're on your way up to Fork Mountain. On my website you can download an area map showing directions to all of the nearby craft studios and galleries. For the map, click here.

On another note for the day, I've been excitedly doing the rain dance because it is FINALLY raining here after a long summer drought!!

Soak It In

I am amidst a beautiful sunny blue day. I detect a small change of season? I tend to count my pots before they're fired, or chickens, or something like that, but I do think summer is losing its battle over here in the mountains. A change of light, a hint of colorful falling leaves and cool nights; I'm not ready to hear the crackle of a woodstove! I can't complain about the summers here, right when you might think you are hot, it turns to springlike temperatures again before its forceful plummet into winter.

Working along in the studio, I've been using some porcelain, which normally is a dream to throw. However, my clay has become very hard, too hard to wedge, for that matter. This does not make for good throwing...so I had to cut it all up, wet it and throw it back in the bag to rehydrate for a while. These cups with a light impressed texture will soon be more mugs.



There is a great exhibit coming up called Perspectives 2008, the Georgia Pottery Invitational, featuring the works of 50 Georgia potters. I am honored to have a part in it. Will Langford, one of the Georgia potters in the exhibit, recently purchased one of my carved jars to be a part of his collection, which in turn, will be displayed at the Perspectives exhibit. Each participating Georgia potter was asked to contribute one of their pieces of their personal collection to be featured at the show. So if you are in the area, you should not miss it!

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.

--Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Small Leaps

These larger bowls I threw the other day are finally close to being finished. Luckily I've been getting a lot of other pots finished while waiting for these to dry and trim. I threw these with 8 pounds of clay and thought they were big, but it's funny how it all was trimmed away to make the foot and now they don't seem so big. When you are throwing all that clay gets lost in that angle around the foot, that sensitive spot where you have to stop throwing and know you'll just trim it off later. So next I'm going to try to make some even bigger ones. It was more difficult slipping these larger bowls since they don't fit in my 5 gallon buckets of flashing slip. I ended up holding them upside down and pouring the slip over the sides, which made a huge mess all over the floor! I just have to learn how to get over the drips and the places where it didn't go on as smoothly like when I dip pots upright into flashing slip.

I'm excited about these new "dimpled" bowls, which is my new name for them. The simplicity of the line is enough for me and I don't feel the need to go on and add more texture. Lately I've been thinking about how neat it is when all of a sudden you have a detail or form that is new in your work. I like to trace back in thought and ponder about how it evolved. One bowl that I made a year ago led me to do one thing and then that form led me to this small development. You never know which way one thing might take you. Sometimes there are big leaps in the studio, but most often for me there are small leaps, like a change in a rim, that can still be very significant.

I've been working in a mug factory with carving, adding handles and slipping them. I finished 24 yesterday and have 24 more waiting on me to be carved and for handles. The carving and cleaning can take a while to finish. Also I need to throw some today...better get back, the clay is calling...

Nubbly?

When I was a little person, along with many other Joy words, I thought I had invented the word, "nubbly." I had a fascination for textured things, which obviously has lingered to this day. My favorite blanket that I would carry around had a nubbly texture and I remember liking those rolled candles with a "nubbly" texture. Turns out, nubbly is a word and I can prove it here.

This impressed woven texture on these bowls has evolved from being somewhat two dimensional and flat into what now feels like a real woven three dimensional texture. It reminds me of several things from hand woven baskets, to dappled dots of trees filling in mountain ranges and even the the Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi's Casa Mila. If the clay is at just the right stage, I can push in deeper in some areas more than others so that I can create a nice depth. Glaze pools nicely in the deeper pockets and breaks on the high ridges in a different tone. It also creates a nice ledge for wood ash and soda.

I love this time of year when the lighting starts to change. It's been streaming through my studio window, causing my clay table to glow every afternoon. I thought this seed branch was reminiscent of some other potter who just unloaded his soda kiln this week...can you guess who?

Editing

This is one of my favorite tools. It's a line drawer on a roller, found in the cake decorating section of a craft supply store. I used to draw these lines on my pots to divide the paneled areas with one of those wooden tool sticks. Using the roller, I find I have much more control in achieving the certain line that I want. Holding it in one hand, I still stabilize it with my other hand and start from the bottom of the pot, moving upward. This tool was recommended to me by my friend and potter, Ben Carter, who is doing his graduate studies in ceramics at UF.

This is a mug from the last firing, and now I'm doing my usual refining step. I take the best form from a batch of mugs, or whatever I'm working on at that time. Then I study it and try to critique it and decide where it could be better. I've been throwing more of these mugs, with the intended curved paneled area that I'm going to carve later. I'm working on getting the form just right and sometimes I have to make a lot just to get one true one in the batch. The tricky area to get right more than once is the area at the bottom, where the foot ends and the form sweeps up and creates a gradual flowing curve. In the picture below of the three tumblers, the middle tumbler, especially, has the sweeping curve that I'm trying for on a more regular basis.

Gaining experience by practice is my best way of improving. After you've at least trudged through and carried out the idea several times, you can then weed out and edit the not so successful attempts.

I got really excited yesterday and threw some really large bowls since the other things in the studio just weren't dry enough to trim. They still really aren't that large, but I guess they are for me. I usually ward off attempts to throw larger because it is hard for me to handle a lot of clay. But I've decided I need to stop fearing what really probably is not impossible and I'm going to slowly start inching up the pounds that I throw. Hopefully this time around I can even try some two part cylinder pieces so that my taller forms can be taller and better proportioned.

The trees in the yard have become encased with these silk dwellings filled with webworms. It made for an interesting black and white composition:

On Waiting and Molding

I have some new pots up on Etsy, and even some in a new sale category! Check out my shop here. I'll be adding a lot more soon, so keep posted.

Working along in the studio, I've been trying to finish up all of the bowls, but things are so damp in the studio that nothing is drying fast enough to get to the next step. So I've just been making more things during the wait time. I made these mugs yesterday and they are as wet as they were when I threw them. This time of year when the nights get cool, it stays very cool and moist in the studio, which actually causes a horrible mold problem on my boards and shelves. I used to place all my freshly thrown pots right on the boards, but I started growing a new level of mold fuzz that surpassed the usual green and was even white and yellow. So I started putting all thrown pots on plastic bats to lessen the problem, even though it still happens. Of course I usually run out of bats this way and I need to get some more. Today I'll make some more mugs and finish slipping the square bark tiles, and hopefully trim some bowls if they get ready. I might just put a fan on in the room because I really need to get cranking.

Everybody Needs Joy

Here is a collection of more quotes lining my studio walls. Two are those thoughtful quotes you find on tea bags, and the bottom one, which I'm sorry is difficult to read, says, "Proudly hand made in small batches." This nice quote can be found on a tasty dark beer bottle label made by the Duck Rabbit Brewing Company, and while this is a blog about clay, and not about beer, I couldn't help but save this quote and think about it as it applies to the nature of my work in the studio. Proudly spun around the wheel in small batches.

One day I hope to curate a show that is titled "Inspected by #1." The logo for the show will be that little sticker you get on the underside of a brand new t-shirt. You know, the one that usually says, Inspected by #467? Who is #467? I'm proud to know that when I put out a pot to sell that it has been inspected by #1. The exhibit will represent work of that nature, in order to help viewers realize the connections you get between maker and user when there is only one maker and that maker is a real live soul, rather than a machine.

I think maybe I should start a link or post just to interesting quotes. I've decided to take on the more typical interpretation of my "Don't Postpone Joy" sticker, and take it for what it means, rather than a message to me, Joy, to just work harder. I, myself need to leave a little more room for more joy in my life.

Last night was a nice gathering at the Clay Club, or should I say, rather, the Clay Party. I think it's just what we might all need. It felt refreshing to get out and laugh a little.

So, where's your joy?

Eternal Hope

Some more thoughts from my last post. I didn't mean to seem negative. I consider myself to generally be quite optimistic and full of hope. I don't know where this endless hope seems to come from, but it's around after every up and down. The pretty picture I'm painting here at this blog hasn't been fluffed up by any means. It's an honest account of my observations and inspirations. My observations in life is what builds up my energy and keeps me going. It is what I put wholeheartedly into every piece that I create. If I didn't see all the beauty and wonder around me, I don't know how I could keep being inspired to make things. I'm very thankful that I notice these things.

I don't know why I feel like I have to defend myself from what I wrote last night. I guess this is coming from the other employee in my head, the cheerleader.

It's a fresh day in the studio today. I've been making a lot of bowls this week. I have them everywhere drying, waiting for the impressed textures. These are slightly squared, which is done on the wheel right after I throw it, using the inside part of my finger.

Have a good day!

Overwhelmed and Rambling

This is a bumper sticker I have hanging on my studio wall from a catering company in Asheville. Due to my name, I've always interpreted a different meaning from what the message really intends. It's a voice inside my head, reminding me to keep on going and don't delay. I've always been a disciplined and focused worker in the studio, but having my own studio to myself this last year and a half has been challenging. Despite long to-do lists that somehow get completed, sometimes I worry I'm not working as efficiently or as happily as I would be if I were back in a bustling energetic studio full of other artists, or at least a couple of artists. The grass is always greener on the other side, because when I was in that type of busy studio at the Odyssey Center, I daydreamed of having my own studio space where I'd have uninterrupted studio time. I guess there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the story. I do get to focus on my work when I want to and don't have people bothering me. On the other hand, maybe I secretly want someone to come and "bother" me. Working solo in a studio causes you to force out your own energy and momentum. I remember Michael Simon speaking of work rhythms in a Studio Potter issue, (June 2006, vol. 34). He says, "you didn't just go in there [the studio] when you felt like going in there; you went in when you felt good and when you felt bad. It was your life. You just went in there."

It's really an odd phenomenon really, because I love working in the studio, so I find it odd that I would have a hard time getting in there sometimes. One large factor I think that contributes to this is the stress I feel having to keep up on everything else that comes along with being self-employed. Being the CEO and the Janitor, like my friend Meagan was just commenting on in her blog. Lately, I've been feeling very overwhelmed with trying to keep up with everything, from improving my work in the studio, exploring new forms and ideas, doing research about glazes and firing, improving my articulation about my work, finding and applying to good shows and exhibits, promoting myself in galleries, promoting myself on the internet, sifting through technical computer work and office work, meeting my budget while saving money, and the list just goes on and on. All of this is very important, but sometimes I don't know where it ends. My assistant hasn't shown up yet! I think maybe I should go through everything and re-prioritize. When I ask myself what's most important to this career of mine, my first instinct is to say that the top priority is my pottery. One of my major goals has always been to improve my work each time I make a new kiln load. I want to continue being conscious of trying to push myself into new avenues, trying new things in the studio, trying new things in a firing, learning how to speak more thoroughly about my work, etc.

With this blog, I feel like I have been painting a pretty picture of my life as a potter. It has been good for me to clarify my thoughts about my work and I have been enjoying the connections I am getting from all of the other people reading. Sure, there are wonderful sides to the creative life where I create things that possess my whole being and find connections with other people who enjoy the things that I observe and share inside my bowls and cups. However, there is a hard reality that is behind all the glory, behind the pretty pictures and the pretty pots. What's in the dirt under my fingernails is a developer, a creator, a secretary, a web designer, a writer, a marketer, a salesperson, a photographer, a teacher, a mover, a janitor and a boss who never lets me off.

Using the Right Side of the Brain

Back at the studio today, here I am brushing porcelain slip into some bowls and using a mesh to texture through the slip. It creates a light texture that I glaze over with a celedon glaze.

And, yes, I am a lefty. How many other lefty artists are there out there reading?

Here's some pots from that wood firing that I have finally had time to absorb. These 3 porcelain cups are definitely a result of lots of carbon, wood ash, and soda that creates all that active flashing and pattern.
This bark basket will have a reed handle over the top of it soon. At first I didn't like this one because it is more oxidized than most of the ones I get out of the kiln. Usually they are a lot darker, yet now it is growing on me and I like the light and varied peach tones.

I love the colors of this bowl. The range of soda from the left to the right is a nice definition of the soda range and heat in the cross draft wood firing...heavy soda and heat came from the left side of the pot, leaving the right side to "flash" the brilliant red tones.

Inspired by Potters

I have a new plate in my collection, made by Matt Kelleher. He and his wife, Shoko Teruyama are soon completing their residency at the Penland School of Crafts. This weekend was the Penland Auction, and I went to help Matt and Shoko in their studio for their sale. It was so inspiring to be around such well cared for work. Each piece of theirs is carefully executed and the soft details are so inviting. The energy I felt from being around such a large body of work they each created was amazing. It is making me think about ways I can try to push outside of my box some more to create some different forms.

Beauty Spot

I just got back from a refreshing backpacking trip. Sure, there was sweat, uphill climbs, heavy packs, and lightning storms in the middle of the night, but the rewards of my face feeling uplifted are priceless.

Practically over in the backyard is an uncommon place, along the Appalachian Trail in Unicoi County, straddling the Tennessee and North Carolina border. It is called Beauty Spot, another bald similar to the ones near Roan Mountain, yet it offers striking views west of the Smoky Mountains.

We actually didn't make this a hard core hiking trip with a goal of completing a huge number of miles. Instead, we just did what Will and I don't normally get to do....lie in the soft grass, take a nap, and then later cook dinner by the setting sun.

Rest??

I've been recuperating after the craft fair all weekend. Being overheated all weekend has completely exhausted me. I can actually rate the show as a "good" show for me, though. I'm glad I sweated through it. It was actually better than the Southern Highland Craft Fair, which is sad to say, because the show was half the time. It was fun being in Asheville though, visiting with friends. Asheville was hopping with excitement all around. I popped into the Friday night gallery stroll downtown, where Michael Kline was having his opening at American Folk. My friends at Clayspace were exhibiting at the Asheville Area Arts Council. Also, my dear friend, Cassie Ryalls, who has work in Gallery Minerva, has moved back into town after doing some post baccalaureate studies down at the University of Florida in the ceramics department. I'm so happy to have her back.

My days off after the show were supposed to be days of rest. That means not moving around and getting things done. I've determined that I just don't know how to do that, because I ended up painting my living room. I'm still unsure of the intensity of the melon color, because in some lighting it looks like cheddar cheese!! Ah! When I was picking out the color, I was actually looking at the Ruggles and Rankin bowl I have there on the table. This is the color that Tile 6 slip can get in salt and soda, which is the color of my golden lab, and is the color I love to get in my pots. I haven't been able to successfully get Tile 6 slip to come out the way it used to when I fired in a salt kiln. The crossdraft soda kiln just doesn't give it the same rich tone. Isn't it funny how choices that surround my lifestyle go hand in hand with the work that I create? It is all one continuous thought.

One day maybe I'll learn how to put my feet up and just read a book. The next few days I'm off on a real vacation, only to "work" again, trekking over some mountains with my backpack. I haven't been backpacking in ages and I'm looking forward to getting some connection with my feet and the earth.

Show and Tell

Here's a new piece from the firing. It's a shallow bark bowl or platter, whatever you want to call it. It also can hang from the wall. When I loaded it into the kiln, I put seashells on it and that white dot you see is a piece of wadding. I thought it might look neat, but it sort of just looks stuck on there and floating out in the middle of nowhere. I like the comet like flashing on this piece, though.

My earlier spring garden attempts are coming in. I feel like I have to display it as well, since its arrival is it's own work of art. I have more zucchini than I honestly know what to do with. Did you know that a zucchini is lightly faceted on all sides?

My herb garden is doing really well, with basil everywhere. I've been making homemade pesto and storing several batches in the freezer for later. I only had 5 sugar snap peas which I immediately devoured standing right there in the yard, savoring every bite. Some moles dug through the section where I planted the seeds (2 different times in a row). They pretty much wiped out all the seeds and only one vine made it. I also had 3 tomato plants die, the broccoli was eaten by some creature other than me, and the spinach never really did very well. The silver lining is that I will soon have cherry tomatoes and red peppers if I keep my fingers crossed.

I was dreaming of being that perfect gardener, reaping in huge arrays of vegetables. However, gardening is like learning beginning throwing on the wheel. You can only get somewhere after sifting through lots of ups and downs and gaining experience and patience along the way. There are so many life lessons you can parallel to clay.

I'm off to Asheville for the big show and tell craft show.