Flower Vases

I finished up the 20 vases for the commission for the Power of the Purse event I mentioned last week. Some of them have reed handles I wove onto them. The ones pictured below are a different style that have small handles on the sides of the rim. I really like how they all turned out. I was lucky to get them done in record time and with nice firing marks on them, thanks to this person. They are all ready to deliver to Asheville tomorrow!

Love the soda and wood ash detail on this vase.

Unloading!

It was a great firing! Lots of nice color and soda. A few cold spots on the top and dry pots in the middle, but overall it was a good one. All but one of my vases turned out which is a relief! So now I just have to sand them and add reed handles to about 10 of them and then I'll be done with that! Then I can sift through the rest of pots that I got in. I had some really nice mugs, bowls and tumblers come out.


That's Will's tall vase on the bottom floor, which turned out really nice, as well as this bowl and plate of his below. He always has a nice stack of plates that come out of this kiln that tend to disappear quickly!


The small square tiles were a fun experiment that turned out great. They were great kiln fillers, taking up unused space. I'll show a full picture of them later.

Back to work!

Fireathon!

Oh, so where was I last I left you here? We finished up the loading of the wood kiln on Saturday and fired it overnight through Sunday until about 5:00. It was fired in our record time of 22.5 hours! We've never been able to fire it any faster than that, it just pokes along. I think it might be a good one, though. We're going to try to unload it tonight, we've been slowly cracking the kiln all day today....so we'll see.


And what's the best thing to do after stoking a wood kiln for 23 hours? Hop in the creek, this lush mountain creek is just below the slope by the wood kiln. The water was so cold it hurt to leave my feet in for more than a couple of seconds, but it sure was worth it to refresh my tired hot feet!

And if that firing wasn't enough, today I just finished firing up the small soda kiln that is down at the studio where I teach in Bakersville. I have to have those 20 flower vases delivered by Friday and didn't get them all in the wood kiln, so I decided to cram another firing in this week. It's just a small kiln, taking only about 20 pots, and it fired off quickly this afternoon after 5 hours....so I'm feeling worn out, tired and hot! Nothing ice cream and maybe some more creek wading won't cure though, it's definitely feeling like beautiful weather these days.

Now all there is time for is to wait and wonder until the unloading. Then there is sanding pots and adding reed handles to half of the vases. Stay tuned, don't go away!

good view

Not a bad view for glazing, huh? I think I'll always glaze outside from now on, the extra work of moving pots outside is worth the fresh air.

Loading the wood kiln up tomorrow...

Plein air glazing

I decided to do my glazing "en plein air" since it was just one of those beautiful Carolina mountain days. It definitely helped glazing to the songs of the birds. There's a phoebe couple who have built their nest in the light fixture on the porch. They were slightly concerned about my outdoor activities and although I can't reach the nest, I think I saw some small beaks poking out. Hopefully they won't mind me much more.

Waiting on the bisque kiln to shut off and then I can rest easy. Hope you're having a nice day!

Finishing up

There's been a whirlwind of activity over here finishing up all the pots I had started. Yesterday I finished up the jars, tumblers, vases, large bowls and some last minute small items like mini tiles, bud vases and tiny sauce bowls. They are perfect kiln fillers for loading into those tiny spaces in the kiln. I just loaded up the bisque kiln with them all. It's got to be the world's tightest bisque kiln load. I have to admit, I'm pretty good at stacking a bisque kiln to it's fullest capacity. It's quite satisfying.

As usual, I'm operating on a tight shift. I'll be glazing the next four days and loading up the wood kiln Saturday. Of course, right during glazing there's going to be terrific weather out there which really makes it hard not to get outside and soak in the sun. I'm also eager to get my veggie garden planted. That time will come soon enough...

The Power of the Purse

The 5th Annual Power of the Purse luncheon on June 11, 2009, which is sponsored by The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and Women for Women is soon to be held at the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa. This event celebrates the power of women's philanthropy in Western North Carolina and features a silent auction of regional women's art as well as the keynote address from columnist and writer Anna Quindlen.

Women for Women is an exciting program for women to join together in an engaging and meaningful way and give back to their community. By combining their financial resources and working with others committed to the same cause, this group of women will make high-impact grants to improve the lives of women and girls in our region.

Handmade pottery vases and unique floral arrangments made by North Carolina women artists will be on sale at the luncheon. Proceeds from the event benefit The Women's Fund, a permanent endowment created at CFWNC to support the unmet needs of women and girls in our mountains.

~I was one of the local artists commissioned to make pottery vases for this luncheon. I'm glad to have a part in this unique opportunity. Visit the links above to learn more.

at the end of the rainbow?

is a "pot" of gold? Well, at least over here there are a LOT of pots in progress, but no gold quite yet. I just had finished throwing everything I need to throw when a sunshiny shower came through and I spotted this rainbow out the front window. But as you can see I have my work cut out for me in the next two days.


I finally finished making the vases for the order, I need around 20, so I made 30 (I think) and we'll see how many turn out. There are more pots around the corner under plastic waiting to be trimmed and pots to carve and slip and clean, oh my. Have to be finished and into the last bisque kiln by Tuesday. Wood firing this weekend!

Could it be?

I just saw the first lightning bug of the year! It's such a pleasant evening outside. I just took a walk with the dog down the street and as I came back I saw a single lightning bug cruising across the yard. Ahh....summer nights are on the way!

Recently I've been looking through piles and piles of photos I've taken...my siberian iris are just about to bloom like this one I took last spring.

All in the groove

There's not much drying here in the studio so I've just been throwing pots, pots and more pots! I'm almost out of room and surface area to put these boards of lidded jars. Hopefully things will get drier to work on tomorrow or I'll start tripping over them because I certainly can't throw more until I get some of the others finished up. It feels so good when your hands get in the groove, the clay is flying and you're just slinging pots everywhere!

Vases and buntings

I finished up several vases in the studio while throwing another round of new ones. They'll look finished when I weave the reed handle onto them after the firing like you can see on the image of the reed vase.

Here's a small mug shot of a few mugs, my last batch for this load I think. I need to move onto tumblers but one can never have enough mugs it seems.


Can you find the two indigo buntings in this picture?

They are regular evening visitors at dinner time. Between the constant gorging of yellow finches and chickadees, the bird feeders outside my studio window have been quite a buzz of activity out here lately. They are just too shy to pose for a closer view. Need a huge zoom lens I suppose...

More Bowls

I've been working along on a lot of bowls, can't seem to have enough around. It's hard to get a lot of bowls loaded into the kiln, I guess because they are shelf hogs because they're wide. I don't know why it's that way but I've heard a lot of other potters also say the same thing. But hopefully I can get a good number of them out to have for my next few shows. I've got a lot of pots in progress in the studio but things are moving slowly from the weather and nothing drying out. Love the rain but it definitely slows things down in the studio.

Well I'm off, I'm feeling tired from working, the weather, or I don't know what's going through.

Better go get the easiest homemade bread out of the oven. Have a good weekend everyone!

Stretching out

I've been moving along in the studio and finished the squared bowls and started another round of mugs.


These vases below will have handles on them that I weave a reed handle onto them. They are a few of several vases I have to do for a commission by the end of May.

Sorry to my followers out there reading that I weave in and out of regular blog posting. Between a busy week schedule, I've also been doing a lot of hiking lately trying to capture the growing spring each week at a time. It's been feeling good to get out and stretch out my mind and body.

Thanks for stopping by!

A few new pots around

on my Etsy shop, here
some cups, tumblers, one of my favorite teapots and even a sweet little sugar and creamer set.

More of my new work is on display at Heartwood Gallery, a contemporary crafts gallery in Saluda, North Carolina. If you are in the area you can tour the beautiful gardens at the North Carolina Arboretum, in Asheville, where I exhibited vases and containers in an Ikebana Exhibit for an Ikebana Conference held in April. Now my work is continuing to be on display in the gallery shop at the Arboretum, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also, if you're in the North Georgia Mountains, Hickory Flat Pottery gallery and studio is carrying my pottery as well.

Squared Bowls

I threw another round of my favorite bowls. They are slightly squared on the wheel right after throwing. I like the softness of the clay on the outside where the corners are protruding out.

Later I will impress a banded area of texture when the clay is slightly drier, accentuating the corners even more, and then trim a foot on them. I've been moving along slow in the studio it feels because I've been busy working for others or teaching, which is making my weeks feel jam packed and stressful. I need to get a move on though to get a growing list of pots made by the middle of May.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for reading!