Twilight pots

These wood and soda fired porcelain pieces are on sale here at my Etsy shop. My 'twilight series' comes from a rare place where these were fired in the wood and soda kiln. These silvery blue tones around the rims of the pots remind me of our cool summer nights in the mountains. The rich colors of reds and other tones comes from the traces of the flame in the wood kiln. It's nice to hear people's reactions to these different colors that only sometimes I'm lucky enough to get...this week the cups were deemed with their new title, "Twilight Cups", which I think is quite fitting.

Small Changes

Turk's Cap Lily, my all time favorite lily of our mountains

I'm trying to come up with a new mug form yet my hands always throw the same form. It's hard to break away. So this form isn't different, yet I am going to try some different glazing patterns on them. Instead of the texture being glazed, I'm going to glaze the side panels (the one with the handle in it). I'll use more glaze instead of more slip like I usually do.

These mugs I moved the dimpled line into the center of the mug and moved the texture over. I think I like the small change but won't know until I test out a few glazing ideas on them. The changes come so small sometimes. From the outside it might look like my work is always the same, yet overtime I've noticed I change my work in small ways, like altering the foot, changing the direction or placement of the texture, changing the angle of a rim. I feel all these edits from the potter's hand are subtle yet still make me feel like I'm moving forward. When I'm thinking of shows and income it's hard not to make what I already know and like. I get busy in between all these things, often having huge numbers of mugs, bowls and tumblers I need to make, so I get into making the same ones over and over. I have to remember to push myself to try new forms more often. I need more time with my sketchbook perhaps rather than my camera!

Daisy fleabane with purple blurs of tall bellflower

Finally!

Here are pictures I can show of my loading, firing and unloading of the little kiln. I loaded it with one ring on at first and as I came up in shelves I added the other rings on.

Here it is below while it was firing during the soda time. There is a softbrick over an opening that is in the lid that is serving as the damper. Although I had backpressure and other 'signs' of reduction, the unloading shows pasty and unreduced pots. It'll take another firing or two to get the indications of having enough reduction during the firing. In the cross draft soda kiln I have been firing I have learned to look for certain signs that tell me I am reducing the kiln enough. Looking for those same signs in this firing proved to be different. I already have some ideas on how to tweek the target bricks to get a better flow of heat as well as load the kiln a bit differently.


Not so pretty pots down below, but I had to show you...can't always show the pretty pots. This was the bottom shelf and only a couple of cups had some good color on them.

These few pots below turned out better than the rest of the kiln. Oddly enough this glaze never is this vibrant in my other 'normal' firings, so of course it would turn out interesting in this weird firing. Seeing it that bright teal color definitely indicates to me what it would like to be if it had it's choice!

I'll have to wait a little bit before I can fire again to get some pots made specifically for this kiln. Currently though I am working on a large kiln load to fire in the crossdraft soda kiln that I have been renting to fire the last couple of years. I'll fire that one in September and hope to get several more of these firings in the baby kiln around that.

Baby Soda Kiln

The first kiln firing turned out ok....I of course wish it could have been hotter, brighter, more reduced, etc. etc. etc. but didn't I say earlier this week that "it doesn't matter, it's just a test firing?" Well I know I said that, but there were still lingering traces of hope inside my mind as we unloaded. Hope for great pots, but they weren't great. There were a few pots that were ok but the rest were those cold, fleshy pasty soda pots you get from not enough reduction. Yuck. It definitely needs some tweaking in the next firing until I can learn the differences in getting the pots to look a certain way. I'm used to the dramatic results you get from a crossdraft, so firing an updraft is bringing along new challenges. I'm determined to find out how to get soda pots from this kiln that are close to the cross draft pots I was getting. I certainly hold high expectations and standards for myself when it comes to soda pots, don't I?

I can't show you pictures yet because I'm still babying my very slow computer until it gets help this weekend. Until then...you should check into this new site of Will Baker's where he explains the kiln building. For the design and building (and brains) behind the operation of this converted electric kiln, I have to give all of the credit to Will. He has designed a new site partially still under construction, explaining some of his website services along with his kiln building jobs...check it out!

Soon I'll show you some pots!! Have a great weekend!

Made it

The little kiln made it to cone 10 complete with a little fire dance I did after throwing a few pieces of wood into the little thing during soda time. You should have seen all that flame! I can't post pics for fear of my computer freezing up but I will soon...so bear with me.

I'll unload it tomorrow. It had uneven spots and I don't know if the amount of reduction was enough but it doesn't matter to me. It was just a test firing. Now at least I know it'll make it with the one burner that I have and so it can only get better from here with all of the soda knowledge I've gained over the years. It's fun to have a little kiln here now!

oh no

My computer is on it's last leg! So if you don't hear from me in the next few days it's because it passed on. It's quite old and very full of programs and keeps freezing up and I have a feeling I should stop using it right NOW. Luckily I have all of my photos and text backed up, yet my music files aren't!! So hopefully this weekend I'll get some technical help straightening this out. Until then you can know that I'm busy finishing pots and making new pots and giving the test kiln a firing tomorrow for the first time. I have leftover bisqueware to use and since this is just the first firing I'm trying to keep expectations low. Well, at least I am trying to say that to myself, but we know as potters we always are hopeful for at least something good.

I'll let you in on the details when I can safely get back onto my computer!

Puttering around

The photo workshop was great this weekend, ran the class on Saturday and then just hit 'repeat' and did it all over again on Sunday with new students! So my head is filled with f-stops and white balance and resolution and oh my! I think this topic could be driven into the ground forever when you start getting into the technical details of photography and especially when you then have to take it to the next level of figuring out how to use them on your computer.

So now I've been puttering around all evening trying to clear my head from all of the questioning and details and just look around a little bit for some peace in my yard....picked a bowl of these black beauties growing right next to my house,

fresh garden lettuce

queen anne's lace

buckeye tree? and thyme in my herb garden

pots on the front porch to sell and fresh sage
horsetails

What I earned from the workshop this weekend is being poured directly into my new propane tank for the kiln tomorrow morning! It sure does go out faster than it comes in!

Have a busy week getting back to all those pots I have covered under plastic, throwing more and giving the test kiln a whirl with its first firing. More on those details to come...

Photography Workshop

I'm getting ready for the digital photography workshop I'm teaching with John Britt this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. We are teaching how to take photographs of three dimensional artwork and the backdrop and lighting display you need to do it yourself. For more information on the workshop in case you are interested in us running another future class, check here.

It's always a pleasure being around John Britt, should be a fun weekend!

Bowls and berries

Bowls bowls and more bowls...

In sad news for the summer's day, it doesn't look like a good year for blueberries and apples and the deer ate all of my thriving pea plants out of my garden! argh

There are blackberries though!

Work Quietly

I'm moving along in the studio with throwing new pots in the morning and finishing pots in the afternoon. Usually that's a good way to work for me, with the throwing while I'm fresh and focused in the morning, with leaving the detailing of pots for after lunch. Most often I'm listening to my ipod, something on npr, or WNCW, a great local music station. Last week there were a few days I found my head too full and tired from a busy week and found myself just wanting to work in complete silence. If I worked quietly enough I could hear my creek babbling through the open window and the cheery calls of the birds munching in my nearby bird feeders. It was pleasing to realize I could simply sit in the quiet while carving and adding handles to the mugs. One doesn't always need melody and ideas engaging the mind coming from the radio; a little song from the birds works just as well.

Baltimore Clayworks Winterfest

Did you hear?

I have a busy fall lined up with an exciting line up of two great craft shows in October, the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands and the Spruce Pine Potters Market,
followed by a duo pottery exhibit with Annie Singletary in November at Pottery 101 in Salisbury, NC.


And... for my exciting news this week, I was invited to participate in the Baltimore Clayworks Annual Holiday Exhibition, Celebrating the Gift of Art, November 14- December 30, 2009. I'm very excited to be invited to be in this show at this great gallery! There are also a few other craft shows scattered in between these other exhibits, I certainly hope I haven't taken on too much! I have a lot of pots that must be made between now and then!

click on the images to shop for these pots at my online shop!

It doesn't take much...

I just got a HUGE bag of free packing peanuts, so huge I could barely cram the bag into my wagon! Which is good because I was pretty much out of all packing material. Yep, it's yet another thing on the potter's list that insures that we are definitely pack rats, packing peanuts and any packing material is always needed! Being free and having a chance to recycle and reuse is the next best thing!

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Morning

The "momentum is building",
Sawdust and Dirt is getting in the groove, and it sounds like potters are slinging clay all around in Bakersville these days. Had an interesting Clay Club meeting last night at Crimson Laurel gallery discussing the endless topic of pricing...a tough one that can be battled up and down. June Perry's blogpost outlines an interesting list of how one can decipher how long it takes to make a mug here. It's very hard to dismantle the layers of time that go into making pots but it is very important to educate people about the process so they can hopefully understand the quality and value of a fine piece of pottery.

I had a morning warmup with these small ovaled bowls and now I'm ready to start carving a couple of batches of mugs for the remainder of the afternoon. The first night of my summer wheel throwing class begins tonight and I have a full class of clay enthusiasts to enthrall with the rhythm of the clay on the wheel.

back in the soft clay

Hello my reader friends, I've been back in the clay making mugs this week and lining up thoughts for a lot of pots to get made in the next few months to get through an upcoming busy fall season of shows and exhibits. I know, it's July! But how did it get July already? I'm already feeling like October is right around the corner so I best get busy making lots of pots again....no more distracting myself with photography, right?

I'm starting out with porcelain clay for most of my mugs, which is always a nice smooth treat to throw. I need to go to the clay store to get some more stoneware soon, I'm running low over here.
Better sign off and get back to the cool studio. You wouldn't know it was July today, I'm wearing long sleeves and pants and enjoying a cool Bakersville 66 degree day, the best kept secret of our NC mountains!

Opening Tonight!

Don't forget to come join us for the exhibit opening of "Summer Clay" at the Clingman Cafe in the heart of the River Arts District in Asheville, tonight 5-8 pm, (Friday July 3)! It's a nice group of 5 potters: Joey Sheehan, Will Baker, Joy Tanner, Beth Flanagan, and Poncho Romero Bond.

Green Carved Ewer exhibited in the show

Penland Fireworks!

The Penland 4th of July parade and fireworks blasted off last night and I caught these cool shots of the fireworks. From where I stood, the echo boomed in between the mountains admist oohs and ahhs and cheers from the crowd!

I saved the best for last: