Pizza Night

Important things in between pot making: I've eaten homemade pizza two different nights in one week because I've found the best pizza crust recipe ever in the book below!

I've been making my own bread for a while now. I use a really easy no-knead bread recipe that you let rise for 18 hours and have enjoyed making different variations of white, wheat, rye, herb, fruit and nut breads. This book pictured below has taken me further into the world of bread baking. Now I'm exploring the use of a pizza peel to carry the bread dough or pizza to a preheated baking stone. It has changed my life! I make a big batch of pizza dough and take off what I want for that night, bake it, and refrigerate the rest of the dough, which lasts for about two weeks in the fridge before I want to make another. Only this week it lasted just a couple of days before I was craving pizza again! The loaf bread recipes in the book work the same way, you make a batch large enough for 4 loaves, let it rise a couple of hours, refrigerate it, then tear off a portion of the dough, bake and voila! Instant gourmet bread. It really doesn't get any easier than that.

The pizza crust I used from this book was an olive oil crust. Bon appetit!

Bowls and Surprises

So the first few things I've been throwing back at the wheel are some bowls. It's an easy warm up to begin with. These above are soon to be ridge bowls. I also played around with some new smaller porcelain bowls, trying each one a bit different to see what I like best later.

I've been gearing up for another snow event about to hit this weekend, predicted to be like the last one that was almost 2 feet around here. Today I was getting firewoood ready and attempting at cleaning up the yard and gutters from the last storm. But I was immediately distracted by finding these interesting things, broken off from a yucca plant. It's the freshest green thing I've seen for months! I've never really noticed what each blade is like underneath. I like how all the peeling layers of each blade come together at the base, like nestling bowls, as well as the creamy white tones tapering into yellow green to rich green hues. Hmm....inspiring item for the studio to ponder, no doubt.


A small surprise, but you'll take anything when it's January and you're craving spring!

Stinging hands

Today I made it back into the studio to throw some pots. Since December, I've been doing a lot of piddling around that has kept me from getting there any earlier, as well as knowing of the threat of a cold studio and clay that was waiting for me. Although winter projects have been getting crossed off the list (as more keep adding to the list), I heard the call beckoning me back to the studio and ventured in. And as always, I'm happy I did.

As I wedged this extremely icy cold clay, despite my hands stinging and burning with each movement of the clay, I couldn't help but like this painful feeling of my hands. The excitement of feeling the clay between my hands is all that it takes to hone me in. At the wheel, it's amazing how you can just hop right back on and get lost into throwing again. For me, I always feel a bit rusty with my first pots I make after taking a break, so it might be a few days before I feel like I'm in my groove again. But a start was all I wanted from these hands today, even though they were freezing!

I'll leave you with this quote I've carried around with me for a while:
"Anything worth doing is worth doing again and again." Carl Andre

Clay and Blogs, Telling a Story

An interesting exhibit is being pulled together by some potter bloggers, called "Clay and Blogs, Telling a Story." Meredith Heywood, a Seagrove potter, is the creator of this neat exhibit that will be in October, at the Arts Council for Moore County, in Southern Pines, NC. There will be around 35 potter bloggers who are invited to the show.

People blog for multiple reasons and even with the numerous pottery blogs out there you can find a variety pack of topics within the medium, or even a variety of reasons why people choose to blog. I think blogging is a great tool for people to see behind the scenes of the potter in the studio and their quiet musings; the ups, the downs, the successes, the failures, the determination to keep going, as well as a particular technique or what they are currently working on at that time.

For me, blogging is a great chance to clarify my thoughts about choices behind my work, and to show my inspirations behind the pots. Seeing those quiet musings in real words is different than just thinking it. Sharing it also helps others learn the voice of the potter behind the pots. I've always felt you can tell a lot about a potter from their pots. Just like people matching their dogs, potters often match their pots! That's why it's so neat for potters to raise their voices and share the inner workings of their studios. Blogging also brings about a sense of community between other potters and artists alike, who can learn, be inspired, or simply relate to the ramblings of the self employed artist.


I'll explain more details as we get closer to the exhibit, but this will be an interesting one! We have a while til' October, I know, but this is just another one of the things behind the scenes that is bubbling in the pot already as ideas and plans are coming together between us potter bloggers!

Another Round

I've listed the last few items on Etsy that I wanted to put up for sale. I've put in 8 new assorted carved mugs, 6 or so carved tumblers, 5 cups and an altered tray. There is a wide selection there now, the largest batch ever that I've included in the shop. Be sure to check it out! There are some really nice pots from my last gas soda firing and from the other wood and soda firing.

I'm off to Raleigh tonight with Will Baker for his opening reception for a group pottery show of Asheville area potters at the Claymakers gallery and clay studio. For more information about the exhibit, click here.

Have a great weekend!

Just listed

Just listed 5 new dimpled cups at my Etsy shop...check it out here. There's more to come soon, too!

Off to the NC Clay Club bash tonight at Cynthia Bringle's.

New Cups for Etsy

I'm working on some new images of cups to list for sale in my online Etsy shop this week. There's a few special ones with some interesting soda markings on them from the firing, anywhere between warm buttery glazes from the mug above to the icy carbon trapped soda on the mug detail below. Keep posted for the new items!

Looking Back

After my last post, "moving forward,"now I'm "looking back". With this winter cleaning I've been doing, the de-clutter everything mode is still in full swing. It feels good to go through things and clean up a bit. What I've discovered is things I'd forgotten about, from neat photos, to old quotes I've saved, to piles and piles of slides of my older work. Looking through those has been interesting to see where I've been and forms I used to explore. I could see how I've improved in the last 5-6 years, but what was fun was to see things that I wanted to explore again, like a certain tray form, a different texture, a different clay.


Looking back at my blog writing from a year ago is interesting too. It's neat to reflect back on where I was and contrast it with where I am today. If you care to browse through the archives, here's a flashback into this time last year, January 2009.

Moving Forward

Happy New Year to my friends out there. I'm back from some holiday traveling as well as an internet break! I have been settling back into the cold, snow and ice that just doesn't give up around here. After traveling down to Miami for Christmas, coming back to this severe cold weather has proved to be tough. So I can't say I've been appreciating the snow all around, but just now on a walk with the dog, I happened to start doing what I always do best...slowed down and looked around. Then I noticed the ice layer along the creek. The ruffled and textured edges of the ice are so appealing to me. I love it when it hovers frozen above the water that is rushing below, continuing on its persistent and determined journey.

As for me, I'm also looking forward to my journey in the studio this year and am setting forth with as much persistence and determination as ever before. I want to be back in the studio making things, but I am still in my cleaning and organizing mode. All before Christmas I was cleaning out my studio and repainting and organizing my glazing room. It feels great to have a clean studio waiting for me to fill with new pots! But there's more; with my busy summer and fall last year, I ended up having a growing pile of unfiled papers, receipts, and other odds and ends. So I'm playing secretary right now for my business. Which, by the way, is not my favorite cup of tea. But it has to be done. It is a good January project for sure before I get caught up in the studio.

So here's to moving forward to a great new year in my studio and business! I'm going to start out clean and organized, everywhere in between the studio and the office. Another favorite potter/blogger of mine recently was trying to get caught up on things as his plane was hovering above in the sky, or to say it another way, get his ducks in a row, with a nice post here. And while you're at it, his post from today goes hand in hand with my earlier walk of looking and seeing.


Thanks for reading!