meesh's pottery

Growlers!

2012-01-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

Isn't that a fun word to say? I didn't even know what a growler was until I was contacted last year by someone representing a micro-brewery. They were looking for a potter to make growlers with their logo stamped onto them. So if you didn't already know, you probably figured out that a growler is a re-sealable beer bottle. Long story short, this company had no clue what handmade specialty items would cost, so we didn't get an order from them.
Since then, Jeff has had growlers on his mind. The challenge is making them and getting the stoppers to fit securely. You definitely don't want your home brew to lose it's carbonation! The other challenge was finding a quality ceramic & rubber stopper supplier. There aren't any in this country so I think the shipping cost was more than the stoppers.

This one is my favorite and one of the larger that he has made

These are a little smaller, above with ash glaze & shino, below in shino and photographed with two of my tumblers.

Clicking on the photos will bring you to Jeff's Etsy shop, where these growlers are for sale. If you are a home brewer you will enjoy and appreciate having these... we tested them out and they pour really well.

Hey it's Saturday, so "BOTTOMS UP"!

behind the scenes...

2012-01-27T11:15:00.002-05:00

Throwing pots is so enjoyable and fun, and yes, it is like Christmas morning every time a kiln is unloaded... but there is so much more work that needs to get done in order to have those fun times.

Like grinding and washing kiln shelves.

We have been lazy about that since moving to Seagrove. My NH kiln was much larger than our new one so I had lots of extra shelves... then add Jeff's kiln furniture to the mix and I think you get my point. Unload the kiln... oops a stuck pot, set the shelf aside. No need to grind and clean right away, we have LOTS of shelves!

**warning - if you have been firing kilns for years, you may find this post boring - newbies might learn something**

Eventually the time comes when the job HAS to get done. We need to fire the kiln and we're going to be short on shelves. We are having great weather so we set up our work outside. Jeff did all the grinding (electric side grinder) while I mixed up the kiln wash. We use equal parts silica and kaolin, mix well and add enough water so it is thick like brush-able slip.

Some of our shelves were left with craters after grinding

I went over all the scarred areas and applied kiln wash with a brush, trying to fill in the craters.

Since we had so many shelves to do, we decided to apply the kiln wash with a roller. It was fast and we are hoping there will be less flaking after firing.

Look at how pretty they look now!

We let them dry overnight and today we will wipe the edges with a sponge so that we don't get any stray wash falling into the pots as we fire.

Today is loading day, we have lots of pots glazed and ready to go... back to the FUN stuff!

where does the time go?!

2012-01-26T10:30:00.002-05:00

Jeff and I have filled the last few days getting all those behind the scenes things done that it takes to run a pottery business. Third quarter sales taxes (me), grind shelves (Jeff), pack a big order, tweak websites and take photos.

We are shipping more pots in recent months, between Etsy, wholesale etc and we have spent some time exploring the least expensive options. We use Fedex for large boxes, pay online and schedule a pick up. Etsy orders typically have gone out USPS. In the last month I have started to use USPS online. Perhaps everyone else knew this (I didn't), it is usually cheaper than bringing it in to the post office. I use the "print a shipping label" button on Paypal and then you choose USPS as your carrier. Many times Priority is less than standard mail. You can also schedule your carrier to pick the parcel up at your location. I can tell you that it's not always reliable... last week the post office sent me an e-mail that said my parcel was picked up but there it sat on the front porch of the gallery! Luckily the post office is a short drive and I got in the car and brought it to them. With the talk of closing small post offices we don't know how long we will have a local branch. I think right now it was voted that no closures would take place for at least another six months. If we lose our post office, carrier pick up for packages will make our life easier. For now I don't mind a trip into town... you can chat with the clerks and maybe run into other potters and do some catching up.

Daffodils in January... just doesn't seem right

This mild weather sure has made January fly by... no complaints from here!

taking pictures

2012-01-25T10:33:00.001-05:00

We bought a new softbox to photograph our work. This is what our old set up looked like...

ha ha ha... a rather Mickey Mouse set up but it worked for us! We photograph work with a long back drop that rolls off of a hanger near the ceiling and then spreads out across our dining room table.

Here is an example of the photography...

Not bad photography... but note the shadows from the handles. We have been happy with the results used with the rigged up lighting, but it's a pain to adjust and has fallen over a couple of times.

Here is our new softbox set up...

We use white foam core on each side to bounce the light around. Holding it at different angles changes how the pots are lit.

and below are the same mugs photographed with the new softbox...

Notice that the shadows are diminished. These are the photos prior to any photoshop tweaking, which we typically do. Our plan is to hang this softbox from a pulley system over our dining room table and eliminate the fact that it now hangs from a boom microphone stand. When we are not using it we can reel it up and out of the way.
Perhaps we will start a new trend... softbox lighting instead of chandeliers for dining room tables :-).

The new softbox was very inexpensive (39.99) and came with one large curly q light. An extra $20 bought you a stand to go with it. We weren't interested in the stand because we needed the light to hang overhead. The white diffuser velcros on and the whole thing folds up and fits in a storage bag. We added a layer of non-fusible pellon inside the box, lying flat on the white diffuser material... we were getting too much glare before doing that. Maybe a lower watt bulb would be the answer.

It would be great to have an extra room to have a dedicated photography set up, but for now this will have to do. Luckily we don't eat at the dining room table very often.

Claymatters

2012-01-22T12:57:00.001-05:00

Last night we drove in the rain to Charlotte for the Carolina Claymatters Pottery Guild's holiday meeting/party. Wow, that was a mouthful! We joined the guild last year but never went to any meetings. It was a pleasant evening, good food, nice people.

Each year they have a pottery gift exchange and give out door prizes... we came home with some new loot...

Wouldn't you know that this year it was decided that they would no longer serve alcohol at Guild meetings... so this was the first booze free event. Evidently it was a controversial decision and we heard through the grapevine that it hasn't ended yet. Of course if it goes to a member vote ya'll know who side I will be on!

I wasn't thrilled to head out in the rain for such a long drive, but in the end I was glad we went. We were, and still are, very connected with the NH Potters Guild and enjoy the connections made from being part of a group. I made a promise to myself not to get involved in any volunteer work with this guild until my term as treasurer is up for the NH guild... yes, I am their long distance treasurer. Nobody wants the job, so they are fine with me handling the money from a distance!!

Happy Sunday, let's hope the sun comes out soon in NC.

the first pots of 2012

2012-01-20T21:18:00.000-05:00

It was a good firing overall, even though we went to ^11. Some of the ash glaze mugs dripped onto shelves, but that can happen at ^10. One of the sinks was perfect... the other needs to be refired :-(.
Jeff made a third that we will fire at the same time... always good to have back ups! I listed a couple of the flower mugs on Etsy and we have a bunch going to the Co-op of Seagrove Potters.
I ordered propane yesterday and we should have enough pots to fire the gas kiln again next week... and a raku firing very soon!

glazing tools and beautiful sunsets

2012-01-19T21:57:00.000-05:00

I didn't get into the studio until late afternoon today... I could say that it was because we fired the kiln until 4 am and slept in, but since I slept on the sofa while the kiln fired I would be stretching the truth. The reality is that I lazily packed an Etsy order, did some laundry and surfed the internet for 1/2 the day. Once I made my way to the studio I did get some glazing done.
When I came home from Connecticut I found this new tool in the studio...

It looked strangely familiar... like a measuring cup from the kitchen... sure enough, Jeff said he needed a cup this size and hoped I didn't mind! I had a couple of 2 cup measures in the kitchen so sacrificing one to the studio was fine with me. I used it today and it poured quite nicely.

Another favorite of mine is this big bowl for glazing platters and plates...

Tomorrow I will finish glazing. I am waiting for some tests to come out of the gas kiln tomorrow to help with some decisions on these sugar jars and a couple of mugs...

I will leave you with a pic of the beautiful sunset in Seagrove this evening. I wish I was a good enough photographer to capture the true beauty, but use your imagination.

convenience or lazy or conveniently lazy?

2012-01-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

That's our pyrometer, conveniently sitting on the phone table next to the sofa. We watched a movie last night and could check the temperature on the gas kiln without having to get up and go outside until adjustments and cone checks. When we are firing a bisque in the electric kiln we place the pyrometer on the kitchen counter so I can cook dinner and keep an eye on the climb.

I am feeling a little disconnected from this firing. Lately I have been doing most of the loading but Jeff did it all this time. He also fired two bisque kilns while I was in Connecticut. I basically came home, glazed my pots and he did the rest.

Yesterday I unloaded the remainder of a bisque kiln and waxed the bottoms of mugs and pasta bowls. It will be back to glazing today. We will most likely fire the gas kiln again next week. I was amazed at how many pots we have made since the holidays... and I thought we had been lazy!

Next is to get all those pots sold!. So far, I have kept up with my plan to stay active on Etsy. Jeff is doing the same and we have had sales in both shops since the first of January. Next on our list is to open yet ANOTHER Etsy shop... it will be a collaborative and will have a theme. I will keep you guessing until I am ready to blog about it.

One last thing... even with the pyrometer so handy the kiln fired to ^11, oops. Most of our glazes get fired to that and more in a wood kiln so we are hoping everything is fine, especially the vessel sink order.

a new toy

2012-01-17T17:19:00.001-05:00

Last week I decided to order a Buddha Board and it arrived today...

If you aren't familiar with the Buddha Board, it's a ceramic board that you can do Sumi brush work on with water. There is no ink involved and when it dries it disappears. Perfect for practicing! I have often used newspaper or craft paper for practicing but this is so much better and not messy so you can use it anywhere.
I have never been great at brush work on pots, mostly due to that hesitation of "this is a one shot deal to get it right". I am hoping with practice, I can lose that hesitation on my pots and my strokes will have a looser look.
The first time I played with one of these was at a small Zen shop in Frederick, Md and my friends had to drag me out of the shop because it had me hooked. Jeff has a nice "how to" sumi brush work book that I am going to revisit and I found some youtube videos as well. The picture above was my first attempt at bamboo after watching a video.
Now I have to drag myself away from my new toy and finish up some glazing. We have to get the gas kiln loaded and fired this week, someone is waiting a an order for two vessel sinks...
VACATION IS OVER!

baby it's cold outside...

2012-01-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was awesome... despite the fact that was 24 degrees outside! Danielle and I started our day with brunch at a little waterfront cafe that is walking distance from her house. We sipped blood orange mimosas while dining on crab cake eggs benedict. Can you think of any better way to wake up on a Sunday? ... 80 degree weather COULD have made it slightly better but we were having too much fun to notice.

After brunch it was off to the Yale district for a girly afternoon of shopping. The Yale campus is beautiful and of course I had a beautiful girl to photograph as well...

Occupy New Haven is still out there despite the frigid temps...

Personally, I would have packed up and headed home as soon as it got close to freezing! Then again, some of these protesters may not have homes to go to anymore.

We finished the day with dinner at a fusion southwestern restaurant called Geronimo where they made our guacamole table side, exactly to our liking. The food was awesome, the margarita's very good. Prior to calling it a night we stopped at 116 Crown for a cocktail, a very trendy little place a few blocks away from Geronimo. The drinks for great, mine was called Four Thieves and was blueberry infused vodka... YUM!
Like any trip, it always goes so quickly. Tonight I will fly back to NC, warmer weather and Jeff, whose company I am missing.

this was my saturday...

2012-01-15T10:59:00.001-05:00

The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk...

the jelly fish tube

meerkats! they were fun

the famous pizza

white clam... yum! (Danielle passed on this one) the roasted pepper & garlic was also very good.

"Monkey" the cat thought the clams smelled wonderful.

Trip to New Haven Ct

2012-01-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

Danielle and Jason moved to New Haven in November for her new job with Pfizer. I had never been to New Haven. They live in the Quinnipiac River Village. It's very quaint and reminds me a lot of Portsmouth, NH except with way more traffic.

This is a shot of the house they live in. They have the second and third floor. The first floor is an art gallery that is rarely open.

We took my "granddog" Bizzy for a walk at the river park this morning. The park is across the street from their home. Bizzy is definitely a busy boxer and needs lots of exercise.

The king of the kingdom is Crisco kitty... my mother would freak if she saw a cat on the kitchen counter. Luckily she doesn't read my blog ;-). Danielle and Jay have two other cats as well. Not surprising since she worked for the animal rescue league for 10+ years.

Talk about a trip back in time... Danielle set up one of the spare bedrooms with her childhood bedroom set, right down to the comforter . I didn't even know she still had it. Jason calls it the princess room and says they need to get a different bed set when his guy friends from NH come to visit.

Last night we stayed in, had a nice dinner and drank too much wine. Today we are heading to the aquarium in Norwalk. Tonight it's pizza from the famous Frank Pepe's!

beads, buttons and more mugs

2012-01-11T16:18:00.001-05:00

It's a dreary rainy day and I am not feeling motivated to do much of anything. I have sort of felt that way all week. My excuse for not getting anything started in clay today is that on Friday morning I am flying to NYC and then spending a long weekend with my daughter in Connecticut. Why start something new when you may not have time to finish it?
When I mentioned to Jeff that I felt we have been rather lazy this week he said, "What about the 50 mugs and 25 goblets we have been working on?". Oh yeah, that's right. We did do that... along with beads & buttons.

These are the last of the mugs that I handled and decorated...

uh-oh... look at that handle on the mug on the right... popped right off! It was too thin and I probably didn't dampen the slip enough.

small buttons and beads...

and these are the mugs that Jeff handled and decorated...

I think he did twice as many as me. This deco takes a little less time and he definitely is faster at pulling handles. If you remember from an earlier post he also threw all the bodies for these mugs... so the truth is out. I have been lazy, not Jeff ;-).

We usually work into the evening, me until 7 or 8 pm, Jeff often until 9 or 10 pm. Tonight we are taking a break and having a date night. After a our monthly Co-op meeting we are going out to dinner and then to see a movie. We haven't been to the movies since we moved here, I think we are overdue!

tired of mugs...

2012-01-09T21:40:00.001-05:00

It was a lazy rainy day and when I finally wandered out to the studio I just couldn't bring myself to finish the last board of mugs. I wrapped them back up and made some pendants to raku fire. My jewelry display is a little thin, so it was time.

I have never sold a pendant on Etsy, they have all sold at shows or here at home. I am going to give it one more shot this winter. I think that there is so much jewelry on Etsy that it is hard to get noticed. There are also a lot of sellers practically giving away ceramic pendants. Another problem I have is taking good photographs of jewelry.

Jeff has been busy making goblets along with all those mugs...

This is an order that we will bisque and ship off to a potter who glazes them and sells them at Renaissance fairs. He usually sends her a few dozen at a time. I still find it odd that potters have other people make their pots. I have learned in the last year that it's more common a practice than I knew. I am not complaining... it's income for us!

working together

2012-01-07T18:41:00.001-05:00

Jeff made a whole bunch of mug bodies the other day and gave them to me to do as I pleased. I decided to brush the bottom halves with white slip and carve my flower design into them. Jeff likes to know how much time it takes to complete things so I set the stop watch on my iPod to see how long it took to draw the flower design and carve it... on average it was about 14 minutes. I am sure Jeff knows how long it takes him to throw the bodies but I didn't time myself on pulling handles (I probably don't want to know!).
The plan is to glaze these with shino inside and to the start of the design on the exterior and either the glossy green or blue glaze below. I didn't think I would enjoy working on collaborative things but have found that I quite enjoy it. We have a stamp with both our symbols for these pieces... when we are old (or dead) and famous, these pots with be highly collectible and will be seen on Antiques Roadshow... the owners will *gasp* at the value and run home to add a rider to their homeowners insurance!! Can you tell I have watched many episodes?

It was a pleasant day in the studio, we had the doors open since it was nearly 70 degrees outside. The warm weather brought in a good number of customers for a January weekend. In between the mugs and the customers, I took advantage of the warm air and rinsed off all the clay covered towels and aprons with the hose. This is a chore I don't usually get done in winter. It felt like a bonus and a good excuse to be outdoors. I could get used to these kind of winters!

back to work

2012-01-06T09:45:00.001-05:00

I was ready for work yesterday after the break on Wednesday. I had a bunch of pasta bowls and one large bowl that were slipped and ready to carve. It was about 50 degrees outside, therefore easy to keep the studio at a good working temperature.

I enjoy carving designs through slip but it can get tedious when you have a dozen bowls and as many tumblers to carve. I broke the work up by finishing the tumblers on Tuesday before our day off. Yesterday I worked on the bowls for about 7 hours straight, until 8:00 pm. I think I have three left to finish today.
When I went to bed last night, I spent the first few hours dreaming those monotonous, repetitive, go nowhere dreams, about carving bowls. Those darn bowls wouldn't leave my head!!! When they finally left I had a strange dream that involved working for a corrupt circus... something about you weren't aloud to perform unless you had an X tattooed on your back... and one of the female trapeze artists performed without the X and she was now in grave danger... I woke up before anything bad happened.
I think I will finish those last few bowls EARLY today and get them out of my head before bedtime.

a potters day off...

2012-01-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

Last week we made a plan to take a day off and head to the city (and I am not talking about Asheboro) for an outing. Yesterday was the day...first off, we headed to the Piedmont Craftsmen Gallery in Winston-Salem. It was our first visit there, nice gallery with lots of ceramics from well known artists. There are craftsmen represented that work in other media as well but of course I always tend to focus on the pottery!
After the gallery we called to check on some stove parts (see yesterday's post) that we ordered from a shop in Greensboro. They thought they might be in by afternoon... no luck there, we will have to go back another day.
After a trip to Costco to stock up on some things, we went to one of our favorite places in Greensboro...
The Super G Mart!
A fun Asian/International market. Their prices on some produce are amazing... limes 7 for a dollar, cilantro 3 bunches for 99 cents... and the BEST deal... a block tofu for 99 cents!
After a trip to the Super G it's time for Jeff's famous Asian inspired tofu stir fry with noodles...

That's mine up there on my favorite stir fry bowl/plate - a 2002 Watershed Salad Day plate by Kim Davy

... and Jeff's on his Hayne Bayless dish. The stir fry was delicious and the handmade pottery makes it taste even better. I usually abandon the chop sticks midway but last night I persevered!

Its back to work for us today. I have plates that need trimming and decorating. It will be a little warmer today so it won't be a struggle to keep warm in the studio.
Happy Thursday!

random pizza photo that was on my camera when I downloaded the stir fry shots

no wonder we wanted tofu last night... look at the sausage on that baby!

brrrrr....

2012-01-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

It's cold in the south this morning... only 25 degrees.

Have no fear, these are not icicles in Seagrove! These were hanging off of my little house on Bow Lake in NH. The picture was taken on January 23, 2010. We had tons of snow that year and I don't miss it a bit. It's supposed to get back up to 60 degrees here by the end of the week.

When we woke up this morning the wood stove was out, despite the fact that I had gotten up at 4:00 am and threw some wood in. It was down to 58 degrees in the cabin, luckily we have a back up propane heater. The stove here is a Vermont Castings from the 80's. Typically they are great stoves and very efficient. I have owned one in the past, although it was a little larger. Unfortunately, we realized that this one is supposed to have a pieces of glass behind the fan shaped detail on the front door. It was gone when we arrived, probably broken long ago. That pane of glass sealed the door and since it is gone, the stove is no longer air tight. That means the stove is no longer efficient and we tend to go through a lot of wood. Last year we researched replacement parts but because of the stove's age those parts are limited and of course the glass is no longer available. The local glass company said to custom cut a piece of high temp glass would be very expensive... Jeff is still thinking about how to remedy the issue...

If it isn't too cold out this little stove gets the cabin up to 80 degrees... but when it's 25 degrees it's working hard!

off to a great start

2012-01-02T21:17:00.002-05:00

I woke up yesterday feeling great and when I stepped outside and felt the warm air, my first thought was, "It's a great day to go for a walk in zoo!". Jeff was still half comatose with sleep but I was able to convince him that this was a good thing.
65 degrees on New Years day is a real treat for a New Hampshire girl. I enjoyed every moment of being outside yesterday. The forest aviary is one of our favorites (next to the chimps, gorillas and baboons).

We enjoy trying to find all the birds that are listed on the boards and are always amazed at the flowers that are in bloom. A walk through the zoo is great exercise and Jeff and I agreed that we need to set aside more time for exercise this year.
Today I managed to get my exercise by stacking a cord of wood that was delivered this afternoon... not as much fun as the zoo, but I really don't mind stacking wood. My shoulders and hands are a little sore and tired tonight, but it's a good tired... one where I know my body got a workout.
...now to just keep it up!
check out Jeff's zoo post here.

Happy New Year to All!

2011-12-31T15:56:00.001-05:00

the last few pots of 2011

2011-12-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

Last year we were in NH for the week between Christmas and New Years so we didn't know what to expect for gallery traffic or sales this week. We have been pleasantly surprised and have enjoyed meeting new people and making a few good sales. We have enjoyed the week with a healthy balance of slacking off and working. Jeff has been making mugs by the dozens and getting his tools organized around his wheel. In between cooking (and eating!) good food, I have finished some carved vases...

I have about a dozen finished and played around a little with the designs. I have sold quite a few of these in the last few weeks.

When the last vase was carved, I got busy throwing some shallow pasta bowls. These will also be slipped and carved. You may recall that the last round of these ended up full of shards from a re-fire explosion in the kiln. Only one survived and it has already found a new home. Today I will throw a few more. I am trying really hard to stick to working in a larger series rather than jumping around to every new idea that comes into my head. Perhaps this is my New Years resolution!

On a final note... I am paying closer attention to my Etsy shop. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I was listing items everyday, my sales increased as did my traffic. I use Google analytics to track my page views. When I list items my traffic is anywhere from 24 to 60 hits a day. I didn't list anything this week until yesterday and my traffic had dropped steadily to only 8 visitors. After yesterday's listing I was back up to 24. If I want to increase my sales this year I know I have to stay on top of it.

I think that may be resolution #2.

the replacement

2011-12-29T01:52:00.001-05:00

Last month I got an e-mail from Apple saying that my first generation iPod nano was being recalled. They said that the battery could over heat and catch on fire and they were going to replace it! The thing was more the five years old and only had a 2g hard drive.

Apple didn't say what they would replace it with... did they have a stockpile of the originals with better batteries that they would send out to the masses? I mailed the old thing back to them and yesterday my replacement arrived...

A new 8g nano, the most current version! My only worry is that it is so darn small that I might lose it...

The iPod on the left was John's and it's 3 years old and that is about the size of my old one... look how tiny the new one is! It does have some cool features... like a pedometer and a clock that you can change the face on...

There are 18 different clock faces including Minnie & Mickey and Kermit the frog! I must say I am impressed that Apple replaced a well used iPod that spent lots of time in clay studios with the newest version and a bigger hard drive. It feels like I got a bonus Christmas present :-).

great minds think alike...

2011-12-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

We had a Daniel Johnston & Kate Waltman Christmas. Jeff gave me one of Kate's casseroles and I presented Jeff with a Daniel vase. A pottery couple gives gifts to each other from another pottery making couple! Inside the casserole were beautiful earrings by Rick Elkin. I am feeling spoiled (and enjoying it!)

Christmas eve was very merry for us... especially after a couple of pomegranate martini's...

It's back to the studio for us today. There are vases waiting to be trimmed, slipped and carved. Maybe I will experiment with some new designs.

tourtière!

2011-12-24T11:35:00.000-05:00

I grew up in a French speaking home, yet never learned to speak the language... I was the headstrong baby and thought my family should stick to English. During dinner, when the conversation switched to French, I was certain everyone was talking about me... I am quite sure I was right!!! I would cover my ears so I didn't have to hear all that babble. My mother said that someday I would regret not learning the language and she is right, as mothers always are.
That little tidbit of info brings me to the subject of this post...

tourtière

It wouldn't be Christmas for me without French Canadian Pork Pie (tourtière). My mother always made a bunch of them for the holidays. Many times she served them as a late supper on Christmas day. After we kids were all grown and gone, she would have a day after Christmas lunch that included pork pies. There was always extra for any of us who wanted to take one home. Over the years there were alway spouses or significant others who weren't as excited about them as we were... I guess if you didn't grow up in a French Canadian home, this combination of spices may not be appealing.

I won't be in NH for the holidays this year so last night I made a pork pie. I thought I would share the recipe with you...

these are the spices you will need

1 tsp. all spice

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

poultry seasoning - I didn't measure, I just shook a bunch in!

salt and pepper, again no measuring :-)

You will also need two 9" pie crusts... make your own or buy the Pillsbury pre-made, which in a pinch aren't bad!

In a saucepan combine 1 to 1.5 pounds of ground pork, 1 medium onion, chopped, the seasonings and about 3 cups of water. Simmer softly until all the liquid is gone - can take up to 2 hours. When the pork was cooked but there was still water I took a taste and added a little more seasonings... I like my pie on the spicy side. This looks really ugly but your home will smell fabulous as it simmers!!!

While that is simmering...

Peel, cut and boil 2 medium potatoes - drain and mash. Again, the potato ratio is adjusted for preference. When the water is gone from the meat add the mashed potatoes and mix well.

Line a 9" pie plate with dough and spoon in the meat filling, cover with the other dough and cut slits into the top. Bake at 350 degrees in the center of oven for about 45 minutes.

yummy!

Serving suggestion...

Cranberry sauce is really good with the pie... vegetables are often whatever was leftover from the big Christmas dinner or a salad. My Dad likes to have green olives with his and many of us like a little ketchup on top... it seems people of Canadian descent really like their ketchup!

Joyeux Noel!

slowing down

2011-12-22T09:45:00.000-05:00

I still have some work in progress in the studio, but Jeff and I have definitely slowed down this week... the pressure is off for a bit. Jeff has been working on his website and we are both still photographing work and building up our Etsy shops.

Yesterday Jeff posted this really cool raku sculpture...

click on the photo and you can see multiple views on Etsy

The other day a customer was admiring it and asking questions about the piece... I overheard Jeff telling her something about "When I was visiting another planet...". Sometimes his imagination really cracks me up!

settling in

2011-12-20T13:10:00.002-05:00

When we unloaded the kiln on Saturday morning I had to leave to work at the Co-Op of Seagrove Potters as soon as we were done. I didn't really get a good look at the pots until the next day.

When I first saw these shino and ash glazed mugs coming out of the kiln I wasn't crazy about them. After handling them, and taking pictures, I have decided that I REALLY like them! Sometimes you need to spend some time with your pots to appreciate their beauty.

The sugar jar pigs are fun and can also double as "salt pigs"... the woman who placed the custom order was very happy.

I like this shot from behind!

These are listed on Etsy, it may be too late for Christmas shipping but isn't it always nice to shop for yourself?!

the rush is over...

2011-12-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

The last pots for Christmas shipping went off to the post office this morning. It's a relief that everything was done in time. Last year we unloaded the kiln the morning before Christmas for a special order pick up. It feels like this year we are ahead!

There has been a long conversation about Etsy on one of LinkedIn's ceramic forums, concerning whether or not it was worth the time spent maintaining a shop there. There were lots of potters who felt it was a waste of their time. This year Jeff and I tried to keep active on Etsy. The site has made some changes to posting that has saved some time. We definitely increased our sales this year and I think we are picking up momentum. Jeff had a really and I mean REALLY good sale this month. All in all we feel it's worth the time. It put money in our pocket that we wouldn't have had if we weren't on Etsy.

We are going to enjoy a slower pace this week. The shopping is done, the tree is up and we are staying in North Carolina for the holidays. Next month I have plans to fly to Connecticut and spend a long weekend with Danielle. She moved to New Haven in November and I am excited to see her new place.
It will be a fun girly weekend... maybe we will take the train into NYC for a day! I will miss seeing her on Christmas, as well as my parents and siblings.

I am ending this post with a couple of random Christmas photos...

My favorite Christmas tree ornament... was my Dad's when he was a little boy in Canada... it was one of a set of three. My sister and one of my brothers each have one. My daughter thinks it's scary! I will be sure she inherits it one day (along with my great grandmother's ugly platter).

When I was little I couldn't wait for this santa to come out of the box and be put in his place of honor under the tree. My parents bought it the year my brother was born (1955). I ended up with it because no one else in the family cared about him. I definitely won't plug him in and leave the house... don't quite trust something electrical that is 56 years old!!!

and the results are in...

2011-12-17T11:14:00.004-05:00

Jeff's been making growlers. The shino glazed one on the right has some nice carbon trapping.

The piggy sugar jars all came out, phew... because one was a special Christmas order. These will also make great salt pigs. I'll get them listed in my Etsy shop this week.

The ash glaze decided to act up on some bowls. Icky bubbles.

Ash glaze over shino. One of the few without bubbles.

Carved vases were all fine... look at the little pig trying to get in on the photo, what a hog!

I am working at the Co-op of Seagrove Potters gallery today and Jeff is at our studio for the kiln opening. All the new pots are outside under the tent and there is a warm fire & hot coffee inside the log cabin gallery. We will start happy hour a little early today with wine and cheese from 3:00 to 6:00. If your in the neighborhood stop in and keep Jeff company... I will be home at 5:00 (and ready for a glass of wine).

Cheers!

flames & firing

2011-12-16T11:01:00.002-05:00

flame out the top peep towards the end of the firing

Peter asked some questions yesterday about burner failure systems...

Not a great picture in the dark but you can see how the wire connects from the baso safety valve to the thermocouple inserted into the burner. John and I had taken the burners to a welder and to retrofit our existing burners to the new safety system. Thermocouples are relatively inexpensive and we keep extras on hand. Safety is important, gas can be a very scary thing!

A quick peek in the kiln this morning and the shino is looking good, can't wait to unload in the morning.

the last firing of 2011

2011-12-15T09:40:00.001-05:00

Last night Jeff and I bricked up the door of the baby gas kiln so that we would be ready to go this morning. I woke up at 6:00 am without even having to set the alarm! I crept down the spiral staircase in the dark and slipped out the back door in my jammies to light the burners. I fed Sophie then crawled back into bed and dozed for a short time. At 8:00 I nudged the burners a bit. All the while, Jeff is snuggled in bed, fast asleep. This routine is so much easier than when I was in NH and I would have to get in the car and drive 4 miles (in my jammies) to light the burners... never mind the fact that this time of year it was really, really cold out! The positive side of that situation was that after the second set of burners were lit on the big NH kiln (4 burners) I had to stay the day to tend to it. That meant there were no distractions (like laundry) and I could make more pots or do some cleaning up. I had no choice but be more active in firing the kiln. Jeff would check on me and give advice. He was usually there when the kiln went into reduction. Jeff was teaching at NHIA back then so I always wanted to be done before he was off to teach. I have been a slacker with this kiln, letting Jeff handle the work of firing. I do most of the loading, which for some reason I really enjoy. My New Year's resolution will be to master firing this little kiln!

I wasn't sure if I had ever shared a picture of our very high tech door bracing system... towards the end of the firing it it hard to keep this door tight, so Jeff came up with this solution. Sort of reminds me of my brother's erector set when we were growing up!

and now for a little advertising...

We are having a very laid back Holiday Opening on Saturday & Sunday. The kiln will be unloaded in the morning and there will be hot coffee in the gallery for morning customers. On Saturday, 3 -6 pm we will be serving wine and cheese. If we are feeling ambitious we may do a raku firing on Friday and that means some new tiles and pendants for the weekend. There are lots of other kiln openings in Seagrove and it will be a perfect way to finish your holiday shopping without the stress of the malls.
Here is a list of potteries that I know are having openings (and there may be more!):

Dean and Martin
Bulldog Pottery
Ben Owen III
Donna Craven
David Stuempfle
Johnston & Gentithes
Chris Luther
Seagrove Stoneware

a present for my sister...

2011-12-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

Not really... she would absolutely hate getting a snake, even a fake one. I have made small snakes and a few other animals- sheep, cats, fish (and pigs of course). I brought a few animals to the last show and sold everyone of them. Money in your pocket can often be inspiration to make more!

When I was done pugging clay the other day, I attached a die with a smaller hole to the pugger and extruded some snake bodies.

I started to hollow some of them out but in the end decided to skip this step on the others. I only dug out a few notches for hanging them on a wall. If I let them dry thoroughly they should be okay.

The texture is white slip applied over a mesh onion bag that I impressed into the soft leather hard body and then peeled off. I have a little touch up work to do on the texture.

One snake is too big to bisque fire in the electric kiln. I may wait for a wood firing opportunity and single fire him. The others should fit in our kilns. I think they would look cool raku fired but also the chances of them breaking would be high... I just might have to take the chance.

Next up...

GECKOS!

3 years...

2011-12-12T11:05:00.000-05:00

It has been three years today since John died. i had a long post written but decided i wouldn't publish it. i think i just needed to write it.

These are photos taken by my brother... he and his wife were on in Tulum, Mexico when they got the news that JZ died...

We all miss you John and hope you are rockin' & rollin' wherever you may be!

the giant fun factory machine

2011-12-09T22:16:00.001-05:00

While the bisque kiln was firing and before we started to glaze, I felt it would be a good time to pug many months of two potter's clay scraps. When I turned the pugmill on it made a horrible sound... I quickly turned it off. Jeff heard the noise and said he hoped it just needed grease.

Seagrove Hardware had lithium grease and in no time I was back to work. Luckily, grease was all it needed. She's an old Bluebird pugmill and I was a little worried!

when all was said and done i pugged about 200 pounds of clay... thankfully my arm didn't fall off.
... I love seeing all this freshly plugged clay, makes me want to get back to throwing pots!

strange visitors

2011-12-05T10:36:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I busy throwing pots in the studio when I heard the gallery door open. I looked up from my wheel and saw a guy in a suit walk in... then two more suits behind him. My first thought was oh no, it's a group spreading the word of their religion, how am I going to get rid of them without being rude? THEN I noticed they all had name tags and I thought detectives? Are they here to question us about something??
I said hello but wasn't too quick to get up from my wheel. They finally wandered down to the studio door and one of them asked if they could come in and watch. That is when they told me who they were...

FUNERAL DIRECTORS!

Our studio is across the street from the Whynot Church. They were there for a funeral and where early, so they decided to come across the street. They watched me throw a couple of bowls and asked lots of questions about firing. They joked about one of them having a crematorium, how hot it got and could they fire pots in it?! The crematorium owner said it gets to about 1800 degrees - I told him he could only do low fire work. :o)
They didn't buy anything but it definitely was the most interesting thing that happened on a slow Sunday afternoon.

on the home stretch

2011-12-04T10:49:00.001-05:00

It's been long days in the studio this week... we have several orders to complete in time for Christmas shipping, which means we need to fire the gas kiln one more time very soon.
I spent the last two days carving flowers through slip, which also means I dreamed about carving through slip as well...

Sometimes dreams can bring new ideas. Last night I dreamed I was carving lino blocks of this flower design to make note cards. I have not done any lino block printing since high school and I woke up sort of excited about the idea. Like I really need one more thing to start experimenting with! While laying in bed contemplating the whole idea, I realized that carving some tiles with this design and raku firing them might work well. That's probably a more realistic endeavor right now.

I know we have been spending a lot of hours in the studio when the dishes start to pile up out there...

and I noticed this morning that I missed a few more cups!

a new twist on pigs

2011-12-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

Sugar jar piggies! I had a request on Etsy for my pig banks turned into sugar jars. Jeff used to make sitting pig banks so I had him throw & alter the bodies, then I added the piggy parts. Next time (if there is a next time!) I will do the bodies as well. They look sort of silly with their big snouts but I think in the end they will be cute. I will probably list them all on Etsy when they are done.
I also had a custom Etsy order for a black and white pig so I finished some banks yesterday as well...

by the end of the day I was tired of looking at pigs.

getting ready for winter

2011-12-01T11:43:00.001-05:00

The back door to the studio was in rough shape. The plywood was delaminating and we spent last winter keeping the draft out around the edges with bubble wrap (potters are creative). Last weekend Jeff's brother John came and installed a new set of double doors...

outside view

inside view - notice the rolled plastic shade above? last year Jeff created that to roll down in front of the door to lessen the draft... we may keep it there for those few extra cold days we may have.

Jeff bought one door at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and the other was purchased new at Lowe's.

Having double doors is handy when we have to move big things in and out. The lever handle will be easy to use with an elbow when carrying ware boards of pots outside to the kiln. All that is left to do is stain the exterior to match the used door and give the inside a coat of paint. They almost seem too pretty to be studio doors! Thank you John for a job well done and thank you Jeff for doing the finishing touches on them this week.

wood fired tumbler... available in my etsy shop

transitions

2011-11-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

the good thing about doing a show and packing up pots from the gallery and some of our display is that it gives you no excuse not to clean and dust. when your gallery is an old log cabin and attached to a pottery studio there is certainly no end to the cob webs and dust. last week we worked hard at dusting, cleaning, touch up painting and installing some more track lighting. thanksgiving night we were done and ready for the "black friday" shoppers.
next on the list was getting photographs taken and get our etsy shops freshened up... i was slacking in that department lately and i think there were cobwebs in there too!

salt glazed oval vase

salt glaze orb/rattle with tulip sgraffito design

traditions

2011-11-26T10:42:00.001-05:00

Jeff and I had a really nice Thanksgiving Day spent with his family. There was a large crowd and with the nice weather we spilled out into the yard and soaked in the sun. Quite a different scenario than my family had in NH... they had 9" of snow and lost power Thanksgiving eve until 6:30 am! Tomorrow Jeff and I will cook a turkey and have a new england style Thanksgiving dinner. I never realized that traditions for T-day were regional... here in the south it seems birds don't get stuffed, you have "dressing" on the side, baked in a pan, then cut into squares. Also, deviled eggs and mac & cheese are common sides. Tomorrow the stuffing will be in the bird and we will have lots of mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash, peas, cranberry sauce and maybe a little green bean casserole. If I was at my Mom's we would probably have creamed pearl onions too. I will make a sweet potato pie for dessert. my Mom always had pumpkin & apple pie but I have become fond of sweet potato (and it's Jeff's fave). We don't really need to make all this food but the holidays are making me miss home a little (just a little and NOT the snow) and this is the ultimate comfort food

...and we won't have to cook again for at least a week.

We were ready for shoppers on Friday morning... we had an "as clean as it can get" log cabin gallery. It was a great start to the weekend with good sales. I hope it continues through the weekend!

making pies

2011-11-23T12:03:00.001-05:00

i am sure lots of people are making pies today

at last!!!!

2011-11-22T09:36:00.001-05:00

we had new and professional business cards printed! it is a two sided card with me on one side and jeff on the other. we have only been talking about it for over a year and this summer i set the goal that we would have them by the Celebration of Seagrove Potters show.
jeff designed them in photoshop and we had them printed by 4over4.com. we are so last minute and thankfully 4over4 is very speedy. we uploaded the file on sunday, had a proof on monday, made one correction and our cards arrived on friday morning... just in time for the start of the show that evening!!
the cost was very reasonable for full color on both sides... around $80 for 1000 cards. check them out
www.4over4.com

Post Celebration Post

2011-11-21T10:22:00.001-05:00

well the show is over... and it was a good one! we had lots of compliments on our booth and we were happy with how the makeover turned out.

this year we sprung for the largest booth size, 10'x20', it was a lot of work to set up and tear down.

the highlight of the weekend was a customer who came to our booth because he looked on the SAPA website, saw our work, and knew he wanted to meet us. he purchased one of my raku wall tiles that we fired friday afternoon. it was one of my favorites and i am happy that it will have a new home in Manhattan!

and now it's time to get our own little log cabin gallery back in shape for the Thanksgiving weekend shoppers... no time for resting until December 24th!

i think we are a little crazy...

2011-11-18T23:37:00.001-05:00

some how we managed to get these wall tiles raku fired in between setting up our booth at the Celebration of Seagrove Potters, meeting with customers about a vessel sink commission and handling last minute ticket sales for the Gala event this evening...
tonight jeff and i took some pics of the tiles that we haven't hung in our booth yet...

we got some great colors and only two cracked pieces... perhaps firing under stress creates good results!
more picture to come...

flour tortillas, hot off the skillet

2011-11-15T13:28:00.001-05:00

i planned to make chicken quesadillas for dinner last night and thought i had everything i needed... chicken, cheese, black beans, corn, flour tortillas... damn! there was only ONE tortilla in the bag. i have always wanted to make flour tortillas but this was really not the time. we have so much going on here with the celebration coming up this weekend.
i did a quick search online and found that most recipes call for lard. now lard is something that i don't keep on hand... i am not a fan of cooking with animal fat! i found a recipe that used vegetable oil and decided to give it a try. most of what i read on line said that without lard the tortillas tend to be dry and not very pliable. the dough mixed up quickly and they were really easy to roll out...

i used my cast iron skillet to cook them... you don't add any oil or butter to the pan...

and the finished product!

absolutely yummy and looking beautiful in my Ron Philbeck plate.
so long story short flour tortillas are easy to make and taste so much better than store bought. i slipped what was left in a ziplock bag and stored them in the fridge.
here is link to the recipe i used (i cut it in half and it made 5 tortillas)
Homemade Flour Tortilla Recipe

even thought i had no trouble rolling them out or folding them up, i just might give them a try with lard since most recipes call for just a small amount...

that's enough about food and blogging for today...
i have pots to glaze and a kiln to load!

fresh from the kiln...

2011-11-14T10:45:00.001-05:00

we unloaded the kiln last night and overall it was a great firing. here are just a few examples...

Jeff's work in the shino/matte green combo

my blue/white slip trail pots

carved vase with shino/gloss green combo... this is so shiny it was hard to photograph

ash glaze... this sort of makes me dizzy

tooth brush holders & cups... i hadn't made these in years

we have another bisque firing in the electric kiln today. we will get one more gas firing along with a raku before the end of the week. i am trying to not get stressed out... i know we are ahead of last year because i have a picture of jeff standing in front of the kiln on November 11, 2010 and the chimney wasn't even done yet!

and the bad news is...

2011-11-12T13:47:00.001-05:00

the big pot's rim blew off in the bisque kiln...

jeff thinks it was a "clay malfunction". you can see how there are some swirls of different colors in there. he made this pot with recycled clay, so it was a mix of everything we have been using over the last year.
it was a clean break and he is going to try re-attaching with sairaset (sp?) bisque firing again and then wood firing it.

the GOOD news is...

we loaded the gas kiln and jeff fired it yesterday while i worked at the Co-op. we will load another bisque kiln today and fire the gas kiln one more time before the show next week. while the gas kiln fires it will be raku time... which i still think of as a play day.

and flowers are still blooming outside the gallery...

happy weekend everybody!

big pot bisque

2011-11-09T21:30:00.002-05:00

today we set one of Jeff's big pots into the electric kiln to be bisque fired. we made a sling out of a drop cloth to carry it and drop it in... Jeff learned this method when he helped Daniel Johnston with the last firing of his large jar project. no pics of the carrying method since it took the two of us to do it, but here is the pot, safe and sound in the kiln...

the pot is a little taller than the kiln, so we use this method for the lid...

a layer of soft brick with ceramic wool in between and the cover from another electric kiln (it's always a good idea to have spare parts on hand!)
tomorrow i should be able to get the gas kiln loaded and ready to be fired by Friday the latest... then one more gas firing along with a raku before the Celebration of Seagrove Potters... i am trying to not be stressed about being ready for this show... i don't know why i am, it's only two days!

a little off track, but shouldn't we all follow our bliss?

2011-11-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

the celebration of seagrove potters is just 10 days away. my goal was to finish up functional work that typically sells well. i loaded the bisque kiln the night before last and we fired it yesterday... while the bisque fires jeff is making lots of bowls for the next bisque. we should fire the gas kiln 2x n the next week... anxiety is building about not having enough work ready, along with both of us being on planning committees for the show...
so while the bisque fires what am i doing?

when jeff came out to the studio he was all excited about how i had spent my time... his response was "looks like we will be doing a raku firing next week!".

i am really drawn to these raku tiles... i like the tension between soft and hard... bricks, gears, screws, sea fans, leaves, and lace.

something tells me they may take over the studio in the next few months...

new digs for the league

2011-11-07T22:05:00.001-05:00

the League of NH Craftsmen (of which i was a juried member until i moved out of state, and of which jeff is STILL a juried member, because he was a member 10+ years) has moved into an uber-cool state of the art new building in downtown Concord, NH. while we were in NH they had their grand opening celebration as well as an exhibition reception for their first show in the new gallery. the exhibition is called "Setting the Standards" and feature work of the craftsmen who jury the new members into the league. jeff is a clay juror and has pots in the show...

jeff's pots have a window view to main street!

another nice feature of this grand new building is that they have gallery space to display their permanent collection. since Ed and Mary Scheier, Otto and Vivika Heino and Gerry Williams, are/were league members, there are some really nice pots in the permanent collection. the lighting was not good for photos, but we did take a couple...

platter by Edwin Scheier

punch bowl set by Otto Heino... wouldn't you love to serve punch in this at your next holiday party?!

i really love Ed Scheier's work, his wife Mary made nice pots too although today i think they look dated... Ed's are timeless and seeing them in person they are even more amazing. the library at the University of NH has an amazing collection of his work on display... and if you have the opportunity, see the Ken Browne video about the Scheier's life... Four Hands One Heart... if you love clay, you won't be disappointed!

chop or signature?

2011-11-05T20:22:00.000-04:00

a woman came in to the gallery today and picked out one of my salt glazed bowls and asked about the signature underneath. i told her that i was michèle and that was my signature. she then asked if i had actually signed it or was it a stamp... i told her that no, it wasn't a stamp, that i had signed the bowl. she thought the handwriting was too perfect for a signature and she only wanted to purchase "signed" pieces... i showed her other pots that just had my "M" chop on them (which is a handmade stamp)... and i proceeded to tell her that on many of my pots i prefer the stamped "M" because it becomes part of the design, but large platters & bowls get the signature (or if i forget to stamp it, it is easier to wet an area and do the signature!).
after she left i thought that i should have told her that my signature was done with my magic pencil that always writes my name perfectly...

i have a whole box of these "magic" pencils and they should last at least another 10 years. i still prefer my simple "M" chop...

one of the things that i don't do is put a date on the pottery i make... if it hangs around too long and people see that it is dated 2009... they wonder what is wrong with it and why haven't you been able to sell it yet? best to forego the whole date thing.

here is the chop that John used on his pots...

a few months after he died i thought i had lost it... i had the container that he kept it in, along with a shell he used to mark pots made with white stoneware, but his chop was gone. i was very distraught (and mad at myself) at the thought of losing it... the floor of the studio we shared in NH was stone and one day i looked down and there it was! i cried tears of joy upon finding it!!!!
i now keep both of our chops in the same container. i like knowing it is there... i think it means more to me than many of the pots i have that he made.

how do you sign your pots and why? i am curious to know.

... and yes, the woman did buy the salt glazed bowl :-)

snoku in New Hampshire

2011-11-04T09:51:00.001-04:00

a few pics from the "snow day" raku workshop at Sally Cornwell's studio in Wolfeboro, NH...

pots by Doug Blum

the workshop was on Sunday, the day after the storm dumped about 2 feet of snow on us... by morning the sun was out and it warmed up into the 40's... there was lots of melting. thankfully, Wolfeboro rarely loses power - we had family and friends scattered around the state who were without power for many days.
it was a great trip but we are glad to be home in Seagrove, NC!

Thrown and Altered

2011-11-01T09:43:00.002-04:00

Jeff taught a Thrown and Altered Workshop at 2 Rivers Ceramic Studio in Newbury, MA on Saturday. Lloyd Hamovit, a fellow NH Potters Guild & League of NH Craftsmen member, recently moved his studio from Amesbury, MA to this location in Newbury. We were envious of his great space... bright, spacious, well equipped, and very organized.
I dropped Jeff off in the morning then went back over the border to NH to have my niece cut & color my hair (it was time to have a professional step in for that!). I returned at the tail end of the workshop so I didn't get many pictures...

Lloyd is a gracious host and extended an invite to stay for chili and beer, which was tempting on a raw rainy day. We were heading to Wolfeboro, NH for the night and snow was in the forecast, so we decided to hit the road. We weren't even to the NH boarder when the rain changed to snow and in no time the road was covered. It was a long, stressful ride back to the '603 pulling a trailer... when we arrived at my sister's house there was a big glass of wine waiting for me.

If you live in the Portsmouth, NH/Newbury, MA area and are looking for wheel throwing or hand building classes, give 2 Rivers Ceramic Studio a call. Lloyd has definitely created a warm and friendly pottery community. We are looking forward to returning in the spring (when the snow has melted!).

For more information about hosting a workshop at your studio/school, contact us at:
jeff@jeffbrownpottery.com

Minnie Mouse says...

2011-10-31T10:37:00.000-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Snowtober in NH

2011-10-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

this is what we woke up to TODAY...

Arianna peeking out at the snow this morning...

deck furniture, Jeff and my sister were out there grilling while it snowed last night...

today Jeff is teaching a raku workshop here in Wolfeboro... i think we should call it snoku.

yikes...

2011-10-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

this is what we drove in last night...

and this is what we woke up to this morning...

it's pretty but i think it is time to head back to North Carolina!

another milestone...

2011-10-27T12:15:00.000-04:00

i hate to admit it but...
starting today i am no longer in my "late forties"... yep, that's right. the big 50.
i am really okay with it and happy to be in NH this week to celebrate with my family. the cool thing is it is also my sister's birthday today and no we aren't twins. she is four years older than me... so a BIG happy birthday to my sister Anita!

the best part of the week was spending time with Danielle. she is entering a really exciting time in her life. she is moving from NH to Connecticut for a new job. she is going to work for Pfizer Animal Health, selling veterinary pharmaceuticals. she has dedicated many years to working for the Animal Rescue League of NH and she felt it was time to move on from the non-profit world. she worked so hard to get this position and i am VERY proud of her.

here we are at Acadia National Park in Maine... early 1980's.

seems like just yesterday she was my little girl!

the gypsy potters are in the '603

2011-10-24T11:28:00.001-04:00

we are off to a great start with our visit to NH. the raku workshop at Hillsboro-Deering High School was a huge success...

the students had some really nice finished pieces...

we had a big family gathering at my brother's house on Saturday and we stayed with my sister's family in Wolfeboro, NH this weekend. Jeff taught another raku workshop on Sunday while i spent the day with my sister and her adorable granddaughter Arianna...

today we head to Bow Lake to stay with our friend Roni. we will have a few days to relax before the next round of workshops next weekend. tonight we will head to nearby Portsmouth, NH so Jeff can play music with his old friends at the Dolphin Striker... looking forward to a good cosmopolitan :-).

the gypsy potters hit the road

2011-10-20T10:20:00.000-04:00

i haven't had much time for blogging. we had a crazy week getting ready to travel to NH. i am writing this quick post in a hotel in PA while i wait for Jeff to get out of the shower! we will arrive in NH this evening and will stay with by brother Paul and his girlfriend Harris at their home in New Ipswich. tomorrow we will be teaching a raku workshop to high school students in Hillsboro, NH.

we fired the gas kiln twice in the last week. we had a re-fire explosion in the first firing that took out too many good pots, at least our collaborative piece for the Celebration gala night auction survived...

we unloaded a portion of the 2nd kiln firing yesterday before we hit the road, everything looked good. as we were driving last night we remembered that last year at this time we went to NH and our kiln back in Seagrove wasn't quite finished yet. the day after we got back home the gas company came and delivered our tank and connected the gas... we will be so much more ready for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters this year!

below is an example of one of the kiln explosion victims...

Jeff's covered jar with ash glaze survived unscathed!

that's all for now, time to hit the road again!

the week in review...

2011-10-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

in between getting the ground hog kiln fired and then unloaded we were shopping for this:

we decided this summer that we really needed a trailer to do shows and workshops... the school bus isn't practical for long distance travel and you have to make sure there is adequate parking everywhere you go. next week we will load the new trailer up and head to NH where Jeff will teach 3 raku workshops and one throwing workshop. the bus is going up for sale very soon... so if you know anyone looking for a really cool school bus, send them my way!

after the trailer purchase was complete we loaded the gas kiln and fired it yesterday...

while the kiln fired we worked on our canvasses for the Potters Palette fundraiser for the NC Pottery Center...

if i had started painting when i picked up my canvas, i would have done a mermaid... since i got a late start i decided to do the fairy portrait.

Jeff's canvas is an abstract of pots and the ground hog kiln.

Jeff is teaching a workshop today and i have mugs out in the studio that are needing some handles... guess i had better get back to work.

and the results are in...

2011-10-13T21:30:00.000-04:00

i finally had the opportunity to take some quick pictures of pots from the ground hog kiln...

i had quite a few spoons in this firing

Jeff's goblets fired beautifully

if you look closely these pigs are branded with the word "bacon" on the sides... they really should say "salt pork"!

slip trailed bowls

see that blob on the left side? baby sh&t looking drips from the kiln ceiling... unfortunately we had a quite a few pots with those ugly blobs. some we will live with, others will go to the shard pile.

take a peek...

2011-10-11T12:43:00.000-04:00

Jeff took these pictures through the salt ports of the kiln, last night. This morning the temperature was at 178 degrees. I opened up the primary air in the front and took a couple of bricks out of the door. It should be cool enough to unload later today and hopefully the rain will let up. More pics to come!

all fired up...

2011-10-09T14:49:00.000-04:00

yesterday we fired the ground hog kiln, at the NC Pottery Center, for the second time. we felt we would get better results firing longer and slower than the last time and jeff had quite a few raw pots in there. we preheated overnight and finished at about 2:00 a.m. this morning...

loading this kiln is the most painful thing. you have to crawl in on your belly to load. thank you jeff for loading the really claustrophobic, back of the kiln!

these are the pots right in front of the firebox... they should be nice and toasty.

Jeff Brown, Rob Buller, and Levi Mahan, stoking the kiln

roaring flames coming out of the chimney... that's the fun part!

ready to add salt... we pour the salt on flat boards that we then use to stoke in the front firebox. we also poured salt through the peeps on the top of the kiln. we used 30 pounds of salt.

we also did some side stoking during this firing, which we didn't do the last time. this was in hopes of getting a higher temperature in the back of the kiln. it was colder than the front last time. it took some time, but we did end up with ^11 down in both the front and the back.

tuesday is unloading day.

dirty laundry...

2011-10-06T20:54:00.000-04:00

there is no way around it. when you are a potter, everything gets covered in clay, including your clothes. we all know that clay in your plumbing is not a good thing. this is one thing i do to prevent that...

this is my pre-wash station behind the studio! i spray the clay off with the hose, let them almost drip dry, then throw the clothes in the washer. i do this with our aprons and shop towels as well. i used to soak towels etc. in a large bucket of water and ring them out, prior to washing. i found that the wringing out and handling the heavy wet stuff was hard on my shoulder, so some time ago i decided on this method.
if our clothes aren't too clay encrusted i will just scrape off any globs before washing and skip this rinsing off step. my washer also has an extra rinse cycle that really helps.
i am curious to hear what other methods readers use to keep their washing machines and plumbing clay free.
illness update: still coughing and blowing my nose, but feeling and sleeping much better... thank you for all your get well soon wishes... despite being under the weather, all my pots are glazed and we are ready to load the ground hog kiln tomorrow. i think the sunshine helped my recovery. i did a lot of the glazing outside and absorbed some good vitamin C & D via the sunshine!

plodding along...

2011-10-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

...as i was walking back to the studio from the mailbox this morning, i noticed that jeff found a new spot to dry some clay in the recycling process... on the bench amidst our "garden pots".

we are getting ready for a salt firing in the ground hog kiln at the NC Potter Center this weekend and aside from losing our kitty, IV, i have been sick with a cold that has knocked me on my ass. jeff has been working until the wee hours of the morning getting pots and orders finished and i have been limping along. thankfully there isn't much glazing involved in a salt firing and i did get a lot done today.

i am experimenting with some Albany slip on these bottle forms. the interiors are temnoku.

our friend Rob, who teaches ceramics and critical thinking at Chowan University here in NC, is coming for the weekend. he is bringing pots and helping us with the firing. we always have fun when Rob is in town and we are looking forward to seeing him!

IV's story

2011-10-03T10:17:00.000-04:00

IV passed away early this morning. She was 19 years old and the last of Jeff's cats that moved with us from NH to NC. She was a real character. She didn't like people and spent most of her time hiding under furniture. If you surprised her she would hiss and run away. When she went to the vet before the big move, they had to wrap her in a towel to give her her vaccines. Forget about an exam, there was no way she was going to let anyone look closely at her!

During the past year her two siblings died. After we lost Frannie in March, IV slowly became friendly. She didn't hide as much, stopped hissing at us, and eventually we could pick her up! We decided that for 19 years she wished she had been an only cat! She even didn't seem to mind my cat Sophie, although Sophie still wanted nothing to do with her. Unfortunately we noticed this summer that IV was getting thin. We switched her to canned food and her appetite picked up... but she was definitely slowing down.

Since last week she wanted to sit with us a lot... and we indulged her.

We will miss you IV... and we were glad you got to be the "only" cat for a few months.

back to production

2011-09-29T20:59:00.000-04:00

the Celebration of Seagrove Potters will be here before we can blink an eye so we have lots to make. i also had a call from a woman who owns a small shop that occasionally buys wholesale from us... she had just sold a small salt glazed plate with the slip and ivy design and the woman who bought it wants 5 more and the shop owner said she would also like to have 10. the timing was perfect because we are firing the ground hog kiln at the pottery center on Oct. 8th. this also meant that i had to stop whatever else i had in the works and get them made.

they were easy to get finished since they are a small dessert or appetizer plate and only about 6" in diameter once fired. on the downside, loading plates in the salt kiln are a pain. we plan to stack them which means they will have wadding marks on the surface, which i happen to like. i can't remember if the one that was sold was stacked this way so hopefully they will be acceptable. i will just keep my fingers crossed.
aside from finishing up some big pots, jeff has been busy with goblets...

the plain ones will be bisque fired and shipped to a potter who does renaissance fairs. she purchases them from jeff then glazes and fires them to sell at her venues. the special ones will go in the salt kiln...

and wine coolers to match...

yummy!

pottery boot camp

2011-09-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

i have been complaining a lot lately that when i throw larger pots they feel bottom heavy. i end up scrapping many of them. jeff decided i should have a pottery boot camp day. i spent the day throwing 5 -6 pounds of clay at a time with suggestions and demos from him throughout.

seems once i get to about 12" tall and go for that final pull, to get the lower half thinned out, i either go a little to far and it crashes or the bottom 1/4 is still too thick. i know i can trim them but i dislike trimming and really want to be able to throw them without the need. as soon as i destroyed one, i scrapped the clay and moved on to another. by 6:30 pm i decided to call it a day... my hands were numb and my shoulder was aching.

and a cold beer was calling my name.

on another note... we had a great weekend with our friend from NH. on Sunday morning we avoided the rain and went to the NC zoo. Roni likes the monkeys as much as i do, so we spent lots of time watching them. i was finally able to see the new baby chimp Nori.

when i was a kid i always dreamed of owning a little chimpanzee like her... she is absolutely beautiful and so much fun to watch.
back to resting my arms for the night and maybe another beer :-)

ant or aunt?

2011-09-23T15:36:00.000-04:00

we are having company from NH this weekend... our good friend Roni Brown. Jeff likes to call her his adopted Ant Roni, (he says Ant, i say Aunt) since they share the same last name. Roni is a potter and we are looking forward to showing her around the 'grove. we told Roni to summon up her pioneer spirit, since she will be spending the next three days in our rustic home.

one of the good things about having a guest for the weekend is that it forces me to really straighten up the log cabin...

my desk hasn't looked this organized in months! i give it about 2 weeks and it will be back to disarray.

and since we have an abundance of apples i decided to splurge and bake a pie...

the best way to bring customers into the shop is to have a pie that is just about ready to come out of the oven... luckily they made a purchase AND the pie was still okay when i got back to the kitchen.

after Jeff collects Roni from the airport in Greensboro, they are headed to the Super G mart to pick up the goods to make a yummy Asian influenced meal tonight. Super G is a cool Asian/International market and it's always an adventure. can't wait to see what they come home with!

Happy Weekend To All!

sometimes pigs just happen...

2011-09-21T10:24:00.000-04:00

they weren't on my list this week but somehow they just appeared.

i am having an "off" month. almost every other night john has been in my dreams. in each dream he is very sick and weak, yet he insists on getting up and walking around. shortly after he died i wanted to dream of him so badly, but it never happened. after a year passed he appeared occasionally but rarely spoke. he was just there.

it was in september when things started to go down hill for john. he was in a lot of pain and nothing seemed to help. this year i don't feel like i spend my days dwelling on those fall days (as i did previous years) but i do think it is affecting my sleep and dreams.

the night before last jeff and i were searching through netflix streaming. jeff came across "What Dreams May Come", an old Robin Williams movie. i had seen it at the theater back in '98 so i knew what it was about... tragedy, death and the afterlife. i should have said "pick something else" but didn't. i ended the night in a mess of tears, crying myself to sleep.

perhaps i needed something to bring grief back to the surface and not keep it buried... healthier in the long run?

i think the pigs weren't on my list but they were on John's...
and that's why they are here.

yard sculptures

2011-09-16T09:38:00.000-04:00

jeff has been working every evening on a new yard sculpture...

these are some of the ones he did last year...

these were beautiful in the spring with the irises in bloom and then the lilies. right now most of our summer flowers are about gone by.

the new sculpture is going to be tall and will hold a large pot inside of it... it should be pretty cool. you may remember that in august i posted some pictures of Mark Ragonese creating sculptures at Mt. Sunapee in NH. Mark taught Jeff how to make these woven privet sculptures.

reflecting on the past, looking towards the future

2011-09-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

i couldn't handle listening to or reading about all the media coverage of 9/11 this weekend. it was hard enough to live through and i am not interested in rehashing it for 24 hours. i turned the radio off in the studio and worked quietly.

our pottery is across the street from a church and late Saturday afternoon i heard lots of happy sounding voices. i went out on the front porch of the gallery to see what was going on...

how sweet... a wedding. it made me smile. this young couple's anniversary is 9/10/11. it should be easy for all to remember.

until 10 years ago i had difficulty remembering the date of my parents anniversary. now i never forget.

it is 9/11/54. yesterday was their 57th wedding anniversary.

the quiet in the studio did lend itself to new ideas...

flowers carved through slip... i have salt glazing in mind for these. i didn't go crazy making a lot, since i want to see some results first... who knows what direction they will lead me to.

work in progress...

2011-09-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

in between talking with credit card processing reps and reading fine print, we managed to get some work done in the studio...

jeff has been working on large pots. he is making these to fit in our gas kiln.

i have been working on platters. half will be the japanese maple leaf design the other have will be slip trailed. we have reserved the ground hog kiln at the pottery center next month, so these will probably be fired then. all of our efforts right now are focused on having great new pots for the Celebration in November.
tonight we are off to the Zoo-to-Do, an annual fundraising event for the NC zoo. it's held outside, in the zoo and it should be a pleasant evening for it... no rain in the forecast! last year we go rained on during dinner, but we still had a great time.

opinions please!

2011-09-07T14:00:00.000-04:00

what a difference a day makes... we woke up to fabulous, dry cool air today. i was motivated right away to get to work. as i was weighing out clay to get started on mugs there was a visitor in the gallery. i say visitor because it wasn't a customer with a wad of money to spend, but a salesman from a credit card processing company.
jeff and i were interested in what he had to say because we have been thinking for a few months about join the ranks of credit card accepting craftsmen. we haven't really lost much business by not accepting cards, but sometimes we wonder if people would spend more if they could use that plastic card in their wallet.
we know if we go the credit card route we want a swiper with the store and go feature for when we are at shows or a wireless swiper.
the salesman today talked a good talk (like any good salesman). he represented EVO. the percentages sounded good, monthly minimums not too bad... the big hang up we have is signing a three year contract. i searched this company online and found some negative reviews. but a lot of times no one ever comes forward to say nice things :-(

my head is now spinning about which direction we should go. i would love some input from readers...
anyone know anything about EVO?
any recommendations of a good company offering a decent price on swipers and low fees?
EVO's pricing is $395 for the store and go swiper (hooks up to a landline for immediate verification or stores the number until you plug it in to a landline) and $595 for a wireless swipe. jeff thought the prices were a little high and i am totally clueless.

wall sconce from the July's salt firing

trying to stay motivated...

2011-09-06T18:05:00.000-04:00

it's so muggy today the air feels thick... it has left me with very little ambition. but we did have a kiln to finish unloading...

unfortunately the bowl in the picture above has a spot of kiln crud in the bottom... it might be saved with a little grinding and re-firing.

some more of our collaborative mugs... Jeff threw the bodies, I handled and decorated them.

I am happy with these bowl & spoon jars. Jeff had a bunch of shino and turquoise bowl in this firing and most need to be re-fired. We have been having problems with iron pops with Highwater's Zella clay. Highwater claims that no one has ever complained about that before (but we know that isn't true!). It's extremely annoying and we have decided we are not going to be using it anymore.

Our inventory was getting low so it is good to have fresh pots for the shelves. next on the list is photographing some work for etsy... I have been an etsy slacker lately. Luckily I have been keeping the Co-op stocked! I hope all of you out in the blogosphere have been more productive than me today, which wouldn't be too hard a feat to attain!

the necklace

2011-09-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

it was Christmas 2007 and John was going through his first round of chemo at Dana-Farber in Boston. he was part of a clinical trial that included erbitux, along with 4 chemo drugs. the treatment made him so sick he spent 10 days in critical care. he came home the week before Christmas. needles to say, not much holiday shopping got done that year.
on Christmas morning John presented me with a turquoise necklace... he had called Gloria who owned the gallery where our pottery studio was located and asked her to make me something special. it was beautiful.

shortly before the move to North Carolina, i realized that i couldn't find the necklace. Jeff was certain that it was somewhere in the house and that it would turn up while we packed or once we unpacked. a year and a half went by and still no necklace.
i was heartbroken.
i looked in every handbag, suitcase pocket and backpack. no necklace. i came to terms that it was gone. maybe left in a hotel room during our multiple trips between north and south.

Jeff and i decided when we did the craft show in NH last month, that we would tent in the yard at our potter friends, Steve and Sue Russell. we pitched the tent together and i unrolled our sleeping bags. the tent has little storage pockets on the interior and as my hand brushed one of them i realized there was something inside. right away i knew what it was.

the necklace.

jeff and i had camped in Franconia Notch in the White Mts. before we moved south... i cried tears of joy when i found it.

don't you love happy endings?

juicy wood fired pots

2011-09-01T11:26:00.000-04:00

these are some my pots that came out of David Stuempfle's wood kiln this week...

button cups made with Laguna B-Mix, i love how the B-Mix fires in wood. these got lots of nice flashing, if i had been there for the loading i would have placed them a little differently so the fronts would have gotten more toasty.

oops... this tumbler fell over onto a button cup. the kiln was firing during the earthquake... perhaps that is when it toppled! maybe i can sell them joined together as 2011 commemorative earthquake cups!

i really liked this one, but the rim cracked :-(

and lastly... Jeff's big pot. i think she is about three feet tall... beautiful!

before and after...

2011-08-30T09:34:00.000-04:00

before...

after...

as we were painting we weren't sure how we were going to like the new colors. once we assembled all the components we were very happy with it. it really brightens up our little gallery. the first road test will be the Celebration of Seagrove Potters in November... if you read the previous post you know that these walls and pedestals are part of our booth.

adding a little color

2011-08-28T10:35:00.000-04:00

last fall after the Celebration of Seagrove Potters, we decided to put a portion of our booth into our gallery so that we have a display area with clean lines. displaying work in a log cabin can be challenging.

we had to dismantle the gallery walls a few weeks ago because we needed the panels to take to the NH show. after spending a week looking at different booths, we decided it was time for a change. the last two days have been spent prepping and painting all the components...

the walls were black and white before... now we are this green and cream color.

the pedestals are two shades of an earthy color... all the colors were from Martha Stewart's "Potters Clay" collection... how fitting is that?! i took this picture in the evening so it is sort of dark.

these are the panels that snap into the Abstracta system... we painted one side the green and the other the cream color. this will give us the option of flipping them to either side so that the shelf will compliment the pots that are on it.

a friend of jeff's, who has retired from the doing shows, offered us some more booth panels (they are hollow core doors). the next time we are in NH we will bring them back with us. we will get them painted in our new colors and then we won't have to disassemble our gallery to go to shows.

today we should get everything reassembled and i will take some after pics.

earthquake victim in Seagrove...

2011-08-25T09:29:00.001-04:00

fortunately he suffered only minor injuries. i was in the house when the earthquake hit and the log cabin was shaking like crazy. i was totally freaked out until i realized that it was probably a quake. when i went out to the studio i found this little kiln god had fallen off the shelf next to my wheel. thankfully he only lost a spike. this is a kiln god that John made during the last year he was working. it means a lot to me to have it in the studio. i was disappointed to see it laying on the floor, but relieved he could be repaired.

the kiln was done firing at David's yesterday afternoon... the unloading will be the middle of next week. Jeff has some big pots in there, i have just a few small pieces. can't wait to see the results.

a sturdier wine cup

2011-08-23T09:37:00.000-04:00

this one will hold up much better for me! i was fondling this cup in David Orser's booth at the fair and he insisted that i have it. it feels so good in my hand. i like David's work a lot, we have some of his plates that get used nearly everyday. His wife, Laurel MacDuffie, makes amazing boxes.

we woke up to very comfortable and cool air this morning... perfect timing for us. Jeff is stoking the wood kiln at David Stuempfle's today (always a hot job!) and i have what seems like tons of clay to pug. i started yesterday afternoon, only to find that the clay in the old bluebird had started to dry and wouldn't budge. Jeff took it apart and we had to dig a fair amount out before we could get it moving. it was a lesson learned... i have to pug more often here in the heat than i did in NH. the pugger stayed unused in my old studio for nearly a year and it never dried out. i always put a wet sponge in the hopper and cover everything in plastic. i just have to look on the bright side... if i pug more often the task won't seem as daunting!

new acquisitions

2011-08-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

it's hard not to do a craft show and not buy or trade for things. we came home with this beautiful hand blown wine glass by Alex Kalish. we were going to get two but i have a bad reputation for breaking glasses... safer to let jeff use this one and i will stick to the cheap glasses or better yet pottery!

just a few more

2011-08-21T11:19:00.000-04:00

i think this is the end of pictures from the fair at Mt. Sunapee...

Lulu Ficther working in her demo booth

Mark Ragonese creating his outdoor sculptures. He is the craftsmen that taught Jeff how to make the stick arbors that he created in front of our gallery and around our tomato plants. Mark spends the week at the fair building sculptures of rocks and sticks, talking about his process with fairgoers as he works.

We ended the week at the fair with the annual NH Potters Guild dinner meeting. This picture was taken by Dick Kaufmann at the site of the guild's community wood kiln in June of 2010. Sitting in the center (holding the cane) is Gerry Williams, long time member and past editor & founder of Studio Potter. It is always fun to get together with the guild and it usually involves great food & wine.

We are almost unpacked from the trip... at least the mountains of laundry are done. I will be happy to be back to making pots this week.

pumpkin season comes early in NH...

2011-08-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

The League of NH Craftsmen's fair has lots of demo booths. A new one this year was Philip Jacobs of Earth & Fire Glass Studio. He has a great set up on a stage. He and his assistant were creating glass pumpkins... they put on quite a show set to reggae music. I wish I had been able to capture it on video, the pictures don't quite do it justice...

When the demo was done people flocked to the hay bales to purchase pumpkins!

a trip to New England isn't complete without...

2011-08-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

LOBSTAH!!!!!!!

Danielle and Jay cooked up a fabulous meal that also included a very spicy and tasty shrimp fra diavolo...

I ate so much i would have liked to lay down on the floor like Bizzy when we were all done!

tonight is our last night in NH. Jeff and I are heading to Portsmouth for "Old School" jam night at the Dolphin Striker... Jeff brought his harps to play along with his old friends and it should be a rockin' good time!

Booth set up

2011-08-13T10:31:00.000-04:00

a few people have asked about our booth set up at Sunapee so i figured i would post some pictures.

the League of NH Craftsmen sends a jury out to score your booth. my understanding is that your booth score dictates how high up on the list you are for choosing your preferred space for the following year. there are also awards given out for the best booths.

sometimes Jeff has done a carpet, some craftsmen have wood floors that they build on site. we wanted to keep it easy this year so we went with the grass.

the booth is set up so that we can walk behind and have storage space, out of view, between us and the booth behind us... it got messier as the days passed so it's a good thing it was out of view!

Jeff has typically left the booth open in the evening. the fair has very good security. many craftsmen cover the front with a tarp at the end of the day but a few people were using this deer netting that you see above. our booth neighbor Jennifer Mitchell gave us a length of it. it really is only meant to stop people from wandering in after hours and knocking things over. we didn't use it every day because we thought it was a pain. every time we got it strung up we realized we forgot something inside!
more pictures of demo booths in upcoming posts. today we are off to run errands and visit a new smokeless wood kiln that was recently built here in NH... happy saturday y'all!

Hello from NH...

2011-08-11T23:33:00.000-04:00

remember me? it's seems like forever since i have blogged! we are done with the Sunapee Craftsmen's Fair and back on Bow Lake where we have both cell phone service and internet access once again. the show was good, we sold lots of pots and most of what is left is going to galleries here in NH. the trailer will be much lighter on the return trip. the next few days we will spend visiting with family and friends and hopefully getting some time to relax.
i have more fair pics to post over the next few days... the best part of the fair was spending Sunday with my daughter Danielle and her guy Jay...

we will get more girl time in on Sunday before we had back to North Carolina. i will also have to admit i have enjoyed a break from the heat. we had some warm days (80 degrees and some humidity) but the last two days have been in the 70's and down to 60 at night.
that's all for now, i think i will put on a hoodie and relax with a glass of wine :-)

another revelation about Southern cooking

2011-08-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

last night i learned something new... country gravy is just a thick white sauce. i had no idea. i knew it was a milk based gravy but i figured there was something else that was added to it! i made this amazing discovery because i purchased an envelope of country gravy mix and made it last night to go with mashed potatoes. when i tasted it i realized that i didn't need to purchase a mix, it would have been simple enough to make from scratch.
during lent, on no meat fridays, my mom used to make a thick white sauce that was served over mashed potatoes with sliced hard boiled eggs. i know it doesn't sound very appetizing, but it was always one of my favorites.
not having had it in probably 30 years, i decided to hard boil an egg today and have it with the leftover mashed potatoes and "country gravy". it was a yummy brunch and my little Ron Philbeck bowl made it taste all the better...

a southern spin on my mom's French-Canadian dish!

another kiln load

2011-07-30T11:14:00.000-04:00

jeff napped on the sofa last night while the bisque kiln was going. he set the alarm on the stove to go off every so often so he could check it. i don't think he got to bed until around 7 am. i was glad to see he had started to un-brick the door of the gas kiln before going to bed, it made it much easier to finish the job this morning.

he is concentrating on the turquoise and shino glaze combo to take to the fair in Sunapee. we are planning to set the booth up with the turquoise together on one side and the wood and salt glazed work on the other.
this week we made the decision to get the largest booth for the Celebration of Seagrove Potter's show in November. it is a double booth and the plan is to divide it in half as well. i guess the NH show will be the test! jeff and i are both all over the place, always trying new things and we know we won't ever stop doing that... but we think that for shows we need to have a more unified look. i think the double booth will let us show the two different types of work that we make but keep the everyday more affordable wares separate from the crunchy, brown, wood and salt glazed forms that we LOVE so much.

we have been having some fun with collaborations while getting ready for this show. jeff threw a bunch of mug bodies and i pulled the handles, slip trailed & glazed them. my blue slip comes out black under the shino and the white gets lost... i will probably stick to the temple white glaze which is pretty much clear.

this baby kiln likes to go to cone 11. jeff thinks the back stack on the bottom was cone 9 this time... i am heading out to unload so i will find out soon enough. we will load this baby up again today and fire it one last time tomorrow.

the results are in...

2011-07-27T18:05:00.000-04:00

overall we had a good firing with nice reduction... most of this kiln was Jeff's pots to take the League fair in NH next week, but i did get a few pots in there...

i am very happy with the slip trailed pots. my daughter's friends had a new baby last week so the plate on the left and mug are gifts for them. i had a few extra plates and decided to finish one for my great niece Arianna as well.
i had an order for a spoon jar to finish... as soon as you say the work "order" glazes start to act up! i fired three spoon jars in the red and shino combo and only one of them was acceptable...

pin holing... ICK! the jars are also not as red as i like them to be, but the buyer thought she wouldn't mind if they were light.

the successful one!

a new blanket...

2011-07-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

for the kiln...

last fall when we built this baby kiln we covered the arch with ceramic fiber that we had on hand. we knew we needed at least another layer but we didn't get around to doing it until this week. we were happy to find a reasonably priced source of fiber from a foundry in nearby Biscoe. jeff also covered it with wire lathe to keep it in place. the NH kiln was covered with a vermiculite mix that was a real pain in the a$$ to remove when we disassembled it.
yesterday was the first firing with the new blanket. we fired in 11 hours, holding it back at the end a little. the temperature was still at 1200 degrees late morning so i would say the fiber is doing its job! i peeked in a little while ago and we have some good looking shinos.

here is the latest pig to hit the Etsy shop...

the pigs seem to sell on Etsy, i shipped a shino pig to a new home yesterday.
time to unload the bisque kiln and get busy glazing, we need to fire the gas kiln again as soon as we get it unloaded.

hanging out at the bee bath

2011-07-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

Jeff shot a little video of the honey bees that have taken over the birdbath in front of the gallery... seems there are more and more coming to swim everyday!

Thursday Treats

2011-07-22T09:12:00.000-04:00

Potter Gary Rith posted a recipe yesterday for raspberry bars. I didn't have raspberries, but I still had some blueberries from Meredith at Whynot Pottery. They were easy to make and delicious! If you don't already read Gary's blog, be sure to check it out... great pots and often some yummy recipes.
Jeff and I have been working right through this heat despite no A/C in the studio. We have to have lots of pots made for the League of NH Craftsman's Fair at the beginning of August. The booth will have only Jeff's pots... I can't be a juried member anymore since moving to NC :-( . Jeff can maintain his status because he has was juried in a gazillion years ago.
Never the less, I am helping him by weighing clay so he can throw 100 mugs & 100 bowls quickly, loading the kilns and glazing. I have had some time to work on some of my own pots as well.

I have continued to play with slip trailing. I enjoy the process, it reminds me of decorating cakes when my girl was little. The unbisqued wares remind me of fondant... they make me want to take a bite!

gas fired pots?

2011-07-19T21:18:00.000-04:00

i know that jeff is the "grill master", but this is a little extreme.

Bird Baths or Bee Baths?

2011-07-18T12:24:00.000-04:00

jeff makes absolutely beautiful birdbaths...

this one is in the garden in front of our studio and gallery...

seems we have more honey bees bathing than birds!!!

temperamental shino... why do i love it so much?

2011-07-17T15:56:00.000-04:00

we unloaded the gas kiln yesterday and while the results were good overall, there was some crawling and pinholes in some of the shino glazed pots. we did notice that two pots that were not made with highwater clay had no issues... hmmmm... that has me wondering. i have 25 lbs. of T3 sheffield clay left in the studio. i think i will throw a couple of tests and fire it with shino and see what happens.
this is an envelope form that i re-fired and it definitely looks better. the before was rather blah and mostly white. it does have some minor crawling on the interior.

all of the little brie bakers are done now...

some of the shino and turquoise ones will sell as seconds... the ones on the right are glazed in Temple White, which is pretty much a clear glaze. it looks good over the blue slip and it is very reliable. it's stable and consistent. on occasion i have re-fired it if it has been in a cold spot and it always recovers nicely.
i am hoping to take pictures with the back drop on the dining room table this week. i want some good shots of the new salt glazed pots. i don't know why i think it's a pain for the set up to be there... it's not like we eat at that table very often!
i hope all you north carolinians are enjoying the wonderful weather we are having... i sure am. it feels like summer in new hampshire... and i just saw on facebook that it is nearly 100 degrees there today. i am sitting on the porch swing and the thermometer says it's 82, not hard to take!

what i have learned about NC in 1 year...

2011-07-13T09:53:00.000-04:00

after living in Seagrove for a few weeks i posted a list of things i had learned during that short time. since it's been one year i copied the list and added a few things at the end (lines with *)...

the bugs here are MUCH bigger than NH

you can't buy liquor in seagrove ... it's a dry town (i wonder what they sell at the convenience stores?)

the night sounds different... almost tropical (i think it is because of those bigger bugs)

the fruit is sweeter and fresher... i am enjoying lots of blueberries and watermelon this week

there is a lot more pork to choose from in the grocery store

it stays light in the evening a wee bit longer (my imagination perhaps?)

everyone is friendlier... even the people that work at walmart.

the pesticide/insecticide section in stores is HUGE (must be because of those big bugs again)

you can buy snake repellant at walmart (i hope i won't ever need it)

they sell pine needles for mulch at garden centers (in NH we have to pay people to take them away)

biscuits are a food group

*church's have a postcard recruiting program

*cashiers at stores hand me my receipt and tell me to have a blessed day

*greens are sold in HUGE packages just before New Years day

*you can ONLY buy wine (no beer or liquor) in the neighboring town of Robbins (now that's odd)

*i am called Ma'am on a regular basis

*moonshine still exists

*banana pudding is still popular (it had a short stint in the north, about 20 years ago)

*sweet tea is the most common beverage

*fried okra is delicious

*i have considered buying snake repellant (see line 9)

*fall is beautiful

*there really is a spring! (unlike NH)

*winter is short (YAY!)

it's been a wonderful year... i do miss my family and friends in NH and i have made lots of new friends here in the Seagrove area.

Life is Good... just like the hats, shirts & stickers say.

pottery modeling...

2011-07-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

i was taking some pictures outside and jeff decided to strike a pose in the window of the gallery... with all that flowing long hair we joked and called him "Fabio Potter"! i think this would make a great promotional shot.
time to get to work, stay cool y'all... it's going to be a scorcher today.

whirlwind weekend

2011-07-11T15:52:00.000-04:00

we consider our anniversary celebration a success... we made some sales, had a great party Saturday night with lots of friends & food and didn't get to bed until 3:00 am. our friend Rob from Virginia came up for the weekend and stayed through until today. we hadn't seen him in a year so we had some catching up to do.
yesterday and today have been spent recovering.

our new salt glazed pots looked great set out under the tent in the front of the gallery...

a big thank you to all who came and helped us to celebrate... everyone has made us feel welcome in this wonderful community of Seagrove. we feel very fortunate to be here.

lil' spoons

2011-07-07T09:45:00.000-04:00

i went through a spoon making phase a few years ago. since we were salt firing i decided to make a few. they are a good size for condiments... also made a couple of spreaders as well. i fired one in the gas kiln with shino glaze, fired on stilts.
pardon the lousy picture, it was taken at night in the studio.

the pots are out!

2011-07-06T08:14:00.000-04:00

last night we unloaded the groundhog kiln...

unfortunately Jeff's big pot cracked. we now have another lawn ornament for the front of the gallery.

i am happy with my teapots and watering cans. most of jeff's smaller vases look great

i have been back to slip trailing. my great niece's personalized birthday bowl broke and i had to make a replacement. when i was done with it i decided to decorated some other greenware that was on my ware rack.

not sure how i feel about the swirly mugs brushed with slip...

David's jugs, packed up and ready to go

this kiln fires in about 8 hours. overall we were happy with the results. of course there will be some re-fires, seems there always are with salt and wood. a few liner glazes look like they didn't get enough reduction. next time we fire, jeff says we will do longer reduction as well as stoke an extra hour after we salt.

we fired the gas kiln here on sunday and today we will unload it... from peaking in we can see that the shinos are looking good!