this and that...

 I have soft spot for little ceramic things...

I adore this small dish. I would use it for an Asian dipping sauce or a catch all on my dresser. I really like little unique pieces like this. I just wish there were more people in the world who felt the same way!  I may have to keep it for myself.

The weather was great today so I took a few photos outdoors. This is one of the soap dishes from the last firing. I can think of a few more uses besides a soap dish, but that was my intent when making it.

Jeff has been busy making vessel sinks...

 I love this one! It's like his bowls only BIG. Someday we will have one in our own bathroom. It's going to get the shino/turquoise glaze combo.

Jeff is working on a sink order right now. This one is a drop in sink with an overflow...

 I thought you may want to see how he creates that on the underside. This sink when finished will be similar to this one:

Jeff also makes disks to fire these sinks on...

So much behind the scenes work!
That's what's been happening around here this week. Tomorrow a friend from NH arrives for the NC Potters Conference. It's always fun to see our New England friends.

Rustic Italian Bread

I discovered a recipe for Rustic Italian bread on a bag of flour last week and decided to give it a try. We had it with soup during the workshop on Saturday, we liked it so much that last night I made it again to enjoy with a hearty beef stew. Yum! The perfect ending to a raw, overcast day.

Rustic Italian Bread

1 cup water heated to 100 - 110 degrees

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pkg. active dry yeast

Cornmeal

1 egg white, beaten

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast; mix well. Add warm water and oil; mix well. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough 10 minutes or until smooth. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place(80-85 degrees) for 30-40 minutes.

Sprinkle ungreased cookie sheet with cornmeal. Punch down dough. Cover dough with inverted bowl and allow to rest on counter for 15 minutes. Shape dough into baguette-shaped loaf about 12 inches long. Place dough on cornmeal-coated cookie sheet.  Cover; let rise in warm place for 35-40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. With sharp knife, make 1 deep lengthwise slash in top of loaf. Brush loaf with egg white. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

I like that this recipe makes one small loaf of bread... with just the two of us we don't need to pig out on that much fresh baked bread!

and speaking of pigs...

I have a few new piggy banks in my Etsy shop, the rosey colored one on the left is a new color. It's our copper red glaze on white stoneware. I had an order for a pig with a pinkish tone, so of course I had to make two. 

a little fun with porcelain...

A little cake decorating influence? 

I had a little fun with porcelain this week and these were two of the results...

Kristen Keiffer meets Maureen Mills!

Not sure about how I will glaze these. Perhaps they will be ladies in waiting for a wood firing. Which would be my preference if I am patient.

The weather was great today. I spent much of it outdoors, preparing and loading pots for a bisque firing. I feel like spring is imminent... I even ordered some new light weight (but hopefully sturdy), studio shoes online today... my getting older feet just can't handle working in flip flops anymore!

Workshop Day

Jeff presented his "Practice Makes Perfect" workshop here at our studio today... aka pottery calisthenics!

Most participants of this workshops say it's the most amount of clay they have every thrown in a day. It's not about having finished pieces, it's about exercising your throwing muscles and developing a fluidity of motion.  

Bill was eager to jump right in after taking a few months off from his weekly pottery class...

Amanda (below) had never thrown pots before and came with her Mom, Robin, who has been taking pottery lessons since last October...

 Look at those cylinders! Great job for her first lesson.

By the end of the day Robin was making taller, narrower cylinders...

We always invite participants to join us for lunch, often homemade soup with fresh baked bread... which was perfect for this raw and rainy day. The students often say that lunch in our cozy cabin is the highlight of the day! They love it's rustic charm and are usually in awe of all the pottery we have in every corner of the house (I wonder if I can convince them to come and dust them every so often?). Then of course there is enjoying a meal together served on handmade dishes. 

A day immersed in clay, learning to make pots, and discovering how using handmade pottery can enrich your everyday life.

Click here for a list of workshops that we are offering over the next few months.

Orphans

I am sure this has happened to many of you. The kiln is unloaded, pots are sanded, priced, and sent out into the world. Often there may be a few that are set aside... glaze too thin or bubbly, a crack, or just something about the piece that makes you say meh. The worst of them get the hammer, the others hang around.

It's those "meh" pieces that I call the kiln orphans. 

Jeff brought this porcelain cup into the house a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know why I had left it abandoned on the shelving near the kiln...

First... I am not crazy about the form, second... I can only handle this peach blossom glaze in small doses and this just seems like too much. After moving this cup around the kitchen counter for two weeks, I finally decided to give it a try. I poured in a little tequila, a squeeze of lime, ice, and cranberry juice. I was pleasantly surprised that cup felt good in my hand, particularly the silkiness of this glaze over porcelain. Maybe she wasn't such a bad little cup... or was it the tequila that influenced my thoughts?!

The other type of orphan is the project or idea you excitedly start and don't complete. Two years ago I made some raku fired lamp bodies. My favorite one cracked in the firing and I lost my excitement. The two other lamps just hung out on the shelves collecting dust. Jeff ordered new lamp parts a couple of weeks ago and he decided to wire one of my raku lamps...

I was totally shocked that I actually like it... and tequila had no influence on my decision! Now of course I want to get into the studio and start cranking out some more lamps to raku. I can only hope that it won't take me two years to finish them.

I was tempted to keep this lamp, but I really don't have a place for it... if you click on the photo it will take you to Etsy, because you or someone you know, just might need a lamp.

How about you? Do you have pots or projects, that hang around for months or (gasp) years? Feel free to comment.

My new obsession

Fresh Spring Rolls!

I love that they are so easy and inexpensive to make. The 12 oz. package of rice wrappers goes a long way and they keep forever in your cupboard. You can fill them with any raw vegetables that you have on hand. These were filled with shredded cabbage, carrots, zucchini, green onion, basil, and cilantro. I also added a little sauteed and chopped up shrimp that had been marinated in teriyaki sauce with garlic. I often squeeze a lime over the veggies before rolling them up. Jeff is in charge of mixing up a dipping sauce, usually some combination of tamari and Asian hot sauces we have in the fridge. I like to think of them as salad in a package!

Last night's dinner was leftover cashew chicken and fried rice that I had made on Sunday. We had eaten all of the spring rolls so the only work I had to do was to put those together. The dumplings in the (Jeff) bowl came from Super G, the Asian market that we like in Greensboro. Someday I will make those at home too. I am sure they would be much better for us!
Thankfully Jeff and I like to cook because we would have to drive to the next town to get anything other than diner/family style food. It also saves us money, we rarely eat out. Finding some ingredients in the nearby markets can be a challenge and we have learned that no matter what you go to Greensboro for, bring a cooler and ice packs and take the time to go to a good grocery store!

P.S. I am finally getting pretty good at using chop sticks... I didn't touch a fork once last night!

photo credits: Jeff Brown

cheesy inspiration

 A couple of weeks ago I saw a simple tutorial on Pinterest about how to make a wedding ring dish. I thought it was clever so I pinned it to my "crafty ideas" board. I don't feel it meets the criteria to be on my ceramics board because I don't think it takes much talent to make these.

I tweaked it some and cut the dishes into heart shapes. I have lots of doilies made by my mother and grandmother and they add a nice lacy texture.

The holes are used for ribbons to be tied on. Some couples use these little dishes for the ring bearer at their wedding ceremony. Jeff teased me about these, asking if I was going to start imprinting cheesy inspirational words on porcelain dishes... you know that whole "live, laugh, love" fad that's been hanging around for a few years... you can even buy inspirational paper towels these days. His teasing led me to think about making some in the vein of Valentine's Day conversation hearts and imprinting them with sarcastic words... boy could I have fun with that!

I used some bowls as a slump mold to get the curve I was looking for. Should I decide to continue with these I will throw some bowls and bisque them for this purpose. I lined these with plastic wrap so that I could get them out of the bowl once they set up. With a bisqued bowl they would set up a little more quickly as well. Today I will slip trail a few with a colorless porcelain slip. I used porcelain for these and my plan is to experiment with some Amoco underglaze on the texture and words and then glaze them in my Temple white. Lori Buff had some nice results with the underglaze and texture, you can check out her results here.

Aside from a little playing this weekend, I did complete a bunch of small pitchers. We will have another load of pots to bisque fire very shortly. Jeff fired the gas kiln yesterday, while I worked at the Co-op gallery in town. I glazed a few pigs in some new colors this time, I'll post some pics as soon as we are cooled down.

A Hot and Spicy V-Day

We are not big celebrators of Valentine's Day but it did seem like a good excuse to make a dinner that was fun and new. I found a couple of recipes on Pinterest that combined all the flavors we love so I decided to go for it. Lime Chipotle Chicken stuffed with jalapeno pepper and wrapped in BACON! The jalapenos are roasted and stuffed with a little cream cheese and cilantro. The rice is very simple, I cooked jasmine rice and as soon as it is done, mix in cilantro pesto. It wasn't the lowest calorie recipe but I liked that it was all made with fresh ingredients... only the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce came from a can. It was flavorful and VERY spicy... to the point that it gave me the occasional hiccups! There were a couple of extra stuffed jalapenos so I broiled them and we had them on the side, along  with a cool broccoli and cabbage salad.

 On the pottery front, I have been making garlic jars and hope to get them finished today. I had never made garlic jars before, I don't know why. John used to make them and they sold pretty quickly. There are also some small pitchers that will be needing handles at some point, hopefully by the end of today. Tomorrow we have a full day of mini pottery lessons scheduled, so there may not be much time for making new work.

There are a couple more spots open in the next "Practice Makes Perfect" Workshop on February 23rd... for more info click HERE.

Feeling Nostalgic on the 14th of February

I am feeling a little nostalgic since it's Valentine's Day. I mailed Danielle a little surprise box but she won't get it until Friday night. She is in Dallas this week for Pfizer's annual convention... here is where I get to brag a little... there was an awards banquet at the convention and she won a trip based on her 2012 sales and for one of her products she was #3 in sales for the U.S.! I am one proud Mom.

I love going through old photos. This is Danielle with two of her cousins in 1992. This photo makes me laugh because there is the glass of chardonay on the table and these kids look like they are having too much fun. The two younger girls are my sister Anita's, l to r - Stephanie, Kayla, Danielle. Alicia must have been napping. The partying must have been too much for her.

Luckily Danielle rarely reads this blog. She absolutely despised this prom hairstyle and would cringe to see it here! I thought the photo was appropriated for Valentine's Day. Danielle and Jason are still together, sweethearts since high school.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A few new pots and a pig

This is one of my favorites from this firing. The shino did everything that I like it to do.

Treasures of the Earth - Opening

Last night the Treasures of the Earth Pottery Sale and Exhibition opened at the Cleveland County Arts Council in Shelby, NC. It's a unique exhibition as the artists set up their own displays and leave them there for the entire month. The reception was well attended, despite the pouring rain. There were quite a few red dots by the end of the night and we felt we were off to good start.

Ron Philbeck's display is across from us. It was nice to see his new pots in person, for more about them click here.

We unloaded the kiln the night before the show. It was a good firing and there was no time to take photos before some of the pots were sanded, priced, and boxed. I have quite a few of the blue and shino flower bowls with handles. What didn't go to the show will get listed on Etsy this weekend.

The square soap dishes came out great. I am using a new wax and was a little worried about the rims.

I had a few ginkgo leaf vases in this firing, I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this one.

It was fun to leave town for the day. Jeff and I have rarely left the home and studio since before the holidays. If you are in or nearby Shelby, NC be sure to stop in at the Cleveland Arts Council to see Treasures of the Earth, info about the show is over there on the right sidebar.

Today it's back to everyday life. We have enough pots glazed to load and fire the kiln again this week.

Vasefinder International 2013

Jeff and I were once again invited to participate in the annual Vasefinder International Exhibition. The awards were announced yesterday and Jeff's vase won an honorable mention! Clicking on the photo will take you to the exhibition. The juror this year was Phil Rogers. I am really happy for Jeff. This is the second time in the last 12 months that a potter he really admires, has chosen his work in a jury process. The other was Jack Troy, who juried Strictly Functional in 2012.

Congratulations Jeff Brown! You are off to a great start for 2013.

Shino Always Comes First...

Anybody that has spent any time with Shino knows that she's the prima dona glaze, and always goes on first. If not she may get angry, blister, and it's not a pretty sight.

Because of her temperament, it means that I often have to do a lot waxing over shino and then applying a second glaze color. I dip these bowls, rim first into the shino, and when dry wax the rims and handles. I don't have to be too concerned with the overlap on the interior of these because the blue gloss glaze won't be affected much by the shino underneath.

The square plates were dipped entirely in shino, then I wipe the glaze out of the interior, leaving traces of the shino behind. I like to leave traces because the green gloss glaze will sometimes get a red blush over shino and I like that variation. I also have to wax the entire rim because it can create carbon trapping and I don't want any weird color variations on these rims. It also means that I won't have to think about which edge I will pour the interior glaze off. I have experimented with carbon trap designs using wax without much luck... but I am sure if I didn't want it to happen it would, so to play it safe... I wax the entire rim.

I am going to let the wax dry overnight. Tomorrow I will finish glazing the interiors and get the kiln loaded. We need to fire on Monday so that we will have some new work for the Treasures of the Earth exhibition in Shelby, NC.
While everyone else is watching the Super Bowl, we will be busy in the studio glazing some "Super Bowls". I hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are!