8th Annual Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Opening

Seagrove, NC

It's a gorgeous Spring day in Seagrove, perfect for touring the potteries. Jeff and I worked hard to get the studio and gallery all spiffy, and we are ready for company. I have pots slipped and ready to carve. If you like watching grass grow, stop in and see the process. I am sure that while you are here you'll find the perfect piece of pottery to take home with you.

Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery

505 E. Main St.

Seagrove, NC 27341

Saturday April 16, 10:00 - 5:00

Sunday April 17, 10:00 - 5:00

Celebration of Spring in Seagrove!

The Celebration of Spring Pottery Studio Tour is my most FAVORITE event of the year! The countryside is green, the flowers are blooming. It's a perfect time to get the spring cleaning done in the gallery, rearrange inventory, and put out new pots.

Happy couple with a new vessel sink for their bathroom remodel

It was super busy day. Barely enough time to eat lunch in shifts. We still have some nice pots available and day two starts tomorrow. If you are in the area, please stop in!

Seagrove Potters Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Opening

April 18 & 19, 2015

1423 NC Hwy 705

Seagrove, NC

Open both days - 10am - 5pm

The Celebration of Spring Studio Tour is my favorite event of the year. The countryside has sprung back to life, the grass is green, the trees are leafing out, and lots of flowers are blooming. It seems that no matter what the weather, there is a good turnout for this event.

Along with our "standards" from the gas kiln, we will have lots of new wood fired pots in the gallery.

If you are a tea or sake lover, Jeff has some real beauties from the last two wood firings.

There are 40+ potters on the tour this year. Many will offer demonstrations, refreshments, and door prizes. I will be working on carving a large ginkgo leaf bowl, and I am thinking Jeff will throw something big on Saturday afternoon. We have tour maps available in our gallery. Round up your friends and family and make Seagrove your destination this weekend!

We Celebrated Spring in Seagrove...

We had a really great turnout for the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour last weekend and lots of pots went to new homes. The weather was absolutely perfect and I am sure that helped bring people out to wander the country roads of Seagrove. We unloaded the kiln on Friday evening. It was great firing. There was only one order that has to be a do-over. It's not scheduled to be shipped until the end of May so we have plenty of time. Here are a few pics of the new pots.

I am loving this celadon on porcelain. It feels so good in in your hands. I had one with a cracked rim so I am keeping that one for me.

I fired four ovals and not a single one cracked... hurray!

There were a few of the mugs with underglaze in this firing. This one is my favorite. It's a wee little mug, about 8oz. The one finger handle, down low, is a first for me. Clicking on the photo will take you to Etsy. I will be adding some of the new pots to the shop over the next few days.

Tomorrow I am flying to New Hampshire to say good bye to my Mom. She is receiving hospice care in the nursing home and they tell us it's just a matter of days before she is gone. I hope that she hangs on until I arrive. We are all very thankful that she hasn't been in pain. My mother has a big family. She is the third oldest of ten kids. Her much younger brothers are taking shifts to stay with her overnight, so that she isn't alone and my Dad can go home and get some rest. I think that's the sweetest thing. 

Burning Stuff Up

This was definitely a week on fire for us. Jeff helped David Stuempfle with his wood firing on Monday, we fired two bisque kilns, the gas kiln, and squeezed in a raku firing yesterday.

Lori Buff, posted on her blog about the raku kiln she recently built. Hers looks so shiny and new compared to our rehabbed electric kiln, turned raku kiln.

The kiln is say "Ohhhh, I am getting hot!

My friend Bonnie came over to fire beads and pendants. She had a lot of beauties and was very happy. I had mostly vases and of course I committed to one matte luster glaze. I hadn't used this glaze in a long time. It seemed thick, so I thinned it down... but alas it was still too thick. There are some nice colors but lots of bubbling. I think I can sand some of these down and save them. On a good note, the area around the kiln is clear of "stuff", the leaves are raked, and we are going to fire again very soon.

I mentioned in my last post that this was a week of changes for us. Jeff was supposed to be headed for South Korea tomorrow morning, The festival in Mungyeong was postponed indefinitely due to the horrific ferry tragedy. The whole country is in a state of mourning and all festivals, concerts, and political events have been cancelled. This will be a bit of a set back for us financially, but we have gotten over the shock of it and are moving on. It's out of our control. It's a different culture and they deal with national tragedies differently than we do in the states.

We also got the news that my mother will not be coming home. She is still in the re-hab facility and will be moved to assisted living in the near future. I have to force myself to call her because I can't stand to hear her sounding so weak. Dad says she sleeps for a good part of the day when he is there. I am thankful that she isn't in pain.

Enough gloom and doom...

Tomorrow is the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour in Seagrove. The weather is going to be great and I am sure there will be lots of people going home with new pots. We'll be here in our studio giving demonstration. The lawn will be mowed and the flowers are blooming!

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

I stepped out the door this morning and was surprised at the warm spring air. The house was chilly and I had turned up the heat, not realizing I probably could have opened a window instead.

This is my favorite time of year in North Carolina. Everything is blooming. Most of the daffodils have gone by but the petite white ones are always a little later. 

 The mahonia is looking pretty cool right now. I had never seen this plant until I moved here.

I unloaded the bisque kiln yesterday and started prepping for today's glaze marathon.
Tomorrow is firing day.

Our schedule is a little off (like that's anything new). We had an unexpected change in plans for the upcoming weeks, but I will leave that to another post.

Back at it

Two weeks away from clay and the skin on my hands has gone all wimpy. After a day of glazing they feel like sandpaper! I spent most of the day brushing on underglaze and wiping it off.

 These porcelain tumblers will be glazed in my Temple white, while the mugs below will be nuka.

I thought I had brought all the mugs into the studio today but noticed when I was heading into the house that I missed a ware board and a half that was on a higher shelf next to bisque kiln. I am sort of relieved that I had more pots made than I thought I had. We have galleries needing work, a small show next month, along with the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour. I am on my own for the studio tour... Jeff received his invitation to go back to Korea in April. The dates coincide with the Celebration event this year. It seems we haven't been seeing much of each other lately! What's the old saying... absence makes the heart grow fonder?  Jeff will be back from his three day teaching gig shortly and I plan to cook him dinner and we will have a relaxing evening with (hopefully) no work needing to be done.