Events for Pottery Lovers

It's been a busy week here at 505 E Main St. We are packed and ready to head for the opening of "Treasures of the Earth" in Shelby, NC. Each year, the Cleveland County Arts Council hosts this show of local and regional potters. This year there will be 28 of us participating. The opening is at 5:30 this evening. If you are in the area stop in, visit with the artists, enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres, while adding to your pottery collection.

Can you believe it's Valentine's Day this weekend? I feel like Christmas was just last week. To celebrate the day of LOVE, we will be offering some sweet treats this weekend. 

All the info for both of these events are in the sidebar of the blog. Right over there on the right.

Have a great day!

"Treasures of the Earth"

Jeff and I are headed to Shelby, NC this afternoon. The annual "Treasures of the Earth" pottery show and sale opens tonight. If you are in the area stop in at Cleveland County Arts Council, see the show and buy some new pots for your collection. The exhibition runs through March 5, 2015.

It's been a super busy week for us. I have spent time traveling back and forth from the bank and attorney's office... which means we are getting closer to purchasing a new place! It is starting to seem a little more real. Keep sending good energy our way! Tuesday afternoon we drove to NC State in Raleigh to give a presentation and demo to the Triangle Potters Guild. Jeff demonstrated some of his throwing and altering techniques, while I did some sgraffito... which is sort of like watching grass grow. The guild has a great group of members and we really enjoyed the evening.

As soon as I can take a breath I will try and catch up on reading my fellow bloggers posts. I hope everyone is having a great week.

Three (not so little) Pigs

It's crunch time around here. We had orders that needed to be done and the cold weather put us behind a few days. It isn't that we won't fire in cold weather, after all, I am from New Hampshire, and I am accustomed to firing in snow and frigid temps!  The cold here in the south kept us dealing with frozen pipes and all that jazz... this cabin that we live in was not designed for below freezing temperatures. 

Since I had escaped Seagrove to attend the workshop in Charlotte, Jeff was left to load the kiln and fire it on Sunday. I glazed most of my pots before I left. We had a really fun order that needed to be shipped this week....

Piggy Jars in graduated sizes!

The smallest is the standard salt pig and the other two are one and two quarts. I love it that someone is so fond of pigs that they want a litter of them sitting on their counter!

Tomorrow we are off to Shelby, NC to set up our display for the "Treasures of the Earth" exhibition and sale. The show runs for a month. If you are in the area be sure to stop in at the Cleveland County Arts Council. Reception is tomorrow evening, 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

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.

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!

"Treasures of the Earth"

Jeff and I have been invited to participate in "Treasures of the Earth" pottery show and sale, happening next month. The show is at the Cleveland County Arts Council, 111 S. Washington St., Shelby, NC.
If you live in the area I hope you get the opportunity to get out and see the show. Jeff and I plan to attend the opening reception on February 7th.