Wood firing!

Patience has paid off for me. 

I made these covered ovals back in May and really wanted to wood fire them. I was anxious to see them finished but I resisted glazing and firing them in the gas kiln. Next week I will have the opportunity to fire them in David Stuempfle's wood kiln. The tumblers behind them will also be going in. I threw the tumblers a year ago when I was doing demonstrations for the NH Potters Guild at the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. A company in Vermont donates the clay and last year a good bunch of it was Laguna B-mix for wood. These should come out nice and toasty. The ovals are Highwater P-10... I am not sure exactly what these will look like, but most likely not as toasty as the B-mix. Jeff has a gigantic pot to fire.


The temperatures have been cooler here, but the humidity has been, in my opinion, oppressive. The lawn needed mowing (again) and last night there was a nice breeze so I decided to tackle it.
After the mowing Jeff and I had a nice cool treat...

Carolina Brewery - Oatmeal Porter. We had to go to Greensboro the other day to pick up a cup we purchased from the By Example show at Green Hill Center for the Arts. While there we took advantage of our time and did what we call "good grocery shopping". There is a new Whole Foods in Greensboro and they carry Carolina Brewery beer. Since we don't even have a grocery store in Seagrove, and the ones in nearby Asheboro don't have a great selection, we consider an afternoon of grocery shopping in Greensboro a great day out!

and the beer tasted even better in our Samantha Henneke and Mark Hewitt tumblers :-)

working in porcelain

Last week we finally bit the bullet and bought another ton of clay from StarWorks. The last few weeks we were mostly using our recycled clay, which is fine, but we need to make pots for raku and there may be too much zella clay in the mix for that purpose. I have been itching for Laguna B-mix these last few months but the B-mix from a supplier near here is more than I want to pay. It was time to try something new so I told Jeff to get 50lbs of a Highwater porcelain for me to try out. . He came home with P-10. 

I started out throwing some mugs, tumblers and small vases. Then gave a couple of other forms a go.  I like the way it throws, it stands up well.

This is a small cupcake stand... it's a trial run for a cake stand. I have made many in the past and have had big issues with warping. I decided to try this method. I should have choked in the middle of the stand more so that it would have a more elegant shape. Next time!

I was surprised how easily I was able to assemble a lidded oval box using porcelain. It was easier to get rid of the "assembly seam" on the top and bottom. I mixed up some porcelain slip and tomorrow I will do a slip trail deco on both the cupcake stand and the box. There is no color in the slip so it will create a raised decoration only. I am thinking about glazing these in Temple white and maybe some sprayed on accent glaze.

The ideal situation for me would be to set up a wheel and tools and use it only for porcelain. I had to clean my wheel and tools before making the switch yesterday. It's either that or make the switch to porcelain only... I don't think I am ready to give up stoneware just yet!!

mmm... creamy, smooth & rich

monday afternoon i picked up 500 pounds of clay from a small supplier in york maine. i usually order from sheffield pottery supply in massachusetts but i really only wanted some porcelain and didn't want to pay for shipping. this supplier carries miller so i came home with their b-mix. i have used miller stoneware before and liked it... but i have to say i LOVE how the b-mix throws! i threw some pitchers and a small bottle - can't wait to get back to the studio today and get some more work done. i think i am FINALLY out of my rut!!!

... no pottery pictures today but i will leave you with a silly one from dinner last month at mark and tom's house...

jeff, bryce & me...bryce is mark and tom's very famous & popular house guest

...you never know where he will turn up!