Ta-Da!

This was the only lidded oval that survived the wood firing. The lid on the other one had warped a little in the bisque firing and the wood firing just made it worse. I sort of expected that to happen so I wasn't too disappointed.
Today is a carving day in the studio. I have a bunch of bowls to finish. This week I finally made four dinner plates for my brother and sister-in-law. I say finally, because they are a wedding present and they have been married over a year! They want them to match some pieces they already have so they will be glazed in tenmoku. It was really hard to see those nice big plates and  not carve some flowers or leaves in the center!

P.S. The fire ant bites are starting to heal... I just have the ugliest legs in Seagrove right now. On the bright side, I didn't have nearly as much swelling as my encounter with the little buggers last year.

snips and snails, and puppy dog tails...

I finally got around to completing these today and it seemed to take all day. I think I attached and removed handles three times on each oval. I am not sure I am done with the one on the banding wheel.
Tomorrow I will take another look at it and decide if it needs something else.

The other big news around here is that Jeff took the afternoon off to get his annual, spring haircut...

His hair had gotten so long that his stylist cut off enough to donate to Locks of Love! Donated hair must be 10" in length to qualify. I didn't even realize Jeff's was that long! I read on the website that gray hair won't be used for the organizations purpose (to create hairpieces for children) but will be sold to offset the organizations expenses. I liked his long ponytail but I think this shorter one really rocks!

flash back to the 60's

If you read Gary Rith's blog, you know that he has been doing something called Time Warp Tuesday. I have been going through old photographs these last few months. I cam across this one tonight and since it's Time Warp Tuesday...

That's me... 1964! I have always been a fashionista :-)

and on a more productive note, I have been adding new things to my Etsy shop... the wood fired ovals are finally getting listed.

CCM Pottery Festival

Our last outdoor show of the year is behind us. I am happy to report that it was a good one. The Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival, was well organized, in a nice setting, and brought out a good crowd that was there to buy pottery. The fact that we had a BEAUTIFUL fall day didn't hurt us either. 

The festival started at 10 am and ended at 4 pm... perfect hours. Our booth set up consisted of the EZ-up tent, two covered tables, and our abstracta unit. Easily set up and broken down. I didn't get any photos of our booth or the festival in general because we were too busy wrapping pots! 

The show is open to members of Carolina Claymatters, which we joined about two years ago. We wish we could attend more meetings and hope to in the future.  All who participate in the festival agrees to volunteer to help in some way. It could be as simple as picking up balloons on your way in on the morning of the show, to cleaning up any trash left in the park at the end of the day.  There are of course a core group that does big time volunteer work to organize this show, and to them I send a great big thank you for a job well done! 

Jeff and I enjoyed being involved with the NH Potters Guild (and still are from afar!) and hope that we can forge some new pottery friendships with members of this guild and so far everyone we have met has been warm and welcoming.

My wood fired ovals made their debut at the show yesterday! Jeff helped me get the wads ground off the lids before we left. They got lots of oohs and aahs, but did not sell. I was sort of glad because I think I want to spend a little more time with them.

Remember all those sponge holders I was making last week? I fired half of them and we unloaded the kiln on Friday night before the festival. I sold all but three.  They covered our booth fee, gas, and then some... glad I listened to Jeff.

October is here...

and I am happy to welcome it! September was a really slow sales month for us and I am hoping that things will pick up now. At the end of the month we are heading to New Hampshire with our traveling raku kiln to do a few workshops. One at Hillsboro High School and two more at Sally Cornwall's studio in Wolfeboro. My sister lives in Wolfeboro so we will spend most of the week with her. As I have mentioned before, my sister and I share the same birthday - October 27th, so we will be together to celebrate!

Here we are in '62, on my first birthday and her 5th

On another good note, this piece sold from our gallery yesterday...

When I made this covered dish I wasn't happy with it. I had to really fuss with the lid to get it to fit right. I wasn't going to fire it but Jeff said he liked and thought that I should. Even when it first came out the kiln I wasn't excited about it, but it sort of grew on me. I didn't put it in the gallery until last week and it already has a new home.

I'll leave you with a small ginkgo leaf cup that came out of the wood firing at David Stuempfle's last month...

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 :-)

keeping busy

Friday I decided to clean up my act and throw some porcelain again. I have three lidded boxes in progress. They are so time consuming to make. Throw the pieces, alter and assemble, then add attachments and decorate. Each process requires some drying time in between. Today I completed this one...

 In between I threw a few cups and those were completed yesterday...

Yesterday fellow potter, Kate Waltman stopped in and we talked about throwing standing up. She said when she moved to Seagrove she made the switch. That was my plan but it never happened. She suggested that I give Jeff's throwing area a try while he was gone. So for the last two days I threw a few pots on his wheel...

Why didn't I think of that earlier in the week? It's definitely easier on the back. I had a little trouble with adjusting speed. This wheel is a Brent and I have a newer Shimpo. I also like the free-spinning wheel head on my Shimpo. I think that I am going to make the switch to standing, it's definitely better for your body.

On another note... Jeff was invited to participate in a Korean kick-wheel throwing competition at the festival in MunGyeong. They don't typically ask the international potters to participate, but this year they asked three of them (+/-?) to join in. Jeff was one of the winners... 300,000 won, which is equal to about $260. He said it covered the cost of the gifts he bought to come home with him.

When we Skyped this morning he was exhausted and ready to come home. He has tons of photos and videos. I miss him bunches and can't wait to see him!

living vicariously through Jeff via facebook and skype

Jeff's flight to South Korea went well, we had a delay in communication when he got there... his e-mail to me took about 8 hours to arrive in my mailbox. I had checked his flight online and new it arrived on time so I wasn't too concerned. We were finally able to chat on facebook the night before last, while he was still staying at the airport spa. Yes... the airport has a spa where for only around $25 or $30 dollars you can spend the night, have shower, sauna, etc. It worked out perfectly for him since he arrived in Seoul in the evening and wouldn't be picked up by the festival group until the next day.
I hadn't heard from him since Friday night but tonight we talked on skype for a bit before he had breakfast (they are about 13 hours ahead of us). He is having a great time, the food is awesome, and the opening ceremony of the festival was exciting and a real learning experience. He took some video and I begged him to send some pictures for me to post.
On the home front, my friend Bonnie came to visit for a couple of days and we had fun with clay and an evening of good food, cosmos, and girl talk. We also watched some dvd's about fine craft. It's so nice to have friends that don't get that glazed over look at movies you suggest!

Jeff took the newest camera to S. Korea so I have been updating Etsy with my old Sony - 2.1 megapixel camera! It has actually surprised me. The one thing it sucks at is taking close ups. Even when I switch it to macro, they are blurry. I suppose I could search for the handbook, and get some help but for now I will make do.

Hopefully the next post will be pictures from South Korea!

Wedding cake box

... that is what I decided to call this one

The slip has no color so it will a raised texture only. Jeff called it the wedding cookie box :-)

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!!

two down, one to go...

Last night, after I finished my shift at the  Co-op, I completed two of the ovals with the new covers...

These were not the knobs and handles I had in mind. I used recycled clay to make these. My pugmill is not de-airing and when I tried to twist the clay into the shape I wanted they cracked.  I was starting to get frustrated and after about ten attempts I decided to keep it simple. These were a trial run anyway, so next time I will use a fresh bag of clay.

Below is my favorite Dolan carving tool. I have a few with a slightly bigger, round loop but this is the one I use the most. Once you used Dolan trim & sculpting tools you won't want anything else!

and here is the Jake Johnson mug that Jeff brought home from the NC Potter's Conference...

a beautiful shino with nice carbon trapping. I was up before Jeff this morning so I got first choice of mugs. I enjoyed my coffee and "egg meesh-muffin" along with the Jake mug and my favorite Matt Jones plate.
Today is glazing day, it's going to be a crazy, busy week. More on that later. Happy Sunday!

a new to me technique for covered ovals!

I have always struggled with making covers for my oval or even worse, my wavy oval bakers. Jeff came home from the NC Potters Conference with a technique, demonstrated by Martha Grover, that he said would be helpful to me. Jeff did a demo and then I gave it a try on ovals. I decided to just do a few small ones to work the idea through, later I will move to larger and wavy ones.

After throwing my bottomless cylinder with a gallery, I measured the gallery with calipers and threw a ring that would fit inside. After letting them set under plastic overnight I cut them off the bats, placed the ring inside the cylinder, and squeezed the two, simultaneously into the oval shape. I then put the bottom on the cylinder, I typically throw the bottom slabs on the wheel, but sometimes use a rolled out slab.
Next I used a slab to finish the cover...

I plan to slip and carve the tops of these and add some handles.

I experimented with a wavy top. Still needs some more work, not sure where this one is going yet. It could end up in the scrap bucket!
I was impressed at how well the covers fit. When I used the slumping inside the cylinder technique it was always problematic because when you flip the lid over it fits on the container in reverse... really a pain if it's a wavy oval.
We are enjoying mah-valous weather in Seagrove today and I am writing this post from out on the porch - 5:30 pm and 70 degrees!
Jeff took the plastic cover off of our little winter garden and everything looks healthy and green.

Swiss Chard and broccoli along with some garlic... I can't wait to plant tomatoes!