Kiln #1 unloaded

Jeff arrived with our pots from David's kiln late this afternoon...

 I am really happy with how these lids look "antiqued". These are made with Highwater porcelain 

(P-10)

 Wadding on the lids still need to be ground

 Very happy with the tumblers... I made these over a year ago. Some are regular B-mix, some are B-mix for wood. I actually prefer the regular. 

 Not a great photo, but Jeff's vase is gorgeous. 

 Seed pod rattle

and the first ginkgo cup is fired!

Fred Johnston just called to say he already unloaded his kiln so Jeff is off to get those next. How exiting, new pots from two different kilns in one day! Fred adds a little salt to his kiln and it's a much shorter firing. Jeff's BIG pots were in kiln #2, stay tuned for more photos!

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 :-)

a sturdier wine cup

this one will hold up much better for me! i was fondling this cup in David Orser's booth at the fair and he insisted that i have it. it feels so good in my hand. i like David's work a lot, we have some of his plates that get used nearly everyday. His wife, Laurel MacDuffie, makes amazing boxes.

we woke up to very comfortable and cool air this morning... perfect timing for us. Jeff is stoking the wood kiln at David Stuempfle's today (always a hot job!) and i have what seems like tons of clay to pug. i started yesterday afternoon, only to find that the clay in the old bluebird had started to dry and wouldn't budge. Jeff took it apart and we had to dig a fair amount out before we could get it moving. it was a lesson learned... i have to pug more often here in the heat than i did in NH. the pugger stayed unused in my old studio for nearly a year and it never dried out. i always put a wet sponge in the hopper and cover everything in plastic. i just have to look on the bright side... if i pug more often the task won't seem as daunting!

super-size me!

on our last visit to David Stuempfle's studio it was raining cats and dogs and i was only able to take some interior photos... when we were there on sunday the weather was cooperating.  david makes BIG pots.  david has BIG kilns to fire those pots... 

hey jeff... watcha doin' inside that kiln?!