Showing posts with label intern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intern. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Summer Help

Jeff and I have been very fortunate to have an intern for the month of July...


Liz Merritt is a senior at East Carolina University. She came to us through a collaboration between the North Carolina Pottery Center and the University. 


 July is always a busy month for us. We are getting ready for the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair, hosting our anniversary open house, and then this year throw in the ongoing "move up the road". All of this has given Liz the opportunity to experience life as a studio potter. It's not just about making pots. There are glazes to mix, ash to sieve, pots to clean, price, pack, or put out for display. Kilns are loaded and fired. She has experienced the successes as well as a few failures... and the problem solving that went into figuring out why. We did yard work together; mowed the lawn, trimmed trees, and weed whacked. If you have a store front, it needs to look good. Just don't look behind the studio. That's where our glazing set up is located, and it's not pretty.

Liz has also learned that country living includes lots of bugs in all varieties, shapes, and sizes.

She has marveled at all of them, and photographed many!

July is winding down and so is her time here. I hope that Jeff and I imparted some of our knowledge onto her as well as insight into the life of studio potters.

See Liz's work at Glaze and Grow




Thursday, July 16, 2015

The Sink Glazing Dance

Yesterday was glazing and loading the gas kiln day. Jeff and I had three sinks to glaze including this monster size one that is big enough to take a bath in...


We are fortunate enough to have an intern from East Carolina University this month. She took photos and a video of the process. It's been great to have an extra set of hands around the studio. You will be hearing more about intern Liz in future posts.


This video is glazing one of the smaller sinks. The big sink was a real pain, and didn't go as smoothly. I probably would have to edit out some of the colorful language in that video to keep the blog's PG rating!

The kiln was loaded by 6:00pm. I bricked up the door while Jeff switched out a burner that was giving us trouble. Our day was done by 7:45 pm. Jeff lit the first burner at 7:00 am this morning. We are hoping to put her to bed by 8 or 9 pm today. We are so anxious to get the studio moved to the new house. It's so much easier to live and work in one location.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Mr. Young is in 'Da House...

and he has been working hard. Robert's been helping us out with mixing glazes and recycling clay. In between, Jeff's been giving him assignments on the wheel. If you are a regular reader, then you know that Robert Young is a ceramics teacher from Guam. He spending a week with us, helping out in the studio and getting an intensive pottery workshop from Jeff.

Yesterday, Jeff had him making bowls using a pointer at the wheel for consistency.


Robert's pots are starting to accumulate!
                                      

This is crunch time for us, we leave for New Hampshire next Wednesday. The League of NH Craftsmen's Fair is a week from tomorrow! We have a kiln to unload and pack today, and the plan is to fire once more tomorrow. Jeff has been putting in extra long days... I think he worked until 2 am this morning.  Robert's been trying to keep pace with him, he will probably be exhausted by the time he heads home.

 Today and tomorrow we are going to take a little time to visit a few potteries. After all, you have to take a break sometime!