And The Door Comes Down...

The pigs are gasping for fresh air!

This firing had a very creative stack. Jeff has a commission for an installation of sixteen, 16" platters, to be installed on a wall in the dining room of a new assisted living facility in Pinehurst. There were twelve in this firing. Flat things are often problematic.

We utilized plate setters to squeeze in smaller items and student pots.

Overall it was a great firing.

There's a whole lot of celebratin' going on...

Jeff un-bricked the door to the kiln this evening and we took a few things out...

Jeff's large textured bowls came out awesome...

The test tiles for nuka and peach blossom look good so pots with those glazes will go in the next firing, which will get loaded on Sunday.

And the BEST news we are celebrating is...

Jeff had a wood fired piece accepted into Strictly Functional! He has been in the show before but missed the deadline the last few years. He was feeling good about getting in, since Jack Troy is the juror this year.

Tomorrow we are celebrating two years in Seagrove and Eck McCanless Pottery is celebrating their one year anniversary. We decided to celebrate together... pottery demonstrations at both shops and food! Eck and his wife, Rhonda, are serving up heavy hors d'oeuvres and then you can wander around the corner to our place for dessert... m&m brownies and blueberry oatmeal bars. Or come see us for dessert FIRST and then head over to Eck McCanless Pottery for lunch (we won't tell your mother).

... and if you come late we'll be on the porch, drinking beer. Help yourself, they'll be in the cooler.

Tuesday at the Pottery

 I picked these in the early afternoon at Whynot Pottery, don't they look delicious?!

Thank you for sharing them Meredith.

Later in the day I unloaded the kiln. Overall it was a good firing. For the first time since building this small gas kiln we decided to put all the pots on one table, count them, and figure out the retail dollar value of each firing. Jz and I had done this with the big gas kiln in NH. It seems since we moved to NC we haven't had the opportunity to do this. It seems so funny to have all the pots fit on one table! When the big kiln was unloaded it seemed we hardly had room to move in the studio once the pots came out.

The plan for tomorrow is to finish pots in progress and then get some photographs of these new one. My Etsy shop is needing some fresh listings.

... but before any of that gets done, those blueberries will calling my name!

kiln unloading

This firing had mixed results. Isn't that always the way when you have orders to fire?

The leaf mugs came out great, the two ash glaze bowls behind them... glaze bubbles. The two pigs behind them are bubbly as well. The blue one was an order. I did two and they both bubbled. The blue ash glaze doesn't even look like it's supposed to. I even placed them in two different locations in the kiln.

This little cup also with ash glaze... just fine,  no bubbling.

Most of the porcelain pieces were fine, aside from one goblet on the top shelf that was under-fired. This Temple white glaze re-fires nicely so the goblet will get a second chance.

Beer mugs were good... I like the green to get a little less reduction but that's just my personal preference. The shino of course loved it.

Jeff's wee little teapots came out just fine... the one on the left is the one that I carved.

Back to making pots today and tonight we will start taking pictures for new Etsy listings.

little by little...

It seems we are picking away at getting this kiln unloaded. Typically I am, "Let me at it, I want to see EVERYTHING right away and while it's still hot".

Jeff took a few photos this afternoon so that I would have something to share here on the blog

I am quite happy with how these plates came out. They are deep and will make nice pasta dishes. It was a pain to glaze the rim and underside shino and the center green. I glazed the shino first (because shino, being the prima dona that she is, always comes first or nasty things happen). When the glaze was dry I waxed over it then poured the green glaze. Tedious, but worth it in the end.

Jeff calls this his "Chorus of Mugs"

I played with this design on a couple of plates and a vase... I have decided to name it "Danielle" after my daughter. It's a girly design and reminds me of her. I'll get a photo of the vase this evening.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the firing...

Tacos on a Kate Goetz, 2004 Watershed Salad Days Plate. This was dinner last night. It looked so pretty and the photo set up was all ready so I set it down and snapped a pic before eating. Jeff and I put a lot of thought into choosing the right dish to dine from each night... one of the joys of owning a great collection of handmade pots.

sketches in clay

I have had this form dancing around in my head for a few weeks now. Since we have been in a glazing cycle, I hadn't touched moist clay in over two weeks. This weekend I decided to throw some slabs and get started on this idea.

I have used sea fans in a number wall pieces as well as some dish forms. Often times they are raku fired and occasionally wood fired. My idea was to take two slabs and join them together to form a vase.

I like how it looks at this angle, when I see it from the front I think it is too wide. Another concern is it's stability.

I am going to work on a few more next month and see where I can go with this form... for now Jeff and I need to make 50+ mugs & cappuccino cups for a coffee shop in Greensboro. The sure money stuff has to come first.

We also have a kiln to unload this afternoon... check back later for an update.