Another month comes to a close

Jeff took a road trip to Raleigh on Thursday to deliver mugs to Capitol Broadcasting Company. Each employee receives a handmade mug, from a North Carolina potter, as birthday gift. They choose a different potter each year. This year they chose us to make the mugs. They picked one of my designs.

This is a good project for me because I am not a production potter. If I were paid piece work by a pottery I would never make more than minimum wage. I changed up my handles a little, in order to make things go faster. I am still pulling them off the mug, but now I am extruding the lugs. 

I am definitely getting a little faster at throwing them as well.

We don't have to deliver 600 at once but I do plan to get the order done as quickly as possible. So now my nights are filled with dreams of mug making, along with piggy bank production...

And the occasional dreams of painting.

We are still here...

I haven't checked in for awhile. We are still here and working hard for the final push to get to our biggest show of the year next month. Jeff threw fifty mugs the other night. He decided that I would pull the handles on all of the straight sided mugs and he would do the altered mugs. I was very hesitant about putting my handles on his mugs. He wasn't concerned a bit. I tried my best to make them look more like his. In the end they were a combination of the two!

Aside from pottery work, we are really enjoying our land this year. We have quite a few tomato plants that are just starting to give us fruit, and along with the herbs and flowers, we feel like we are super fortunate. Most of our gardening is still happening in the front yard, but Jeff has spent many evenings reclaiming the over grown back acre. Last evening Jeff took me out back to show me the maypops that are blooming out there.

This is a southern climbing vine that I was not familiar with until we moved to this house. It's also known as purple passion flower. It produces a small egg sized fruit... Jeff says it tastes like bubblegum!

Wood Fired Mugs

 The week before Christmas, Jeff helped David Stuempfle fire his anagama wood kiln. We were both able to get a few pots into the kiln. It was a five day firing with the unloading on New Year's Eve day. It seemed it was days before I had the opportunity to spend some time with them.

 These are a throwback to my "button" cups that I was making 6+ plus years ago. They lend themselves much better to this wood kiln than the ginkgo leave carving.

 They are made with Laguna B-mix. If it was B--mix for wood, they wood be a little darker in color.

Overall, I am quite happy with the results. Clicking on the photo above will take you to my Etsy shop, where I will be listing a couple of these over the next few days.

Back to Work

We had to get right back to work as soon as we got home from New Hampshire. There were orders that needed to be fired and thankfully the pots were already bisqued and some were even glazed. After a day of glazing I was exhausted. I thought I was suffering from travel lag, but then the sneezing started. The next day I realized I had a damn summer cold. A big thank you to Jeff for giving me a break and loading the kiln on his own.

Yesterday we unloaded. I was pretty happy with how these mugs turned out. Jeff already claimed one for himself. The rest you will find in my Etsy shop.

And I finally fired a sheep that I made many months ago!

I have been doing light duty for the last few days and I am mostly feeling better. I dislike being under the weather, but at least I have gotten a lot of reading done. I will be back to assembling piggy banks tomorrow.

Catching Up

I am starting to feel like I am catching up on work. Since the last firing was a good one, lots of orders were shipped out. I am also feeling more confident moving forward with new work, knowing that our firings should be more consistent since Jeff has worked the kinks out of the new kiln.

I have been working on a wholesale order that includes lots of mugs. Some in designs that I haven't made in awhile. I enjoyed getting out the slip trailer and making dots. 

And then there were pigs to assemble. Not sure if a making cycle would be complete without the pigs.

Collaborations

Jeff and I collaborated on a mug order last month. All wide bottoms, some with his strap style handles and some with my pulled handles. Like most potters, if you have an order, you make extras!
These two are my handles with watercolor glaze combo and some fun little dots.

Someone special might like one or two for Valentines Days... clicking on the photo will take you to my Etsy shop.

Drippy Glazes

One of the great things about moving is that you have to pack and unpack stuff that has been ignored for some time. We tossed a lot of seconds during the move but also packed a box and labeled it "needs grinding". These drippy ash glaze mugs fell into that category. They only needed a little bit of grinding but it just never happened. Until yesterday, that is. 

I still love this glaze combination of shino and ash. I think I am going to explore it some more in 2016. The down side of it is... grinding bottoms and grinding shelves. 

My NH potter friend, Paul Haigh, shared this joke on facebook this week. I thought some readers might appreciate it:

What's the difference between a potter and a large pizza?

A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Have a great day, and an awesome weekend.

Tea Time

Sophie and her "Uncle" Phil enjoy afternoon tea.

Our "Mug for Moving" campaign continues. If you would like to  help us out AND acquire a wonderful, new, handmade mug... click here:  "MUGS FOR MOVING"

Mugs for Moving

Jeff and I have been in Seagrove, NC for nearly five years. Living and working in these two log cabins has been an adventure that we will always hold near and dear to our hearts. It was never our plan to be in this location permanently. We are renting, and our dream has always been to purchase our own place.

After many years of hard work, and frugal living, we have found that place! We have a contract on house just a mile up the road. It's a perfect in town location with some acreage and a wooded backyard. All of this is both exhilarating and scary at the same time.

For most people moving is hard work and a pain in a$$, but for potters it's that X 100. Once more our gas kiln will have to be dismantled and rebuilt, along with pouring a new pad and building a kiln shed. We almost have it covered but a little help from pottery lovers and collectors will make a huge difference. 

Mug for Moving is our campaign to raise funds to get our studio and kiln moved. We are offering three different mug styles for $25 each. This includes shipping in the US, and if you are in NC, sales tax as well. Mugs will be shipped or available for pickup by fall of this year.

The details are on our newly launched website along with a shopping cart to place your order via Paypal. www.gypsypotters.net

Thank you readers and fellow bloggers for all of your encouragement and support over the years. The blogging community feels like family, even though some of us have never met. Jeff and I realize that times are tight for everyone, if you can't afford a mug perhaps you could share our campaign on Facebook via the handy "share this page" button on the website.

Finally nailing it.

 Jeff has a mug shape that is always a best seller. We often collaborate with this shape for ginkgo carved mug. He throws them, I slip, handle, and carve.

The vessel sink business has really taken off and that has been his focus in recent months. So if wanted mugs in his shape, I had some practice to do. At first I could always tell which were mine and which were his. At last I think I have finally nailed it! 

I could never work at a pottery throwing other potter's designs. It would take me so long to get it down that I would have been fired before I became successful. Jeff on the other hand did it for so many years that he can reproduce most anybodies pots.

Today is a glazing day. It's looking to be gorgeous weather here in Seagrove, and will do our glazing outside. We have been firing the gas kiln most every week. It doesn't take long to fill when there are sinks in each firing.

Yay for New Pots!

 Last night we un-bricked the door to the kiln and took out a few pots. We knew right away it was a good firing. ALL of our orders were PERFECT! This morning I was out there unloading the kiln in my jammies. I was anxious to see how my nuka mugs with underglaze came out. I was pretty happy with the results.

These mugs were underglaze applied to leather hard pots and bisqued (above and below)

Below is underglaze applied to bisque fired mugs. All are glazed with  nuka. 

I did some flowers in blue and green but they pretty much burned out or melted away into the nuka. I think if I want flowers to be blue or green I will have to apply it to greenware. 

 I played around with the new carbon trap shino that Jeff mixed for his workshop a few weeks ago. The stripes are where I applied liquid wax.

 and every firing has to have pigs...

And sometimes we work...

 I really have been getting pottery made in between all the cooking and eating that's been going on around here.

Mugs with stamps. The stamps will get some black (or maybe a color!) underglaze and finished with nuka... at least that's the plan right now. I reserve the right to change my mind.

I am still working towards a raku firing. Quite a few beads and pendants are done. I am planning to incorporate raku beads onto these vases, something I have never done before.

One of these looks very phallic... I am sure you can pick it right out.

This orb took forever to finish. Mostly because I had to keep taking breaks from it. It's the largest one I have made thus far. Now that it's done Jeff said, "Make a BIGGER one!"

Not today, maybe tomorrow.

Balance

After the poor me, I have to make sponge holders rant, I found that I had some time to make just what I wanted to make.

Orbs, rattles, and spoons.

I worked into the evening on Tuesday getting them made and spent part of yesterday afternoon carving them.

I have the opportunity to fire these, along with a few pigs, in a neighbors wood kiln this week.

The rattles sell pretty quickly, especially when wood fired. They are definitely not something that people "need", but after they pick them, hold them, and shake them...
they WANT them.

Yesterday felt like a perfect work balance. I carved the orbs and rattles and also finished an order for flower dotted soup mugs. These are enjoyable to make and don't seem like work. I am not really doing much slip trailing anymore, unless it's for an order. If I had a wood kiln I would do more and probably combine it with carving. Someday we will have that wood kiln. One can never stop dreaming.

loosen up

When i am making mugs to carve, I throw them pretty tight and straight. It makes the surface easier to work on. It's lots more fun to throw a loose mug body. I can just let go and enjoy the process, always keeping in mind that there is a fine line between loose and sloppy. These swirly mugs will be finished with a shino and ash glaze combination.

One week from today Jeff and I will be at Festival in the Park in Charlotte, NC. The info is in the side bar on the right. Crossing our fingers for great weather.

fresh from the kiln

These are a few highlights from this week's firing of the gas kiln...

Jeff made these brandy snifters for a customer. He had never made this shape before and I think he nailed it! I don't think there is a form that Jeff can't throw.

and no firing is complete without some pigs...

Put a lid on it

I really don't care to make lidded containers. I stress too much about whether or not the lids will fit. This year I am forcing myself to just do it. Practice makes perfect, right?

 Jeff wanted me to turn the jars into garlic keepers, but I decided they would just be small jars.

I unloaded the gas kiln yesterday morning, which means I have lots of mugs for our shop, the Co-op of Seagrove Potters, and Etsy! 

renewed love...

I did something this morning that I had not done in years...

I went to work in my pajamas. 

When I first fell in love with clay, I threw pots in my jammies most everyday. Then I would shower, get dressed, and head out to my "real" job. I had to squeeze in every second of clay that I could. The great feeling about this morning is, I didn't head out to the studio because I am under pressure to get work done for the next show, although I should feel that way. I went because the clay was calling me. I was excited to get a board of mugs trimmed and slipped so that I could pull handles later this morning. I believe that taking a three week break from making pots renewed my excitement and love. 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

An army of pigs

I haven't had a whole lot of time for blogging this week. Our good friend Rob was on spring break from his college gig and stayed with us for a few days. In between visiting and cooking up some fun meals, I still had all those piggy banks to finish. It seemed like it took FOREVER. Last night I assembled and glazed piggy banks in my sleep. I woke up feeling like I did a whole night's work... but when I opened the studio door this morning, a whole lot of pig bodies were still waiting for me.

But now they are DONE and there are a few new designs in this herd of swine...

In between the swine there was a mug order to complete.

I think this week may be a little more productive.