Southern Pines in Autumn

Jeff and I drove to Southern Pines today and packed up our show at the Campbell House Gallery. We were very happy with the positive responses to our work and the sales that backed it up.

While Jeff went back into the gallery for one final sweep, I snapped some photos of the surrounding gardens.

 It's truly an amazing setting that epitomizes the beauty of North Carolina.

I am not sure if I like the magnolia blossoms best, or the seed pods that come in Autumn...

I always say that I wish I could hang on to fall and make it last for 12 months, but then it wouldn't be so special would it?

Southern Gals

Happy Monday Y'all!

Childress Vineyards

As I am looking through the photos that I took during the short time Danielle was here, I can't believe how much we squeezed in. Last Sunday we didn't have any plans and at the last minute decided to take a drive to Lexington, NC and tour Childress Vineyards.

The weather was perfect, and the vineyard is beautiful.

We took the tour, then did a tasting at the bar...

after that it was time for lunch on the lawn, accompanied by piano music. Most weekends they have live music in the afternoon.

 We were back home by 6:00 pm, just in time to enjoy a Cilantro Rita martini on the porch.

Danielle and I really needed this time together after the long winter and the pain of losing my mother, her memere.

Happy Easter!

What is more cheery than a big bowl filled with Easter eggs and CANDY?
I needed something to lift my spirits. So what did I do? Like a crazy woman, I went to Walmart (of all places) at 5:00 pm on the Saturday before Easter.
The place was a zoo.
But I accomplished my mission fairly quickly and came home with Easter goodies and eggs to dye. Even bought a bag of that tacky plastic grass... in pink because it goes nicely with the Natalie Blake bowl. Are you familiar with Natalie Blake's work? This bowl is good example of how an artist's work evolves. She now is primarily a tile maker, and a damn good one! Check out her work here.
I hope you all spend this Easter Sunday doing exactly what you want to do.

Santa's Elves

That's what we have been feeling like! Our kitchen has been transformed to a packing and shipping station...

We have sent packages of pottery all over the United States and Canada these last few weeks. We met our Etsy goals for the year and plan on building on this momentum through 2014!

Our gallery is decorated for Christmas but our house is not.

We closed early last Sunday and went to the local guy selling trees, only to find out they are closed on Sunday. The week was hectic and we never got back there. Chances are there are no more trees. We will make do with my little stick of a fake tree.

As you can see it has worked just fine in the past. Even Sophie didn't seem to mind it. Jeff said he actually knows where it is in the storage room! So tonight I will take my Halloween runner off of the hutch in the kitchen, and put the stuffed dog, dressed as a  turkey, away. Then we will dig out the little tree and decorate it in all of about 15 minutes. Like the Who's in Whoville, we know Christmas will come, even without the horns and bamboozles... or a real tree.

Back to work...

Saturday is the Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival (info on the right sidebar) and I was worried that we wouldn't have a good selection of pots to bring to the show. After all, I lost more than a week nursing this painful shoulder. Once we started to glaze I realized I was worrying for nothing. That seems to be how it goes with most worries. Loading the kiln was a little slower than usual. I couldn't reach in and set the back stack of shelves. I placed the pots on the shef and called on Jeff to set the shelf. The front stack wasn't a problem. No reaching to stack those, and could manage it on my own. By 6:30 pm my shoulder told me to quit and I made the 12+ mile trip to the grocery store. When I returned and went out to take a photo of the kiln, Jeff had the door bricked half way. I think he moves a lot quicker than me these days!

If you are in the Charlotte, NC area, come on out to the CCM Pottery Festival. The weather is looking good, the location is great, and there will be 60 potters at this year's festival.

Studio Potter - December 1997

I have a collection of Studio Potter magazines, stored in plastic bins. Every so often I reach in and randomly take one out to read. Last month my random choice featured Seagrove potteries in 1997...

 Jugtown

 Dover Pottery

 David Stuempfle

 Westmore Pottery

 Neolia Cole (Sanford, NC)

Ben Owen

July Firing #2

We actually finished loading the kiln and I bricked up the door before it was dark last night! Jeff lit the first burner this morning at around 7:30, so we will be finished early today as well. This is firing #2 for July.  These two firings, along with the wood firing in June, means we will have a nice selection of pots for our anniversary celebration this coming weekend. Once again this will be a joint celebration with Eck McCanless Pottery. Eck is celebrating the second anniversary of his shop in Seagrove. Our shops are less than a mile from each other. Visitors at each shop will be able to see demonstrations, purchase new pots, and enjoy some tasty summertime foods. Eck is planning to get out his guitar and play some tunes in the late afternoon. The details about the weekend are on the right sidebar, here on the blog.
I can't believe that Jeff and I have been in Seagrove for three years already...time flies when you're having fun and working hard.

coasting along...

Jeff has been making stoneware coasters for years. We have been out of them for some time and decided that since they are good sellers we should take lots of them to the League of NH Craftsmen's show at the end of the month. I have never made them and this week Jeff showed me his technique. He doesn't use bats and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get them off the wheel without distorting them but after watching him do a couple, I got the hang of it. Not using bats saves a lot of room when you have to make a hundred of something!

The league show is just Jeff's work, but I can do a certain percentage of the work. He is adding his  texture to most of these coasters. That is the time consuming part of the process.

We will also keep some simple, with a swirl design in the center and many will be ready for our anniversary celebration on Saturday, July 20th.
...of course now I am thinking, wouldn't it be cool if I slipped some of these and carved some leaves and flowers into the surface?

Beautiful Light

It's times like these that I wish I had a better camera and knew more about photography.

The light this evening, as the sun was setting during a rain storm, was absolutely stunning.

My camera doesn't do it justice, but I went ahead and snapped some pics around the studio and gallery.

 The big news of the day is that Jeff cut the rest of his hair off! He had 12" lopped before the S. Korea trip, and today he went short...

If your are on FB you already know this, because it's been decided that this haircut will be the new trend. :-)
Last week I had about 6" cut off of mine... does this mean our hippy days are over?

nah... I don't think so. We still own a school bus.

FIRE...

ANTS, not wood firing or raku, unfortunately.
Once again I had an encounter with the f@#;'n buggers. Last year I had just a couple of small bites while mowing the lawn. My foot swelled up after a day or two and I was miserable. Meredith, over at Whynot Pottery, told me to be careful if I was bit again. She has seen reactions get worse after a second incidence. She told me she has an Epi-pen if I ever need it.
Yesterday, I stepped right into a nest to cut some flowers. I was COVERED in ants, almost up to my knees! I ran to the water faucet, tore of my shoes and socks and quickly rinsed them off. I was a little freaked out. Considering how many ants were on me the bites were minimal... maybe a dozen total. I had some benadryl spray and luckily did not need to run to Whynot for an injection! Last night they were mighty itchy and tingly, and this morning a little swollen. Looks like I will live to suffer through the healing process.

While on the subject of fire. Look at this gnarly mug from the wood kiln...

I didn't see this get unloaded, but my guess is it was on the shelf that collapsed, and it ended up in the fire box. No amount of grinding or sanding will make that rim comfortable to drink from!

My Buddha, by Terry Childress

I am in love with this Buddha head. It was created by Terry Childress, and I acquired him at the Clay on Fire Art Festival on Saturday. I first fell in love with Terry's Buddha's during last year's festival. I wanted one in the worst way, but just couldn't afford it.

This year I came home with one.

I can't tell you how many times I have rubbed his head. He is so peaceful and fills me with tranquility. This Buddha holds a place of honor in my little shrine.

glazing for a wood firing

I know I have said this MANY times before, glazing is my least favorite part of the pottery process. I dislike the mess as well as how the skin on my hands feel after a few days of getting the job done.

This week we are getting ready to wood fire with our friend Ouida in Carthage, NC. Glazing for a wood firing is so much easier. Most pieces only get a liner glaze, and lots of things don't get glazed at all. I yearn for the day when we can have a wood kiln at our own studio.

The bisque load in the gas kiln is cooling and I will spend another day glazing. We moved our glaze operation outside, which gives us more room, fresh air, and sunshine.

Electrical update: electrician #2 is coming today... hopefully this one can solve the wiring problems and then we can trouble shoot the electric kiln.

Firing Solo!

The Treasures of the Earth Show in Shelby, NC ended yesterday and to make the best use of our time Jeff drove up there today to pack up our display while I stayed home and fired the kiln. You may remember that Jeff typically fires the gas kiln. I often make adjustments when he asks me too but basically, he is in charge. Since moving to Seagrove I haven't fired this little kiln from start to finish on my own. I swore I was going to learn this kiln and it is so easy to put off when there is someone else there to do.

Today I had to do it out of necessity!

I didn't have any trouble keeping the temperature rising to 200 degrees per hour, it seems like I struggled with that in my big kiln in NH. It either went too fast or too slow.

 View through the passive damper when I put her into reduction

View through the damper

My test mugs are in this kiln as well one of Jeff's vessels sinks, glazed in shino. It's an order... I guess he trusts me with the firing! We will probably be done about 10:30 tonight, unload late Sunday or Monday morning.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!!!!

Rustic Italian Bread

I discovered a recipe for Rustic Italian bread on a bag of flour last week and decided to give it a try. We had it with soup during the workshop on Saturday, we liked it so much that last night I made it again to enjoy with a hearty beef stew. Yum! The perfect ending to a raw, overcast day.

Rustic Italian Bread

1 cup water heated to 100 - 110 degrees

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pkg. active dry yeast

Cornmeal

1 egg white, beaten

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast; mix well. Add warm water and oil; mix well. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough 10 minutes or until smooth. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place(80-85 degrees) for 30-40 minutes.

Sprinkle ungreased cookie sheet with cornmeal. Punch down dough. Cover dough with inverted bowl and allow to rest on counter for 15 minutes. Shape dough into baguette-shaped loaf about 12 inches long. Place dough on cornmeal-coated cookie sheet.  Cover; let rise in warm place for 35-40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. With sharp knife, make 1 deep lengthwise slash in top of loaf. Brush loaf with egg white. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

I like that this recipe makes one small loaf of bread... with just the two of us we don't need to pig out on that much fresh baked bread!

and speaking of pigs...

I have a few new piggy banks in my Etsy shop, the rosey colored one on the left is a new color. It's our copper red glaze on white stoneware. I had an order for a pig with a pinkish tone, so of course I had to make two. 

A few new pots and a pig

This is one of my favorites from this firing. The shino did everything that I like it to do.

Vasefinder International 2013

Jeff and I were once again invited to participate in the annual Vasefinder International Exhibition. The awards were announced yesterday and Jeff's vase won an honorable mention! Clicking on the photo will take you to the exhibition. The juror this year was Phil Rogers. I am really happy for Jeff. This is the second time in the last 12 months that a potter he really admires, has chosen his work in a jury process. The other was Jack Troy, who juried Strictly Functional in 2012.

Congratulations Jeff Brown! You are off to a great start for 2013.

Trying out new stuff

I have always been intrigued by ring jugs. I think it's the mystery of figuring out how they are made when you first see them. The other day I was getting bored with making casseroles and decided to give it a try...

I threw the ring form and THEN decided to do a little research on this form. What I found out was that the Moravian potters of North Carolina threw a fatter ring with a small circle, while others made them wide and thin, as I did. Of course mine just turned out that way because, as usual, I was just winging it!

I did however look at a gazillion images online to figure out what type of neck or handles that I wanted to add. I finished it off with some slip trailing. My plan is to bisque fire it and set it aside for a future wood and salt firing. It was a lot of fun to make and I might explore this form a little bit more.

The other thing I did this week was to throw a cake stand in one piece. This one is sort of small and low. 

I am letting it dry slowly, upside down, to minimize warping. If this one is successful I will try throwing a larger one in one piece.

Sadly, with all this unseasonably warm weather, our daffodils are sporadically blooming. While seeing them makes you hopeful for real spring, it also means that come March, we won't have a yard full of blooms.

How can anyone deny global warming????