Leaving the wheel alone

It's been a weird week for me. I haven't been feeling the groove with wheel work so I decided to get out my hump molds and do some hand building. 

The square bowl has little feet to lift it up

Today I will add little feet to the bottom of this hexagonal plate. Yesterday it was too soft to support the feet. You may remember that I have had trouble in the past with this mold and a larger one. I have either had cracks, or they fired too flat and humped up in the middle. I wish that the mold was a little deeper. I think that would help eliminate the slumping.

Hand building is slow, maybe more so for me than others. If I had a slab roller it would speed up the process. I have to make slabs with a combination of throwing on the table and the old fashioned rolling pin. When I think of the time I put into just these two pieces, they should be priced at $100! I know I won't get that much for them, but I will be back at it today, knocking out a couple more of the square bowls.

Back by Popular Demand...

It looks like the swirly mugs are back in full swing this year. These were from two firings ago and I am just now getting around to photographing them and putting them in the Etsy shop. So much of our firings lately are pots that are already sold, mostly through Etsy. Sold is a good thing, but it also means that you don't get much time to spend with those pots and the others get ignored because you are too busy packing and shipping. Last night I decided these were needing some loving... and a new home.

There has been a lot of negative talk about Etsy and their new policy that will allow artists to use a manufacturer to produce their work. Many Etsy sellers feel the company is losing focus on their handmade mission. Sunday morning I sat down with a cup of coffee and a sketch book, and watched/listened to Etsy's town hall meeting that discussed the changes to Etsy and what it means to sellers moving forward. If you have a shop on Etsy I encourage you to take some time to watch it. Here is the link:

Etsy Town Hall Meeting

Etsy has been very good to Jeff and me this year. Can we stop doing shows or close our brick and mortar gallery? No, not yet, but our sales have continued to grow each year since we have been focusing on Etsy. There is nothing better than selling pots in your pajamas or while you are fast asleep in bed!

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.

Practice Makes Perfect

Jeff is teaching his "Practice Makes Perfect" workshop at our studio this weekend. The workshop focuses on enhancing your skills using production pottery techniques. I call it pottery boot camp. I took this workshop with Jeff nearly ten years ago. I was student at the time with a full time job... I thought my arms might fall off by the end of the weekend!

Needless to say, we need lots of clay ready for the participants. I pugged a whole bunch of clay and the last time through, I attached a die to the pug mill to make smaller lugs of clay.

When you drop these smaller lugs through the harps, pictured below, they are cut to a certain weight. The first harp is one pound, the second 1 1/2 pounds etc...
It saves a lot of time when doing production work. No weighing out balls of clay.

The workshops we teach at our studio are small, 5 to 6 participants. If there is a group that wants to come we can work around your schedule to meet your needs. Jeff also travels to other studios and clay centers to teach. If you are interested in a workshop at our studio or yours, send him an e-mail for more info: jeff@jeffbrownpottery.com.

In between our studio clean up marathon, and pugging clay, I managed to roll out some slabs and make some square soap dishes. They are nice chunky dishes that can be used for other things as well. Typically I just stamp the insides, this time I slipped and carved half of them. They were a nice break from wheel work.

It's been pouring rain off and on here for a couple of days. Tonight they are predicting snow. The snow may actually be a nice break from the rain... did this New Hampshire girl really just say that???

Happy Pots and Happy Potters

 I quickly photographed a selection of Jeff's finished medieval ware. It will go to it's new home this week. I am partial to the two handled bottle. Jeff was surprised that it's my favorite, it's the one piece of  the medieval collection that he finds peculiar. These have a very thin layer of ash glaze, which is sort of tricky to apply. I am thinking of glazing a few piggy banks this way.

There are new pots in the Etsy shop. My mug selection was pretty thin. I have quite a few of the swirl mugs with tenmoku and shino glaze. I think they look like they are begging for coffee!

Lots piggy banks in this firing...

One of the new combos...

 Nuka and Blue

Valentine's Day is less than a month away... wouldn't your sweetheart love some new pottery? Clicking on the photos will take you to my Etsy shop.

and the door comes down...

Everything is looking good so far. I can never get a photo with door down and all the pots in the exact place as the before firing photo. We are too impatient. We always take some pots out before we get the whole door down. I am really happy with the temnoku and shino mugs with the stamped swirls. This was a design that I used to make all the time and stopped doing them about 2 years ago. Last night we didn't unload, the pots on top were still pretty hot. Tonight we will put our photo set up back together, on the dining table, and get some good photos. That means lots of new pots in the Etsy shop!

workin' at the co-op...

of Seagrove Potters.
Today is one of my three co-op days for this month. I decided I would take some pottery work to do while I am here. For some strange reason I decided to make kitchen sponge holders. I have never made them before and I am beginning to think I won't be making them again. I threw them the other day and brought them with me to cut and and stamp.

I didn't have my "real" camera with me but my MacBook has the photo booth application so I snapped a pic of work in progress. Not sure these are doing anything for me. I only made about 8-10. I will fire them and see what I think when they are glazed. I am not sure if I can sell them for a price that reflects the amount of time put into them.
On a good note... I was happy to see when I arrived at the Co-op this morning, that Jeff and I have sold quite a few mugs here this month. Some nice salt glazed maple leaf ones that I made this fall are gone... and I was just beginning to think that maybe $30 was a little high.
Pricing work, it's the ongoing struggle for me and I am sure many other craftsmen out their.

getting back in the groove

even though i have been anxious to get back to work after the trip to new hampshire, it seems to have been a struggle to get into the studio.  the mundane stuff like unpacking and laundry seemed to take up an inordinate amount of time.  i did manage to get a few mugs finished.  i am working out a new way of using my swirly stamp... sort of the same style as the last oval bakers that i made.

unfortunately i had three crack during the stamping process... my own fault for leaving them uncovered overnight.
jeff is still working in the studio tonight, washing ash to make ash glaze... i don't think i have the patience for the work (or the mess) involved in that, but i do like the results!