tea time... pizza time... wine time.

My great-niece is having a birthday next month... I can't believe she is going to be five! I decided a few months ago that I would make her a tea set for her birthday. Originally I was thinking the typical set with little cups and saucers. Since we have gone all Korean around here lately, I thought it was more fitting to make a more Asian influenced set. I think this will be something that she won't necessarily outgrow, she can continue to use it, or display it, as an adult. I haven't settled on a glaze yet. Copper red and shino might be nice. If the red goes mauve or pink, it will still be okay. I will have to think on it a bit... suggestions are welcome!

 It's been a stressful week, Jeff and I have been dealing with some ridiculousness between two organisations that we belong too in New Hampshire. You just can't escape it! Rituals always make me feel better... Friday night pizza making and a cheap bottle of wine. Isn't that cup sweet? The maker is Daniel Garretson, a past apprentice of Mark Shapiro.

I woke up today with a much better attitude.

We Celebrated Spring in Seagrove

The Celebration of Spring Studio Tour in Seagrove was a great success. Saturday was super busy with non-stop people from 10:30 in the morning until 5:00 pm. We worked all day on Friday, in very muggy weather, cleaning the gallery and studio. After all that work I would have been disappointed if it didn't get seen by the masses! Sunday was slower, but pleasant just the same.

We unloaded the kiln on Saturday morning so there were lots of new, and still warm, pots. These are Jeff's teapots that are headed to S. Korea with him tomorrow. I wanted to get a quick photo before they were gone.

My round butter dishes were successful...

and here is one of the new flower power pigs!

Rather silly, isn't she?

Mashima

While Jeff was away in South Korea I read the Newberry Award winning children's book, " A Single Shard"by Linda Sue Park. A customer recommended the book to me and being a big fan of children's lit, I had to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story which wove a tale of the introduction of inlay work to South Korea in the mid to late 12th century.
As you know, Jeff came home with lots of little pots. Many with sgraffito designs and a few with porcelain inlay, also known as Mashima. He chose these pots because he knew that the carving and inlaid designs would inspire me...
I did some reading online as well as referring to my "go to" book for surface decoration, "Surface Design for Ceramics" by Maureen Mills. Maureen is the head of the ceramics department at the NH Institute of Art. I decided to try two methods of inlay. First was from Maureen's book, using a slip trailer to inlay the porcelain into my carved designs:

This worked best for vases which needed to be trimmed prior to the inlay. It was easy to clean up the excess slip with a scrubby but I did have some issues with the porcelain and stoneware drying unevenly.

Next I did some tiles where I carved them when moist and applied the slip with a brush immediately after:

Once the tiles were almost dry, I used a scrubby to remove the excess slip and reveal the inlay pattern:

This method was quickest for applying the porcelain slip and for the most even drying of the two clays, but it was a lot of work to clean up. I am not a fan of creating so much dust, I did it outside and really should have worn a mask. It was so darn humid today that I couldn't bring myself to wear one.
I am going to try two different glazes on these. Temple white, which is a translucent glaze and Celadon.

Jeff and I also collaborated on this little teapot...

Korean teapots are very small... this one fits in the palm of your hand. It was quite challenging to carve a design into!
Jeff may have been the one that made the trip to Korea, but his visit has inspired us both!

and he's off!

We were up at 5:30 this morning, which is SUPER early for us, and heading to the airport in Greensboro at 6:30. I couldn't believe what Jeff managed to pack in his one checked suitcase (50lb limit), carry-on, and backpack. He needed to bring finished work to exhibit and hopefully sell, as well as bisqued pots to wood fire in the climbing kiln in Mungyeoung. The firing we squeezed in on Sunday was excellent, thank goodness, since I handled the kiln and some of the reduction for a few hours while Jeff caught up on some much needed sleep.
Here is a side handled teapot that didn't make the final cut...

It's a beauty but Jeff wasn't happy with it's pour and the lid did stick in one spot. Once ground, the spot is barely noticeable. Perhaps we will keep it and enjoy it's beauty ourselves.

After the airport I spent some time in Greensboro visiting friends and picking up some groceries at the Asian market & Costco. When you live in Seagrove, you take full advantage of a trip to the "city". This was the first time I wandered around alone in Greensboro (sort of weird since we have been in North Carolina nearly two years!). I actually had a little anxiety about finding my way around at first, but then realized... heck,   I used to drive in Boston... and for nearly a whole year was heading into Boston once or twice a week. I have gotten so comfortable living and working in one place... I really need to get out of town more often!

one gypsy potter goes international...

Remember the Korean tea bowl competition that Jeff was invited to participate in? He sent his tea bowls off to Korea before we left for NH. This morning he got the call that his tea bowls were received and that he was chosen to go to Korea for the festival and International Ceramic Art Exchange Exhibition!!!
While there he will participate and present at a workshop. I can't tell you how excited I am for Jeff. He has worked very hard and is so deserving of this honor.

Congratulations Jeff! I love you and I am very proud of your achievements in clay.

Side handle teapot

my favorite JB wine cup, part of my own collection

Jeff's most recent etsy sale!

a productive day at last

yesterday i spent the entire day in the studio either waiting on customers in the gallery or working on pots.  aside from a studio cleaning day two weeks ago i think it was my most productive day in 2011.
june perry has a great video by cory lum on her blog.  i spent the morning making some mini dishes using this technique...

by early evening they were ready to have the edges smoothed over so they are already stamped and finished.  i used the top block of a wooden meat tenderizer to impress these.

this was a wood block mold that my friend steve had made in 2007 for john.  i didn't have as much success with it as the meat tenderizer.  i will give it another go today with clay that is a little thicker and not so soft.  i wasn't thrilled with the lace texture either.
i had not used this mold before and when i turned it over there was a little surprise underneath...

john had written the year and the day's temperature on the mold.  this was so like him, to chronicle little things like the weather by writing them down in unusual places.

to round out the day, two more teapots were completed...

teapot update

finished!

view one

view two

all in all i am happy with how this teapot turned out.  i am anxious to see it finished, but i think i will save it for the next time we are able to participate in a salt firing... i like the look of the slip and sgraffito when fired with salt.

i threw three more teapot bodies today, one didn't make the final cut.  my mission for the next few days is to finish these and perhaps stretch my imagination to create some different shaped bodies for teapots.

teapots

if you read my past post about how strongly i dislike making lidded pots, then it is quite obvious that i am not a teapot maker either.  teapots involve those darn lids as well as attaching a spout and handle.  i am ok with the handle part but i have never been happy with how my spouts turn out.  as a matter of fact when i was at my brother's house over new year's weekend i noticed that he had one of my very first teapots.  the only redeeming quality it had was that it was cute... cute in the context that is looked like it was made by an elementary school student!  of course he won't get rid of it and has it prominently displayed in his kitchen.
... i don't usually make new year resolutions but i suppose mine is to get over the whole anti-lid thing and get comfortable with it in 2011.  last night i threw a teapot body and the lid (i think it actually fits!).  tonight after finishing some porcelain tumblers i tackled the spout.
after three failed attempts and a near temper tantrum, jeff decided he should watch what i was doing and give some pointers.  i was amazed at my success after he told me what i needed to change...

ta-daaaa!

here are two spouts that i kept and the teapot body is behind it... i am most likely going to use the spout on the right.

here is one of jeff's side handled teapots that i used to make a decision on my lid.  i will probably throw a similar style knob on my lid.

it's such a beauty... even with my clay finger prints all over it!  someday i will make teapots almost as beautiful as this one.