Jer...Who...What...Ware?

Field Trip!!!

2009-11-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow a group of us from our potter's guild is going to visit the Freer Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution. A guild member has arranged for us to go into the stacks that house their ceramics collection. We will get to observe and handle many incredible pots that are not on display to the public. I was able to do this once in the distant past, when I was fairly new to clay. I think that I will definitely get more out of this trip.

I am not sure about the photo policy, but if I can take pictures I will be sure to share. By the way, if you are going to be in the D.C. area, I believe it is very simple to set up one of these tours. I can get you information about it, if you are interested.

When one door closes...

2009-11-17T06:25:00.000-08:00

another one opens, right? Let's hope so!

Our guild just got official notice that our tenancy for our gallery space will come to an end on December 28. While we knew that it would be happening sooner or later, it is still unfortunate news. At least we were able to have this wonderful space through the holiday season. The building's owners have been very generous to us during our residency at the gallery and we are very thankful of the time that we have been there.

So what does this mean for the future? It means that people local to the Frederick, MD area only have a few more weeks to come into the gallery to purchase lots of wonderful pots! Please help support our guild and local artists by coming in buying some functional or decorative ceramics. We have such a wide variety of pieces, from mugs to wall sculptures to vases, that I am sure you will find some pots that need to go home with you. Get some gift shopping done! Our new holiday hours are listed on our web page.

It also means that we are searching for a new retail space. We have been so lucky being right across the street from Volt and hope to find another fantastic location. If anyone knows of space in downtown Frederick that may be available, please let me know. We are looking at all of our options at this point and hope to find another suitable space as quickly as possible.

Pots for the People

2009-11-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

I had a chance this past Sunday to clean up most of my pots from the woodfiring (save the 2 or 3 that have a date with the grinder in the basement) and snap some quick pictures of them. As I have mentioned in previous posts, all of these (except for the vase with the two strap handles) are Porcelain for the People from Matt & Dave's Clays and were fired in the manabigama at Monocacy Pottery. I am continually impressed with the surfaces that this kiln provides in 8 or 9 hour firings. I am quite pleased with this clay, from the ease of throwing and trimming to the final products.

Rather than upload a gazillion pictures, I whipped up some collages that feature a lot of my pots from this most recent firing. Now I just need to finish cleaning up the last of the pots, price them and get them to our guild's gallery.

With the exception of two cups which were glazed on the outside, all of the surfaces are raw clay flashed by the fire. A number of liner glazes were used, including shino, blue ash, amber and celadon.

Fresh from the kiln...

2009-11-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

Just general pictures for now, no pics of just my pots. I'll try to get those up soon. It was once again a great firing. The Porcelain for the People gave nice gentle flashing and glossed up very nicely.

Nice 360 degree pots from the entire kiln. There were one or two spots in the middle of the kiln that were heavily ashed. I had not really seen that before. There was also heavy reduction in the back bottom corners, which we have seen before. Some strong carbon trapping on a couple of pots back there.

Back at it!

2009-11-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

How did three whole months go by since my last post?!

The summer was busy and fall has been, too. I guess that is how. We had a great trip to the Outer Banks in September and other than that we have gotten much done on our house and our rental next door. We've seen some concerts and some movies, not that I can remember any specifics at the moment. And I was busy keeping up with all of the other pottery blogs that are out there, the ones with authors that are good about posting!

In my ceramics life, I had a bit of a slump for a while during which I was not very motivated. At least once I did not even touch clay during an entire Tuesday night class. But then a while back I was reminded that I had a woodfiring coming up in early November. Yikes!!! Time to make some pots.

I had heard such good things about the porcelains from Matt and Dave's Clays that I knew I wanted to try them. I had gotten a sample size of their cone 6 porcelain, The Coup, and I liked it. They had mixed their test batch a bit on the moist side (as they had given me the heads-up about...their customer service is the bomb) and I found it a bit tricky to throw while trimming was a dream. For the woodfire I ordered 60 pounds of Porcelain for the People, their cone 12 clay. This clay was heaven to throw and trim.

I had plenty of pots ready in time for the loading on November 7. Once again I was part of a group firing at Monocacy Pottery and it was fun as it always is. We loaded the kiln with only one minor glitch. A post on the bottom of the final stack shifted at some point. Upon finishing, the final stack was less than optimal.

Wonky stack.

We had to pull the whole stack and re-load it, but it looked so much better once we had done so. We then bricked and papered the door and we were ready for firing on Sunday.

We decorated the kiln with signs of the season.

The firing went very smoothly. We built up the ash bed from about 6am until 8am. Proper stoking then continued until 2:45pm and we shut it down at 3:15. It was a great group of potters and we had a blast. A number of us will be there tomorrow to unload the pots, warm from the kiln. I should have pictures of the results up later this week.

Some of the kiln gods watching over our firing.

Protect local farmers!!!

2009-08-04T09:18:00.001-07:00

No new pottery news yet, but I thought this deserved its own post. I recently learned about a new bill that was introduced earlier this year, HR 875 - the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. You can read about it here. Once you have, I hope that you will contact your local representative like I did. Please tell them that you are opposed to this bill.

Buying local makes sense for so many reasons, it will be horrible if this bill passes and crushes small farms, farmers' markets and community supported agriculture. Please contact your reps, re-blog the link, post it on Facebook...anything to build opposition against HR 875.

Thanks!

Pots at the gallery

2009-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

I worked a shift at the gallery this past weekend and switched out some of my inventory while I was there. Here is a short clip showing some of the pots that are now at the gallery. If you are in the Frederick area, feel free to visit them. I'm sure they would love to go home with you.

After I made the movie, I realized that the cup whose interior is shown is not for sale. There was a small S-crack on the bottom. Lucky for me, because it is now on our shelf at home. But there are some other cups with that blue ash glaze at the gallery. And here are a couple of the pics from the video in clickable format:

We are off to FloydFest this weekend. It is an incredibly fun music festival that we have gone to for a few years. I highly recommend it. Super music, very family friendly, yummy food & drink, great friends and tons of fun. It is located in southwestern Virginia, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the town of Floyd. Some of the bands that I am looking forward to are Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Railroad Earth, Toubab Krewe, Yard Dogs Road Show, Groupo Fantasma, The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker, The Duhks, EOTO, Forro in the Dark, Lee Boys, The Sadies, Boulder Acoustic Society, Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun, Barcelona Institute of Gospel, American Dumpster, The Bittersweets, Soulhound and many more!!

Meanwhile, over in the flowerbed...

2009-07-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

Blackberry lily

Spent blackberry lily, just like a twist cone!

Blackberry lily plant

Um...flowers.

Crocosmia buds, getting there.

Pitchers

2009-07-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

So I made a couple of pitchers. They did not turn out exactly as I pictured them, but they are a starting point. They both have a white slip detail on either side. They each then had a full dip in oribe, followed by latex resist on opposite quarters and a dip in amber. I was hoping that the white slip would show through the double-glazed areas, but it was too muddy. There ended up being too much going on, I think next time I will stick to the oribe only, at least on the body of the pitcher.

I also think that the spout on the first pitcher could have been shorter. I quite like the scalloped spout on the second pitcher and how the slip design mirrors the spout (it would have been better if all of the slip was visible).

I've got a couple of more in the works, so we'll see what happens with those. I am also going to work on handle refinement, which has always been a problem for me. Any thoughts or suggestions regarding any aspect (form, glazing, spout, handles, yadda yadda yadda)?

Like Buttah

2009-06-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

Or at least for buttah.

There are some more waiting to be fired (Briesa, that means one for you). Thanks to Jen, my instructor, for the idea & lid template.

I also have some pitchers in the works. After all, it is white wine spritzer season. Or iced tea I suppose. Sadly, no pitcher pictures yet.

Riding my bike to save the world!!!

2009-05-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

Though I haven't posted much lately, I'm still alive and kicking. I've been going to pottery every Tuesday and have some things in the works, mostly handbuilt. Hopefully some will be finished soon and I can post pictures.

But, this post is not about pottery. In the next month I am going to be participating in two bike rides that are fundraisers for two causes near and dear to me. I will be doing the Ride for Autism and Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway. Friends and family have been affected by both of these conditions and I am glad that I can do my part in helping. Here is some more information about each event.

Ride for Autism

Autism is a developmental disability characterized by atypical, repetitive behaviors and deficits in social and communication skills. Current estimates suggest that 1 in 150 individuals in the United States (and 1 in 94 in New Jersey) are affected by autism. There is no known cure for autism at this time, but early diagnosis and intervention can be effective.

The Ride for Autism benefits Autism New Jersey. Autism New Jersey is a non-profit agency providing information and advocacy, services, family and professional education and consultation.

If you would like to contribute towards my fundraising for the Ride for Autism, please click here.

Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway

MS interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and wears away the control a person has over his or her body. When someone is diagnosed with MS, it can dramatically affect their future, their career, and their daily life.

All donations support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which funds more MS research, offers more services for people with MS, provides more professional education programs and furthers more MS advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world. The National Capital Chapter of the National MS Society serves many thousands of people affected by MS in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

If you would like to contribute towards my fundraising for the Bike MS, please click here.

I know that times are tough these days, but anything you could do to help would be greatly appreaciated! Feel free to pass along this post to anyone that may be interested in helping.

Thanks everybody!!

Woodfire Unloading

2009-04-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

It was a fantastic firing!!! Everyone had wonderful pieces come out of the kiln and we are all thankful for that. It was another hot day as we unloaded the hot kiln. I'll let the pictures tell the story (as always, click to enlarge). Hopefully soon I'll have some set shots of individual pots.

Thanks to John Thies and all of the other workshop participants for a great weekend and firing! I can't wait for my next one.

Woodfire - day 2

2009-04-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

The firing went very well. We built up the coal bed from about 6AM until 8AM. Then we stoked every 10 minutes until 3PM. The last stoke was allowed to burn until 3:25 and we shut her down.
The only dicey moment was during that 25 minute period. We were all sitting a ways away from the kiln when we heard a horrible crash from the kiln area. My stomach flipped as I thought a shelf had collapsed in the kiln, but it was just a wood pile falling over behind the kiln. Whew!

We will unload on Tuesday. At this point I do not think that I will be able to be there for the unloading, which really sucks. It'l like watching Santa come and leave presents under the tree and not being able to open them. But maybe I can finagle something at work and be able to show up.

FYI, for those of you who read the woodland mystery post, I found out what it was. Nothing too exciting, just some non-hazardous resin from a water softener, no creeping crud in these parts!

Woodfire - Loading the kiln

2009-04-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

The report from Monocacy Pottery...

Here's the first stack:
Here's the second stack:

And here's the third and final stack:
Then the door was bricked and sealed with slip soaked newspaper. Makes for a quick and easy seal.I'll be back at the kiln at 6:25 tomorrow morning to begin the fire in the firebox. More to follow!

Before & After

2009-04-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, much better. (Thanks Michele!)

Now that the hairs are cut, I can worry about the woodfiring coming up this weekend. The pots are all slipped, glazed and in the car ready to head up to Monocacy Pottery. We load on Saturday and fire on Sunday. It is a quick kiln. John Thies will have warmed the kiln in the wee hours of the morning and we start with a small fire in the bottom of the firebox at 6AM. Proper stoking begins at 8 and we should be closing it up around 2 or 3 that afternoon. Hopefully we will be unloading on Tuesday. Plenty of pics to follow!

Officially Sprung - selections from our flowerbeds

2009-04-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Some adorable little narcissus, faces are 1 1/8" across.

Wood hyacinth (with some grape hyacinth in the background).

Various daffodils.

New Members Show Reception

2009-04-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last night was a definite success! I showed up at the gallery at around 3:45 and the previous shift said that it had been a steady day with a lot of sales. That continued on through the night. I had a surprise visit from my dad, which was great. He brought along a very nice note from my mom, who was unable to make it for the opening. They have always been so supportive of me, thanks mom & dad!

We had good crowds all night long from about 5PM until 15 minutes after closing. I was thankful to have a number of friends stop in to look around the gallery and purchase some pots. It is people like you who make the gallery possible. Before it got too crowded, I did remember to take some pictures of the featured artists display area. In a couple of the pictures you can see the listing of the featured artists (just click on the pics to enlarge).

One of the most enjoyable things for me was seeing the other new members' work. Although many are from the Frederick Pottery School, they are not in my class, so I rarely see any finished pieces. What a great collection of pots! It is always a blast to see so many ideas and techniques. We had a lot of fun and sold a lot of pots.

Thanks to everyone who made it out and for those who could not, the show is up for the rest of the month.

New Members Show - April 2009

2009-04-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Press Release

Frederick MD- The Potters’ Guild is pleased to spotlight their new members and welcome them into the guild by making them the featured artists in “What’s New?” for the month of April.

“What’s New?” will be on display from April 1 through 30 at the Potters’ Guild of Frederick’s Yellow Brick Gallery, located in historic downtown Frederick at 227 North Market Street. There will be a reception on Saturday April 4 from 5 to 9pm with all six displaying artists there to meet the public and answer questions about their work.

“What’s New?” will display creative works of art as well as functional pieces for the home. There will surely be a piece to catch everyone’s eye! Our newest members are inspired by many things but they all share a simple love of clay. These artists are an electrifying addition to the gallery. The Guild is truly excited to showcase their diverse talents.

For more information please contact Potters’ Guild President Ann Hobart at 301-662-3160 or go to our website http://www.pottersguildoffrederick.com

That is our guild's press release for this month's featured artist show. As a new member, I will be one of the featured artists and I am really looking forward to the reception this Saturday. It sounds like this week's rainy weather is going to turn sunny and warm for the weekend, so hopefully that bring people out and into the gallery. We have had very good luck with the weather for the past couple of First Saturdays.

If you are in the Frederick area, please stop by to look at the guild members' work and to pick up some new ceramic goodies for yourself or friends. We'll have some munchies and wine and I'm sure a good time will be had by all.

Wrapping up making for woodfire

2009-04-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we need to have all of our woodfire pots ready for bisque by April 5. So these are the last of my pots that I've made for the April 25/26 woodfire.

These are a combination of thrown parts, slabs and sprig feet. I was not planning on having feet, but once I had the vases/bottles sitting there, they looked WAY too heavy and dumpy. The feet give them some lift. I think that most will be fired on their sides, so the wadding will give some nice patterning.

The next step for the woodfiring is waiting for the glazes and slips to arrive at the school. There was a bit of a clay mix-up, so instead of B-Mix Wood many pots were made with B-Mix10. They would be duds in the wood kiln, so we are going to use a flashing slip on those. There are also a handful of glazes to use, mostly as liners. I hear we are going to have a blue ash glaze, which I am really excited about!

I guess from here on it is back to Red Rock and ^6 on Tuesday nights. Gotta get back to making pots for the gallery. I'll have to see what (hopefully) sells during the upcoming show. More about that in the next post.

Better than Prozac

2009-03-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

I don't have any videos on my iPod, but if I can make it happen, this one is going on. I would really love to be carrying all of these fantastic fabulous dance freaks in my pocket. Instant Happy. Sha-ZAM!

Thanks to Mary for passing this along.

Stacked & Lidded Bowls for Woodfire

2009-03-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my previous post about the stacked bowls that I trimmed over the weekend. Here are some pictures. They are almost as I pictured them in my head. I had wanted them to stack a bit differently, but for a first effort I'm pretty excited about them. I am planning on glazing the interiors with celadon and maybe the insides of the finger grips as well. The clay is Loafer's Glory, so it should flash nicely in the woodfire.

I threw three bottles and handbuilt one at class last night. But did I remember to take pictures of those? Of course not.

World Cup & More

2009-03-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

This first part goes out to all of my readers who are on Facebook. Another potter, Simon Levin, has developed a couple of fun applications on Facebook. His newest is World Cup (hopefully that link works, if not just search for it on FB). It is along the lines of his other application, American Mug. In World Cup you can give cups by various potters to your friends. There is even one of my cups in there. It is a great way to spread the joy of clay amongst your friends. There are some really nice pieces in both apps, so be sure to check them out!

In other clay news, I now have work in the Potters' Guild of Frederick gallery in downtown Frederick. I am very excited to have pots available for sale in such a great space. Every month there is a different featured artist, this month being Georgia Geisser. She does some really wonderful sculptural pieces in addition to wheel thrown work. Next month will be a "New Members" show, so I am looking forward to that.

I am still making pots for my upcoming woodfiring. I am working on some lidded bowl stacks that I am quite pleased with so far. I'll be at the studio tonight, so hopefully I'll snap some pics of work in progress.

Jumping into the deep end

2009-03-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Today Kevin and I took a drive to Baltimore to attend the ACC show for the first time. Wow. It's big. Really big. We had been to the Smithsonian Craft Show before, but that is teensy compared to the ACC show. We felt like we were thrown into the deep end of the pool and it was wonderful to flail about in the sea of art surrounding us. Now I'm going to throw you into the deep end with a lengthy post about what we saw. Dog paddle like you never have before!!!

It was great to meet some of the potters in person that I have interacted with on line through the blogosphere. I got to meet Linda Johnson of Little Flower Designs. She was a delight and we picked up a lovely rectangular platter as a gift for someone.

We also talked to Kent Harris for a while. He was really friendly and we had an enjoyable conversation. We learned some interesting tidbits from him.

I got to meet a former teacher from the pottery school that I attend. Both Eric Hendrick and his wife Heather Van Horn used to teach at FPS prior to moving up to Vermont and starting Zpots. Erik taught the Tuesday night class of which I am now a member and all of the people who had him as a teacher hold him in high esteem. It was great to meet him and Heather and we came home with one of their bowls. I'm looking forward to Eric's upcoming workshop at FPS in May. Be sure to check out their website and read about Cow Power.

We also purchased a piece by Justin Rothshank. He does great work with decals. We got a bowl for a friend's grade school aged son who is a complete presidential nut. Lincoln is his favorite, so we think he will enjoy his new bowl. (Cindy, if you happen to be reading this, mums the word!)

Other potters I was looking forward to seeing inclued Kirke Martin (who is located about 10 minutes from our house. I hope to woodfire with him in the future) and Munemitsu Taguchi. If you ever get a chance to handle Munemitsu's pots, be sure to feel their bottoms...they are smooth as glass. He was so cheerful and pleasant to talk with.

I also discovered some new potters, which is always fun. I really liked pots by Ryan J. Greenheck from Philadelphia. His work was so lush, with great forms and textures. Another find was Aaron Sober from Minneapolis. Engaging salt fired work with wonderful surface deco. I got a great teabowl that I absolutely could not pass up. It is a joy to use and I think that my beer is tasting extra good out of it.

One non-ceramic artist that I definitely have to mention is Chris Roberts-Antieau. Had I one or two grand to drop on some art today, it would have been a no brainer. Her stuff was so funny and slightly twisted and just laugh out loud wonderful. Her pieces were about such topics as uncomfortable social situations, how you can help around the house, proper table manners and bird anatomy. Be sure to poke around her site and see what she is all about. I am going to keep an eye on her and hope to get something of hers when I can.

If you have made it through all of this, well done! Hopefully you have enjoyed it as we enjoyed the real deal in Baltimore today. Now you can go get yourself a beer.

Pictures of bowls...

2009-02-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some quick and dirty pics of the bowls I mentioned in the previous post. The first is a bowl that I glazed in Cream Rust. It never goes yellow. We are at a loss as to what happened. It was the end of the bucket, maybe that had something to do with it. I love the way it looks, but may never get that result again.

Then we have the orbit bowls. They were a bit tough to photograph on the dining room table because the oribe is so glossy, but I did my best. I'll try to get better pictures soon.

Neko Case & Pottery Update

2009-02-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

While I was brushing my teeth this morning, I got a pleasant surprise when Kevin popped his head into the bathroom and said that NPR was streaming Neko Cases's new album, Middle Cyclone, in its entirety. Guess what I'm listening to at work today? It's great as I expected and I can't wait until I can get my hands on it next week.

Pottery class was a tough haul last night, as I was beat down & worn out. Some white wine and a ham sandwich or two got me back on my feet and I managed to throw a couple of things. But more importantly, the orbit bowls and one other bowl were waiting for me after coming out of the glaze firing. The orbit bowls came out just how I wanted them to, so I'll be doing more of those. Pics to follow this evening I hope.

Off to enjoy Neko some more...

Coraline in 3D

2009-02-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Go see it and see it in 3D. Totally awesome and worth the extra dollars. Most likely too creepy for the little ones, be forewarned!

(Edit: I had not seen the trailer prior to seeing the movie and having just watched the trailer, I'm happy about that. I enjoyed being surprised by all of the wonders and happenings in the film. So, keep that in mind and then decide if you want to watch the trailer below. )

Mug's game

2009-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

A friend passed this tidbit of knowledge along to me today (thanks Susan!). Of course, it immediately had to get posted here due to the topic:

mug's game (mugz gaym) noun

A foolish or futile activity.

[From mug (slang for a fool), from Scandinavian word mugg/mugge (drinking cup).
In earlier times drinking cups were adorned with grotesque faces, which
resulted in the various senses of the word, nouns (face, dupe, thug) and
verbs (to assault, to make faces, to photograph).]

Interesting, huh?

To update things on the pottery front:

2 out of the 4 handled vases that I threw for the woodfiring have cracks in the bottom. I guess I need to compress the BMix10 way more than the Red Rock I have been throwing. Lesson learned.
I glazed the orbit bowls last night. Oribe with amber on the rim and the outside bottom third of the bowls. I think the oribe will highlight the textures and that the amber will be a nice touch. We'll see.
I made a bunch of trays for the whiskey cups. At the advice of my instructor , she suggested that the cups would have more of a presence if situated on a tray. I definitely agreed and whipped up some simple trays that will hold anywhere from 1 to 3 cups once fired. Hopefully I can get them pushed through the process quickly. The cups were lightning fast thanks to their small kiln-filler size. The trays might not be so lucky, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Pics of bowls, cups & trays to follow! And hopefully a review of Coraline in 3D as well, since I'm trying to get us to go see that tonight or tomorrow. Yay!

Courage Campaign

2009-02-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Click through here to sign the petition urging the CA Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8. Doing so will help save the marriages of thousands of loving couples in California.

Thanks to Gary Rith for passsing this along.

Man on Wire

2009-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Saw this last night and was amazed. If you have not seen it, I recommend you do (and you can now stream it on Netflix!).

These two quotes, one from the movie and one other, stuck with me:

From a commentary about the book the film was based on: "But what did his performance achieve? When he strung his wire between the twin towers, Petit invented the space between them. He drew a cheese cutter across a void, and made the void real. He made negative space concrete, positive. He showed a million New Yorkers something they had never seen before - a third pillar between the first two, made of air."

"It's impossible, that's sure. So let's start working." - Philippe Petit

Woodfiring here I come!

2009-02-12T05:19:00.000-08:00

So, the time has come to start throwing pots for woodfiring. I am signed up to do one firing in April and one in November. Last time it seemed to be a mad rush to finish pots, so I am getting started early this year. You may recognize these forms from some previous posts, when I fired them in ^6 oxidation. Well, at the time all I could think was "These pots are begging to be woodfired!" I am going to have a bunch of these, I think. They are all BMix10 (difference in color is that the last pic had a flash). I have also thrown some plain tumblers that I am going to use similar stamping on, just not as much.

The above pots range in height from 8" -12" or thereabouts, maybe a bit more with handles. They were slightly flattened on each side before stamping. In addition to the BMix, I am also going to try another woodfire clay that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of right now. MacSomething or other. I don't think it is MacKenzie, but maybe I'm wrong? I can't even remember the manufacturer. I do know it comes in a square box. Anyway, it is supposed to be gritty and darker...sounds interesting to me.

I did get a couple of bowls, 3 handbuilt tumblers and 21 handbuilt whiskey cups out of the last firing. Pictures to follow.

And here is a little song that you can crank up and zone out to on this windy windy Thrusday.

Out of this World

2009-01-24T15:40:00.000-08:00

As I hoped, I did manage to throw some pots (and get some slip out of the deal, too) this past Tuesday. I threw some bowls and toyed around with some stuff until I found a motif that I think I am going to continue working with. I call them my Orbit Bowls. It started with a swirl on the inside, which is a nice simple design element, but one that seems a bit blah to me. It needed something more. So I pulled the circle element from the handbuilt cups that I have been doing and then it developed into these. I gave them a spiral on the outside and though it's tough to see, there is a small spiral on the foot as well.

I'm pretty happy with them and look forward to doing more with it. I could see this on cups, plates and lots o' other stuff. I am not looking forward to figuring out how I am going to glaze them. Ugh.

Linda Starr recently had a post about how people sign their work. At the time I did not have a picture of my stamp, but I took one last night. I started using this stamp of an eagle's head in profile recently. Before that I signed my last name. I also put the year on my pots, but may just switch stamps every couple of years and that way the stamp can date the piece as well as telling the maker. Still thinking on that one.

On the non-pottery front, can I just say how excited I am for this country these days? Watching the inauguration (on TV, even though I'm an hour from DC I don't think I could have done the crowds) was amazing. Yes times are tough and there's lots of crappy stuff going on in the world right now, but I have high hopes for this president and his administration.

Happy New Year...a bit late

2009-01-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone's 2009 is off to a happy start. It seems that my break from pottery class lead to a break from blogging as well, my apologies for that. Class was supposed to have started up again last week, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Luckily last night was clear and I was able to get my hands dirty again.

Over the break a number of things had been glaze fired. Here are three salt pigs.

Hopefully they will work properly. I was just doing some more reading and it might have been better had the interiors been unglazed, to help control the moisture level in the salt. Drat. Time will tell I guess.

I also has some bisque wear waiting for me. Lots of whiskey cups and a tumbler. There was no oribe bucket to be seen last night though, so the bisqued cups have their outsides finished with iron oxide, but will have to wait to be glazed on the inside.

I am totally on a handbuilding kick and am loving these forms. I cranked out another 13 whiskey cups last night and they are drying to be fired. Next week should be filled with glazing and hopefully handbuilding and throwing. Afterall, I've gotta make slip somehow.

And to wrap up this post, I am following Cynthia Guajardo's lead and choosing a word for the year, rather than make resolutions. My word for 2009 is "create". This can (and will) be taken literally as in creating new pots. But I also want to create connections, opportunities and many other things to deepen my connection to clay and the clay community this year. My first step was to join the Potters' Guild of Frederick. I attended the first meeting of the year and found everyone to be welcoming. I think that the guild will be a wonderful resource for me and I hope to become an active and meaningful member.

I'll leave you with a recent sunset, as seen from our backyard. We've been having some good ones recently.

Happy Holidays to You and Yours

2008-12-24T05:52:00.001-08:00

Cannot wait until 03/03/09!!!!!

2008-12-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

Great minds...

2008-12-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

...think alike. Check out those shino sipping cups. Yet another blog to add to my reader!

I also wanted to give props to Judi Tavill, she was very patient with my clumsy etsy purchasing yesterday. Congrats to her on her 200th sale!

That's all for today.

Cups with butts

2008-12-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show some more progress on the handbuilt cups. They've got their bottoms on now.

I dropped them off at the studio last night so they could get in line to be bisqued. Unfortunately one of them (bottom pic, furthest on the right) was literally dropped. But the gods were smiling upon me and it was wet enough that it did not crack and dry enough that it did not smush completely. I was very happy with the dot/slash motif on the front prior to the dive from the ware board and it is now different, but I guess that it how that little cup wanted to be.

Speaking of butts and bottoms...

"Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow" Funkadelic

I totally grooved out to this on my commute this morning. The title is a good mantra to have floating around. And it also reminded me of a quote that I read last night in The Studio Potter. It was in an article by Catherine White, whose blog I have been following for a while. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw her drawings in the magazine. This issue (Vol. 36, No. 2, Summer 2008) is my first and it has blown me away; so many great quotes, ideas, tidbits and relevant stuff. I also enjoyed Michael Kline's article about blogging. Anyway...this is her quote that I thought was wonderful when I read it yesterday and also relates to the song (bold emphasis my doing).

"Drawing repeatedly teaches me not to make assumptions about what I see. Sitting down at the wheel, it reminds me not to throw by rote. I have to forget the name of the thing in front of me to permit the eye and hand to work intuitively, guided by observation, not by assumption."

So much for just a quick post!

Latest pots

2008-12-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been focusing on handbuilding. I did throw some salt pigs a few weeks ago that are slowly working their way through the firing schedule, and hope to have one finished by next week. I think there are four or five more that will be coming out of the bisque kiln in the next day or so, pics to follow.

I have been handbuilding cups after some inspiration taken from the other blog I contribute to. Commenting on an earlier cup, both Ben Stark and Linda Starr were keen on the idea of oxide on the outside and a liner glaze on the inside. Though it was too late for that cup, I made some more with that idea in mind. They have iron oxide on the exterior with Oribe on the inside. Here's the first few to be completed.

The beer bottle is there only as a size reference (with a nod to John). I am really liking these forms and the surface treatments. I like the contrast between the two finishes. I decided to make some more last night, and started so many that I had to take them home and finish them up in our kitchen. I made some whiskey cups and some larger cups. I can't wait to get these through the firings!

More pics later, once they are further along. Take care, folks!

5x5x(5) Report

2008-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Well, the opening of the 5x5x(5) show was fun. I was a bit anxious all night long, not sure what that was about, but I still enjoyed myself. The weather was horrible, with pouring rain the entire way down to the Torpedo Factory. But despite the bad weather, the turn out was very good. Thanks to my friends & parents that came by to lend support!

There were three walls showcasing all of the pieces. The gallery did a great job organizing the works, it looked great. The juror, Elaine Levin, gave a brief talk and then walked around speaking about a few particular pieces. Shortly before I left, I went up and introduced myself and thanked her for jurying the exhibit. She was a very pleasant person.

These pictures walk you around the exhibit from beginning to end. Sorry that they are a bit dark, I didn't want to annoy people with the flash. It was so interesting to see the artwork in person after seeing it online. The scale of some of the pieces was so different than what I was expecting that it was shocking.

You might recognize those two teapots in the last picture as the work of Dan Finnegan. They were actually collaborative pieces, but I cannot recall who the other artist was. There was one more group of works to the left of those shown in the last photo, but I was unable to get a good picture due to the crowd. If I go back, I will get a picture of that section and also some detail shots of some works.

One thing I learned from this process is that if you have any questions, be sure to ask them. I had some uncertainty about denoting the prices of my pieces on the submission form and because I did not pick up the phone and ask a simple question, one of my pieces was sold for much less than I had thought I had requested. So remember, the only stupid question is the one that does not get asked!

5x5x(5) opens tonight!!

2008-12-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that the small works exhibition 5x5x(5) opens tonight at the Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA. Here is a link to the gallery of works for the show (it is the same as the slideshow on the gallery page, but all laid out on one page). I just spoke with the gallery to clear up a detail and I found out that one of my pieces has already sold! I will be going to the artist reception this evening and am looking forward to hearing the juror, Elaine Levin, give her gallery talk.

Hopefully I will have some pictures from the opening that I will post later on.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Prop 8 -The Musical

2008-12-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

A non-pottery related post...

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

5x5(x5) Preview

2008-12-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a slide show preview of the upcoming exhibit. After seeing all of the other art, I am even more excited about being able to participate!! It is going to be really hard not to spend lots o' money on other people's work. Especially since everything is a maximum of 5" cubed...you don't have to really worry about finding space for it!

And I'm back!

2008-11-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

But I was really never gone, just bad about blogging. Sorry for the absence. Let's see what I need to recap from the last two weeks or so.

We had our sale at the pottery school and for a first time event, I think that everyone was very pleased with the turn out. We even had some press coverage in the local paper. Here are a couple of pics taken before the sale (thanks to the hard work of the people who set up, our pottery school actually looked like a showroom!):

Thanks to Marjan for taking a bunch of pictures. My pots are in the lower picture, on top of the brown drape and behind.

There were some bumps in the road, which I am sure will get ironed out for the next sale. We have the wrap up meeting in a week or so to discuss what went right and what went wrong and to start planning for the next one. Hopefully we will have some more pre-event publicity and have a better idea about pricing. We will definitely learn from this one! I managed to sell a few pots, but I do have a bunch left to sell to friends & family and to throw up on etsy. Yet more for the to do list!

I have been working on some small cup and tray sets. One is done and one is in for glaze firing. I will post pics once they are both done. I have also started on some salt pigs due to a friend's request. They should be ready for bisque soon, I am drying them slow to help them make it out alive.

Other than that, just eating a lot for the holiday and driving around in my new car (Honda Fit...LOVE IT!!). Even driving down roads I don't know and letting the nice lady in the dashboard tell me how to get where I am going. As a non-directional, gets-panicky-when-he-is-lost-or-turned-around kind of guy, this is the best thing ever!

If you are interested, I am also involved in another blog www.critiquemypot.blogspot.com. It is just starting up, but it should be interesting. Check it out.

Now to work on more pots to make money for car payments!

Open Hous & Sale Reminder

2008-11-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that our sale & open house is this upcoming Saturday from 10 to 4PM. Hope anyone who is local can swing on by, more info at this link.

Tonight is the first class of the new session, so hopefully I will have some pics of new work (either in progress or finished) soon.

Hope is in the air

2008-11-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

With tears in my eyes as I write this quick post.

This is a great series of photographs of our President-Elect.

5x5x(5) Pots

2008-11-05T11:23:00.001-08:00

Vase, porcelain, shino with red iron oxide

Bottle, stoneware, orange shino slip

Just got word that these are the two pieces that were accepted for the exhibition at the Target Gallery. Now I just have to come up with prices for both of them. Tricky since they are favorites of mine.

Obamaware in Action!!

2008-11-04T17:36:00.001-08:00

Ayumi Horie requested pictures of Obamaware in Action, so here's mine. That's me with my Michael Kline cup filled with lucky red wine for election night. If all goes well, it will be filled with celebratory champagne later on.

NPR is calling Pennsylvania for Obama. I like the sound of that!

Sale Preview (aka Pots & Peppers)

2008-11-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to setting out all of my pots and pricing them for the sale. The pic above shows everything that I have to date, around 40 pots. There may be a couple more that come out of the kiln before the cut off date, but I'm not sure about that. After I had all of them inventoried and priced, I feared that they were all marked to high and that they won't sell. We'll see. This will definitely be a learning experience.

The end of this post is mainly for my friend Michele, who is an avid gardener. I was talking with her about the peppers that Kevin and I canned the other weekend and I wanted to post a picture. This is what 14 pounds of peppers look like.

A word of advice...even if you don't think that the peppers are that hot, wear gloves.

Accepted!!!

2008-10-30T08:25:00.001-07:00

Yay!!! I just got an email saying that one or more of the pieces I entered for the 5x5x(5) show was accepted! I am SO excited. Not sure which one(s) yet, that info will come later.

The only thing that is a bit stressful is that I need to submit a resume, artist statement and bio. Yikes! Better get working on those. Any tips?

Frederick Pottery School Holiday Sale and Open House!

2008-10-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before, I take classes at the Frederick Pottery School. Well, the school is having the First Annual Holiday Sale and Open House on Saturday November 15, 10AM - 4PM.

Copy from the flier:

Student Show and Sale featuring functional and decorative pottery by students of Bill Van Gilder's Frederick Pottery School.

An opportunity to find great holiday gifts at reasonable prices!

Free admission. Refreshments.

Cash or checks, only. Thank you.

10% of sale proceeds will be donated to the The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center Young Peoples' Program.

5305 Jefferson Pike, Suite C-2
Frederick, MD 21703

(South of Frederick, near the junction of Rte 340 and Mt. Zion Rd.)

I am curious to see what the turn out is like. The school is kind of out of the way, it the first sale we have done there and I am not sure what the publicity has been like. I am definitely not getting my hopes up. Whatever I do not sell there will be going up on my Etsy site, so that will be exciting.

If you are in the area, come on by the sale. There will be a wide assortment of great pots!

Facebook

2008-10-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Facebook. After my 20th high school reunion this past weekend, it seemed that it would be a great way to keep in touch with people. Also, from reading various pottery blogs, I am hoping that it will be good for networking on that front as well.

We'll see how this all goes. Yet another leap into the technological unknown.

Art Now for Autism

2008-10-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

I recently learned about an online exhibition and sale of art to benefit autism awareness and research. Autism affects so many children and money is needed for ongoing research, care, education and much else.

Good friends of ours have a beautiful daughter who is on the autism spectrum. Early recognition and therapy have made a huge difference in her life. However, the education and therapy that she has received have not been without cost. That is the reason that I am going to be donating pieces to this program. I know that there are many talented artists out there, a few of whom read my blog. Why don't you consider donating some work as well? 100% of funds raised through the online exhibit and sale go to Autism Speaks, a national autism awareness and research organization.

You can find out more about the program and art donation by clicking the Art Now for Autism button on the right hand side of this blog.

Thanks!

Inspiration

2008-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Doug Fitch had a wonderful post earlier about inspiration. About keeping your eyes, and more importantly your mind, open to the beauty and wonder around you. This is something that I try to be conscious of in my life.

The other day on the way home from work, I had one of those special moments...a little gift that the day gives you. I am not sure how this will make it on to pots, or even if, but I knew I wanted to have a memory of it. Here is the page from my sketchbook from that evening:

"Driving home from work the other day & saw
a very beautiful peaceful thing. Power lines
filled w/ black birds, and they were flowing
up and down in the most graceful way.
So smoothly, almost in slow motion.
Like nature's lava lamp.
Spellbinding.
Wish I could have pulled over & watched & watched.
10/09/08"

Finally a pottery related post!

2008-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I finally got around to taking some pics of a form that I have been throwing recently. I don't really know how it started, but I like it and how it has changed even though I have only thrown about 8 or so. While I like it glazed in the electric kiln (especially in the nutmeg/veri blue combo), it screams for woodfiring, so I will be sure to have a bunch the next time I have to opportunity to do so.

Here are a few quick pics, taken down in the basement:

This first one is the first in the series. The handles were all exterior. I happened upon the "3 slash & 3 dot" motif and liked it a lot.

These next two also have the same motif but the tops of the handles found their way inside the pots. One of them also has an altered foot.

These final three are more in the series. I am not sure about the handles on the two outside pots, they are a bit tall for the form, but I was trying out different things. I really love slashing the pots and the way the clay bulges out.

There will definitely be many more of these to come!

Obamaware!!

2008-10-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs that I follow, Jen Mecca's Pottery Blog, just posted about a sale to benefit the Obama campaign. Although I had planned on buying something from this sale, it not occurred to me to spread the word about here on my blog. So thanks to Jen for the inspiration. And special thanks to Ayumi Horie for organizing the sale.

Here's the link to the sale, which begins in about a week. Be sure to check it out, as there a ton of great artists participating and it helps a most important cause.

Missing in Action

2008-09-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. It was vacation time. We were in the Outer Banks for a week. Had great weather and no major melt downs from the little ones. Was a great time! Then I was home for a day and left again for a solo trip to NYC. Went to see My Bloody Valentine in concert!!! Amazing. A through judicious use of ear plugs, no ringing of the ears afterward. And I can't really go to Manhattan and not go the the John Fluevog store. And I can't really go there and not buy some shoes...oh how the flesh is weak!!

Those are the Supervogs that I came home with. Although the toes look a bit different than pictured. I'll have to snap a pic of mine. They my be my favorite 'Vogs yet (like potato chips, you can't have just one!).

Hope to have some pics and maybe even vids (poi!) from vacation posted soon.

EepyBird!!!

2008-09-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

This made me smile.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Pottery Photos

2008-09-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

So, our pottery instructor, Jennifer Hatfield, told us of an upcoming exhibition at the Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA. I have never been involved in a call for entries before, but just as I have jumped in to the blog world, I am jumping into the exhibition world!

This is a scary and exciting thing. Like most people, I am not a big fan of rejection or failure, and this has the potential for both. But, it is also a chance to get my work seen by lots of people and to start and get my name out there. So, I am giving it a try. Another one of my concerns is that the three pieces that I am entering are personal favorites of mine. All pieces that are accepted and exhibited must be available for sale. So, I need to figure out prices that will balance someone else owning the pot besides myself, with it being shown in a gallery and the publicity that goes along with that.

Earlier today I set up my makeshift photo gallery in our kitchen and snapped off some shots. We get one image and one detail image per piece. I think I need to retake detail images, since most of the detail images I have now are just crops of full images. The name of the exhibition is 5x5x(5), and it is open to work in any media that fits within the parameters of five inches in any direction. I thought that I would post some images to get any comments or constructive criticism on the pots or pics or whatever from all of you knowledgeable readers out there.

The first piece you have seen before on my blog. It is a woodfired teabowl with tea dust glaze on the interior. It was slightly altered after throwing and has a very soft feel. The detail is of the interior where it got ashed during firing, giving beautiful glaze runs.

The second piece is also woodfired, and is a small bottle that I made during Peter Rose's class at the John C. Campbell Folk School. If you ever have the chance to take classes there, do it. I cannot recommend the place enough. I do not remember the exact glaze or slip used on the outside, but it was a shino of some sort. I'll have to check my notes.

The final piece is a small porcelain vase, thrown, altered, shino with red iron oxide around the rim, cone 10 gas reduction fired. At the time I made this, I also made some bowls and vases in a similar manner.

So, those will be my three entries. Deadline is October 1 for submissions and we are at the beach in a week or so. I know that I am a big procrastinator, hence starting now. If any of you out there are interested in entering as well, the prospectus is available through the Target Gallery link above. I look forward to your feedback!

Hummingbird Moth

2008-08-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

So, no new clay news at this point, though I do have some new ideas kicking around in my head. Hopefully they'll get put into action this upcoming Tuesday.

Thought I would share these pics from our little flower bed next to the house. We had seen these guys flying around the butterfly bushes a few weeks ago and had no idea what they were. After some research I discovered they are sphinx moths, aka hawk moths, hummingbird moths and some other names. This one, looking like a hummer, was actually the second of the day. The first looked like a bumble bee, but I didn't get a picture of him. They are amazing creatures.

One site said that they look like a combination of moth, bee, hummingbird and crayfish. That's pretty much spot on.

Here's hoping that everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!

Inspiration

2008-08-28T06:27:00.001-07:00

I have seen a number of posts recently about inspiration for pots. I'm not quite ready to do that one yet, but I did want to give props for the main inspiration for blogging. That would be Emily Murphy's blog, www.potterybog.com. It is an incredible resource for a wide range of information relevant to people working with clay. Aside from her technical clay posts, her blogging/website posts have been helpful recently, in particular this post: Search Engine Optimization for Clay Bloggers.

If you haven't read her site, you really should. You'll be better for it!

And Why...

2008-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

I have been slightly addicted to pottery blogs for a while now and the thought of starting my own has grown. But I have never been one to keep a diary or a journal and I've never really gotten the allure of having a blog. However, most of the pottery blogs I read say what a great experience it has been to keep a blog, so I am going join the fray.

I kind of look at it as a virtual pottery class that takes place all over the world. I take an actual class once a week on Tuesday nights at Bill Van Gilder's pottery school in Frederick, MD. Yes, there are the demonstrations and the time at the wheel, or glazing, or pulling handles, or whatever I am doing to get my hands and clothes dirty. But a lot of the learning and enjoyment that I get from the time at the studio is the interaction with my instructor and fellow students. This interaction may or may not have anything to do with clay, but it is all part of the learning and fun. That is how I look at the pottery blogosphere. I have gotten so many tips, ideas and inspirations from the time spent reading the blogs listed here on the page, that I feel the more people that are in the virtual class, the better. By my jumping into the blogosphere, I hope to add to the learning and fun. Hopefully that will be the case.

Though I am brand new to the blog world (so apologies to anyone reading, you are going to be part of the learning curve) I have worked with clay off and on for a while. A brief history...over 10 years ago I discovered clay by taking a county offered course in Northern Virginia and I was hooked. The county course wasn't doing it for me, so I started taking classes at Creative Clay Studios in Alexandria, VA. This was a wonderful place that allowed me to experience c10 gas reduction firing, raku firing, wood firing, glaze making and many other things. I must credit my instructor Jan McQueary with going above and beyond in her teaching duties. Maybe 5 years ago I injured a finger and had to stop working with clay. At the same time, Creative Clay closed for a bit during a change of ownership and I moved from the area. That was enough to keep from clay for about four years! About a year ago I got back into working with clay and I am so glad about that. I did not realize how much I missed it in my life.

I am now working on making pots, setting up this blog and getting my Etsy shop up and running. To that end I have just started taking pics of some pieces to see how that all works. Here are some samples:

My tentacled vase, two shots of a tea bowl, a crock and an urn. I'm pretty pleased with my first attempts at photographing my work.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully the first post of many!