Hey Cupcake!

One of the many reasons to like Austin....Hey Cupcake!

Evangelina and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Austin where we met with a realtor, narrowed down a neighborhood to live in, and talked to some friends about the house/pre-school/elementary school/pottery/studio scene.  

Needless to say...we're a little overwhelmed but very excited about our upcoming move.  

More about the trip later.  

And off we go!

So far so good....but we still have a 4hr flight to go.

I like this...

I just finished up my fluted blogging and checked my google reader.   I found this waiting for me via Naomi Cleary's blog.

Enjoy!

Can't Stop Fluting

Those skate punks among us may get my reference to a NOFX song in the title.  I've been reconnecting with my indie-rocker self in the studio listening to Sirius' XMU.  It's been much more fun than listening to Mickey Mouse and Hannah Montana during carpool.

Below are a few more images of some work from the last few days.  

I made a few fluted soup bowls.
Here is a close-up.
Here are a few squared and fluted bowls.  They were made with 2lbs of clay.
And....here's a close-up.

I have one last big bowl to trim tonight.  Tomorrow is going to be spent cleaning up the studio and packing.  We're off to Houston on Thursday for the Holidays.  I'm not sure what kind of blogging I'll be doing from the road.  It will probably be something but most likely not pottery-related.  

Evangelina and I are off to Austin on Saturday for a couple of days to start looking at houses and neighborhoods.  I'm also going to see if I can figure out some areas to rent studio space.  We've been talking about the move for so long it has always seemed so distant but we're starting to get to the reality of it all.

More Bowls, More Fluting

It's getting addictive....

This one is a nice low open mixing bowl.  Everything seems to be getting a cut foot and some flutes along the way.
Here's a taller bowl made with 6lbs of clay.  I usually never keep track of how much clay I use during each throwing cycle but this time I am. Mostly because I'm trying to get these pots ready for Baltimore wholesale.

More Fluting

It sure is making a mess. 

Here are a few cappuccino cups:trimmed, cut foot, and partially fluted.

A few taller mugs with the same treatment.

Free Shipping!

Today is the last day for FREE SHIPPING from the Kreeger Pottery Online Store.

From the Collection

Evangelina couldn't put the name together with the work yesterday during our surprise visit but here is the Jess Parker piece we have.  

It's a beautiful little espresso cup.  It's making me think that maybe those cappuccino cups I made do need a saucer.  Maybe next time....

From the collection

After being a little embarrassed that Jill's piece was hiding in a box because we couldn't find the right spot for it, thankfully she let us know that someone else had used one of her pieces as a centerpiece on their table.

We took her advice and before she could blink....it had a new home.

It's a really beautiful piece and Jill took full advantage of the Anderson Ranch soda-kiln to make it.  She understood exactly what was going to happen with that flame to make this piece work so well.  She gave us a beautiful little talk about how that single kiln became part of the narrative of her work.  I won't try to explain it...you'll have to ask Jill.

Again...it's meant for the wall but we'll be quite happy with it on our table for now.  We'll find a wall for it in Austin.

Nice Surprise

One of the nice things about living on the Cape is something that I call the "Cape Cod Drop-By"  it's a visit where someone just stops by without calling first.  Some people would think its rude.  I have always appreciated it.

Today we got a very nice surprise visit....even though the sign said "Open" on the gallery the door was still locked and I hadn't made it into the studio to get any work done yet.  Apparently, after peeking through the windows my friend Jenn Reed decided to give a call and see if we were home.  So, as I picked up the phone and looked out the window I could have sworn that I saw Jill Oberman in Jenn's car.  Weird...especially since I knew Jill from Anderson Ranch and weirder too since she now lives in Chicago.  Also hiding in the back of Jenn's car was Jess Parker.  Jess flew in from California picking Jill up in Chicago to come to the Cape and visit Jenn...while enjoying 3 days of the worst rain we've had in a long time.

It was great to catch up with people who I hadn't seen in a while and nice to hear some great stories.  Some of which I'll share in a later post.  Best of all is we finally figured out what to do with our wonderful wall piece by Jill Oberman that I still hadn't put back up since our renovation a couple of years ago.  The picture of the piece sitting beautifully on our dining table will be up shortly.  

Glad that we became part of the visit to the Cape and I'm glad you all learned about the Cape Cod Drop-By.

More Bowls

My hand is almost cramping from fluting these.  

I need to learn to make molds and slip-cast.

Vases

Here are a few squared vases.  Everything seems to be getting a little cut foot this session.

Mixing Bowls

I've been wanting to make mixing bowls for a while and that's what I did the past couple of days.  Most of them are squared and will get my wax, slip, incised slip treatment.  I really wanted to reference your standard mixing bowl with these.  Then yesterday my delightful friend Abigail posted this on her blog which led me to make some small mixing bowls that are really as basic as it gets....except for some reason I fluted them.  I think that it's something that I've done less than 5 times in my life.

Anyways...I'm curious about it and I may do a few more larger ones.  These are all about 3lbs each.  The first one is round with a cut foot.

These 2 are squared...again...about 3lbs of clay.

And...these are squared and will get the wax/slip combo....I may need to come up with a shorthand for that decorating style.

PS

I mistakenly posted this with just the images so this post may appear more than once in your inbox.  Sorry.

Handled

It only took a little while but I got handles on these 6 mugs.  I still don't know what the big deal was....there were only 6 mugs!

First 2 are a little smaller so I tried a nice little 2 finger handle.

These taller mugs got a full handle.  

Slipped and waxed....later tonight I'll incise and slip....or perhaps cover them with plastic and do it in the morning.  Pics whenever that happens.  

I still have another 1/2 dozen mugs to handle...of course to complicate things the new ones have to be trimmed.  As always, if I can find another step...I will.

Why....

....do I dread putting handles on mugs.  I tend to leave mugs hiding under plastic for at least 2-3 days before I put handles on them.  I'm not sure why.  It doesn't take me that long to do it and I actually enjoy putting them on.  

I finally put handles on 8 mugs that were being shuffled under plastic from shelf to shelf as I needed room for my bowls.  What a waste of time it is to procrastinate....Now they're done and I can avoid this next set of mugs for at least an hour.

Things to do...

It's been raining for a day and a half so even with the heat on a little bit nothing seems to be drying to quickly.  My studio shelves are fast being filled up with bowls and mugs waiting for the next step.  So, I'll finish coffee #2 and see how things have dried since my 7am check.  If they're not ready to work on I guess I'll have to find some space and throw a few more things....I'm thinking oval vases today but I need to make a few more mugs as well.

I also need to update some stuff on the blog and website.  I need to update a bunch of sidebar stuff here to more accurately portray the blogs that I read coming through my google reader account.  It's a great way to stay on top of what's going on with all of the pottery blogs that I have become addicted to.  My website just needs some tweaking about my upcoming schedule and what-not.  Well....off to work....pics later.

I'm still having the Holiday Sale over at my Webstore and it's still Free Shipping on everything until Monday.  

Progress

I had a great day yesterday.  Actually, it was a great few days.  We had a great weekend with the kids, a nice little BBQ feast on Saturday to celebrate with a few friends and we even made it through about half of "Bolt" yesterday evening.  For Javi, who is terrified of movies, half of the movie is some major progress.  Of course, the movie started out much scarier than we thought it would so he didn't exactly get to ease into it. Hopefully it wasn't so bad that he'll avoid going to the theater again.  I doubt it since he hasn't stopped talking about the half of the movie that he did see.  It's almost like he enjoyed it.

Back to pots....

I had a good day in the studio today.  Finished up a few things that I didn't get to do over the weekend and I threw a bunch of squared serving bowls.  I'm going to try and head in shortly to make a few more things but I think I may need to catch up on some sleep so it may not happen.

Here are a few recent pics....

These are the squared vases that I made the other day.  Waxed, slipped and ready to dry out for a bisque.

This is a little squared bowl.  I think it was about 3lbs of clay.  I like the little cut away foot.  I like it better than the footed bowls below...

I made this before the one up above.  As I said...I think that I like other cut foot better.  I think it looks more stable and solid although, we'll see once all is glazed and done....I"m still playing around with this "new to me" form.  I do like how they'll relate to the smaller bowls that I made at the end of the last cycle.  Perhaps the small ones need feet as well.

I made 8 of these 5lb bowls today.  A mix of taller like these and lower, wider ones.  They'll all have cut feet and the incised slip like the first bowl.  

Tomorrow should be another good day in the studio....hopefully I'll have some pics at some point tomorrow to prove it.

Clay for My Birthday

Today is my birthday but I better sneak into the studio and get that last area organized.  I have a clay delivery coming today and it's supposed to go in that area full of junk.  

Then...I better make some pots.  We're off to Houston soon so this is my last week of making pots this year.  

If all goes well today we're supposed to pick up the kids from school and then off to the movies.  I want to see Madagascar 2 but Javi and Ale are set on Bolt.  They're not big fans of movies so just getting to the theater is a good start.  

Pics and Open Studio Sale

It just isn't a pottery blog if there aren't pics up.  Words are so long and sentences are even longer.  New pots are so much more exciting.

And, on that note....here are some new pots I've been working on.

These are some vases I'm playing around with.  I want to have a couple sizes to play with.  I really liked the larger rounder wobbly rim vases and I wanted to see how it works with a more slender form.  They are slipped and waxed and ready for some incising.

I'm intrigued by these "cappuccino" cups.  I made some of my more typical "taller" mug forms but then sketched these out and I made these two.  I am working on the scale and form but I like where they are heading.  I'm not sure if they need a saucer...I've never been big on cups and saucers but these might be asking for one.

Here are a few more tall slender wobbly rim vases.   These are with the B-Mix which just throws so beautifully.  The piles in the background are part of the studio that I haven't gotten organized quite yet.

It will probably be a slow weekend here in the studio.  I'll finish up these pots and hopefully even make a few more.  My clay order is getting delivered Monday so next week should be pretty productive.  

Stop in for the Holiday Sale....The shop is open today, 10-4

Buy Something Handmade this Holiday Season...

We're all set up and ready for the Holiday Stroll.  

I'll also be opening the gallery tomorrow and next Saturday as well.  As always, I'll be open by appointment and since I'm making pots this week in the studio there's a good chance that the front door will be open if you stop by.  If you don't want to risk it, give me a call or email me and make sure I'm around or.....you can always shop online...

Or go Shop Here...

or here...

or here...

or here...

or here...

....or find somewhere near you.   Google your favorite artist and see if they're having a show soon.   Call them...stop by their studio.  I promise...you'll enjoy it much more that the shop at the mall and whomever you give the gift to will enjoy it much more as well.

Work...but no pics

The studio is back to 90% clean.  Well...90% of what I consider to be a workable space.  I made a few pots today.  I am very low on clay but I spent today throwing the last of the stoneware.  Some mugs, some vases and some bowls.  I'm focused on Baltimore ACC now as I return to the studio.  I used the time to try out a few new forms and refine a few others.  As I said earlier I'm doing wholesale & retail while I'm there.  I haven't done wholesale in a few years and I want to go in with a small but very focused line of wholesale work.  Tomorrow, I'll finish up what I made and make some more using some white stoneware.  I'll get some pics up tomorrow.

Evangelina organized the gallery because tomorrow is the Holiday Stroll and Open House.  The stroll is from 5pm-9pm but I'll have the gallery open most of the day while I'm working in the studio.  Again...pics tomorrow.  

Please stop by if you're on Cape because the shop looks great once again.  It felt like we were getting ready to open for summer.  We'll also have a bunch of work on sale and some seconds out for purchase.  Hope to see some of you tomorrow.  

No work...just thoughts.

I spent the day cleaning up the studio and gallery getting ready for the Holiday Stroll throughout town this Friday.  I'm eager to get back to work in the studio but I have another day of cleaning and organizing before I can.  After working like crazy, 2 firings and 2 shows my studio is a little bit of a disaster.  All should be close to okay tomorrow and if all goes well I may be throwing again by tomorrow afternoon....Thursday at the latest....I hope.

I only have a little clay left and I need to put in an order tomorrow.  We're off to Houston for the holidays on the 18th and my goal is to get everything together so that when we return right before New Year's I'll be able to start cruising again.  I'm doing wholesale/retail in Baltimore and when we get back I'll only have 6 weeks to get ready for the show....plenty of time but I want to be clear about what I'm doing leading up to it.  If I start planning now, perhaps I'll have a little less self-imposed stress before the show.  So, with a clean studio by tomorrow I'll still have a couple of weeks to get a head-start in getting ready for the next firing.

I've been thinking a lot about my new work and how it seems to be more "design" based recently....as if there is a difference between that and studio pottery.  There isn't, but I think that as my pots get more decoration, the design/throwing of them becomes more in the front of my mind before I approach the wheel.  It is definitely a change in the way I work and I think it has been a change that has led to being more productive.  I found myself re-reading this interview in American Craft with Ayumi Horie.  It got me thinking about where this new work came from.

American Craft:

What is your relationship to design, craft and the fine arts? How do you see your relationship to each? Or one in particular?

Ayumi Horie:

....I’m much more comfortable with the moniker of craftsman and designer than I am with artist. I’m a craftsman in the sense that I’ve largely committed myself to one material and am concerned with function, use, and accessibility. I’m a designer in the sense that I understand how my aesthetic translates into various materials and am happiest when I have various side projects in media other than ceramics. Spending three years renovating my house full time helped hone my aesthetic more than anything else. Making daily decisions about trim, shingles, gutters, mullions, and tread thickness made certain aesthetic patterns evident to me and even brought more clarity to my ceramic work......

Switching back to my reduction kiln after firing soda/salt and wood for so long definitely made me re-think the design, surfaces and so many other ideas regarding my pots.  But, those were process-based decisions within my work.  The layers of slip, incising, waxing and the Celadon glaze were about how I could continue motifs in my work that I had been using in my salt-fired wares.  

I find myself looking at amazing homes and wonderful green renovations in Austin on a variety of real estate websites.  I am drawn to contemporary homes as I think about our move(something Evangelina has always been drawn to)...It is so different from our gray-shingled neighborhood up here on the Cape.  So, I guess I'm making pots for my new home. Or....what I want my new home to look like.  

I guess this is yet another in a long line of rambling posts here but I figured I would try to put into words what was going on in my head.  

More design/making/pottery coming this week.  Now....if I can only design my studio to self-clean....I guess that's where my non-existent apprentice comes in.

New Mug

What a treat!

After a great Thanksgiving and a successful Trunk Show the only bad thing was that we had a horrendous drive home through traffic and rain last night.  I'm happy to be home and I spent the day settling back in and cleaning up the gallery for our Holiday Open House on Friday evening.  I did stop by our PO Box to pick up buckets of mail. Luckily, this wonderful mug arrived today from Brandon.  Through the beauty of pottery blogging, the internets and the USPS we worked out a trade.  I've already enjoyed one afternoon cup of coffee with this beauty and it will start my day off tomorrow.

The return mug is on it's way tomorrow morning.  Sorry Brandon....kids got in the way of me getting everything done that I wanted to today.  

Thanks Brandon!  

Thanks!

Thanks everyone!  I'm glad so many new pots have new homes.  Enjoy them.  

It was a great day and so enjoyable to sit in a house with friends and family while selling pots.

Thanks again to all who came and thanks to those brave enough to see a chalkboard sign and walk up the path to the studio sale.  

Below are a few pics from the show....

Today we drive back to the Cape in the rain and snow.  Friday is our Holiday Studio Sale which will have refreshments and lots of pots...including a big seconds sale.  

Come on Over....

665 Milton Road

Rye, NY

Trunk Show Saturday!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  If you are in the NY area I hope you'll find some time to stop by our Trunk Show here in Rye. 

Details and directions are available on our website.  

Hope to see you all tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're down at my folk's house in Rye for Thanksgiving. My mother has
been cooking for about 3 weeks getting ready.

The house is starting to smell like Thanksgiving as one bird is in the
oven(pictured above) and another being smoked outside.

It's going to be a good meal surrounded by 7 crazy grandchildren
running around.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating and best wishes to all
of those readers from abroad.

And best of all...my mother just found the turkey-baster so all is
okay. We had our first Thanksgiving related stress-fest about an hour
and a half ago.

New Pots Online!

I've spent the majority of the last week getting my website tweaked.  I hadn't really paid much attention to it recently and it was getting stale.  

Not anymore.  I wasn't going to upload pots until after Thanksgiving but I couldn't help myself.  I still have some more photos to take and more pots to put up but I'll work on that the rest of the week.  

So, check out the new pots...and the best part is...Free Shipping on everything thru December 15th.  I'll be sending out an email newsletter after I get the rest of the new work online later this week.  

It's a little early but we're heading out of town tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping to beat the traffic down to NY by leaving when the kids get finished up with school tomorrow. Javi's school has a big Thanksgiving Luncheon over at the Chatham Bars Inn. So, he's off to school in his nice slacks, a dress shirt and a blazer. I can't wait to see it all covered with gravy in the afternoon.

Behind the Scenes Work

I've spent this week doing the unseen parts of being a potter.  Not the studio part of the job but the part where I photograph everything, start updating the website, sending out mailings and getting email newsletters out for our upcoming Holiday Trunk Show.

I was going to upload the new pots to the webstore after Thanksgiving but I found myself with some time this week so I'm almost done with pictures.  I'm doing a mix of pots on a backdrop and pots in a home setting.  I think it should help with the context of viewing functional pots on a website.  I want to have everything ready to go together instead of uploading things piecemeal.  If I can figure out the php code for a couple more changes to the site I should have it up by Monday.  

Javi had a friend over after school today who asked a question that I had trouble answering with a straight face.  I was in the dining room photographing some of the work and he walked over, looked at the setup and said, "Why are you taking pictures of a coffee cup?"  My only answer was, "Because I made it."  I'm not sure if the answer was good enough for Henry.

I wish I had this setup for photographing my work.  Perhaps with that setup and some actual photography skills, my pics would look better.

I'll let you all know when the site is ready.  

Coming Up

This is what's next on the agenda.

 

We'll be hosting a Trunk Show down in Rye, NY the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Along with my newest work, Randall Darwall & Brian Murphy will have their work and Michael McCarthy will have his most recent pots.  All of the details are on the Kreeger Pottery Website.

Randall Darwall makes truly amazing work.  His scarves, shawls and clothing are known all over the world.  The colors that he finds in those dye buckets of his are unbelievable.  

Michael McCarthy just fired the woodkiln out at Stonepool Pottery so he'll have some beautiful pots with him. 

Until then, I'll be spending my time catching up on office work and photographing my newest work.  I'll be uploading all of the new work onto our website right after Thanksgiving.  

We'll be announcing some awesome Web Specials in the Online Store for those of you who live too far to make it to the show.

Well....

...I don't really know what to say...Boston, the economy,  the new work, the new show, the new location?  It was rough.  

Craft Shows can be tough....I started doing them in 2002.  My first show was Crafts at the Castle, which this show is replacing.   On the very first day of our very first show Evangelina and I were wrapping pots and passing them off to customers as you would pass a hot dog down the row of seats at a baseball game.  

This show...not so much.  It was frustrating because this show was the first time I was showing my new work.  For me it was the culmination of 7 months of work switching from soda/salt/wood to reduction firing.

New work...new booth...new expectations....uh oh.  

I know that I can't take it personally when things don't go as planned.  Thank you to all who did show up and have added some of my new work to your collections.  I'm grateful and I hope you enjoy your new pieces.  Even though this show didn't pan out as planned I have some positive things to bring back with me.  The feedback I got on my new work was tremendous...especially from fellow artists and long time customers.

Now...obviously I would have been ecstatic to sell all of the work that I brought with me...and that was my plan.  But, that is well beyond my control.  We are beginning an interesting time for our country with an economy that has over-leveraged and over-consumed.  I have joked with my customers over the years that I lucked into pottery by taking a class one summer at Skidmore.  I always said that because of that one class I actually graduated college with a skill.  No matter how disappointing a single show is, it pales in comparison to the fact that I have created something.  My pots are here...they exist...they are real.  

So...enough dwelling on a disappointing show.  I had an entire weekend to do that. Tomorrow it begins again.  I'll start small....probably by unloading the van.  Perhaps that will lead to cleaning the studio and with that clean space I'll be able to figure out where this last round of pots will lead me to next.  

Oh...and while I was gone, did anyone happen to clean my bisque kiln full of blown up pots?  See...I have things to do.  

And to put it all in perspective...when I got home I went upstairs to see my kids who I haven't seen since sending them off to school on Wednesday.  I still had my name tag hanging around my neck which led to Alejandra asking me..."Wow...did you win a medal?"  

I said yes and I gave her my medal.

I just went up to turn out her lights...this is how I found her.  I think she has created a pre-school for her dolls.

In Honor of Sam

It's been a long day.  We still have another 1/2 hour to go and in honor of Sam, I just poured a small cup of bourbon.  One of the things to look forward to in Baltimore is stopping by Sam's booth late in the day.

Show has been interesting.  A long post will probably happen later.

One of the nice things of this show has been that I finally got to meet Kari and thank her for putting up the recipe page that helped me start with the earthenware during the summer. 

CraftBoston, Setting Up.

Well...I'm wireless blogging up here at CraftBoston thanks to my father's 3g wireless connect card.

I'm just about done setting up the booth as the picture above shows.  I just need to tweak a few things and make sure that everything is priced.  I forgot a lot more booth stuff than I should have.  I wanted to hang that large platter but I have no wire to hang it with.  I could use a few extra shelves to deal with all of the extra orange space on the walls.  And, if I could find some tape that would keep my nice sign up on the wall that would help.  But...these are all little things.  The plan is that people are looking at the work instead of the booth....right?

I'll get some pics of the work up soon.  I'm hoping to see all of you living in the Boston area.

Boston....

Tomorrow, these will be in Boston...

Tomorrow is set-up day at CraftBoston.  I meant to snap some photos of the newest pots but I ran out of time.  Don't worry...I'll be able to take some during the show and I'll even try to find some time to upload them while I'm in Boston.

So..tomorrow, I'll try to figure out my new booth set-up and get a good amount of work done so that Thursday is a little easier of a work day before the show starts Thursday night.

It should all go really smoothly because Ben helped put together an awfully cool booth. It should set up really easily and I shouldn't need to ask any friends or neighbors for help....that doesn't mean I won't.  I'll get some pics tomorrow during the set-up.

Now it's off to find all of those power cords, power strips and all of the other little things to make a booth work.

Email Newsletter

I'm getting ready to send out a new email newsletter. I've pretty much made the switch to an email mailing list instead of postcards.

If you would like to join our email mailing list so you don't miss out on anything....sign up with the form below now:

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

For Email Marketing you can trust

Ready To Go

Almost.  

The firing finished of nicely on Saturday Morning.  I'm not sure if the all-nighter was worth it though.  But, I will be unloading in about an hour, as soon as I get Clarita down for her morning nap.  With my normal firing and cooling schedule I unload the kiln mid-afternoon....so at least I'll get the pots out earlier today.

I peeked in the kiln late last night and was able to snag a few pieces from the bottom this morning.  The celadon came out really nicely on both the stoneware and the porcelain.  It's very strange how much I'm liking the celadon glaze.  This summer was my first time firing reduction for my work in a long time.  

For the past few years it had been strictly soda, salt, and woodfiring.  Once my little soda-kiln here died I was so attached to vapor glazing my wares that I was driving across the state to "borrow" Mark's kiln.  It got to be a little too much traveling to finish my work...the fact that I have 3 kids added to the time constraints.  I look forward to getting some pots back in an atmospheric kiln at some point but right now the decorations under the celadon glaze are working really well.  I just feel like a celadon glaze is about as far away from a kaolin slip as you can get.  But...it's working....no need to question it. Of course, this show is my first big show featuring all of this new work so we'll see how it is all received.  

Today will be spent unloading the kiln, sanding, pricing and packing up pots for the show and the orders that need to go out.  The new booth walls have a couple coats of paint on them...good enough to go.

Pics to come after I unload and get some work done.  Oh...and Michael (McCarthy), finish building that kiln so I can sneak some pots into a woodfiring!

Firing Day/Night

I turned on the pilots about an hour ago after a marathon glazing session in the studio. 

My studio right now makes that electric kiln below look clean and organized.  I'll hopefully get it back to somewhat normal tomorrow but today I have no intentions of rectifying that situation.  Once again, that apprentice idea for Austin is looking like a smart move.

I plan on letting the kiln climb slowly this evening and then fire it off through the night.  If all goes according to my grand plan I'll be reducing the kiln by 6am and then just wait for some cones to drop before lunch tomorrow.  

The rest of this weekend is going to be spent getting my booth ready for CraftBoston. I have a corner booth but am bringing a new setup that my friend Ben is helping me put together.  The only thing I'm worried about is that I don't know how I'm going to do the lighting.  I usually bring a conduit pipe setup for pipe and drape.  This time I want to avoid having a corner post in the front, open corner.  That leads to the problem of hanging the tracks since I have no way of lighting the front corner now.  Words aren't working with this description.  I'll try to get some pics up this weekend to explain myself better.

Time to brainstorm....if only my brain was working.   

Deep Thought

Either learn to throw much thinner or make these forms much earlier in the cycle.

The large platter is okay...but these which I threw one day before the bisque didn't work out quite as well.  It's a shame...I kind of liked them.  Just proves not to like anything until well after it is out of the glaze kiln....and....kilns that have elements in the bottom of the kiln heat up the bottom shelf very quickly.

This bisque kiln will be closed and what is inside will be forgotten about until it's time to load another bisque.  At that time I will open the kiln, remember my stupidity and spend a few minutes trying to remember where I put my studio vacuum.  

Wow...I can see the future!

Uh Oh!

Hey Doug!  It's contagious!

I knew I was forcing the issue with this last bisque.  I was too lucky on the last one.  So far all of the small pieces seem to be alright but I have a large platter on the shelf below and I'm afraid to find out.  

Alright...

One more political post.

You must click here....now!  Please.

Latest Firing

Back to Pots...Really.

I have a table full of finished mugs.  I started out this cycle deciding to make mostly larger pieces.  Large vases, large bowls, large platters and then something happened and my scale shrunk back down.  I have a nice variety of small, medium and large pieces now.  So...I'm glad that I didn't stick to my game plan.

I'm looking for some energy to start glazing for this next kiln-load.  I have the final, very damp bisque soaking right now and will fire that off later tonight.  I haven't really started glazing yet...I've just been staring blankly at the bisqueware on tables and shelves all afternoon.

I really like how everything turned out so I basically see almost everything getting a thick coating of celadon again and hoping for the best.  So....tonight will be a prep session....waxing, clearing shelves and the like and getting ready to really glaze tomorrow....hopefully.  I do need this next round of pots for the show so I need to get that motivation back soon.  I'm going with the theory that this will be like painting...the prep work takes some time and isn't fun but the actual glazing will go quickly and then I can load up quickly.

Here are a couple pics of my table of mugs.