Glazing

I always forget how long glazing takes.  I thought since I was firing a reduction kiln and not wadding everything for wood or salt it would move along a little quicker.  It could be that I made a lot of pots this cycle.  I may even have enough to fire again with a pretty quick turnaround.  I'll know more tomorrow when I load. 

Tomorrow I'll post some pics during the stacking.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Kiln Repair

Yesterday as I was prepping to glaze I took a quick look at my kiln.  One of arch bricks had finally broken in half.  It had been hanging on by sheer will power during my last big bisque.  Of course, I hadn't checked it until yesterday...smart move.  I quickly called Bailey Pottery and they shipped off some fiberbond cement that arrived today.  Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to load up the kiln over the weekend like I had hoped.  It's the first real repair that I have made to the kiln.  I'm glad it went so smoothly.  Here are some before and after pics....

As I was fixing it there was a whole lot of fluttering of wings going on.  It seems as though I have a visitor in the kiln shed.  Here's the new Kreeger Pottery kiln shed nest.  As long as I don't get pooped on and nothing happens to the electrical going to my bisque kiln, who am I to evict anyone.

Copper Red

Easy answer for a stupid question....

Who the hell would be so stupid as to start mixing a copper red without first checking that there was any copper in their studio?  

Almost there

I got 2 out of 3 glazes mixed up yesterday and I just got a delivery with the ingredients that I didn't have for the last one.  Time to finish mixing and then get everything sieved.  I've spent the morning prepping all of the bisqueware.  Getting the feet waxed and I made sure I cleaned everything off really well. My last firing at Mark's had a bit of crawling because of some dust on the ware.  I don't want to make the same lazy mistake again.  

I'm also trying a bunch of new ideas in this firing.  I just put some of the latex wax resist on a few big pieces so I can glaze and then remove the wax and layer things together.  I've never used this method before...and I'm trying it out with some new glazes so I've got lots of variables going into this firing.

And, since a post isn't a real post without proving that some work was accomplished, here are some pots that I finished up late last night.  Some squared bowls that weren't quite ready to trim during the day and were just past how I like the clay to be for trimming.  I guess I mis-timed it today.  Anyways, they still got trimmed and have some brown slip on them.

Here are a few new to me oval forms that are actually similar form to some ovals of mine from years ago.  I put the brown slip on the entire piece and then scratched through to the white clay below....I'm pretty excited to get these into the firing.  

Lastly, here is my slab roller that has turned back into a coffee table.  The 3 mugs to the right are usually the first one's I grab in the morning.  The middle is a soda-fired mug by Michael McCarthy and it's bordered by two Mark Shapiro woodfired mugs.  Since they were in the studio when I went for round 1 of coffee this morning I gave a quick rinse to the Ayumi Horie on the left and filled it up.

Off to finish those glazes.  I'm hoping to be done glazing by Sunday and then get this kiln fired on Monday.  

good morning

It's glaze mixing day.  I have a few more pots to trim but while they're drying I'm going to mix up a few new glazes and top off some batches of what I already have.  I haven't mixed up new glazes in a while so I hope I have all the ingredients.  I have a delivery coming tomorrow from my supplier so I can hopefully get whatever I'm missing on the truck.  

I ordered a mug from Ayumi Horie after I saw Michael's post that there was some new work available.  As I kept checking throughout the day I saw the little buttons change from "buy now" to "sold" so I thought I would join the fun.  I'm glad I did.  It came today in time for my second cup of the day...

I also thought I would include a few goofy pics of my girls that we took yesterday.

Back to work

It was a long weekend in the gallery but a decent one nonetheless.  It was absolutely beautiful outside over the weekend on Cape which meant town was pretty busy.  Evangelina and I got to see some of our clients who we haven't seen since last year so it's always nice to catch up.

Today it's back to work in the studio.  I cycled through another bisque yesterday and I would like to re-load another right back up again.  I've got some clay wedged up for one last round of squared soup bowls that have been ready to throw since the beginning of the weekend and never got done.  They haven't been sitting under plastic as long as these mugs....they are definitely getting some handles today.  After that it truly is time to start glazing.  I've been going through my pile/file of glaze recipes looking for a good celadon to mix up this round.

I've been in either the studio or gallery every day for a while now so I might head out this afternoon....haven't figured out where or what yet.  That's one of the downsides of the studio, gallery and house all together....I'm here quite a bit.  There are too many upsides to make that complaint too often.  

It's raining today after being beautiful since sometime last week...that's my luck for what could be my day out.  Over the weekend our giant tree peony went into full bloom.  The flowers are about 6 to 7 inches across.  Here's a pic...

Well, off for coffee number 1 of the day.  

Where'd everyone go?

Are the internets shut down for the weekend?  What's a pottery blog addict to do?  

Nobody has posted over the weekend.....Surely somebody in the pottery world did something, right?

Update...

Thanks Brandon

Gallery Time

I've been in the gallery the majority of the last couple of days.  We've gotten some really great work in the past few days.  My good friend Michael McCarthy sent some nice pots over, Daniel Garretson, who is Mark Shapiro's current apprentice sent some work over and we received some jewelry from Zingarelle, a pair of artists in NYC.  I'll try to get some pics posted shortly but I'm kind of sick of the computer right now.  

I'm hoping to make it into the studio tomorrow to at least load another bisque.  If I'm lucky I'll get some pots made also.  I'd like to make a few more bowls for the firing and I have another bunch of mugs that have been under plastic so long waiting for handles it might be time to start charging rent.  

Town is definitely busier this weekend but I was honestly hoping for a little more of a swarm of people around.  We've had some nice visits from many of our regular customers and it's been nice catching up on the past year.  Some of our summer friends have new dogs, others are eyeing retirement next year.  I'll be staying open late tonight to hopefully catch some of the after dinner crowd.  Wish me luck and send a note to keep me awake.  

Memorial Day Weekend #11

Memorial Day 1998 was my very first opening here on the Cape.  During the fall of 1997 I was living in NY and renting space at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY.  I was also traveling quite a bit to Quakertown, NJ to help out my friend Tim Clark who was then apprentice to my mentor, Toshiko Takeazu.  One afternoon, when discussing the future, Toshiko asked me if there was anywhere I could start my own studio.  I replied that my family had a retail property up on Cape Cod that was sitting vacant at the moment.  I told her that I thought that in five years if it was still there that maybe that was the right spot to open up shop.  She replied in classic Toshiko fashion, "Do it now...you'll have it in 5 years."  

I had a very restless night in Quakertown going through all of the reasons why I should and shouldn't open up my own shop.  The biggest was that I had no clue what I was doing.  I was a recent graduate of Skidmore College where I had spent all of my free time in the studio, when I wasn't skateboarding that is.  Did I really know how to make pots?  Yet, I couldn't come up with a solid reason other than fear and thinking that I wasn't ready for my own place.  

I was scared...and I wasn't ready....but that didn't stop me.  I naively, maybe even stupidly, started work on my studio.   

Toshiko was right, five years...now eleven later....I have it.  And, I sort of even know what I'm doing.  My pottery skills have grown through working here, firing with Mark Shapiro out at Stonepool, teaching, and now even surfing the web to look at other's techniques on their blogs.  

Now, at Memorial Day Weekend number 11, this will be my last summer with this gallery.  We are heading off to Austin, Texas in the late summer of 2009.  A move we're very excited about but leaves me feeling very strange as I continue to get ready for what is the official "opening" of the season here.  That's also why I've been working so hard on our website and on this webstore.  I'll still be making pots here until we move and with the webstore everyone will still be able to find my work.

The gallery has grown quite a lot in my years here as the pictures below can prove.  My work has as well and you can tell that too if you look at the pots in the first couple of pictures...please don't look too closely.  The biggest difference is probably Pre-Evangelina and Post-Evangelina.  Before Evangelina was here I thought the best way to display my work would be to put every single thing I had out on a table and together. Dozens of pitchers in one spot, some teapots over in that corner and look, there's every single vase I made during the off-season.  It was almost as though my kiln had vomited my pots out into the gallery.  Yes, the pots were decent but you couldn't see them.  

With Evangelina's help we have turned this place into something pretty nice and I think, very special on the Cape.  It is a working studio with a gallery that features work by some amazing artists working in different mediums.  

It is really hard knowing that this is our last summer with something that we worked so hard building.  We've told our friends and family about our move but we haven't yet seen the people who are so important to Kreeger Pottery....our summer customers.  Over the years we have seen a very loyal bunch who make it here every time they visit the Cape.  We have become part of their vacation and my pots have become part of their lives.  Some of our best customers are here for one week a year and during that short time they come to see us and my work.  That's pretty humbling to me. 

So, now our last summer with Kreeger Pottery on the Cape begins.  

Look out Austin....I guess somewhere down there is a space for me to have 5 years from now.

Thanks Toshiko.  

And thanks to all of our family, friends and customers who have helped build Kreeger Pottery over the years.

The gallery, First Summer on Cape
Gallery, Third Year?
Taken this morning.
The view out to the rest of the gallery.

Rob's Pots

Arriving today to the gallery, just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, are some of my Rob Sutherland's pots. Here is a quick pic of his work just after unpacking.  I'll be shooting some real photos tonight for the website.  

I spoke with my good friend Michael McCarthy who is hoping to get a box of pots out in time for this weekend.  I had planned on a trip to Western Mass this week but it just never happened.  I feel like I'm getting too much done in the studio to head out for an overnight trip. There's a little lull here after Memorial Day Weekend so hopefully I'll find a time to grab some stuff then.  Maybe...and only if I'm organized enough, I'll fire a kiln and head out there while it cools.  

Back to Pottery

I've spent a little while blogging about things other than pots.  Maybe I lost a few readers with the boring website stuff.  That kind of took over all of my computer time when I wasn't in the studio.  Anyways, here are a few pictures of some of last week's work.  I've been altering just about everything.  I was trying some squared vases and after I had made a few I cam across the comments in one of Ron Philbeck's blog about him making some squared vases with a technique learned from Bob Briscoe.  After I made them with my self-discovered method I tried the other method of pulling a board across the bat to shape the piece.  I'll have to play around with it a little bit more but I definitely like the idea as well as trimming and cutting the feet away.  I've always thrown my altered forms without a bottom and have then spent the next few days finishing them up.  I like the quickness of altering the form when wet but I definitely notice that I don't have the same control over the form....and this might be an okay thing.

Anyways here are some oval jars that were thrown without a bottom and then assembled:

here are a few tall oval vases that were thrown with out a bottom

Here is a squared vase with my method of running my fingers up the wall when wet and then using my finger to create the foot and finish squaring the bottom after it sets up for a bit.

and here is a squared vase thrown and altered with the Bob Briscoe techinique via Ron's blog.

Sunday Morning

It's Clarita's first birthday today.  We took a great hike through the Fort Hill Park out in Eastham.  It always amazes me at how many different landscapes there are out here on the Cape.  I've lived here since 1997 and I've never been to this park before.  Javi led the way since he's been here with his pre-school before.  I'll update this post with some pictures shortly....

In other Kreeger Pottery news, Bruce and I attacked that webstore thing yesterday...for a little over 8 hours!  I think we may have finally kicked it's butt.  I still have a few little things to clean up but this never ending website update might actually be close to done.  It's good timing.  Next week is Memorial Day Weekend and the official start of the Cape's tourist season.  I've got some great pots coming in next week from my friend Rob Sutherland.  His work is such a departure from the salt/wood fired work we've always had in the gallery.  Also, I might actually make that trip to Western Mass. for that crews' pots.  

All blogging about my website is done until I actually get the final site live.  I know it's been boring.  I'm off to make some pots in the studio....

UPDATE:

Here are the images:

the view from fort hill

javi on the rock
ale in the meadow
clarita, the birthday girl, with my mother-in-law

I'm not a web designer

As much as I try....I'm not.  

I make pots, I teach pottery, I run a gallery, I'm a dad, I ride a motorcycle(although less and less)...hell, I even teach tennis during the off-season up here....but, I am not a web programmer. 

I've spent another couple of hours plugging away at the computer trying to get our new php header to work with the new store site.....not a chance.  I am pretty stubborn so after I get a few pots finished up in the studio another frustrating session at the computer is coming up.  

Hey Bruce,

Have no fear...your job is safe.  I am definitely not a web programmer.  

PHP Rules!!!

I had an epiphany about php at some point today....I get it...it's all about includes.  After a tech support call to Bruce I think I have it.  Of course....a total website rebuild is in the works tonight but so be it....I wanted to make some flow changes anyways.  

Next up....

I'm going to kick this webstore's ass!

But first let's build the part of the site that I understand....and finish making those pots.

?

I'm starting to feel a slight disconnect from my pots.  I've been making work for a while now and when I start feeling like this it usually means it's time to start glazing and seeing some finished work.   Once I unload the kiln I remember how excited I was at the beginning of the cycle...if the firing goes well. Making pots is obviously a process driven endeavor but we do need those few sweet pots out of the kiln that send us right back into the studio to start again. 

So, it's either that or it could just be the fear of firing without the aid of salt or soda for the first time in....well, years.    

I still have a few fresh ideas of some more pots to make but I don't have any working surfaces left. Time for a quick cleanup and shelving re-organization.  Maybe even another bisque is in the works today.  

More pots to make

I got a bisque kiln loaded today and it's started with a long soak.  Time to make a few more pots today and tomorrow.  Then, it's time to start cleaning up and get ready to do some glazing.  I still haven't figured out which glazes I'm going to mix up for the firing.  I would like to try out a new celadon glaze.  I haven't had a celadon in the studio for a while so it's time to hunt down that box with all of my recipes in it.  

I now officially hate setting up the webstore.  It was sold as basically plug 'n play...and it might be.... to a web programmer.  It would sort of be like selling wheels out of the gallery and telling every single customer that they are now ready to make pots.  Just plug it in, put some clay on a bat and start throwing.  It's that easy!  I've spent the greater part of yesterday in contact with my web hosting company changing some stuff around and that was supposed to make it work....it didn't.  So, enough ranting about the web stuff....off to the studio and hopefully get some decent pottery made.....all it takes is a wheel and some clay, right?

Slight Website Update

I've been getting tons of requests to get more of my recent work up on our website.  I was trying to wait until I get the webstore up and running but that's clearly not going to happen today. Anyways, I added a few photos to my current work page.  It's a quick update but at least I have some more images on there.  

I keep plugging our online store....I promise it's coming.  In the meantime, sign up for our updates so you'll know when new work is added to our site.  

HTML, PHP....???

I got the webstore software plug-in and I definitely don't understand it.  We've designed our basic site with basic HTML which I don't understand but with Dreamweaver that doesn't matter. I've been able to update the site and add pics and pages and links without any knowledge of web design.  Bruce, who has helped me with the site so far, is going to be changing the site to a php code....which, again I don't understand but will make updating easier.  

The webstore program is full of templates and is supposed to be easy to upload from my program but apparently, my basic knowledge of Dreamweaver isn't enough to get it up and running.  It definitely wasn't for lack of trying.  I uploaded everything up to our server and tried everything I could to get it to work.  No such luck.  So, it's been taken off of the server until I can figure it out.  

So...now I'm going to have to bribe Bruce with some Anchor Steam Liberty Ale, Dogfish 90 Minute IPA or Dogfish 240 Minute IPA if that's what it's going to take.  Bruce....it's time to forget about your real clients....you know the one's who pay you with money instead of pots and get on over here on Saturday.  You don't really want to keep painting trim anyways....Amy will understand.  Let me know which beer(s) you want and it will be here waiting for you....along with a whole bunch of php errors.

Things to do...

Busy day today.  I want to throw the last of the white stoneware and move on to some regular stoneware tomorrow.  Things to do:

• Tall oval vases
  
• Throw some more bowls
• Finish trimming
• Clean up 
• Get some more work done updating the site.
  

But first, Clarita is ready to get out of the crib and have her second breakfast.  

Update:

Webstore Software came through my inbox this morning....time to figure that out.  

Hi Mom

Happy Mother's Day!

Still catching up...

Not a bad day. Even though we had a sort of a late night I was able to get some of my catching up done. We even had a very decent amount of people through the gallery on a rainy Saturday. I guess I should have advertised a Mother's Day Sale or something. Anyways, I got the cups above trimmed and slipped as well as cleaned up the mugs that waited so long for their handles.

Below are a couple covered jars that I managed to throw. As I said earlier, covered jars had left my pottery world as of late in lieu of boxes but maybe their back. This cycle I feel like I am re-visiting forms and decorating ideas that I haven't seen or used in a while. Perhaps it's because I'm getting ready for a reduction firing for the first time in ages. Regardless of how I've gotten here...or back here...it's fun to try these distantly familiar ideas with pottery skills that I didn't have last time. A lot of these ideas I haven't put on my pots since my first summer opening up shop. I'll try to snap some pics of some old pots lying around the studio that I never got rid of....maybe there is a reason I kept them.



My soup bowls were still not quite ready to trim. If I can sneak over to the studio for a little while tomorrow maybe I can trim those and the serving bowls I threw yesterday.

Off to a birthday party tonight....and it's not for children....Woohoo!!!

Time to Catch Up...

Really. At least the mugs have handles...finally. It's now time to trim everything that I made while not putting handles on those mugs during the latter part of the week. Soup bowls, cups and serving bowls all are asking to be trimmed. The weather isn't agreeing too much lately...the studio is awfully damp because it hasn't stopped raining for a few days. So, I'll trim what I can and then make a few covered jars while I wait for the rest to dry up a bit more. I haven't made covered jars in a while. It seems as though pitchers and covered jars had left my vocabulary of pots for a little while. It's nice to have them back...I made one jar yesterday...Let's see where it leads. I've been working with Laguna's B-Mix clay most of the last couple of weeks and I think today is going to be the last day for a while. I'm going to switch back to some stoneware clay tomorrow and try to finish up throwing next week. After that, It's time to mix up some glazes and start cycling some of this work through the kilns and into the gallery. Hopefully, It can all get done before Memorial Day Weekend.

Somewhere between now and then I'll have to find some time to get out to Western Massachusetts and get some pots from everyone out there for gallery. There was a good wood firing last week out at Mark Shapiro's Stonepool Pottery and I'm going to hopefully get some work from Mark, his current apprentice Daniel Garrettson and his former apprentice and good friend Michael McCarthy. So, with my firing, some pots from Stonepool's woodfiring and a quick trip to Dogbar Pottery to get some work from Sam Taylor and we should be overloaded with pots here at Kreeger Pottery for the beginning of summer. I guess I'll have a lot to photograph shortly.

New Blog Links

Since discovering the idea of pottery blogging not long ago I've been a daily visitor to Michael Kline's blog. I think reading it for a while is why I decided to make a blog part of our website re-design. I have always loved Michael's work and we were glad to have some of it in our gallery for one of our group shows a few years back.

I'm enjoying the fact that there is a community of artists writing about their work and their daily life. Two potters who I have never met and honestly, I didn't even know their work before finding their blogs, have become part of my fix of my online pottery habit. I look forward to one day seeing each of their pots in person...especially after following their blogs. So, if you haven't already, please check out blogs by Brandon Phillips and Ron Philbeck.

Finally....a pottery related blog post after bringing politics and movies and new cousins to the site. More pots were made yesterday so I guess I never caught up on all that work or got handles on those mugs. Better get to that this morning.....after making a few more bowls.

Gonna be an uncle....again

And my kids are going to be big cousins again to a little boy getting ready at Northern Westchester Hospital right now. My sister-in-law is being induced today and we're all waiting. I'll post an update when I hear from my brother.

Update:
Harry Beckett Kreeger healthy baby boy joins Evan, Patty & Oliver Kreeger as the Somers branch of the Kreeger Crew.
5lbs 7oz.

That makes 7 cousins since 2003!

Late Update:
Here's the first pic. Pottery blogging will begin again tomorrow.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

-Non-Pottery Related Post Warning-

I've been meaning to watch it for a while but Evangelina and I sat down and watched "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" last night. It's an unbelievable documentary that words cannot describe. Even if you don't like his music or his drawings it is still an unbelievable story.

Uh Oh

Tables are filling up with pots and scraps, trimmings are on the floor, mugs to get handles onto and I just made some more pots. I'm getting dangerously close to getting way behind here. I do want to make some more cups and then maybe I'll start catching up....after I wedge up some clay for some small bowls.

Anyone think I'm procrastinating on those mugs from the other day?

Lastly, never play Connect Four with my 5 year old son Javi....it can be kind of humbling to lose so many times.

Still Making Pots....

My work on the website has stalled for the past few days as I've been in the studio making work. I definitely need to kep working on the website and get more images loaded and more pages built but it's on hold until my friend Bruce can help me with one more thing. I don't quite understand it but we're going to change the site to a php version which in the end will make updating easier. That, and it means we should be able to get the webstore up and running via my point of sale system in the gallery.

Basically, what it means is everything that I've entered should go up online with the ability to look, click, buy with a credit card securely online and get your order shipped. It does beg the question...can you sell pots online? I asked earlier and I'm still not sure. For a while now just about every customer has asked if I sell my work online. I've always thought you needed to see the piece, touch the piece and then decide to buy....but maybe we'll be able to sell some very real pots virtually. If all goes well maybe within the next couple of weeks I can get a beta version of Kreeger Pottery's online sales gallery up for a preview.

In the meantime, I'll continue making pots and photographing more work...both mine and others as it comes into the shop. I still haven't taken pictures of Hilary Law's work and gotten it up to the site. Hopefully, I can catch up on that tonight. Here are a couple of pics of recent pics....some mugs and a large serving bowl. Instead of making a series of the same mugs I decide to make each one a little different....not how I usually work. The idea of totally new work going into the reduction kiln has been really liberating for the kinds of pots I have been making and how I've been making them.

Democrats Re-Uniting

I found this via Daily Kos, one of my daily political fixes.

Kos found it on another blog....John Cole's Ballon-Juice. It is John's idea of what the Democrats will do to get back together before the convention.



I think we have a nominee in the Democratic party and it is nice to be on the winning side for once.

still finishing.....

I'm still trying to catch up and finish the work that I've made recently.  I really like Michael Kline's phrase, "chasing plastic"...it's something I feel like I'm constantly doing around here. I've gotten the 8 plates I made the other day all trimmed, though there are now only 7.  I guess I'll have to make an extra one in the next go 'round.  The big pots and cut vases are drying slowly thanks to the weather and the trusty dry-cleaning bags.  The serving bowls are trimmed and slipped, and I just got some handles on a few pitchers...pics are below.  

I also tried a variation on my oval vases...which I applied to the pitchers as well.  I added some ribbed lines down towards the bottom of the pot.  I ended up slipping this with some brown as well as a bright blue slip.  You can see the raw clay in the first shot of the pitchers before the handles were added.  Yet another step added....we'll see how it goes.  I have a lot of "tests" or "trials" going in this next reduction kiln.  My friend Darren might come down to use the reduction kiln to fire his work.  That could be really good since I'll be able to get a few of the new pots in his firing and test them before I load an entire kiln with entirely new glazes and slips.  

well...off to get the two remaining kids to bed.  every post seems to end with something with the kids...

Finishing

Today it's time to catch up on some studio work.  I'm trying to stay on top of things in there this go around.  Instead of throwing just about everything and spending the rest of the month trimming, handling, and decorating I'm going to try not to overload myself.  And I'm getting dangerously close to getting behind.  I've got some plates to trim, some ovals to finish and some pitchers to get some handles on.  That, and I want to make some more mugs.  So, before I throw those mugs I better catch up on everything under plastic.

We had a nice little soft opening to the gallery so far this weekend.  A few new groups of people came through and got some gems from my last firing.  

Today started with a nice family breakfast of homemade waffles.  My parents, sister, brother-in-law and two little nephews are in town so it was a little loud but lots of fun here this morning.  Dave, my brother-in-law brought in some copies of a book that he and his sister wrote.  The book is "The Land of the Curiosities" and it's the first in a series from their new company, the ecoseekers.  They've already been on tv promoting the book a few times and were just named as a finalist for a Benjamin Franklin Award for best first children's/young adult book.  They're selling the book at some WholeFoods Market's, Yellowstone National Park, Teton National park, their website as well as here at Kreeger Pottery.  Check out their website for more info.  

Off to get some pots finished and off the table to live on the ware-racks.

Late Start

We're having a slow morning today.  Evangelina and I actually crossed over the bridge and went up to Boston last night.  We got home around 1:30am and my plan for being well into a morning of work in the studio hasn't happened quite yet.  I'm almost there...but, right now I've got two little kids in my ear asking if I want to see their rocket ship....gotta run.  After I take a quick tour of space I'll finally trim those plates and maybe attempt making some pitchers for the first time in a while.

Wow...a post without pics....is it worth it?

A Rainy Opening Day

Just finishing up making sure that everything is priced and entered into our new system.  It's a typical Cape Cod spring day here.....rainy, a little chilly and awfully gray.  We don't really have a spring here.  Last week was a definite gift to have sunny weather in the high 60's for an entire week in April.  Today is more like the spring days we're used to up here.  It's okay...the fall up here is worth the lack of spring.

Where was I going.....?  It's spring and we're opening up for the season today.  Weather like this doesn't usually bring the crowds down from Boston but we'll see what happens.  I have plates to make and other things to catch up on in the studio so it will be a productive weekend one way or another.  

Time to hang that sign up out front.

Slip

Can anyone tell me what looks better than a freshly slipped pot?

Thrown & Cut Vases

Along with the big pots from yesterday I've spent the last couple of days playing around with cutting up thrown cylinders into triangular vases.  In the past when I've altered the forms into square or oval I'll just run my fingers up the inside of the pot and change the shape from within. I wanted to see what kind of sharper definitions of forms that I could get with this new method. It's definitely adding to the time on each piece, but everything seems to be going in that direction with my work anyways.  

Well...here is a basic cylinder form to start.

After it set up for a while I cut as straight a line as I could...

With 2 sections gone I had to figure out a way to not let that last piece fall

Here are a few other forms I cut up.  I wanted to see how the form variations in the outer two cylinders would translate to the cut forms.

And here are some of the assembled forms.  The one on the left was cut into 4 pieces so it is obviously a squared vase but the others are triangular.  I'm excited for the glazing opportunities with the different planes on each piece.

The only question is why don't I make them with slabs....but, I just love the energy from the wheel...especially when you alter the form and see those little variations of the throwing lines change from the different sides.  Now I just need to clean them up a bit...sweeten up the rims and get some slip on them.