2 Person Show at Blue Heron Gallery

First of all...Yes, I know it's been a while.

Clearly I should try to get back to writing again. I have big plans for the fall in the studio and I'd really like to make blogging an integral part of it. More on all of that later...no need to bore you all(someone still checks this place, right?).

The important news is that my Two-Person Show opens at the Blue Heron Gallery in Deer Isle, Maine today! Ryan McKerley, my fellow Art of the Pot host, and I are having a show titled, Contemporary Porcelain Surfaces at the gallery which is located just down the road from Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I was hoping to swing by and check it out but I'm starting my drive back to Austin tomorrow and I just couldn't rationalize adding another 13 hours of driving to the trip.

Here's to hoping this is just the opening salvo in a return to the blogosphere.

Up top are some of my SkyLine Mugs that are up at the show and pictured below is one of Ryan's bowls.

A Couple of Mugs

Fluted mug with Willy's Helix, Pinnell Clear on the inside.

I was playing around with some color on this one. I think a combo of a little dust and too thick of an application with the clear glaze caused a little crawling on the rim.

I love the white though and look forward to thinning the glaze out and using it again. Too bad I only have about 30 pounds of porcelain left. Something to look forward to in Austin I guess.

Before & After

The photo hasn't been color corrected so the celadon isn't all gray as it looks like here.  I'm very happy with the firing....lot's of ideas of where to go next.  Most of it has to do with porcelain and white stoneware.  I guess I better clean all of the red earthenware off of the wheels and tables.

Gas Kiln Preview

Since all of Michael's B&W pics have always looked so good I thought I would try it here.  It's completely appropriate since this cup is matte white with some nice dark coffee in it.  

I've finished unloading about 2/3's of the gas kiln and it looks really nice.  Some really good celadons and some other good experiments.  I'll take some photos tomorrow night and update the website over the weekend.  I was going to try to get that done today but unfortunately it's not going to happen.  So...new pots for sale on the site on Monday...I promise!  

I'll try to get a few more quick pictures up to the blog today but I've got a lot to do before Bruce and I head on up to Fenway.

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.

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

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.