Enjoying Summer

Busy week - I went up to Northern Virginia and brought my mom back for the week. So, I have been taking her to see the sights and we took an excursion over to see her sisters in Stanly County, near Seagrove. That meant an afternoon of visiting some potteries and picking up ideas and inspirations! Mom and my aunt Gertrude went with me which made the trip even more enjoyable. The picture above is Mom (on the left) with two of her sisters, Sarah (center) and Gertrude (right). I can hear them now, saying, "Oh! I can't believe he put that picture on the Internet!"

My son, Justin, has been working on a line-drawing logo for Straydog Pottery and we are almost ready to turn it into new business cards, signs, brochures, and a T-shirt. Maybe I will be able to unveil the new design in the very near future!

I put off the delivery of my kiln until tomorrow since Mom was visiting. I had cleared a spot in the garage last week, but it is already starting to fill with "treasures" that seem to accumulate from nowhere. This evening, I will move things again to be ready for the arrival of the kiln in the morning. I have been reading up on electric firing and am sort of excited about learning about the glazes and methods that work best with that method.

In the bits of spare time I could find, I worked on some pieces to take in to the studio. I had bought some red high fire clay just to try throwing some with both colors of clay to get a marbled effect. I think my first attempt turned out pretty well - we will see after it is fired. The red clay has a different feel - not as smooth, but maybe because it is a little drier than I am used to having.

The other pieces have been a variety of things I have wanted to try. I read an article on Ceramics Daily about a technique of scribing squares and then pushing out "bumps" on a pot, so I tried that and was pleased with the results. Also worked on some larger pieces and, of course, a couple of face jugs.

One final note - I signed a contract for a teaching job, so that worry is gone. I am always thankful when things work out and feel that there has always been divine intervention in my life that help things to continue. Life is good!

Latest Work

Well, the snow went south last Tuesday night and today the temperature was 64 degrees! Made it tempting to get out the tiller and start preparing the garden. But, I ended up working with the reclaimed clay and now have about 40 extra pounds ready to use. I tried some of it this afternoon and was pretty pleased with the results. It is a little "wetter" than I what I usually use, but has a good consistency throughout. My next "clay project" is to work up some raw clay that one of my neighbors gave me from her farm. It is a white clay that she says has always been referred to as "pipe clay" in this area and was used in the past as a food additive for people who were felt to need some calcium - especially pregnant women! Anyway, she gave me a box of it to see what I could do with it. I guess I will start by putting it in a container and covering it with water to see if I can get out any impurities. More on that as it happens.

The pictures are some of my latest work that I was able to pick up last Thursday evening. I am trying to do more with glazes - overlapping, multi-glazes on pieces, and using stains. I really need to try spraying glaze. It looks like I could do some different things with spraying that I cannot do dipping. I have really taken a liking to Spodumene and to Shino. They both seem to go well with most glazes and are easy for dipping. I have not had much luck with the reds and understand they are especially challenging to master with cone 10 firing. One of the potters Thursday night told me that she mixes copper red and ox blood glazes together and has good luck with that combination. I will try that soon.

In one of the pictures, I have three vases that are "sporting" a sun tile. That was my first attempt at making a stamp. It works so well, I have made plans to make a few other designs.


The face jugs are not from the last firing, but a collection from the last couple of months. After showing the lastest jug I made last week that was going to the studio to be bisque fired, I thought I would show some final products.

cmj

Chance of Snow

Although it's not much, I was able to put aside some time to throw a few pieces on Sunday. It seems that there are just too many other things that must be done - I can only put off grading quiz papers so long! I started making small face jugs early on as a way to recover something from battles I had with a portion of clay and in which the clay was winning. The little guy here is the result of having a hard time with what started out as a two pound bowl. Nothing was going right and I kept trimming away bits and pieces until there was just enough left for a small jug about 4 inches tall!

I did accomplish getting my corner straightened up and started the process of reclaiming about 40 to 50 pounds of scraps that I have been saving over the last few months. So, I guess the weekend was productive to a point. The forecast is calling for a 30 to 40 percent chance of snow tonight and tomorrow morning - a pretty good chance for this part of North Carolina. I, like my students, am hoping for at least enough to have a delayed opening. A full day off would be wonderful and I could spend a good part of it on the wheel. Teachers like snow days as much as the kids!

A couple of average size bowls, a pie plate, a tumbler, a vase, and the face jug is the product of a few hours at the wheel. Besides working on size and lighter weighing pieces, I probably should also be working quicker. But, since this is not my main means of income, I would rather work on quality instead of quantity. I have a "order" for a set of bowls and a pie plate that I am trying to fill for a friend. The other pieces are just me trying some different things or, lately, making things for myself, like the tumbler. Thursday nights are my regular pottery nights at Finch's Pottery and I spend my time there glazing pieces that have been bisque fired the previous week. The glazed pieces will then usually be fired the following week in Dan's gas kiln - so the whole process from beginning to end takes about two weeks on the average for me to see the final work. Maybe I will have something to show after this Thursday.

One last picture. I had cleaned my little corner studio (even cleaned all my tools) and after working with the scraps for reclaiming, I left a muddy tub under my workbench because it was really cold outside and I didn't feel like messing with the hose and cold water in the dark. The next morning when I checked on the pots I had thrown, I was greeted with this sight of muddy paw prints all over the floor. Apparently one or more of the cats (we have four) decided to walk around in the tub and then leave the room, leaving their tracks as evidence of their presence. Back to cleaning!

I hear ungraded quiz papers calling to me. I sure hope it snows!!!

cmj