birthday party..cheesecake...jellybean..BOOM!

Will is 3!  Three years old...WOW...these have been the fastest and happiest years on earth so far.  All the parents who warned me of the warp speed life would take were right, and then some.  I still often find myself looking at him like a strange force of nature that has descended into, and now dominates, our lives.  He is perfect in every way!  Happy Birthday Son.  I hope you read this some day, if the internet survives, and realize how full you have made our lives, and our hearts.

The rest of you can now dry your eyes and make plans to get out Friday December 2, the last First Friday of 2011.  I will be at the First Friday Indie Market again, downtown GSO.  This one should be another great Holiday event.  I will have new pots at the Market, and in my space at the Handmade Emporium at Design Archives.  Here is the way cool poster for the Market:

I urge you all to come out and buy local and handmade gifts for the Holiday season.  Remember, plastic corporate crap from elsewhere just says you are fulfuling some obligation.  Buying something made with love and care says you love and care.  AND...there is no website dedicated to disturbing images of fellow shoppers at both of these, and all other, for that matter, venues that sell handmade items. So there.
I have been busy, way busy, as of late.  Early last month, I entered the retail realm at Design Archives.  Please check it out; along with my pots, there are many, many cool and original items available there.  Support your Local Craftsperson!
Last night, with the help of my brother Clay, the booth at Design Archives got a makeover.  We added lights, tweaks, and height adjustments to showcase some pieces.  I had already added some detail shots of glaze surfaces that I really like.  I never tire of looking at them; they are like terrains of other worlds. Here are two of my favorites, both from a large (for me!) pots Adam and I fired the last time we took the train out...

Thanks to my good friend Frances Mullis, I have a really nice piece of celebrity exploitation advertising in there as well.  Maybe you have seen this on my Facebook...

That is THE Anthony Bourdain, holding one of MY coffee mugs!  Too cool!  Hope he likes it, and hope he doesn't mind being so shamelessly used to try to sell more of those very mugs!  Thank you Frances for making it happen!  And thanks to Anthony for: 1. accepting the mug as my gift to him.  2. agreeing to have his picture taken with it.  3.  having such an interesting show about food the world over that I have ended 21 years of being a vegetarian partially due to his influence.
Anthony, you are right, pigs are tasty!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is the head shot of the revamped booth.  Look now, as new pots will be there soon.  Come out and help me make room for them!

So if that isn't enough excitement.......on November 12 I had the wonderful opportunity to help out potter Joseph Sands and his firing crew finish off firing his kiln in Randleman, NC.  Thanks to Adam Wiley for volunteering me when he was unable to make it.  Joseph is a talented potter making beautiful pots in all shapes and sizes.  I am greatly impressed with his skills and knowledge,  I assisted in side stoking for the final hours of the multiday firing.  Joesph salts the kiln at the top end with 200 pounds of salt.  I had a great time helping out, and learned a bit while I was there.  His opening is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Go check it out!  Fellow potter Rochelle Peterson took some of the pictures below; thanks for handling the camera while I was stoking!  I am looking forward to seeing the pots for the first time on Saturday!  Here are random shots from the day.

with all that..........Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who was nice enough to have read all of this...Thanks!

for a minute there, i lost myself...

The November First Friday Indie Market is TOMORROW.  Night.  In Downtown GSO.  Just a few hours away.  Second firing of the larger kiln cooling now, test kiln with one bulbous vase, VC Turquoise, starting this afternoon.
I have been so busy with glazing and firing, I ignored that promise to keep at this posting thing.  So NOW, here 'tis.  New design, new pics taken quickly last night of this week's first firing.  Return of the Ball Crawl!!!

The good news is that tomorrow I am entering the world of having a retail space.  I will have a space at Design Archives, downtown, Elm Street, Greensboro.  I am super excited about this opportunity.  This will allow me to produce and sell pots in a smoother fashion that a rush to a monthly event, and then a rest period (usually needed) and another rush.   This also makes me think making bigger pots is feasible (too hard to carry the big ones around).  So, please come check it out!
More info as the space gets set up.  This forces my hand to do the much dreaded "About the Artist" statement.  I, for one, hate to hear artist wax poetic on their stuff, no matter what the medium.
And really, at the end of the day, this is about water, wine, and cereal or salad.  Much thinking to do, and fast.  So far, the only thing that feels good is remembering the quote "two oranges being nailed together".  One of you knows what I mean!

i'm a country mile behind...the whole world.

Finally back at this, and I refuse to acknowledge the time that has passed since my last post.  Looking forward, I intend (really) to stop treating this blog like a Catholic confession, “ forgive, it’s been xx months, blahblahblah”.

 

This coming Friday I will again be at the First Friday Indie Market in downtown GSO.  I have fired a second glaze load inside a week.  Coupling this with the wood kiln firing my friend and fellow potter Adam Wiley and I did in his mini train kiln on the last Sunday of September should add up to a good amount of ware.  Come out and see me and the other vendors Friday night.  

Here are some pics of recent pots from the last few firings, both Cone 6 electric and Cone 6 wood reduction.   The shots of the kiln are part of a video I am working on of our last wood firing.

This was from an earlier firing in Adam's kiln.  Slab built bottle with a thrown neck.  Hakame style slip under an ash glaze.  This was the sloppiest and most haphazard glazing ever, and it turned out more like I had intended/hoped than most pieces I handle much more tediously.  I applied the slip to bisqued bottle with a handful of pine needles, and poured the glaze water-thin over the piece laying in the yard.  I am keeping this one!

This one is the first of several vases I have thrown lately this style.   Thrown in two pieces, I join the rough cylinder to the body and do the "architectural" detailing.  They remind be of column molding with the lines and bands.  Those are great lips and crevices for the glazes to pool and run.  I keep refining the shape with each one I make, streamlining the body and adding more detail to the top.  I expect to keep at it for a while with this form.

The top pic in this set shows one of the kiln packs through a peep hole in Adam's kiln.  I like that the camera caught the ash bits, those are the dark flecks, and the movement of the smoke as we approached bisque temp.  The middle shows the flame blasting from the chimney closer to the end of the firing.  The final shot was taken during unpacking.  The latest of the form from above is the rear left pot; the bowl on the right has a ring of carbon trapping in the Shino glaze, just like the teabowls below.  The carbon trapping is the product of deep reduction; the fire is overstoked, choking black smoke as it searches for oxygen.  Carbon from that smoke traps under the glaze and gives color and pattern to the glaze.

And here is a detail shot of my chock.  People seem to really like the logo I use.  Here is the story.  I always liked the logo of the Square D Company, an electrical parts manufacturer.  We passed one of their buildings on the way to Harker's Island, where my Dad lived for many years.  I always used the sign as a marker to gauge time to and from the coast.  When I starting making pots I quickly realized I wanted a logo on them.  I designed it in my mind and drew one with a sharpie, then filled a sheet of paper with them.  The first one was the best.  I go back to that scan for everything I use the logo on now.  I had two stamps made at a local machine shop I know; a positive for cone 6, a negative for cone 10.  I still sign pots by hand with the logo when I fail to pay attention to the drying stage of the clay.  I occasionally threaten to get a brand of the logo; doubtful!

Lastly, this pot came out about three hours ago, cone 6 oxidation.  Two turquoise glazes layered, a gloss over a matte.  The photo just does not do it justice.  This combination will be one I continue to explore.

Hope to see everyone who happens to stumble in here Friday!!!

i've been there i know the way

December One already. Winter is happening right now, and promises to attend the final First Friday Indie Market of the year this Friday. Same place and times, so come on out. This marks a year for me of doing these shows, and I look forward to next season already. I especially look forward to maybe a break to get ahead. How that might feel I have yet to know. As I type this, ONCE AGAIN, I have hot kilns at the studio. The big kiln fired today, and finished up an hour ago. I immediately put one last bowl into the little kiln and got it going. To have a stock of pots must really be a great place to be in.
Here is the poster for Friday, and like it says, Have a Handmade Holiday. Give the gift of a local craft, it means so much more!


Kim Mchone and I are again sharing space at the Market. So come do your Christmas shopping with all of us in downtown, AND enjoy the festival of lights Friday night! Kim's terrariums are really something special, and I have good feelings about what is transpiring in the kiln right now.

As of late, making pots for this and designing pot ideas on paper have dominated. As much as anything can when there is a two year old head of household. Will continues to amaze us every day. He hit the big 2.0 November 18, and seems to somehow know that he is the big boy of the house. As he grows each day, our hearts seem to grow with him.
Saturday my brother Clay and I took him out to the Old Mill of Guilford north of GSO, for grits and flour. While we did not get gingerbread on this trip, it seemed to start the Christmas season for me. Leading Will by the hand into the mill, I remembered the countless trips I made out there in years past with my Dad, and felt as happy as I did sad to be taking my son for the first time. Having Clay with us made it all the better. We never really mentioned it until later, but I felt like this was a bit of a milestone, reviving and reliving a bit of our past and passing it along to Will. Sappy, yes, I know. I am now able to forgive myself my maudlin moments as things take on a new relevance with a child. The best part how much Will loved the place, especially the yard. The landscape is plain and southern, at once industrial and rural, and perfect. Here he is, all boy, all business, all the time.




So, there it is, about all I can muster for now. As Christmas approaches, I plan to throw pots for gifts every chance I get. Hope to get some of those ideas on paper and in my head into the clay, off the wheel and into the kiln.
The next big pottery event for me is two Sundays from now we are firing the wood kiln at Roberts'. The last one two weeks ago went perfectly, and some of the pots were the best things I have ever seen. I could only hope to feel so excited about my own stuff one day. Stop by The English Potter on 705 in Seagrove and see what all the fuss is about. Better hurry!
So next post will include some firing picks from this upcoming firing. I am thinking about documenting the process from wet pot thru each step until fired pots are unloaded.
To wrap it up, if anyone happens to stumble upon and read this, hope to see you Friday night in downtown GSO!

autumn waded seven seas and the colors come another

fall is finally in full effect! my favorite time of year. everything seems much more real and alive when the air is cool. the color palette just seems so perfect to me. i always feel like the whole point of summer is to grow into fall. and then fall into winter.
the crisp mornings are such a nice way to start the days. this fall seemed like a particularly long wait to me.
these thoughts should be reflected, with any luck, in the glaze choices firing in the big kiln right now. i decided to give the matte yellow i was all about in the spring another shot. over the summer i seemed to do something wrong in firing or application that made it the biggest disappointment for me after that first test firing.
i did a test firing earlier this week, and it looked great. finger crossed, breath held.
i have a deep green that i have finally figured out is picking up iron from the clay and going darker than i want. shoulda thought harder earlier.
to round it out, a raw sienna and a new temmoku are all shiny wet and red hot at this very moment.
all this is for the big weekend coming on fast.
the First Friday Indie Market, downtown GSO starts at 4 pm and runs thru 9 pm Friday night. should be a great one, we are apparently packing more vendors than ever before into the parking lot. Come on out; this is always a fun event!!!





















And then......Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm, I, along with many other vendors, will be at the Shop Local Festival on State Street, again in GSO. This is my first time at this event, really looking forward to it. This one should be lots of fun as well. The weather should be nice; I am hoping for a clear and cool day. Pottery buying weather!!!




















My love of this season has grown and taken on new meaning with Will. He is already showing a love for the outdoors, and an interest in animals and the natural world. Our newest thing is the Sunday Gator ride with Grandpa. I think we all look forward to being together, touring around, watching as Will takes it all in. We have been picking apples for the last few rides, and Will can make the smallest, knottiest apple last forever. I find something really special about picking these unknown variety from a family tree. The apples look horrible, until you bite into the whitest flesh, which is surprisingly sweet. Maybe the fact that these are just some random fruit from some unexpected source makes them sweeter. Either way, they make Will happy!
Halloween was a wonderful day. We spent a few hours in McLeansville at a corn maize owned by some high school friends. Will loved everything except the actual maize. The pics below show a happy guy, one who bring us more happiness than I could have ever imagined.
The skunk outfit for trick or treating was perfect for him, and went much more smoothly than we expected. His first active Halloween was spent in downtown Star. He was a little confused about the whole thing, but handled it like a champ. Next year we reckon he will have his own opinion about what he dresses as, so this one was on us.
Off to check that hopefully finished kiln, and to bed. Big weekend ahead!!!

how come i end up where i started?

so this has been the shortest lightning cycle between Indie Markets. Tuesday night before Friday night and i am still miserable hot faced from watching the kiln make the final 14 degree push to cone 6. i like being there for the death of it, as Robt. calls it. somehow ice cream seems a better toast than beer this time.
The October Indie Market poster is below. The weather looks promising, and the fact that I am sharing a booth this time with good friend Kim McHone assures that fun will be had by all. Her terrariums are really something special, so take a look:

http://terrariumstogo.blogspot.com

I pulled the kiln temp back a bit this time, hoping to keep some of the untameable glaze surfaces in check. The Floating Red that looks always oh so nice in the test kiln has been too runny, too glossy, and too Red Planet in the big kiln. In addition, I have tests of a nice green called Spearmint, and something called Waxwing Brown (!). These names kill me. Today we had some color changes from plain ole standard PMS colors, a medium blue and a golden yellow, to something called Sierra and Somethinganother Blue. To sell socks. whatev stay out of the paint department at Lowes.
anyhoo, i really hope this red agrees with the thinner application i tried, and the slightly lower temp. i also have the VC Turquoise i have been into lately.

i will have some coffee mugs this time, along with a new cup/tea bowl design, which i think is pretty cool.

so, provided that this firing goes well, this Friday should be a good Indie Market. come on downtown 4p-9p or so.....hope to see you there!