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!!!