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!!!