Anatomy of a pottery student's shelf

Teriyaki chicken

Tonight I made my own version of teriyaki chicken.


I marinated the chicken in teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, a little soy, and bit of chili powder. After that I skewered them up and put them on the grill. Meanwhile, I stir-fried some broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas, baby corns, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and garlic. I seasoned it with some red pepper flakes, and some teriyaki sauce, and served it all with rice.

(The kids loved it.)

Shopping on the hill

Today I went with Elaine and Becky to Ron Philbeck's Summer Sale. Ron showcased all his great work in his wonderful studio and showroom space. With all the outstanding pieces, it was very hard to make choices on what to buy. I will post pictures of my purchases later.

We got to see Ron's workspace, his kilns, and even a tour of his house along with some of the great pots he's collected. We also got to meet Ron's wife Sarah's mom and aunt. Thanks Ron!

Clockwise: Ron, Becky, and Elaine


Ron's kiln shed


Becky presenting Ron's kilns


A friendly dragonfly stopped in...

I had a great time. Thanks Ron! Elaine and Becky, thanks for letting me crash your plans and thanks for driving, Elaine!

Pinch-O-Rama

Met Becky at the studio last night and made some pinch pots for the barrel firing that Becky and Elaine are planning. I need to get them burnished and bisque-fired before the 12th so they are ready for the barrel.

Son of Glaze-A-Thon # 42

Wednesday night I met Greg and Joe at the studio to get some major glazing done.

I had a lot of pots waiting for some clothing and I'm pleased to say I got almost all of them finished. (That's Greg furiously creating.)

Greg's pots take on a life of their own and seem to have a story to tell before he even glazes them.
Joe brought some beautifully thrown pots to the glaze-a-thon.

After getting cleaned up it was ~12:45 am. A late night even for us.

I used to really hate the glazing part of the process --it was just an annoyance that got in the way of my throwing, but my darn shelf kept filling up. Now, mostly thanks to Greg, I appreciate the creative options I have at the glaze table. While I may put off glazing because it is still a lot of work, I enjoy it as an equally creative part of the process of making pots.

Greg treats each pot as a canvas and he works his magic as if the glazes were paints on his palette. His knowledge of the chemical properties of the glazes and how they'll react never ceases to amaze me. He's definitely working with both hemispheres of his brain. His pots always have plenty of surface interest before he gets to the first glaze bucket. His glazing further enhances the way you experience his pots.

Joe starts off with a much smoother canvas and creates a multi-layered organic mural on his pieces using all the available tools. He can take the simplest thrown form and give it a great depth and presence with his choice of colors and application. It's amazing to watch.

I glaze pots.

I'm working on some ideas to make it a bit more interesting and I'm always trying new techniques. Stay tuned.

As you might expect, scheduling glazing time with Joe and Greg really enhances my glazing experience. I get to watch them and feed off all their creative energy as well as spend some time with a couple of my good friends.

The Big Day

Well today was the big five-oh. My kids took me to see Iron Man this afternoon,

decorated the house,

and made me iced brownies.

It was quite a day.

Karen bought us Theater Charlotte tickets! We used to be season ticket holders before the kids were born and I've really missed it.

What a great birthday! I hope everyone can have one this nice. I am so blessed to have such a loving family.

Now you see 'em...

Stephanie got most of her braces off yesterday.









She only has a few clamps left on
the bottom sides and hopefully they
will come off soon.

Do you raku?

I thought I would post some of my more recent raku pieces.

This is one I did during our Wednesday
night End-Of-Class firing. I'm really
pleased with the variation I got on it.

This one was done on (the only) one
of the raku firings Joe and I tried to
organize. We'll get it together, Joe.

The Superstitious Sunset glaze ran
with an unexpected, but nice effect.

With friends like these...

Our good friends Tom & Lisa sent me an early birthday package which arrived today.

Thanks guys!
(But be careful, I know when your birthdays are too!)

Who?

A person I consider a true friend for many (too many!) years found this picture several months ago and emailed it to me. It is a photo of me and my two friends on our senior class trip in 1976 to NYC (we lived in NJ). We started our trip at ~2:00 am because our first stop, the Fulton Fish Market opened at 3:00 am. After several more stops we were waiting for the ferry to Liberty Island when Penni snapped this picture of us. From left to right, it's me, Leo who now lives on the North Shore in Hawaii, and Dave who left us in 1991.

Lately I have found myself looking at this picture often, trying to recapture those feelings. Maybe it's because I have a milestone birthday coming at me. Don't get me wrong --I'm not depressed, just a bit introspective.

Leo and I still talk once every week or two (there's a five-hour time difference to Hawaii) and I wouldn't miss one of those conversations. We may be getting (way) older, but when we get together we can be just as silly as we were in high school and I won't give that up. It's one of those things that keeps us young. Some things don't change, thank God.

Other things do change. Hell, they even moved the Fulton Fish Market (after 188 years).

Good Taters

I had the TV on in the wee hours last weekend, tuned to UNC-TV and a show called Music Seen started. The first band on the show was called The Taters and the first song they played "On Our Own" caught me. I went to their web site, ordered the CD through CDBaby and it arrived today. Life is good.

The Taters are very retro, kind of a mix of a lot of influences, but always solid power pop with great hooks.

Unexpected Raku

I had glazed this piece a while back and left it on the raku shelf. When I arrived at the studio on Monday night it was in the kiln because Greg and Joe were firing it for me.

Surprise!

Thanks guys!

After the pot came out, I proceeded to glaze about a third of my ^10 pots. I am using a new glaze palette on this group of pots and I'm anxious to see how it works.

Testing 1-2-3

This is my first post.

Welcome to my blog. We shall see if this works or not. I am afraid I may be too set in my ways and may not be able to keep up with this.

Time will tell.

I took the "title picture" in February with my cell. I'm a fool for a dramatic sunset.