Busy, busy, busy

On Monday night I threw two large-ish pots using craggy crunch. I really like this clay as it's very toothy and almost gritty. It dries quickly, but Joe tells me that it regains it's plasticity easily by wetting it a bit. By throwing a cylinder, decorating it, and then only pushing out from the inside I can achieve a rough or rustic look. To finish it off I give it a smooth lip to contrast the roughness of the body. Look for more of these in the future.

Two from Monday night.

I also threw two bottle bodies on Monday using orangestone. Once these are bisqued I'm hoping to put them in one of Ron's salt firings. (Thanks, Ron!) On Wednesday I threw necks on the bottles and they came out ok.

Adding a coil of clay to the top of the bottle.

After adding the necks.


After paddling one of the bottles.

Wednesday I made another one of those
craggy crunch pots (the best one yet!).

What's this bowl doing here?

I'd better sneak up on it...

There seems to be something in the bottom of it.

Ta-Da!
I slipped the bowl that was the 100th pot
to document the piece.

I am so taken with this latest craggy crunch pot
I couldn't resist one more shot.

This week's thought: Try making something new using a different material to shake your thinking loose.

New Brents

Woo-Hoo! Clayworks purchased four new Brent C wheels! They are so shiny and new and quiet! I can't wait to throw some pots on them.

Muddy Fun 2008-11-22

Muddy Fun class was held on Saturday morning. It was a very intimate class with only two students, Stephanie being one of them. I think Stephanie did a very good job for her first official time at the wheel.

Julie and her students.

Julie demonstrating technique.

Julie's great green shoes.

Stephanie throwing her bowl.

Stephanie's output.
We kept the bowl on the right.

Another potter is born...

The Evening Muse

On Friday I met Becky, Fred, Elaine, and Pete at the Evening Muse t0 see Steve Stoeckel and Jamie Hoover of the Spongetones perform. It was a great time and I was reminded once again just how talented these two musicians are.

During the show Fred found out that their work at Concentrix was nominated for two Emmys. Congratulations!

We had a lot of fun talking about pottery, art, music, footwear, glam, and lots of really silly things.

When Pete, Becky, and Fred wanted to head home, Elaine and I decided 11:30 was the right time to hit The Penguin for some fried pickles.

Jamie and Steve working hard.

Fred, Becky, Pete, and Elaine
enjoying all that hard work.

The ukes rule during a rendition
of "She's Leaving Home".

Elaine and Fred solving the world's problems
or maybe just talking about Emmys.


Feet. Starting at 12 o'clock: Elaine, Fred, me, Becky.


After Penguin fried pickles,
a fried bologna sandwich for Elaine,
a cheeseburger for me and a couple of beers,
it was time to head home.

Party on Garth...

Kiln opening

This is the opening of the last cone 10 kiln that Greg fired for us. It was a kiln full of surprises, like a small pocket of oxidation in the middle of a reduction firing. Everyone was happy with almost everything that came out of it, oxidation and all. I figured out that I think I need to thin out the amber celadon to get the effect I'm trying to acheive. Live and learn...

Raku pod

This is a "pod" from our last raku firing. It's a closed form and has a juicy lustre to it and I like it a lot (even if I can't create a photo that does it justice).

Oh yeah, clay...

I haven't mentioned clay here in several days.

It's not because I haven't been doing things with clay. I've been trimming, glazing, loading, unloading, throwing, and generally not sleeping enough. The main difference is that I have not brought any of the finished pieces home to photograph since I want to keep them all together. My idea is to take a photo of all of them on one table to document the 100 pots in one group. I will try to post some individual photos before then.

Still playin' in the dirt.

80's anyone?

As long as Ron is going retro today I thought I'd throw out one of those so eighties songs. Wall of VooDoo singing Mexican Radio. Enjoy but please, no big hair, leggings, or shoulder pads.



They also did a great version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. I have the 12" single somewhere around here.

Start Trek?

Found this floating around out there. Not too sure about all new actors playing my old favorites, but I'll have to see it (darn loyalty factor!) anyway.

Check it out:




For some reason it won't go full-screen from blogger. For the full-screen effect, go here:

Star Trek Trailer

Tomoo Kitamura workshop

Tomoo Kitamura came to Clayworks on Saturday for a workshop. He uses a combination of throwing and coil building to create large sculptural pieces as well as throwing conventional forms of pottery. It was a great workshop. Tomoo's presentation was very informative and entertaining and he showed us some great methods.

Adrienne with some of Tomoo's work.

Throwing on the wheel.
He makes it look very easy.

Working on the large head sculpture.

Adding a mouth.

The audience is rapt.

The head grows taller.

While waiting for the head sculpture
to dry a bit it's back to the wheel.

Explaining throwing off the hump
and making yunomi.

Further along.

Anatomy of a yunomi.

Becky decides to combine
yoga with her pottery.

Saucer for the cup.

Stamping the ceremonial tea bowl with ash.

Trimming yunomi on a thrown chuck.

More trimming.

Closing the head sculpture.
As you can see, he has done some line carving on it.

After Tomoo left, the studio
was quickly put back to normal.

You can find my whole set of workshop photos here.

You can see more pictures of the workshop on Becky's blog here.

You can see even more photos from Ed here. Thanks, Ed!

Check them all out since they all offer a different view of the class.

Another foggy picture

When I was leaving the studio on Thursday night there was a substantial fog hanging over the buildings downtown. I took this picture over the fence in the studio parking lot (pointing just to the left of the morgue building). It was quite pretty and ethereal and I thought it was worth sharing.

What a beautiful mess

It's that time of year again. We are raking up leaves and putting them at the curb. It's a lot of work and something we generally dread, but sometimes one has to stop and notice the beauty of the situation.

We are used to looking in wonder at a single leaf in autumn and at a yard full of them as a chore, but if you stop and look at a large fall of leaves after some wind and/or rain you might come away with a different opinion.


It's still a colossal chore staring you down, but it's also a beautiful painting to be admired for a moment before the cussing and ibuprofen start.

Today's assignment: Find beauty in something you hate or dread.

Tuesday night raku

Tuesday night Joe and I helped Julie and Ron with their classes' raku firing. It was a lot of fun as always and when it was winding down I took some time to glaze some of my pieces for the Wednesday night firing with my class.

The beer bottle is only there for scale.
No, really.

Becky and Joe.
Good friends make everything much more fun.

Becky has more pictures from Tuesday here.

I haven't taken any pictures of the fired pieces yet, but I soon will.

100 POTS!!!

I made my 100th pot Monday night!

I have to make three more to replace three that didn't make it and I want to make about ten more as a cushion in case some don't come through the firing. It took me ten weeks, but I made it.

I threw these on Saturday
and trimmed them Monday night.

I threw these on Monday night.

The scene of the crime.

The 100th pot!
I am planning on slipping it
and writing a big 100 in the bottom.

The shelf.

That old guy sure is happy.