2009-05-28 Thursday Home and Clayworks

Thursday evening I put some more plants in the front yard. Some were rescued plants from Nick and some were from Grower's Outlet. We are creating quite a mixed bag out front. The coolest plants were the white ones that I got from Nick. They live in the deep woods on the roots of oak trees and completely lack chlorophyll. I hope they make it.

When I got to Clayworks I trimmed some more plates. After talking to Adrienne about my two-part pitchers she advised me to throw them as thin as possible. I decided to just try to throw some really thin forms and make pitchers later. Baby steps.

"Look Ma, no chlorophyll!"

"Us too!"

Their (hopefully) happy home.

The front natural area.

Maracas.

Trimmed plates.

Really thin pots.

2009-05-27 Wednesday Clayworks

Wednesday I decided to try to make some two-part pitchers like the ones I saw in the video from Nan Rothwell on Ceramic Arts Daily. Not as easy as Nan makes it look. Practice, practice, practice...

I also started trimming some plates (things are NOT drying right now) and (yes, Leo!) I made a dog bowl. (You can tell it's a dog bowl because it is even thicker and heavier than my usual pieces.)

Dog bowl.

Two-part pitcher.

Trimmed plates.

Painted earthenware.

2009-05-23 Saturday Clayworks

Saturday I got a chance to go to Clayworks for a few hours and found some of the Saturday crew working hard. I worked on making some plates. This is going to take a while since I can't always make the shape I want. I figure if I make 20-30 I might get 8 that I like enough to stack in our cabinet. We'll see...

Elaine is making a new
pinched pot for her aunt.

Susan, Amy, and Becky hard at work.

My first run of plates.
Most are too flat in the middle.

Ju-Ian was hiding back in Ro's area
working on her latest.
(She's off to the right, but didn't want to be in frame.)

2009-05-21 Thursday Clayworks

Thursday I got some more native plants from Nick. He is doing quite a rescue up in Huntersville. I did some clay work, but as usual I put everything away before I remembered to take any pictures.

One of Nick's rescued plants and
Nick working on carving his planters.

2009-05-20 Wednesday in Lawndale

On Wednesday I was invited to Hal and Corine's home in Lawndale to a wonderful dinner in honor of Dave and Mary's visit from Salt Lake City. Corine and Hal have a warm, comfortable home and it was a pleasure to visit them there.

We sat on the back deck for a while and caught up before dinner. Soon a fine repast was on the table. We dug in quickly and I don't believe there were any leftovers. After eating we looked at the kiln, took a walk down to the creek, fed the goats, and enjoyed a magical gloaming.

Once back at the house, Corine delighted us with toasted home made pound cake topped with fresh strawberrys and ice cream. Ah, simple yet decadent. We spent more time in great conversation and all too soon it was time to leave.

I would like to thank Corine and Hal for giving us a special evening with great friends. It's important to slow down once in a while and just enjoy an evening. Thanks for reminding us of that.

Time to feast.
(Notice all the great pottery!)

The wood kiln.

Inside.

Further inside.
The fire box is in the forgroud
and the floor of the kiln streches
back to the shelves.

Down by the creek.

The sun is heading down for the night.

It was an evening of easy laughter.

See those people waaayy down there?

Same people after zooming in on them.
(I enjoy playing with my new camera.)

Heading back from the walk.
There's the kiln shed, the house
and the big vegetable garden in the background.

Some beautiful pots on the porch.

The decadent dessert.

Hal with their not-so-wild cat.

Dave and Terry...

Terry and Mary...

Mary and Ron...

Corine and Hal.

2009-05-17 Sunday Waxhaw Spring Fest

Sunday in Waxhaw looked more like rain, but we made some sales before the festival even began. I think people saw the rain coming in the afternoon and made an effort to get out early to do some shopping. It was a cold, dreary day, but our spirits were high buoyed by those early sales. While things were slow we made some good contacts and I'm looking forward to some new work and exposure for that work.

We ended up getting rained out at about the middle of our time, but we still felt good about the day.

The scouts were selling hot dogs booth to booth.

I love seeing the faces in the crowd.

A dog in a tutu, can the day get better?

It did.
Becky's sister Cinder stopped by with her dog Motte.
There's no denying who Motte's heart belongs to...

There were a lot of people (and dogs) at the festival.

I'm still trying to figure this guy out...

2009-05-16 Saturday Waxhaw Spring Fest

Saturday we (Becky and I) were in Waxhaw for the Waxhaw Spring Fest. It was a nice festival with lots of great food and entertainment and some crafts. While the sky looked ominous most of the day, it really only rained a small amount in the afternoon.

We had lots of people stop in and look at our work, but nobody bought a thing from us all day. It was discouraging, but we still had fun, well, because we have fun. Thanks to my great boothmate for making the day shine without the sun.

You can see Becky's pictures here.

The sky behind the sign says it all.

Becky during the setup.

Me during the setup.

Pots, pots, pots.

Great birds and cave art.

I wanted to take a picture of this kid with his blue face and asked his Mom if I could. As I advanced on him with the camera he wasn't quite sure about me. After Mom assured him it was alright, he lightened up a bit and then it was back into the cotton candy.

"Who's that big guy with the camera?"

"Are you sure, Mom?"

"Ok, then."

"Wait a minute!
You're cuttin' into my cotton candy time!"

Civil War battle re-enactment.

Becky and Susan catching up.

At the crossroads.