2014-04-25 - Friday - Cars and kilns

I was sitting at a traffic light near home today and saw the reflection of a building in the back of the vehicle in front of me.  It was rather striking and the camera couldn't capture it as well as my eye, but I think you can get some of it in these photos.  I try to keep my eyes open for images.

In the evening I went to Clayworks to help Kimberly load the gas kiln.  It was a good load and we fit almost all the student work in it.  It will be fired on Tuesday.  I am anxious to open it again after firing and see the work.

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2014-04-24 - Thursday - Tree cleanup and butter bells

When I left on Thursday morning a crew was already removing the fallen tree from yesterday.

When I came home, it was all cleared away and the wood was neatly stacked.  Now, it's time to get a fence estimate.

That night I decided to make some functional items for a change and threw some butter bells.  These pots allow you to keep your butter outside the refrigerator so it's more spreadable.  Just press a stick of butter up into the "bell" on the inside of the lid and put some water in the bottom half.  When the lid is put on the base, the water keeps the air away from the butter and room temperature keeps the butter spreadable.

Glaze choices await.

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2014-04-23 - Wednesday - Tree and pots

At about 4:30 Wednesday morning we heard a huge crash outside and jumped out of bed.  Our neighbor's tree had fallen on our fence.  We went outside and checked for damage, then went back to bed.

I took these photos later in the morning.  We were very lucky that the only damage that happened was to our fence.  As you can see it just missed my van when it landed.

That evening I went to Clayworks for class.  I wedged vermiculite into some craggy crunch clay and threw some pots that I plan to raku.

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2014-04-22 - Tuesday - Pushing pots

Tuesday I pushed some pots from last week a bit further.  I'm not sure how I'm going to finish these yet, but I've got some ideas.  Stay tuned.

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2014-04-16 - Wednesday - Baby trap and Son of glaze-a-thon II

Wednesday Stephanie came home for Easter break.  I went to Trader Joe's to pick up some tortillas for supper and saw this on a bench outside the store.  I think it is a baby trap.  See how the person who set it is trying to lure the baby with the footie PJs and the lollipop.  You never know what you're going to see on any given day...

In the evening I went to Clayworks to continue glazing in "Son of glaze-a-thon II".  I thought I would never get finished with all that glazing since it always takes three times longer than I plan.  Lots of layers on my pots these days.  On Tuesday I worked on it from 8:00 pm until almost midnight.  On Wednesday I worked on it from 7:30 pm to almost 1:00 am.  Nowadays it takes me a day or two to recover from all that standing on concrete floors.

I put two of the hand print pots on the salt kiln shelf so I am curious to see how they come through the fire (and salt).  The rest for the regular gas kiln should be loading on the 27th.  I want to fire one of the pots on it's side on some seashells and am planning on helping with the loading.

A baby trap.

Son of glaze-a-thon II

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2014-04-15 - Tuesday - Matt Jones & Glaze-a-thon

Tuesday I went to the Mint Museum with about 60 other people to hear a talk by Matt Jones about the state of the craft movement in North Carolina.  It was entertaining and informative.

Sorry about the quality of the photo.  I always forget how grainy my cell phone gets when I use the digital zoom in low light.

Afterwards I had nice lunch with Adrienne and Ju-Ian at Sabor, then back to work.

That evening I went to Clayworks to glaze a bunch of work.  Since I've missed two gas kiln firings I have a lot of work waiting for glaze, some of it from back in the Fall.

Matt Jones at the Mint Museum.

Glaze-a-thon!

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2014-04-14 - Monday - New plants

I went on another plant rescue with Nic and Rick.  We got some new plants and some old standbys.  I believe Nic said the new ferns are "lady ferns".  We also took some May apples and some more Christmas ferns.  I am happy to report that so far they are all loving it in the new bed area I made for them.

One of the best things about growing native plants is that they require very little maintenance.

Christmas and lady ferns.

Lady fern.

May apples.

I just couldn't leave this
large group of  Christmas ferns.

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2014-04-10 - Thursday - More new pots

Thursday I added some grog to some craggy crunch (which is very groggy already) and threw some more new pots.  I am interested in adding more volume to my pots, but at the same time I'm trying different forms.  I'll probably push these further after they stiffen up a bit.

I don't have any fingerprints left.

The one on the left has extra grog added to it.

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2014-04-08 - Tuesday - Demo pots

Tuesday I went to Clayworks to work on the demo pots I made at the sale on Friday.  They were still a little bit too wet to work with so I threw another pot and that clay was too wet  so I decided to stop and come back to it later.  Hurry up and wait...

Demo pots from Friday night.

New pot that is way too soft
to push any further tonight.

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2014-04-04 - Friday - Elder Gallery and Clayworks Sale

Friday Ju-Ian and I had lunch at the Elder Gallery.  Several other people from Clayworks attended too.  Ceramic artists Peter Callas, Warner Hyde, and Michael Weber were to discuss their work, but Michael was snowed in in Wisconsin.  It was a good discussion and it really got me thinking about my work.  Peter Callas said for him, it was really all about the form and glaze was secondary.

I need to step up my game on form.

That evening was the Clayworks Annual Spring Sale and Open House.  Angela and I did the demos in the front classroom and had a great time as usual.  Below are some photos and a video of Henry's ceramic stereo enclosures.  Henry is a student in Kary's class and he makes great stereo components.

Warner Hyde and Peter Callas.

Panorama of the group.

Henry's stereo.  Those round enclosures are sitting on
a ceramic ring with rubber feet and rubber holders.

Amp.

Controls.

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2014-03-30 - Sunday - Clean-up and bowls

Sunday I went to Clayworks for the studio clean-up day.  We all lent a hand to get the studio sparkling for the Annual Spring Sale & Open House.  I also picked up Stephanie's bowls after they were fired.

It was a bit windy today.

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2014-03-29 - Saturday - Hickory Show

On Saturday morning, Ju-Ian and I went to Hickory to attend the pottery show.  It's a great show with many talented potters showing top shelf work.

I missed getting photos of several potters and got some really blurry photos of others (I guess the old hands aren't as steady as they used to be).  I've only included the ones that are passable.  My apologies to everyone else.

It was a lot of fun chatting with everyone and I purchased two pieces.  A Kate Johnston vase and a plate by John Vigeland of East Fork Pottery.

Kim Ellington

Jim Whalen with a customer.

Chad Smith with his family.

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2014-03-28 - Friday - Breakfast

Friday I had one of my new favorite breakfasts.  Soft-boiled eggs, spinach, and rice.  Sometimes I add half an avocado on the side.  The runny yoke goes very well with the spinach and the rice.  The Matt Jones bowl just makes it all taste better.

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2014-03-27 - Thursday - Batman bowls

Thursday I finally got around to applying underglaze to the Batman bowls Stephanie asked me to make back in the Fall.  I procrastinated on painting the bat symbol in them, but I think they came out pretty well.

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2014-03-26 - Wednesday - Handles

I decided to add some handles to the pot with the added collar.  It's fun playing with multiple handles.  I will try more of these.

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2014-03-24 - Monday - Sunset on the road

Monday I was coming back from Lumberton and caught this sunset.  It's a two-and-a-half-hour drive and I was just starting out so it was nice to enjoy the sunset.

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