2017-08-26 - Sunday - Nikki Mizak workshop

Sunday Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild presented a workshop with Nikki Mizak. Nikki makes functional work decorated with beautiful chicken and other animal designs in underglaze.

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2017-02-11 - Saturday - Fong Choo workshop, day 1

Saturday was the first day of the two-day Fong Choo workshop presented by Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild, and it took place at Central Piedmont Community College.

Fong has been making small, porcelain teapots for many years and he showed us many techniques and shared his sales philosophy with us.

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2016-09-10 - Saturday - PMI and twice-fired pots

Saturday I once again had the honor of demoing at the PMI (Potters Market Invitational, at the Mint Museum, Randolph Road). The PMI is 50 of the best potters NC has to offer in one large tent. I look forward to it every year.

The last two years I have been asked to demo throwing with the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild (CCM) along with several other potters, and it is indeed an honor. People watch me throw my crazy pots and ask questions and we have a lot of laughs.

It's a great time and after lunch I head into the big tent to talk to the potters after the buying crowd has thinned out. I usually buy some small cups or bowls as my checking account allows and this year I splurged and bought three pieces. A beautiful cup by Will Baker, a sweet casserole by Donna Craven, and a whimsical lizard bowl by Matt Jones.

The plot thickens...

I came home to an empty house and since the bags had been on the floor of my van I put them on the stove instead of the counter, as is my habit. Little did I know that someone had left one of the small burners on medium heat and I didn't notice the red indicator light that would have told me the stove was on. Thinking everything was fine, I went out to get the mail.

When I came back into the kitchen I was greeted with 2 foot flames on the stove.

Time out here...

When you purchase work from a potter they often wrap the piece in newsprint-type paper to protect it and place it in a paper bag. All of this is remarkably flammable when a bit of heat is added.

... now back to our story.

When I saw the flames and lots and lots of smoke I instinctively reached to the cabinet under the sink for the fire extinguisher we haven't had for about twenty years. My second choice was the dish towel to smother the flames. We now have one less dish towel as it burned really well too. I ended up throwing it on the floor and stamping it out.

About this time the smoke was getting really thick so I turned on the range hood fan. Bad idea. It sucked the flames into the fan motor and melted it, popping the circuit breaker. I found out later that the flames were also high enough to melt the plastic housing of the LED bulbs in the hood.

Finally, I thought of the spray bottle with water we use to spritz food before microwaving it. Luckily it contained enough water to douse the flames.

At this point the smoke alarm was going off and the alarm company called to see if we needed the fire department. I told them thank you, but it was under control.

Now I needed to remove the smoke, so I went upstairs to turn on our whole house attic fan. It was dead. We hadn't used it in a couple of years and it's fifty years old so I figured it was done.

I ran to the garage and got one of our box fans mounting it in the kitchen window, blowing out. Now I thought at least the air conditioning would move some of the air, but when I looked at the digital thermostat it was dark. It must be on the same circuit as the range hood. Great.

While I was making this discovery I heard a loud crash behind me as the box fan fell out of the window onto the floor. I got masking tape and taped it into the window.

Trying to reset the circuit breaker didn't work so I figured the fan motor must be shorting it out. I removed the fan from the hood and the circuit let me reset it. Now the thermostat was lit up again and when I tried the attic fan it started right up. I was amazed that the range hood, the thermostat, the attic fan (at the other end of the house), and some outlets were all on the same circuit.

I untaped the box fan and put it back in the garage. I cleaned up the twice-fired pottery and took down the range hood, thinking it was time for a new one after fifty years.

By the way, Barkeeper's Friend cleanser gets burn marks out of Formica pretty well.

I thought the pots needed to be raku fired.

Unfortunate dish towel and the handles of the shopping bag.

The hood on it's side.

Tomorrow we get to go shopping for a range hood --and a fire extinguisher.

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2016-04-17 - Sunday - Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild meeting

Sunday I attended a meeting of the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild held at Clayworks. We had a short business meeting, then Ralph Mello showed us his methods of throwing large pots.

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2016-02-28 - Sunday - Second day of Nick Joerling workshop

Sunday was the second day of the Nick Joerling workshop and it was just as good as the first. I learned a great deal and I had several "breakthrough" moments. Thank you to Nick for sharing all his knowledge and skills with us. I'm inspired.

The workshop was sponsored by the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild and was held at Central Piedmont Community College.

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2014-07-26 - Saturday - Jim Connell workshop

Saturday we had a Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild workshop taught by Jim Connell.  It was an entertaining and informative workshop.  I now understand how Jim gets those wonderful swirls in his pots.

We had a more intimate setup this time, setting up in a crescent shape, and I ran the video again.

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2013-11-17 - Sunday - Shane Mickey workshop

Sunday was the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild mini workshop at CPCC with Shane Mickey.  Shane showed us many techniques and told us about his experiences building kilns, teaching classes, and making and firing pots.

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June 22 - Saturday - Workshop and Wedding

Saturday started out with the Amy Sanders workshop presented by the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild.  It was a fun workshop and Amy did a great job of informing and entertaining us.  I often see Amy teaching at Clayworks in short visits, but have never seen her whole making process.  It was quite interesting to hear how she approaches her art.

Being the video projectionist, I always have a pretty good seat.  (Yeah, still in the A/V club from high school... :8^)

In the evening it was off to Mint Hill for Shelley and Rick's wedding.  It was quite beautiful and we had a great time.  Carol (Shelley's Mom) hosted the festivities in her backyard.  There were tents, an ice sculpture,  and lots of food and drink.

After a very nice ceremony, a lot of good food and cake, we sent off wish lanterns.  If you didn't have a good time you were somewhere else.

I wish Mr. and Mrs. Ellis the best of luck and happiness for the rest of their lives.

Amy working the workshop.

On the big screen.

Rick and Shelley making their vows.

A wish lantern rising above the trees.

A whole flock of them heading
off into the night.

The same photo after applying
the Van Gogh treatment.
(Auto-fix in Picasa.)

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February 16 - Saturday Ellen Shankin workshop I

Saturday was the first day of the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild's Ellen Shankin workshop at CPCC.  Ellen was a joy to watch work and amazing to listen to.  She shared stories about her life, education, and career with us.  She studied with Gwyn Hanssen Piggot* at Goddard, then with Val Cushing at Alfred.

She shared her philosophies on life and pottery in her easy-going way.  I was in the right place at the right time to hear what she had to say.  I was very inspired by her ideas on form and function and her general philosophy on making.   I see changes coming in my own work.  Thank you, Ellen.

*I have included some links to Gwyn Hanssen Piggot's work here and here.

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September 16 - Elaine's Demo

On Sunday Elaine gave her pinch-pot demo for the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild at Clayworks.  She did a great job explaining all the steps she goes through in making her pots.  I have never been able to make a good pot by hand and I found out the reason was that I was missing some steps.  I will have to revisit hand-building pots again to give it another chance.

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August 19 - Sunday guild picnic

Sunday I attended the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild picnic.  Frank and Verna Witt were gracious hosts for the annual guild picnic.  We had a nice time catching up with friends and eating some tasty food.

When it was over I stayed to help clean up and Frank and Verna asked me to stay and visit.  I love sharing the gloaming with friends.  It's a great way to wind down the day.

Around the pool.

Lisa and Angela.

The buffet line.

The lichen line.
(I love lichen.)

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July 29 - Sunday Joy Tanner workshop

Sunday was the Joy Tanner workshop sponsored by Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild and hosted at Central Piedmont Community College.  Joy presented an informative, professional workshop and showed us how she creates her beautiful work.  I have admired her work for a while now and it was interesting to see how she approaches her pots and what brought her to her current work.

Throwing...

...on the big screen.

Using a linoleum block cutter.

We had a large crowd in attendance.

More crowd.

We had a nice lunch from Jason's Deli.

Joy brought lots of work to sell.
I bought a small plate.

Laurie and Leon capturing the action...

... and me!

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