2016-03-08 - Tuesday - Salt firing

Tuesday night we finished firing the salt kiln by adding salt and soda to it. I don't have any photos of the salting since I was one of the salters.

These photos show Adrienne, Cindy, and Daniel spraying soda into the kiln. Adrienne pulled the brick, Cindy sprayed the soda, and Daniel held the sprayer can up so she could reach. If you've never sprayed soda in a kiln at cone 9 or 10, there are some interesting things to note.

1. When you spray the soda to a count of five, you then have to quench the brass sprayer nozzle in a bucket of water before spraying the next one to avoid it melting.

2. The light you are seeing in the photos is solely from the glow of the hot end of the brick Adrienne is holding (with a glove) in her hand. 2300+ degrees will do that.

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Saturday - Spring Barn Sale

Saturday was the Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild Spring Barn Sale.  While the sky was threatening, and leaked a few times, it didn't discourage many people from coming out to see us.  Everyone I talked to was having a good day.  Pottery people are not afraid of a little rain.  I'm just glad we weren't selling watercolors.

A big thanks to all who came out!

Elaine and Becky setting up.

My wares (on my new shelves!)

Kim and Cindy's booth.

Susan and Dorothy.

Rae.

Lisa.

Roger.

Michael.

Ron.

Chris.

Gina.

Verna.

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Sunday - Afternoon at the Mint Museum

Sunday the Carolina Clay Matters Guild met at the new Mint Museum for a nice tour lead by Verna Witt.  The new Mint is a wonderful space with lots of galleries, a huge atrium, and a very nice flow.  If you are in the area, make it a destination.

Afterward, Kim and I went back to the green to view the sculptures there.

Another in a long line of good days.



The Atrium

Becky, Cindy, Kim, and Chris.

Verna leading the tour.

The tour group behind the collar.

This collar is carved from one piece of marble!

This is a ship's hull cast in glass.

These fabric squares were died from plant materials from NC.

Don Reitz bell.

Marilyn Levine's incredible "Black School Bag".
This "leather" bag is made of clay.

Donna Craven pot.

Mark Hewitt pot.

View out the window of the atrium on the escalator
between floors 3 & 4.

The roof of the skull.

Kim sitting in the skull.

The pearly whites from the inside.
(Now I know how food feels.)

The brick book sculpture at the Tryon Street entrance.

The other side.

The "pages".

The Mint/Bechtler campus.

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.

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2010-03-27 Saturday - Spring Home Sale

Saturday was our Spring home sale.  The artists who joined me for the sale were Amy, Becky, Cindy, Elaine, Kim, and Susan.  While sales weren't what we wished them to be, it was a pleasant, sunny day and a nice time to visit with good friends and have some good food.  Thanks to all who participated and all who attended.

I really liked hosting the sale and thought the front lawn was a great place to hold it.  We had two 'rooms', one on each level of the yard and I think the layout worked well.  We have several other sales planned this year so stay tuned for dates and locations and come on out and see us.

We had some surprise guests while setting up in the morning.

It was great to see Amy and the boys!

View from the driveway in one of the 'rooms'.

Elaine's seconds stash.

Kim's display.

Some random shots of my pots.

More random shots.

Becky's birds.

Susan's goblets.

More of my pots.

Look what now lives in our front yard.

2009-09-27 Sunday - Barrel/Saggar/Raku

I went to Clayworks on Sunday to help out with the barrel/saggar/raku firings and finished off three possible lids for one of my crackle pots.

Becky and Elaine loaded the barrel and started that firing before I arrived. By the time I got there it was smoking nicely and the pieces inside were at the mercy of laws of physics.

We did saggar firing in the raku kiln. We brought it up to ~1150 F like Andy Smith taught us at his workshop and the results were tremendous. Becky was thrilled with her birds and I think Nick nailed it when he called them "stunning".

Next up was the raku firing. We brought the kiln up to ~1750 F while we watched the glazes get juicy and then lay down. Becky and Nick were happy with their pieces but unfortunately all but one of Amy's slab pieces cracked. I think the earthen red she used could be part of the problem since it has no grog, and couldn't survive the thermal shock, but I will check with Greg Scott on that theory.

Becky also did some horse hair work on some of her birds and Cindy's cats. They came out nice, but we should have let them cool a bit more before removing them from the kiln.

In between the firings I worked on my lids for one of my crackle pots. I ended up making three very different lids to compare. I like all three of them for different reasons so I don't know which one I will pick.