2014-12-31 - Wednesday - Lunch, sticks, and stick figures

Wednesday I went to lunch with my friend Joe. He stopped coming to Clayworks and I don't get to see him too often so we try to get together for lunch once in a while. As always, it was good to see him and we caught up over some sushi at Ru San's buffet.

While I was waiting for him in the parking lot I noticed the back window of the minivan parked in front of me. I really enjoyed the stick figure stickers.

Stick parody.

When I got home later I noticed that our annoying silver maple tree had dropped some more branches. It's always dropping something since it's very weak, fast-growing wood. This time it stuck in the ground and looked like some marker.

Binkley checks it out.

.

2010-11-03 Wednesday - Joe's Birthday Celebration

Wednesday we had quite a celebration for Joe's birthday.  Melissa brought in some pizzas, cupcakes and several libations for us all to enjoy.  We all wished Joe a very happy birthday and enjoyed our time together.  I've said it many times:  We have great people at Clayworks and we have a lot of fun.

Celebratin'.

The four horsemen of something...

.

2010-06-19 Saturday - Inaugural Terra4m Sale

We had our Terra4m inaugural sale on Saturday and it was quite a success.  Becky's yard was a wonderful place to set up our displays and we had quite a bit of traffic.  I think Kim's bird baths were the star of the sale, but nobody did badly.  Participating were Terra4m artists Kim Marcadis, Elaine Spallone, Becky Story, and me.  Guest artists were Lisa (Lulu) Connell with clay, Cyn Kent with watercolors, Max McLeod with clay and photos, Nicholas Nelson with clay, and Cindy Tuccitto with clay.  We had lots of Clayworks visitors and we appreciate the great support.  Ju-Ian stopped by and even brought us ice cream!

It was extremely warm as June has hit us like August, but everyone was in good spirits.  The traffic really dropped off in the late afternoon due to the heat.  Based on that theory we are going to start our next summer sale earlier in the day.

We set out refreshments and we set up a table near the entrance that allowed people to sign up on our mailing list which entered them into a drawing for a piece of pottery from each of us Terra4mers.

It was a good start for Terra4m and we are looking forward to the future.

The email sign-up/raffle table.

The sign.

My yard sale.

Elaine and Becky's area.

Nic's planters.

Cindy's work.

Cyn's watercolors.

Kim's work.

(I couldn't get a picture of her bird baths since they were gone.)

Joe visiting Lisa's booth.

The refreshments.

Max's clay and photos.

A close-up of some of Max's work with flowers.

Some webbing in the tree above us.

It was way up there.

Paul was hot like the rest of us.

.

2010-06-12 Saturday - Joe and Melissa's Raku

Saturday Joe and Melissa had a raku and covered dish party.  Everybody brought a lot of delicious food, good cheer, and lots of pieces to fire.  Joe and Melissa were great hosts and made everyone feel very much at home.  We had a bit of trouble with the burner rig for the kiln, but once the spider was removed from the orifice, everything went much better.  A big thanks to Greg for diagnosing the problem and getting us going again.

It was quite hot and sticky and operating a 1700 degree kiln in that heat was a bit draining, but it was still a great day.  While Joe was worried that some of the pieces got too hot, several beautiful pieces emerged from the reduction buckets.  We discussed the fact that every kiln has a learning curve and you have to do several firings before you really know how it will perform with different combinations of clays and glazes.  It's raku and can always surprise you --it's the nature of the beast.  I think Joe did a fine job.

Joe grabbing a bite.

The kiln waiting for the first load

while the potters work feverishly.

Rae, Tina, Marcia, and Jane ready the pieces.

Tina applying the ferric chloride in her fashionable gloves.

Joe with his buddy Tank.

Getting to temperature.

Firing using a weed burner

while diagnosing the Ward burner problem.

The reduction can and the sand pit.

Greg putting his thinking cap on about the burner issues

while Quinn pulls up roots.

Jane heading to the reduction bucket...

... and there it goes.

Rae taking a piece from the kiln.

Joe making sure it doesn't get away.

Tina carefully transferring a piece.

Greg taking a well-deserved rest after solving our problems.

Horse hair pots!

.

2010-05-15 Saturday - Adventures

Saturday was another busy day, running from one place and adventure to another.

First thing on the agenda was taking Shari to Lupie's since she had never been.  Lupie's is a great place with really good food at reasonable prices.  If you get a chance, go there (especially on Thursday for the best chicken and dumplings in town), but get there early if you're going for lunch.  Don't forget to get some peach kuchen for dessert --it's wonderful.

We went at 11:30 and found out they don't open until 12:00 on Saturdays.  Once inside, we ordered and took the food back to Clayworks for our feast.

Shari.

Lupie.

After lunch I got back to throwing pots and made a neck for my pot from Wednesday.  Unfortunately it got pushed off-center so I am altering it.  I will post it's progress.

Later in the afternoon, I went to Joe and Melissa's engagement party in Waxhaw.  It was a very nice time with more good food and a few beers.  I was having so much fun I stayed way longer than I had planned.  Thanks to Helen for a nice party in her beautiful home.

Joe and Melissa.

2010-04-09 Friday - Clayworks Spring Sale

Friday was the annual Spring Sale at Clayworks.  It's a venue for studio artists and teachers to sell their wares and have a bit of socializing at the same time.  I always love to see how well everyone cleans up since most of the time we see everyone in their clay clothes.  I still wear my clay clothes at the sale since I am generally there to demo.  I love demoing at the sales since it's a chance to have some fun on the wheel and talk to everyone while I'm doing it.  Imagine that.  (It has a lot to do with that extrovert thing.)

During the height of the sale it got pretty crowded up front by the pottery but I was in the back doing the demos, so my pictures are all after the crowds had dissipated and I had taken a break.

After the sale I went over to Twenty Two to meet Elaine, Paul, Scott, Will, and Barbara.  It was very nice time and I had my first Ellie's Brown Ale on tap and that was quite nice too.  I would like to go back there soon.

Amy Sanders and Greg Scott.

People shopping and chatting.

Julie Wiggins' work.

Go team celadon!

Tomoo Kitamura's work.

Paul, Steve, and Michael.

Joe and Julie.

Fred and Becky.

Kim, Shelley, Nic, and Tomoo.

Paul, Elaine, and Steve.

Nic enjoying the spinach dip bread bowl.

Paul, Nic, and Becky.

I was trying to get a picture of Nic and Becky talking

and Paul absolutely stole this picture.

Elaine's pottery.

Pretty flowers in a pretty pot.

Quite an impressive list of artists on name tags.