2018-01-11 - Thursday - Clay and climbing worms

Thursday night I went to Clayworks and trimmed some more tea bowls (I've been making a lot of tea bowls). More to come.

When I got home I saw something on the garage door --earthworms climbing the door! I was amazed and thought I had found something crazy. When I got in the house I googled it and apparently it happens quite often. Who knew?

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2017-04-11 - Tuesday - Trimming tea bowls

Tuesday I was trimming tea bowls using a temporary chuck. It works well with the wavy edges on the tea bowls.

Center a lump of clay and over it with plastic.

Trim tea bowls on it.

Happy tea bowls.

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2016-05-17 - Tuesday - Clayworks

Tuesday night I went to Clayworks to work on some pots. When I got out of the car I noticed the beautiful sunset over the mini-storage buildings next door. I can't resist even a slightly dramatic sunset.

Once inside the building I finished up the trimming and handles on some pots.

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February 28 - Trimming tea bowls

Tuesday I trimmed the feet on the latest round of tea bowls.  I've been working on my feet and I'm really enjoying them.  I've been cutting a pretty deep foot and burnishing the foot ring with my fingers.

More empty bowls awaiting glaze.

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Sunday - Making

Sunday I got some time at Clayworks to trim a couple of pieces and throw some more.  I am experimenting with different types of alterations and trying to get back into mug forms at the same time.  It keeps things interesting.

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2010-09-23 Thursday - Makin' pots

Thursday night saw me trying to continue my streak since I was "in the zone" on Saturday making some nice, medium-sized pots.  I trimmed some and slipped some and threw some more.  I am pleased to tell you that the current run of pots does not carry the extra weight that is (unfortunately) often my trademark.  These pots are feather light and I'm elated about it.  I attribute it to my special, highly customized throwing stick --a ninety-nine cent wooden spoon.  Whatever works, right?  Can I get an "amen"?

I'm tempted to call them my Rudyard Kipling pots since they are "Just So".

Works for me.

More of a series.
(orangestone)

Nic was there doing the floors among his other chores.

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2010-08-26 Thursday - Clayworks

Thursday I went straight from work to the studio, so I didn't have my camera and had to use my cell phone so let me apologize for that right up front.  I made some small knob-n-alls, trimmed some pots and slipped the frog pot.

Knob-n-alls.

The latest frog pot.

The other side of it.

The leaf pot with the frog pot in the background.

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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.

2009-04-23 Thursday Trimming and Shelf Helpers

Thursday I went to the studio to trim some pots and make some supports to hold my shelves up at the shows. I thought instead of using bricks I would like to use something I made. I hope to make them look kind of rustic with my glazing choices. I like some of Nick's glaze work so after talking to him tonight, I have some great ideas. Thanks, Nick.

The three dark pots in the front are mine.

I threw ten supports in pairs
so the shelves should sit evenly.

We also moved all the wheels
out of the front classroom
and most out of the second classroom
to make room for All Fired Up,
Clayworks' annual fundraiser.
If you can make it on Saturday,
come on out and have a great time.

The room looks so empty after moving the wheels.

Saturday - afternoon

After Muddy Fun a bunch of us walked to Reid's and got some lunch. When we came back I trimmed a bunch of pots (some from before Christmas!).

Padded chuck for trimming lids.

Throwing big

On Wednesday night Greg and I agreed to meet at the studio to "throw big".

I had about eight pounds of craggy crunch left, so I pulled that out. The clay had hardened since the last time I used it and it was a bear to wedge and throw. After stretching one pot past the breaking point, I re-wedged it and threw a large pot (as evidenced by the beer bottle solely used for scale). I still have a ways to go to catch up with Joe on the large-pot-from-a-small-amount-of-clay front, but small steps are better than no steps.

Greg held up his end by throwing a huge pot from thirteen pounds of clay (maybe loafer's glory?). I didn't get a picture of it because I was busy re-throwing mine and my hands were full of clay.

Biggest one to date.

I trimmed this craggy crunch pot.

I also trimmed this orangestone pot.

Greg was ready to go before I was,
but he waited for me to clean up my stuff
(and actually helped me).

Bigger and better...

Oh yeah, clay...

I haven't mentioned clay here in several days.

It's not because I haven't been doing things with clay. I've been trimming, glazing, loading, unloading, throwing, and generally not sleeping enough. The main difference is that I have not brought any of the finished pieces home to photograph since I want to keep them all together. My idea is to take a photo of all of them on one table to document the 100 pots in one group. I will try to post some individual photos before then.

Still playin' in the dirt.

100 POTS!!!

I made my 100th pot Monday night!

I have to make three more to replace three that didn't make it and I want to make about ten more as a cushion in case some don't come through the firing. It took me ten weeks, but I made it.

I threw these on Saturday
and trimmed them Monday night.

I threw these on Monday night.

The scene of the crime.

The 100th pot!
I am planning on slipping it
and writing a big 100 in the bottom.

The shelf.

That old guy sure is happy.

Lots of work, but no throwing (still at 84)

I worked six hours at the studio Friday night and still didn't get to throw any new pots. I spent all my time trimming, slipping, stapling, and collaring. I only have one more week to get the last pots out. I worked until 2:00 am and still and 84...

This bowl was too dry and it split
when I tried to trim it.
Greg and I discussed some options.

After some stapling with nickel-chromium wire to stop the splits and look decorative, Greg gave me a piece of one of Adrienne's broken pots thrown with the Craig's clay and some of his porcelain balls (soft porcelain with mason stain mixed into it). Thanks Greg, I'm honored. Lemons=lemonade.

Greg and I decided recently that attaching things to pots with wire should be called 'Lenzoing' after Peter Lenzo since he does a lot of that in his work. Another noun becomes a verb, like 'text'. "Text me later." "I'm gonna Lenzo this shard on here." I hope Mr. Lenzo doesn't take offense since it is used with respect.

Some slipped yunomi.

An evening's work.

I'm trying to brush some texture
into the slip on the round bowls.

I don't have a 'before' picture of this pot,
but it was only as high as the
white, slipped part before I fluted it
and added a thrown neck.
Trust me, it looks better as a taller pot.

Another pot with a hollow lid.
Once again, I like the way the line
from the pot continues through the lid
or vice versa.

There is a whole mess 'o glazing in my future.

Party on Garth.

58 and holding

While I was at the studio for several hours last night, the only thing I got accomplished was to get some handles made for a bunch 0f mugs. Again, all the trimming and in this case "handling" is putting me behind schedule. I have some more trimming to do tonight on some lids and I might have a few more mugs to handle.

"Slow are the handle-makers
for they shall be behind schedule."

I think I need to make some bowls. I should be able to turn them out more quickly since there's not as much fussing with them.

I also have to start making some glazing decisions. The pipeline is full and it's starting to bottleneck at the glaze step. It never ends, does it?

Onward and upward.

Pots?

I'm not nearly as far along as I thought I was last week.

I only counted thirty-six pots last night and I'm in week four.

I think I have gotten sidetracked with too much fiddling with lids and decorating/trimming. I am going to have to step it up a bit if I am going to get to one hundred in the time allotted. I will make an effort tonight to get some more thrown, but I have to glaze some too. Now is the big test for my (non-existent) organizational skills.

"Second star to the right and straight on til morning."

Some more pots

Once again, I didn't get as far as I was hoping last night (Wednesday), but I trimmed up four bells and a small plate. I am working on some lids for some of the larger pots that I threw last week and I have to wait for the lids to catch up to the dryness of the pots so they will fit for trimming. At least I'm getting some pieces into the bisque cycle.

I spent a lot of time after trimming in discussions with different people so there was no time to throw.

More tonight.

Some pots

I didn't get as far as I wanted to tonight (Thursday). I made three more pots (up to twenty-three), but I broke one (down to twenty-two) while trimming it. I did get a bunch of them trimmed and it's as important to move the existing pots through the process as it is to make new ones.

Onward and upward.