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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2016-02-19 - Friday - Catching up with friends

I've been enjoying using Periscope lately, watching and chatting with friends far and wide.

This week I've checked in with Michael Kline, Adam Field, Will Baker, and someone I haven't chatted with for a long time: Angela Walford.

It was great catching up with Angela in her new studio in Seppeltsfield, South Australia. We had a nice chat about pots, obvara firing, mutual friends, and of course, Doctor Who.

Angela and I met online several years ago while blogging. A bunch of us connected via blogger and had a great time sharing ideas and stories around the world. When Facebook came along a lot of us went there, then Instagram. Some of us have gotten back to blogging and it's a nice change to the rapid-fire rhythm of Facebook.

In 2011 Angela came to Shelby, NC with Doug Fitch and Hannah McAndrew (now Fitch) for a great workshop. It was wonderful meeting everyone IRL (In Real Life) and we all had a great day. There were so many great memories and one was Angela and I discussing Doctor Who.

I can't recommend Periscope enough. Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is wonderful.

In video.

In real time.

Wow.

I forgot to take a screenshot during the scope
so I had to get one from the replay.

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2016-02-12 - Friday - Early Friday Morning Periscope

Thanks to Michael Kline (the king of all pottery social media) I have started using Periscope. There are a LOT of potters using Periscope now. I've watched Michael Kline paint pots, Will Baker throw ramen bowls, and Adam Field glaze Onggi jars, among others. They're all streaming live video from wherever they are and we viewers can comment, ask questions, and "applaud" by tapping the screen.

Michael Kline has taken us on a tour of STARworks clay facility. Adam Field has given us a tour of the Archie Bray gallery,and the Turman Larison Contemporary Gallery in Helena while they were having an opening.

It's exciting. There's almost always a potter online doing something and we can peer in on them. It's like a very laid back, ongoing mini workshop. If nobody is currently online you can watch the recordings for twenty four hours before they disappear.

Thanks to all the presenters who are letting us into their worlds.

I wanted to include this screenshot of Adam Field (the churro king) because it has the word albatross in the comments which makes me giggle every time I see it.

2016-01-22 - Friday - Snow Day

Friday was a snow day with snow, freezing rain, and sleet. Since we were all stuck at home I made breakfast which today was a Dutch Baby. Good stuff.

Dutch Baby in it's natural habitat.

Served on a Ron Philbeck serving dish.

It snowed/sleeted/rained on and off for most of the day and into the night. It's always so pretty and quiet when it snows.

Snow/sleet/rain still falling.

I have some rosemary sprigs that I rooted from a plant that grows in the Clayworks courtyard. They have been in water for over a year and while they usually look pretty miserable, I noticed it blooming today. A nice surprise.

Rosemary blooming.

With supper I made roasted butternut squash and served it in a Will Baker bowl.

Squash in Will Baker bowl.

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2015-10-22 - Thursday -Pottery 101 and Futo Buta

Thursday Ju-Ian and I went to Pottery 101 to drop off some work. I was pleased to place a bunch of pots with Cheryl. She has a beautiful gallery full of wonderful work and I am honored to be represented by her. My work is in very good company.

When we got back to town we went to Futo Buta for ramen. The food there is very good and tastes even better because it's served in bowls made by Will Baker. Will is a friend, fellow potter, and he builds kilns. He built our salt kiln at Clayworks.

After lunch we ran through Ciel Gallery and Lark & Key Gallery.

It was a good day and I still had time to get some work done.

Dropping off work.

Ju-Ian likes the bowls (and the ramen).

I have no idea how to eat this.

Looks delicious.

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2014-05-14 - Wednesday - Deck removal, kiln closing, and new pot

Wednesday the deck was removed and the new materials arrived.  Underneath the deck there was at least 25 years worth of composted leaves topped with newer leaves.  There were also several tennis balls and half of a Nerf football.  (The previous owner had a large dog.)  Broken bricks, pieces of rotten wood, and shoe rounded out the mess.

Underneath all this was a complete concrete patio.

After the work crew left I had to remove the debris so they could continue the next day.  When I tried to remove the leaves I was surprised to find out that the closest maple tree had sent a one-inch diameter root onto the patio which had split into a vast network of hair roots in the compost.  I also discovered that the downspout emptied directly under the deck, so those roots had perfect growing conditions.

When I tried to remove the roots it was like one huge, wet rug made of roots and compost.  I had to use the shovel to chop it into several pieces to remove it.  I also filled four large bags with leaves and dumped four wheelbarrow loads of compost in the yard.

What a mess!

Binkley is inspecting.

Glad that's over with.

There was also a base of a planter and
some seating in one corner of the slab.

Later that evening I went to Clayworks for class and we bricked up the door of the salt kiln.  I thought it was very thoughtful of Will Baker to include beer holders in his design when he built our kiln.  :8^)

After the kiln door was closed I threw a two-piece pot and called it a night.

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April 25 - Thursday stuff

Lots happened on Thursday.  Will Baker finished the salt kiln during the day before I got there.  I'm looking forward to getting the gas line run and seeing the first firing in it.  It's a beautiful sight.

Speaking of beautiful sights, the asphalt in the parking lot looks pretty amazing in the sunset light.

The tree out front was not salvageable after the storm damage on Friday night.  I guess there is a balance there:  we built a new kiln and something else had to go.  We and the squirrels are going to miss that tree.

It was a big one as you can see from my ever-present ball point pen at the top of the log.  It's interesting that the latest rings are a much darker color than the rest of it.  That dragonfly in the middle of the log is pretty interesting too.

I tried to throw with some fairly hard phoenix and had to give up when I pushed it off the bat.  I decided to re-slake it and try something else.

We had a visiting possum on the patio.  It seemed a bit confused but eventually found it's way out.

After all that hard clay it was good to have some nice soft orangestone which allowed me to get some pots made.

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April 16 - Tuesday Kiln and flowers

Will Baker is building our salt kiln at Clayworks and getting lots of help (whether he wants it or not!).  It's coming together nicely and we are all learning quite a bit about the process.  I'm very curious about the salt process and am looking forward to a whole new way of firing pottery.

Walking around outside Clayworks I stumbled upon this beautiful flowering vine which is apparently a weed, but quite striking.  Please click on this photo and view it in a larger size so you can really appreciate the beauty of this flower.  I could have missed it very easily but I'm glad I didn't.

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