More Hyper-lapse Than You Can (quickly) Shake A Stick At

Sometimes I lapse. Do you? Do lapse? Laps? Lately I've really been loving the time-lapse feature of ye olde iPhone.

Making mugs today for my "New Work, New Kiln" funders and for my debut at the Old Church Cultural Center Pottery Invitational in Demarest, NJ #newworknewkiln #theroadtodemarest #video #timelapse #hyperlapse #mug

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Nov 5, 2015 at 11:48am PST

Part 1 of plate trimming #wnc #ncpottery #video #hyperlapsevideo #potteryvideo

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:33am PDT

There's more at my Instagram.

Mason Hill Clay Studio

I just wanted to share with you Jackie Sedlock's exciting new clay project. I hope you can support it!

New Kiln a Go-Go

I've launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the construction of a new soda kiln.

Here's what I wrote to introduce the project: As a potter, the kiln is a critical tool, and an enormous investment and commitment. The wood kiln I built in 2002 has served me well, and will still be fired several times a year. I have been working with master kiln builder, William Baker, to design the new propane fired soda kiln. The kiln will be smaller in scale than my wood kiln, and will be less labor intensive to fire. The smaller size will allow for a shorter turnaround as I experiment with surfaces and glazes. The new pots are time and labor intensive to make, so the scale of the kiln is important. I hired William for his design expertise as well as his meticulous attention to detail and skill as a builder. I will work alongside him to build the kiln, and I couldn't be more excited.

  To contribute to the project click here!

Thank you so much!

Are You A Solopreneur?

I listen to every one of Gary Vaynerchuk's #AskGaryVee shows/podcasts and he ALWAYS has great advice on social marketing, biz, etc. Every so often I find myself saying, "yes, that's what I want to know." Skip and FF to the question.

When The Mud Meets The Bat

I listened to The Potters Cast #116 with Connee Mayeron and heard the most wonderful way of describing the excitement of throwing.

At 49:10 Connee explains,

I don't want to measure what I'm throwing with a caliper, because I want the tension of when the form is kind of at it's most significant moment, when it's the most alive. I want to stop throwing at that point. So whether it's an inch in or an inch out, I don't really care. I'm always looking for that vibrancy.

Connee also has great answers to a couple of Paul Blais's slightly canned "mud meets the bat" questions, at times taking him by surprise with her directness! Paul has a great sense of humor and laughs with pleasant surprise to her fresh attitude. It made for a lively convo!

It's a great episode and I totally recommend it and all of Paul's shows. If you don't already, you should subscribe [here], whether you are a potter, a sculptor, or someone who loves to get insights into the creative process.

I look forward to meeting Connee next year at the Minnesota Pottery Tour. [and talking to Paul on his podcast! ;-)]

What's Next?

Making is done, on to the deco and glazing and firing #52. 

Focus

12 by 12 (not including the little gem in the left foreground) 

This week has been a confluence of so many deadlines and I have made the mistake of "whack-a-moling" these projects and getting consumed in the process. 

Meanwhile, the BIG deadline is my upcoming firing. So this morning I committed myself to a simple 12 x12. I've been meaning to throw some salsa bowls and finally got to that place on my making list. 

It seems like such a simple task to make twelve pots by 12 noon, but life is full of hurdles between my morning coffee and the making of pots. 

In the beginning, innovators invent out of some kind of personal need. I developed the idea of 12x12 based on methods that two of my pottery heroes employed. Michael Simon limits the the number of pots he makes each day and varies the forms, so that  the focus and variety produces the results/pots he wants. Linda Christianson starts her day by making a half dozen smallish pots before anything else gets in the way. 

My desire and need to get  simple focus led me to combine Simon's and Christianson's methods and come up with 12x12. 

After a scattered week of making I sought to push everything out of my mind and clear the path to my wheel to make just these pots quiet the noise of my deadlines. A construct like 12x12 is just the answer for a Friday morning! 

Just Pictures

here for a few choice words?? see the post above. thanks ! sorry for the redundancy. or maybe you like seeing these pots again?! 

Thanks for reading the blog. 

Pots on Scholarship

my favorite and most challenging part was
that little place just below the rim

Last night I “finished” these jars and wondered where the time had gone. In this kind of zone I get lost in the learning of a new technique and the observation of something new and exciting emerging, but also heard the caution from the rational side of my wood kiln.

committed to the 52nd firing!

Video: Slip Inlay Process

What's more fun than scraping slip off of a pot?

(don't say winning the lotto)

Watching a hyper-lapse video of someone scraping slip off of a pot! (of course)

420

Rainy morning skies turned bright clear blue and my spirits lifted as I was just a little bit soggy from a lot of weekend rain and ever growing and deeper grass. Maybe my shoes need some more mink oil or something.

Just wanted to throw a couple of things your way and keep you up to date.

I continue to get a kick out of my inlay stamping carving and scraping. I slathered several coats of slip on the stampings and carvings of these plates Then I started scraping like a scratch ticket lotto freak looking for the payoff. I played around with layering black and white slip and the payoff, for the prefired time being, is really pleasing. Contrasts in the raw state don’t necessarily mean the same in the fired and glazed state. So I reserve my giddiness until I get more glaze and slip tests worked out.

But for the time being I am really enjoying the process despite the enormous time it takes. I feel several deadlines bearing down on my calendar and need to pull myself away from these pieces to produce some of my bread and butter pots, but it isn’t easy.

Before I go a couple pieces from this afternoon’s #pottersofmeerkat session. I threw several jars and the latter two I picture here. They were both stamped wet on the wheel and are a little lumpy. But I like how they are coming out. I’ll do some carving on them tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and as always, I hope you are lovin' the spin YOU’RE in!

Show-Room

It’s spring in the mountains. Grass is growing, flowers blooming, and customers are finally streaming into the showroom here at the pottery.

This week I’ve been slogging through piles of stuff that has accumulated in my showroom in its winter dormancy. And just in the nick of time it was ready for yesterday’s visits! I have another group tour this Tuesday so I’ll focus on the grounds now that the showroom and studio are once again presentable.

What does a Kline pottery tour include, you ask? Well depending on the group, be they potters or not, I usually walk them through the kiln area, the studio and then, of course conclude with the finished pots in the showroom…aka “exiting through the gift shop.”

If the group is a class from the nearby Penland School, I sometimes arrange to do some kind of demonstration. The demo is usually brushwork, but occasionally I do a throwing demo.

So, if you want to take a tour of the pottery just drop me an (email)[mail to:michaeljkline@gmail.com] and I’d be happy to show you around. If you can’t come here in person maybe you can see what’s happening by tuning into one of my live streams and I’ll show you around with my phone! Here’s a recent stream.

There’s much pottery to make this week as I’ve just pugged about 600 lbs of reclaim and I don’t like to let that sit around too long. So my Shimpo will be spinning a lot of clay this week.

Stay tuned for the relaunch of my podcast that has been long overdue. I needed to revamp the format and release episodes more regularly. Currently I have 5 episodes in the wings and counting. Should be some good stuff for you there and j send my apologies to all the faithful for your support.

I would love your support for the podcast with a donation of ANY amount. Please see the “tip jar” at the top of the right sidebar.

Ok! If you’ve read this far I truly appreciate your readership and look forward to sharing more of my potter’ life in the coming weeks!

Glazes Workshop in SC

Clay Club: Glazes Workshop in South Carolina June 5-7, 2015:

John Britt workshop! This will be a great opportunity for students to fine tune and explore glazes.

FB Ceramic Index Update

It has been a while since I have updated the Facebook Index of Ceramic Artists. Ten months to be exact!

A little background:
It was my interest in statistics that prompted me to set up a short list of my peers a couple of years ago that I recorded dutifully every week or so in my little tattered Field Notes pamphlet. This analog list in pencil was then transferred to a spreadsheet, and eventually became this list.

Why track this kind of stuff?

Aside from your personal preferences  concerning Facebook, Google, and "big data" the Facebook Page is a pretty awesome marketing tool for your business. Through posts on my FB Page, I get feedback from fellow potters and get an idea what my pottery customers "like" and respond to. Comments and likes are akin to compliments and smiles from folks who visit my studio or at events where I  meet folks in person. The stats from my Page help me to decide what is working or not, what content people are interested in.

In addition to looking at my own marketing practice, it's insightful to look at what others in our field are doing to market their work. It's helpful for me to see how others are growing their following on Facebook and to try to figure by what means.  FB introduced their "Pages to Watch" feature, which (looks suspiciously like my FB Ceramic Index ;-)  to help "compare the performance of your Page and [your] posts with similar Pages on Facebook."

Check out this awesome article written by Justin Rothshank about his use of social media to market his pottery.

So, I highly recommend that you set up a facebook page now if you haven't already. Building a strong social media following takes years to develop and the sooner you start the better off you will be. Consider your facebook business page an outlet for telling your story as an artist, a place to share your thoughts, your pictures, your milestones with others. At the least the process will provide an additional perspective on the work that you do, even if, at first, just your friends and family follow you.

An explanation:

Since data is only as good as you can accurately interpret, I sort the Pages according to the biggest change in followers during any specific time period. My reasoning for this is based on the assumption that changes in follow-ship are usually the result of diligent activity on the part of the artist managing the page. The more postings, events, etc usually result in increases of likes.  (although this article claims that changes in likes may be because of a variety of page activity, not just posts to the page)

So here are the top Pages from the Sawdust & Dirt Facebook Ceramic Index that had the biggest change of followers since June 2014.

How these boxes work:

Each Page Box is scrollable and if you click on posts within these boxes you will be transported to the FB Page. You don't have to be logged onto FB unless you want to comment or like pages. If you are logged into FB as your Page admin, you might have to switch to your personal identity. sorry.

If you want me to list you on the Index, leave your Facebook Page URL in a comment or email it to me

Congratulations to the hard working artists who have awesome followings!


1

Sasha Ceramics

2

OaZo Ceramics

3

Red Lion Pottery

4

Mud Dog Pottery, LLC art by Jena M. Sorapuru-Karras

5

Ghada Henagan Ceramics

6

Jocelyn Hee - Ceramics

7

2 Pears Pottery

8

Wynhill Pottery

9

Wendy Reeve Ceramics

10

Kenyon Hansen Ceramics

Dish Soap and Reclaim Nation

I spent most of the day uncovering and sorting through things in my studio. There was some fun prepping some  red dirt for a new batch of dark clay, some reclaiming slipped into plaster bats. (See illustration) 

the only thing more inefficient than reclaiming your clay
is making a drawing of it as you wait for it to be ready. ;-)

But the only dishes I got my hands on we're the dirty ones in the sink. But that's ALWAYS good practice running your hands all over a dirty dish can sometimes be very illuminating! 

I thought the soap pattern on this metal bowl took on a pattern a lot like soda glaze. 

I did manage to clear my work table and I plan on filling it with fresh clay tomorrow! 

Until then, chiao

Michael

It's Monday Somewhere

The clock just ticked into a new week, here at midnight North Carolina.
The family and I are just back from a wonderful week away from home in the sun and sky and ocean of South Carolina. The travelogue would have contained stories of leisurely good times, bike mishaps, bug bites, banged heads, jellyfish, and campground intrigue.
But a logbook wasn't kept, but pictures were taken and we did some live streams via Periscope, a fun way to say hi to the world outside the camp.
So, upon the return of any travel, it's always nice to sleep in one's own bed and appreciate home in a way that may be hard to appreciate in the day to day living in it.
The other contrast to a week of leisure is the work that lies ahead. I strolled through the studio tonight just to make a few mental notes on what it is I want to do this week as I start the road to Firing 52!
It was nice to see what I had been working on before I left a week ago and am excited to get my hands back into the clay again.

Here's a picture I took for Instagram, and later shared on my Facebook page, and thought I should include it here just to round out my audience.
More of this work to come as well as some other exciting things in the weeks to come!

A mashup of 4 recent platters with Mishima/sanggam style deco.
Posted by Michael Kline Pottery on Monday, April 6, 2015

Stories Potters Tell: Clay and Community in the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour

Here's a great new video by the American Craft Council about the St. Croix Potters Tour. There are so many family faces and pots!

I'm very excited to announce that I will be showing my work at Guillermo Cuellar's studio in 2016, so let's get together next year in the St. Croix Valley!

AKAR Yunomi Preview

I wanted to follow up with a little critique of these yunomi that I have sent to AKAR which I will not do at this point, sorry. Such a tease! But I DID manage to shoot some individual shots of the cups! I wanted to get some nice pictures before I shipped them off, so here they are! 

The 2015 AKAR Design Yunomi Show preview

The Chosen Ones

Out of the 30 swirl cups that I fired last month in the wood kiln, these are the 5 i have chosen for the annual AKAR Design Yunomi Invitational [2014] [2013] [20??]. I wanted to choose a group that showed a variety of color, swirl, and brushwork.

The process is a curious one, that begins with an invitation to do a show along with some of the best potters in the country and challenges me to make cups that push my abilities and techniques into new areas. Curious because in the end you might say these cups look like the kind of cups that you might expect from me. And you would be partially right, I guess.

But, contrary to my last post, this palette and style is but a subtle variation and refinement, not the kind of obvious change I talked about the other day. Each firing there are a handful of pots that are unusual and maybe not what I expect. Then I try to reproduce their goodness, whatever it may be, often missing the mark or guessing wrong on the combination of variables that affect a pot in the wood kiln.

So, to get a group of pots for a show like the Yunomi show, I might need 30 to get 5 or 6 exceptional ones. It's a strategy or process of "make bunch and some might fly" that many a studio potter are grateful for and since it's fun to make a lot of pots, its a great way to work.

But the other thought I have, or the other question you might pose, is who am I to judge?

Everybody has different tastes, different needs. Some like their pasta soft and some like theirs al dente. But in the end, I guess someone has to throw it against the ceiling to see if it sticks. [ba dum tssshhh] and I guess that would be me. But in the end, or at the point of sale, you, O fair and trusted customer, are the final judge!

The AKAR Yunomi show opens on the morning of May 15th and a LOT of the pots sell in the first hour! My advice would be to be take the morning or the day off, bookmark the website and get a front row seat! You should also follow AKAR Design on the Facebook for some fun preview action!

Thanks so much for reading!!

Playing The Pro

new inlay slip test tiles

I had an interesting conversation with a student who is taking Cynthia Bringle's concentration at Penland last night. We made introductions and she said she was more of a hobbyist than an artist. I chuckled to myself and said that "I think I knew what she was saying, but aren't we all hobbyists at times?"

I think she was using  the word hobbyist as a kind of code, but I guess I took it in maybe a different way than intended. I thought, "Great! We should all be hobbyists, we should all just do this pottery/ceramics thing for the pure joy and curiosity!" I thought about the great qualities of a child's drawing and the unencumbered act of joy and un-selfconsciousness. I thought about the best flow in the studio happens when, as my friend John Simmons would say, I'm "goin' n blowin'"  and I'm lost in the flow of making stuff.  We should all be so lucky to be able to sustain this way of working  as much as possible.

Or maybe she was using "hobbyist" as a kind of code to mean, "I don't get paid to make art, like you do, so don't judge me or my work too harshly". (which would be the opposite of what I would think or do)

[I don't know, I'm maybe making a big deal when I shouldn't. I do that sometimes, making things WAY more complicated in my head than the reality on the ground.  But I'll try to go on, of course, hehehe.]

Maybe labels are more about expectations and ambition? Once we are considered as a professional in our field does it guarantee the work that we do to be successful, of high quality, a kind of tenure? Maybe. Who's to know.

Which brings me to the point I'm grasping for, that the cycle of life, of creativity, or whatever, goes through waves, highs and lows, successes and failures. Periods of joy and periods of boredom.  Just because I call myself an artist or I call myself a hobbyist, doesn't mean there is any guarantee of brilliance or of mediocrity. We're all capable of both.

I have certainly recognized the latter in my work! I am super critical of my work, but at the same time I have to cut myself some slack. I'll be the first to admit, I'm no genius. Brilliance doesn't just come naturally. (I can just see the emails and comments rolling in.)
[the ramble continues]

OK, I guess what I'm trying to get at is that to get to that place of unselfconscious creativity, as an adult, takes a LOT of work.  A lot of us  have to work to overcome our burdens of self doubt and expectation.  It may take us hours to quiet the voices in our head, maybe years.

So here I am, today. Working on some test tiles of some  completely  new work. Well, almost. During the last firing session I got completely obsessed with a technique that I had seen in a bowl at the Freer Sackler last Fall.

In exploring this technique and trying to "figure it out" I realized that "I" was getting completely lost in the process. Those voices in my head were being silenced by my complete joy and curiosity.  The voices in this case were the rational ones, the ones telling me it would be a safer bet to stick with the work that was familiar to me and my clients. The voices that said "don't take too many chances, there are orders to fill"

It has been a little while since I've been taken with a curiosity like this. I've let those other voices speak too loudly. But all metaphors aside, maybe I was just a little bored and needed to change it up a little? In a recent episode of the podcast, The Tales of the Red Clay Rambler, John Balistreri says that an artist has to "put it all on the line, you have to be able to take risks and the failures you have are the most valuable things." [Episode 95, @16:58]

Lucky for me, I got the opportunity to hold that beautiful Korean bowl last fall. Maybe I just fell under its spell? I do believe that objects can have this sort of magical power to change us as makers or as humans. But it is the time we put in, laying it on line, taking risks, risking failure, that are of the most long term value.

So, for now I am a hobbyist, dabbling with this new found joy. Just as it should be.

Reflection

@ceramicscapes I was just doing my morning #750words and thinking that it might be a nice challenge to write that on my blog instead.
— Michael Kline (@Klineola) March 13, 2015

I have been writing each morning for a week or so, now over at 750words.com and it has been really great. And in a recent convo with Cynthia Guajardo (@ceramicscapes on twitter) we were getting nostalgic about the olden days of pottery blogging. There was a time, before Facebook ate Blogger, where some pretty awesome stuff was being recorded in pottery studios all over. And still is to an extent. But mostly I see updates linked on FB more often than at the actual blogs.

SO maybe Cynthia and others will return to the long form again. Or not. What are your thoughts??

But before you answer that question, let me offer this retro-blog post from Don Pilcher in 2010.

  So I’ve concluded this: nice clay, a well-made form, a sensuous glaze treatment and a toasty firing. What have I got? A ceramic fashion show; not much more. It’s what Ralph Bacerra described as “just a pot with a glaze on it.”

After twenty-five years of making those pots, with some success, I quit ceramics to attend to a slew of life’s other demands. In the process I got a new job, new car, new house, new dog, new wife; same kids, same town. [READ MORE]

Ayumi's White Pots

White Pots

Studio Assistant: Molly Spadone

Michael Wilson: Director and Filming

Chloe Beaven: Video and Sound Editing

Miles Beaven: Music


Here's is Ayumi's video transcription.

Best artist statement I've seen, heard, AND read, lately!

Like a lot of people, I split my time now between the digital world and the physical one. My head’s filled with amazing stuff I see online, and yet I also need the messiness of the clay and the materiality of it to feed me on some fundamental level. I remember going outside on a freezing cold winter night when I was at the Archie Bray almost twenty years ago. I looked up at the stars and remember thinking that it was the cold that made me feel alive and part of this world, it wasn’t just seeing the vastness of the sky. It was the sensation of touch, the cold air on my skin. And I think the importance of touch gets lost sometimes in the digital world, because it’s all about the visuals now. Being cold or being uncomfortable makes you aware of your physical self. I don’t think we necessarily need to be uncomfortable to be aware. Awareness can come in different ways and clay is one shortcut to this kind of awareness. It makes you remember being human and being vulnerable. And that’s a lot of what my work is about.




There’s a meditative quality to all this repetition we do as potters. It requires being completely present in order to make work. You’d think that this kind of repeat would make you spacey and not pay attention, but it’s the opposite, where things become focused and you notice all the tiny details like a scrap of clay hanging on, or crack starting to develop. This is the kind of work that hones my ability to see each pot as an individual and it’s a different level of quality control than what happens on an assembly line, because certain pots take on a personality. It’s like oh- “that’s the one with the snaggletooth or oh that’s the one with the pimple on it’s handle”.




Play is a huge part of my work. In making pots, in drawing, in taking pictures and in thinking about how I get work out into the world.




There’s this incredible sensuality to soft clay that I hope lives on it the finished piece, so that other people can enjoy it and be aware in their own way of play and being present. Soft clay is so much like holding someone’s hand or giving someone a squeeze to say hello.




The thing that photography and ceramics have in common is their ability to preserve the ephemeral. Clay can record a spontaneous moment, just like a picture can. I love the cycle of ceramics. Clay is basically decomposed rock, so in the studio, we record this spontaneous gesture into it, into clay, we fire it and then this piece comes out hard as a rock again and lasts forever. That lovely moment of play is frozen in time.




Most of my work is fairly graphic, so it reads well online. But my white decal pots are different, actually they’re pretty much the opposite. They’re invisible unless you’re up close. And then even when you’re up close, they’re still impossible to read unless you handle the pot. Turning the pot lets the light catch the opalescent drawing. Potters can’t exactly compete with our culture’s addiction now to cell phones these days. And I don’t think we should, but I think it’s part of the dialogue when we’re talking about making hand-held objects. So what makes these pots unusual is that touch and holding them is integral to understanding what they are. There aren’t any shortcuts to that. And this brings us back to this notion of being present. I think of them as slow pots, because slowing down allows us to notice things. When I take pictures, I say, here, look at these beautiful things in life. And when I make pots, I pay attention to all the tiny beautiful details that make a pot what it is. The way my tool furrows through the clay or mashes an edge or how a handle can be crooked to hold a finger. All these things matter because then when I also put a white drawing on a white surface that’s very subtle, I’m asking the user to work harder, to meet me half way, and to be present in that moment.

Thanks Ayumi!

Tom Sachs

One of the most interesting artists that I follow is Tom Sachs. I enjoyed this conversation and how these guys geek out on making art and objects,  so, naturally, i thought i would share it with you.

Tom Sachs is a New York-based sculptor, artist, and maker of wonderful things. His works include meticulously detailed foam core architecture and Space Program: 1:1 scale recreations NASA vehicles and equipment. Join Adam Savage for a conversation with Tom Sachs on the culture of making, contemporary art, Tom's studio environment, and many other shared obsessions.

How To Win "Friends" and Influence People

This is happening @UnionUniversity pic.twitter.com/tUhqghq47U
— Michael Kline (@Klineola) February 26, 2015

I'm going to lead a seminar on social media tomorrow  (3/11/15) for the NC Clay Club in Bakersville, NC. In the short time we have, I'll be mostly talking about Facebook but I'll also talk about other social media resources that we artists can use to share our story.


Click on this tweeeet below to find out more.

March Clay Club: social media with Michael Kline at John Ferlazzo's http://t.co/nVGmF9lwLO
— Clay Club (@ncclayclub) March 4, 2015

Follow NC Clay Club on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter. Just do it. See you tomorrow night.

Click here to send me a tweet!

MSM MS

michael Simon fluted yunomi

I took this picture of one of my current rotation pots for Scott Cooper, stalwart blog supporter! I thought I should also say a warm "Thank You" to Scott and reader Stephen Dean, who were kind enough to comment on Friday's post. Scott requested a detailed pic of this cup and Stephen asked for an expanded explanation of why those pots are in my current rotation shelf. So here is a #mugshotmonday post for you guys!

First, a prerequisite, please read this brief Coffee Break post.

The pots on the shelf are a mix of function/utility, inspiration, and conservation. Some of the pots are here in my studio because they are precious to me and I don't want them to be in our household, because they might get broken, yet I want to keeps these pots from drying out, so they are here where I can use them and protect them.

When I get a new cup, of course I like to try it out and hoard it from the family. Sometimes I am successful and wisk the pot away to the studio before it gets into my wife's car and lost to her office! It's all fair in love and pots, though, I guess. ;-)

This cup, made by M.Simon was a gift from Michael in 2005 when I was recovering from my hand accident and it was in one of Michael's last firings in Colbert, GA. It has quite a range of color from the tessha glaze over the white slip. The salt has flashed the side you can see in this picture, while the other side of the pot

maroon iron red on Michael SImon yunomi

has a beautiful maroon iron red that wasn't fluxed in the same way as the saltier side. In lay-terms, the pots's hues vary depending on its exposure to the salt vapors in the kiln during the firing. The more salt the surface was exposed to/glazed with, the more yellow. 

The inside of the pot has a pale shino glaze with a teeny tiny crackle that has been stained by countless cups of tea and coffee.

Another intriguing element of this pot is the size. It is smaller than I might make a yunomi. I like more "real estate" to carry a particular surface design so I make a slightly larger cup. But in reality this cup holds an ample amount of beverage, about 6 oz. I think the proportions are right on! It feels great in my hand and is very pleasant to drink from, most likely from its "English" drinking rim. 

I guess, mostly though, this pot represents the love I have for the man and his pots. Pottery has a way of connecting people, make to maker, maker to user.

Last Fall I spent a really special weekend with Michael at the Designed and Crafted Pottery Invitational that he curated. It was so great to reconnect and talk pots. Michael also told me of his desire to cast bronze vessels in the near future. I can't wait to see what he does. [Design and Crafted will return again this October in Atlanta. I'll announce the dates and location when it is announced.]

I'm sure there will be other posts about this pot in the future as it continues to reveal itself through time and use. 

This pot was shared on Instagram today. Please follow my photo "blogging" there.

Current Rotation Revealed

Here are the current rotation of mugs and cups in the shop, revealed! For the color version click here. Thanks to Stephen Dean for guessing almost ALL of the pots. He will be rewarded with the adulation of his peers.

Several of these pots have been featured in my Coffee Break Series.

Here are the links to those posts,

Marsha Owen
Michael Simon
Tom White
Kyle Carpenter
Shawn Ireland
Linda Christianson
Steven Colby
Hayne Bayless

Cheers everyone! Have a great week!

Korean Masters

Here is a video I have watched many times and thought if you hadn't seen it yourself, here is the place and time! Or maybe watch it again. It has superb production and the artists are simply amazing. It is the video that I mentioned to my Union University students at the workshop I taught recently.  I hope you enjoy it!

Throwback Thursday: Spherical

It's Friday here in NC, but it must be Thursday somewhere, right? Here is a series of spherical pots(?) from 2010.

A finished spheroid. This one is currently in the Union University show. 

[and what would a blog post about spheres be without tipping my pottery bloggery millenary towards the sphere that inspired me so many years ago as a young artiste in Knoxville, TN?]

the Sunsphere 

The Current Rotation

the current rotation

Here's the current cup shelf here at the pottery shoppery. Medicine on top shelf.

These are NFS.

Can you name the potters?

Pots in Action

Ayumi Horie has begun a Instagram Page, Pots in Action, based on her Pots-In-Action concept of a few years ago. If you are on IG check it out!

Post by Ayumi Horie Pottery.

Some Results

Post by Michael Kline Pottery.

Post by Michael Kline Pottery.

Post by Michael Kline Pottery.

inlay + vines x 4

Post by Michael Kline Pottery.

Close Shave

Scraping takes time and precision, like a #closeshave #process pic.twitter.com/tVJVJRLK0r
— Michael Kline (@Klineola) February 10, 2015

Long Lost Photos

Post by Michael Kline Pottery.

Plates

Today, I'm cutting plates.

There are a couple of ways I do it. One is with a fettling knife and another is with a modified cheese cutter. Here is a video I produced wayyy back in 2008 showing how I use the cheese cutter.

Enjoy.

 

There's also this video.

If At First You Don't Succeed , Then Try Again (and again)

just thought I would share this post from my Facebook Page for those of you who don't subscribe to my FB Page.

 L-R, first attempt to fifth attempt

Sometimes I have an idea and it's seems so perfect and crystalline in my mind's eye. In this case I wanted to make the rope impression on the vertical surface of my tumbler form. But when the idea is taken to the clay it doesn't always work the first time, or the second, or the third time. But that's the inherent beauty of making pots, the pursuit in real time of the picture in one's mind. I have more work and problem solving to do to get there, but that's where the fun is. As Robert Earl Keen sings, "the road goes on forever and the party never ends".

Episode 7 : Ron Philbeck

Show Notes (and names we drop) 

In this episode Ron Philbeck shares how he started on his path as a potter.

ronphilbeckpottery.com
Tom Gray
Warren McKenzie
George Griffin- Sopchoppy Pottery
Susan Peterson-Hamada
The Studio Potter
Bernard Leach-A Potter’s Book
Shoji Hamada

Carl Clary School Of Karate
Randy Johnston
Arrowmont
Penland
Clary Illian
Will Ruggles & Douglas Rankin
Mary Law
Byron Temple
Linda McFarling
Judith Duff
Kim Ellington

Joe Rhinehart
Hart Square
Seagrove Potters (SAPA)
Phil Morgan
Cady Clayworks
LDDK
Ben Owen Pottery
Jugtown Pottery
Dover Pottery
John and Kiowa King
John C Campbell Folk School
Isothermal Community College
Whichford Pottery
Leon Nichols
Marcia Bugg
Ron Meyers
Michael Simon

Follow Ron 

• Web site
• Instagram
• Facebook

Follow Michael 

• Instagram
• Facebook
•  Snapchat : klineola
• @klineola on Twitter

"Thank" Ron  on Twitter!

Podcast Apps

I have been using and loving the Downcast podcast app. I totally recommend it!

You might also like to try Overcast. It's a simple yet powerful app and it looks beautiful as well! So many options! ;-)

Questions or comments for Ron? 



Got a moment to leave a review or a rating? I'd be SO thrilled! ;-)

Thanks for listening!!

Check out this episode!

and Hoppy New Year!!