The Apprentice: Confessional

Alex has written a great post on his blog "Notes from an Apprenticeship" that I think you would enjoy reading. It's introspective, frank, and goes to the heart of being a potter.

Last Burn for Alex at Jones Pottery

shadow of smoke on the Jones Pottery

We all headed over to see Matt Jones and crew on Big Sandy Mush Road this evening. They were wrapping up the two day firing of that beast of a kiln. Below is a picture of Matt side stoking the kiln in the last hour.


The picture below gives you a sense of the size of this kiln. Matt stands about as tall as me at 6'3" .

Of course the kids wanted to hang out where the action was, at least until the candy bars and potato chips ran out. That's Matt and Christine's kids Linden on the far left, and Sarah Frances next. Then my girls Evelyn and Lillian sitting on one of the remaining piles of pine slabs.

Below Alex Matisse is loading up salt on planks to be stoked. This will be the last time he will do this for Matt. He's headed for Kutaya, Turkey and Pittsboro, NC, respectfully.

side doors after a stoke in the front of the kiln

Video: Plate Rim Treatment

Some may think it a little 'cheesy' but this is how I cut the rims of my plates. The cheese cutter is one I bought at the grocery store and took the depth cutter off and and exchanged the wire with a stainless braided wire. The braided wired is very fine and makes it easier to cut. I always cut the foot of the plate first and then cut the rim. You may notice at the beginning that the plate is still pretty floppy. If you try to cut the foot ring after the rim of the plate it will crack. You will only notice the cracks after it is fired. The pressure you exert on the foot ring to trim "spreads" or compromises the rim.As in many of these pottery processes, timing is everything.

At the end of this short video are a few examples of these fired plates. I hope you enjoy it.

Video: Cutting A Foot

Here is a little video I put together for ya'll. It's a little campy, but I needed a good laugh. enjoy!

Going Up

We laid up the first truss yesterday evening and will put up the rest today. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all the money I'm spending on this studio. And the funny thing is it's not a lot as new construction goes. I'm just not that comfortable writing these big checks, especially when I'm paying the builders more than I make. I'm in the wrong business. As I finally slumbered off I thought to myself how nice it's going to be to make pots here at home.

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A Review

One of my blogging goals was to have a place to share thoughts as I make my work, a place that I can talk out loud. I wanted to simulate what happens at workshops when I am asked questions. So this blog is, in a way, an ongoing FAQ, where I am frequently asking the questions, and hopefully coming up with some answers. Another hope for the blog was that it would be a self revelatory process. It would give back ideas, open up conversations with readers and myself. And thankfully it has been all these things, and more. I am realizing that there are a lot of folks like me out there. I have met a lot of people who have told me that they read the blog regularly. There are friends who have told me that they don't read the blog, that's ok, too.
Another thing that is happening is that I am reading a lot of other pottery blogs. I guess I didn't know that so many potters were blogging. What a great surprise! It's great to read about, and see what everyone is up to, what we are looking at for inspiration, what we read, etc. I started out thinking that I would keep the blog strictly focussed on pottery. I think I've stuck to that mostly, but I'm finding that potters do all sorts of things besides standing at a wheel throwing pots. I certainly have become aware through this blog that I don't throw pots everyday. When it comes to reporting from the studio there aren't always fresh pots sitting on the table to photograph. It all comes back to the many hats we, as potters, have to wear to get those pots made. And that is what I am finding interesting in the pottery blogs. I guess I just wanted to admit these findings to myself as much as report report them to you, the reader.

For the record, I did get my hands dirty today in the studio, I just thought I would spare you the obligatory photo of the table full of pots. It's ok, right? It's all in a potter's life. Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Ken

I just found out that today is Ken Sedberry's birthday! I first met Ken way back in 1989 on a field trip to his studio and kiln from my Penland Spring Concentration Class. Ken's still making some great pots and he's another of my very talented neighbor's here in Bakersville, NC. Ken encouraged Mark Peters to use castable refractory to build his wood kiln, and Mark in turn showed me how to use it. Happy birthday Ken and many, many more.

Saturday Doings

I made a few pots this afternoon after running a few errands and meeting my 'scholar' friend Ellen Denker for lunch at the Hilltop Diner in Burnsville. We caught up with each others doings and talked pottery and such. Ellen has been a curator of museum shows about the Arts and Craft movement, material culture, folk art, and now she's living in High Point directing the North Carolina Furniture Heritage Project at the High Point Museum. Today she told me about meeting a certain Dr. Gougelmann, an ocularist from New York. Read his story here. (which leads to this, circling back to talk of pottery) There's never a dull conversation with Ellen!

In the Studio

By the time I had all of the clay pugged it was time to head home, but I made a couple of quick plates to check the clay. It still felt a little airy. As I mentioned in a long forgotten post, my pug mill is pretty old, but still churning away. There isn't a vacuum pump to take the air out, so I still have to wedge the clay . That's OK with me.
Tom Turner says to let the clay sit a day before using it. I will see if its any different today.

Ruby ?-2008

Our lovely Ruby passed away early Thursday morning in Asheville. Ruby apparently had a growth on her neck that suddenly made it difficult and impossible to breathe. Stacey took her to the animal hospital in Asheville and they did what they could to help her. We are all in shock.

Anyone who has met Ruby won't soon forget her, if ever. She was a fixture at Penland while I was a resident there, (until she was found on top of a table in the Pines lapping away at someone's dinner). Ruby's hysteria will be missed around here and we will always remember her for her companionship, loyalty, enthusiasm, singing, and loving nature. Ruby was immortalized in the painting "Circus of the Night" by John Snyder. The above image of Ruby is a detail of John's 24' painting from 2005.


John always had a milk bone in his pocket for Ruby and whenever John came around Ruby gave here most enthusiastic greeting.

Ruby was laid to rest underneath this dogwood tree Thursday afternoon.