The Decorator's Report

my axes
chop, chop

My wonderful Stacey bought some new batteries for the camera and I had promised some pictures, so here we go!

my "blunge anywhere" setup

The 1/2 inch drill is clamped to anything stable, in this case my treadle wheel seat and powered on. The switch has a lock and I can walk away while it mixes away.

wading bird and 4 handle jar, about 7" tall each

In my continuing homage to the Kyle Carpenter cup that I have drinking from all week, here is a jar with the grasses motif with bird. [I used to do a grass motif a long time ago and am hunting for an image to show you. But haven't found it yet.] Both of these jars will get amber glaze, and maybe some glass runs. I also like the way Kyle scratches through the slip in that cup and tried some on the bird for detail. I'm not sure how it will look in the end. But worth a try.

a pile of pasta bowls

more wading birds

a couple of breakfast cups

The path up to the shop is getting pretty muddy, more rain in the forecast although the sky is a brilliant blue. Maybe the rain has finally moved on. The past few days have been constant rain with occasional breaks. But the breaks didn't last long and before you knew it the rain began again. Consequently the ground is a soggy mush. It's great for our drought ridden state of the last few years, but makes a potter worry when they look at their stack of dry wood through the sheets of rain and realize that they should have put a cover over the chimney.
Maybe more pictures at lunch time. Have a good morning.

I try not 2 break the painters Hippocratic oath to do no harm to a strong form with weak brushwork.

Although I work closely with each brushmark I make, it is the overall effect that is curious to me.

Blame It On The Blog

Well the posting has slowed down as the critical thinking required to paint all of the new pots has taken priority! In my fantasy I had hoped to have everything glazed and ready for the loading tomorrow. Well the reality is that I still have 40 pieces to paint and glaze!! Where did they all come from? Has someone been sneaking in here after I leave to make more pots? I think I will just blame all of this confusion and delay on too much blog!

;-)

I guess this means another late night of painting and glazing and a jam packed day starting early in the a.m. Sorry 'bout the lack of pictures. I haven't gotten far enough away from my compound today, and I hope that my dear Ms. Wonderful will have time to stop by the Ingles on the way home to get more batteries! Besides, I just didn't have the heart to ask Courtney for AA batteries.

As I look over ye olde cheque liste I see that I successfully obtained more wax from just over the hill at Courtney Martin's. [THANK YOU CM! I owe U bigtime] And Courtney was able to give up just enough Custer feldspar to mix my test batch of tenmoku, which I wanted to compare to my existing amber glaze. The tenmoku has 10% red iron oxide and it looks pretty intimidating wherever it lands. My buddy Sam says the tenmoku follows him around the studio and one of the main reasons for him not using it is that it gets everywhere! My clean out bucket of water is already red just from cleaning up after the mixing.
I also organized all the glazes and unloaded the bisque kiln. Still need to clear out all of the pottery from the kiln shed and set them up in the revamped show room. Stacey found a nice little book case at the Habitat store in Spruce Pine. So my pottery books have a new home! Now you know why I call her Ms. Wonderful!

I'll get more pictures when I get batteries and I'll be talking to you later.

P.S. As if I weren't busy enough, I'm also texting updates to my 82 Twitter followers and updating on Facebook friends as well. We have fans all over!

Checklist

It's as if I blinked and it was morning. Not far from the truth considering my bedtime. I just wanted to jot down a few things so that i would remember them or at least be able to refer to this post to check things off the list.

• unload bisque kiln and clean up the pots to paint
• organize the remaining pots with their respective motifs
• check glaze buckets and give a good mix
• move pottery from kiln shed "showroom"
• find more wax resist
• find Custer feldspar for tenmoku tests

If Stacey weren't already picking up my parental slack, I'd enlist her and the girls to help move some of the pots and get ready to load the kiln tomorrow. She's been awesome as I suspect she's getting used to this crazy week. It seems that I would know how to time everything by now. After 29 firings I know what it takes to get all of these ducks in a row. #30 has been particularly challenging. Working in the new studio has been a blast, but I'm still feeling my way around to get the work done. Just last night I put up more shelves! The walls are pretty much all shelves now. I am realizing how luxurious the space in Micaville was. I still could use another table...oh,

• find table for additional bisqueware

Carol Lollis, Sam taylor's wife puts the process this way:

I know I’m not that far outside but I often feel as though I am looking in on the Pottery.

Let me explain. I have gotten very used to watching the cycles and anticipating the moods that come with the life style of potter.

The down cycle starts right after the firing. Slowly the kiln cools, Sam rests, the house gets cleaned, our family life reclaimed. The next couple of weeks are filled with lots of co-parenting, dinners made when I get home and the house hold running like a well oiled machine.

Then gently I start nudging him towards the studio and he slowly begins the motions. The studio gets cleaned, tools put in order and clay readied, but mainly he wanders in circles aggravated with the need to start from nothing again.

Then as if it has never stopped things are going full force. Every extra moment is spent with the pottery, shaping, working out kinks, trimming, seeing, and making. He goes to bed late, gets up early, time goes by faster faster, until our date night. We rent a movie. I curl up on the bed and make wads while he sits in the chair and makes cone packs. It is much needed down time. Next the troops start trickling in, they load the kiln, food gets made, and play mixes with work. That is the firing. Wham, finished and it starts all over again.

So off I go, up the muddy trail to the shop to get things going again. I hope this reporting isn't gratuitous. My hope is that, if anything, you all will know what goes into making this pottery.
As always, thanks.

Tom's Find

I mentioned Tom Turner and his new pot from Japan yesterday and wanted to bring some context to the examples I showed during my painting session last night. Here is a pic of the bowl/platter . It's a very interesting format and one that is fairly common in books about Japanese pottery. There you go.

FYI: my batteries are dead in my camera and I will get good pictures of the painted pots as soon as I replace the AA's.

I'm not sure this is working for me either. Hmmm. Got to keep going. It's getting late.

Tom Turner showed me his "new" horse eye platter he got from Japan. It's a beauty. Here is a bowl with a design dividing the space into five sections, like the classic horse's eye pattern. I'm only partly happy with it for now. It doesn't have the dazzle of Tom's pot.

I try. Maybe I should it a chance in the kiln before I judge it.

I'll do another!

Two Different Approaches 2 A Jar

The jar on the left is pictorial while the jar on the right is a more all-over pattern. But both employ the "Hallmark" gull/bird! I'm not sure what it is about that flying bird motif, but I let out little chuckle every time I paint it. It's good to keep a sense of humor while I do this critical ceramic work.

;-)

#13 Loaded and Switched On

12 down and 1 to go

I usually fire about ten bisque kilns to fill the wood kiln with pots. So I guess it will be a full load. Good to know. I need the pots! Wrapping up the painting for a full day of glazing tomorrow! Of course there will be more painting news to report later tonight. I hope I'm not wearing you all out.

Are you still with me?