Penland Ramble

Here are a few pictures from this session's "Show and Tell" that was held in the Wood Studio. The Northlight building was being set up for the Auction exhibit. Click on images to enlarge.

Blagging Behind

When does a blog become a blag? Lagging so far behind in promised content, I seem to have drifted too far from the Sawdust and Dirt shores these days. The last post from last week was titled something like "Results, Pt. 1" or something to that effect. I can't remember! Sorry I implied that I would continue with a Part II...But I did manage to publish a lot of the pots in this Facebook Album. While you're there check out the Barnyard Pottery Experiment.

Here is a 'before and after' shot of the kiln's back stack. I like to keep this record because I forget so soon after unloading the pots and the reshuffling of distribution begins.

before and after shot of the back of the kiln

Other News

I'm hard at work getting my first ever online Sale together and will announce that date and time here on ye olde blogge very soon, so stay tuned! The sale will be of my favorite pots from the last kiln and you will be able to click and buy them! I know a lot of you all have written me about where you can purchase pots and this will be a great opportunity. I've saved the best pots for you and am busy shooting some nice images for the sale!

Jack and Lily

We have a new puppy named Jack. Stacey found him online at the Avery County Humane Society and he's a beagle terrier mix. He's about 10 weeks old and has already captured our hearts and put us in his trance! We are completely powerless and are in his service completely!

Tomorrow, I have a bunch of pictures to share with you on an all new "Penland Ramble".

XXXI Results Pt 1

These just in, I mean out! Still waiting for the back to cool a little more before unloading it.

I love the transparency the slip has with the wax resist.

This one is a tad bit more yellow than in life. This plate actually has a bird in the center with the blue glass "sprinkles" and plate glass at the edges that have melted towards the center forming a sort of flower petal.

I love the copper glaze when it reoxidizes! The red is from early reduction
and then the copper changes back to green/turquoise later in the firing.

I love the subtle dots in this plate. The brushwork could have been a
little more restrained, but I'm still learning. ;-)

More later today.

Just a Coupla Pics Before I Unload the Kiln

"Now everything's a little upside down
as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good
you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom."--Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind

OK

I've been dragging my USB cable and digital camera baggage around all day and failed to post the other pictures and make further comments on the crazy weekend I had. I guess the "after the firing" recovery has taken more time than I thought it might. One shocking realization is that I'm not in my twenties anymore, and an all-nighter has serious implications on one's memory and alertness. The next firing will be different, I swear. [Or my sweet wife, may cease to be sweet to me]

Here is a series of pictures showing how my plates are wadded and fired. This technique was developed by my buddy Will way back when.

First my wadding station has a soft surface that won't chip the slip off of the pots. The wads are made with stiffer wadding so that they won't collapse under the weight of 4 or 5 plates.


Then glue is dropped on all of the wads, then sea shells from Pawley's Island are placed on the wads to make a nice flashing mark where the wad would have left just a dry white dot. The shells resist the salt and keep the plates from sticking, too.


Then the plates are carefully stacked. Just as with the kiln shelves where the posting has to be supported one above the other, the wadding has to be in-line.


Here is the actual stack placed in the kiln. On top of the stack are some cups that also have shells glued to the wadding.

Speaking of posts, aka. kiln furniture. I wad all of the posts so they will stack without wobbling. Also the soft wadding conforms nicely with crooked, warped shelves! Since I use a lot of these, the wadding process gets expedited by rolling a coil of wadding and the running the wadding along each corn and pinching off a little bit rather quickly. There's no need nor time for carefully rolling wads. These wads are glued on as well so that they won't fall off as I stack them into the kiln.


My neighbor Tom Dancer brought over by a little box of glass from his days as a glassblower. I sprinkled some of the blue granulated stuff on these plates as an experiment. I also took some plate glass on the upper edges, hoping it will run down into the center a little bit.

Here's John Simmons, one of the heroes of the firing, coaxing the pyrometer into the 2000's. Not only did John bring a trailer load of kiln dried 3% moisture oak and poplar from Johnson City. He helped cut and stack it as well. John has a few pots in the kiln, and I hope he'll be rewarded for his giant efforts.


Here's John Geci, a neighbor and glassblower getting it hot at the end of the firing.


Here's Courtney Martin, Geci's newlywed, and I kicking some cone nine azz [as gary would say]. We're also sporting some Ayumi Horie His/Hers T's. Git your magic firing shirt here.

Well that's all for now. I'll unbrick and unload the kiln in the morning.

Recap Pt. I

It's not easy cramming all of the stuff that happened in the last few days into one post. Maybe I'll spare you.

Where to begin?

The Sunday firing had already been delayed for a day and couldn't be pushed back any further. The pots I needed to paint and glaze were everywhere. Inside and outside of the shop, in piles. It was pretty intimidating. I usually take at least 4 days to do the work, but reasonably it takes 5 or 6. This time I had 3! You can imagine the picture I would post if I had it. The picture of me sitting there at my bench with my brushes and all of those pots with a look not unlike a deer on my face. It's in those moments when I wish I could just dip the pots and be done.

After the painting, came the glaze-a-thon on Friday which went into early early Saturday a.m. I wouldn't recommend this approach to anyone, but it's what had to be done, unfortunately. My palette of glazes has to be divvied up not only for the sake of variety, but also for technical reasons. Some places in the kiln are hotter/cooler than others, some places get more salt fuming/glazing than others, etc. So it's hard to keep up with all of this stuff in head, but somehow I intuit all of this stuff. Maybe that is why I use a limited palette, just one slip and 3 glazes.
Throughout the process, I get new ideas about pattern, color, and various combos. The brushwork evolves, although it seems to evolve at a slower pace than before in these circumstances. One of the hazards from working under such pressure is that I paint impulsively. This can also yield some pretty fresh deco, too. Quick and spontaneous. I was pretty happy with the painting and deco ideas.

Maybe that's enough for tonight. I'm still pretty spent from the work. I'll continue tomorrow with the loading and firing.

z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z Night Night.

Spent

Just briefly, for now, is the news that we had a big day firing the kiln yesterday, #31. It's also been an exhaustive week preparing for the firing and my show at the Washington Street Gallery with Dan Finnegan! It's Dan and I's first show together. I am getting some much needed rest at the home today and am gathering some images from the last week to share with you a bit later today. So stop back by later today! Thanks.

New RJB

Mixing up a batch of RJB slip. It stands for "Randy Johnston bisque" slip. I have found that if I mix it fresh each time, I get a nice 'crackle' surface.

Archie Bray Online Auction!

There is still time to get your online bid or bids in before the auction closes at 11:30 MST. There are some great deals still to be had. The auction is a benefit for the Archie Bray Foundation. If you're not familiar with the Bray, here is a short description of the Ceramics Center in Montana,

The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts is a public, nonprofit, educational institution founded in 1951 by brickmaker Archie Bray, who intended it to be "a place to make available for all who are seriously and sincerely interested in any of the branches of the ceramic arts, a fine place to work." Its primary mission is to provide an environment that stimulates creative work in ceramics.

By coincidence I was reading a 1990 Ceramics Monthly article, Living for Pottery, written by the late and great David Shaner. In the autobiographical article he writes,

In 1962, I spent the summer working at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. The vastness of the landscape, the feeling of space, light, and color, but most of all the people attracted us to the West. Ken Ferguson was the director and resident potter at the Bray. I was in awe of Ken's production, enthusiasm, and ambition. I wondered why any person would choose to labor so strenuously with so much dedication for so little monetary reward. Little did I realize that one year later I would resign my university teaching position, and move my family to Montana in order to pursue the same goals. To me this was an opportunity creative growth.
The Bray is a unique institution. There is no other place quite like it. The challenge seems to breed good potters. While working in relative isolation, you learn to become your own teacher.
It was my good fortune to have had the opportunity to guide the Bray during seven critical years. In retrospect, few potters would accept the risk, responsibility, and hard work necessary to keep it alive. But our family of potters pulled together to meet the challenge.

I hope you will join the Archie Bray Foundation and all of the potters who donated their fine work to meet our current challenge by bidding in this online benefit auction. Your support will help potters continue the legacy of Archie Bray as well as folks like Ken Ferguson and David Shaner, who accepted "the risk, responsibility, and hard work, necessary to keep it alive."

here is the piece I donated

Click here to go to the auction!