this particular kind of glass (some stained glass remnants that Shane Mickey gave me a long time ago) is the only glass that seems to be compatible with the slip only surfaces. Thanks Shane!
blue glass run on copper green glaze fired on the front near the bag wall.
the little orange spot at about eight o'clock came from a flask that had fallen onto the jar during the firing.
dots!
copper green glaze over black underglaze
These are all 2 or 3 lbs of clay and range in height from 5 to 8 inches.
We had a nice crowd for the first viewing of PBS's Craft in America over at Penland tonight and afterwards Alex Matisse and I unbricked the door of my kiln to get the first view of the pots in Numero 32! It looked pretty good to me so far. I was too tired to unload the kiln so I will wait till morning. Here are a few snapshots of the stack.
The Potters of the the Roan are excited to announce that on Wednesday, October 7, at 8pm, an episode of the Peabody Award winning series, “Craft in America,” entitled “Origins,” featuring Jugtown Pottery owners Vernon and Pam Owens, and Mark Hewitt’s Pottery in Pittsboro, will be broadcast nationwide on PBS-TV. Both Pam Owens and Mark Hewitt are on the Board of the North Carolina Pottery Center!
Please join us for ice cream and fellowship at 7:30pm to support the NC Pottery Center and watch this excellent Craft in America episode at 8:00 pm. The program will show the nation the continuing importance of North Carolina’s role in shaping the ceramic heritage of America.
Donations are most welcome and go toward continuing the Pottery Center's commitment to our state's ceramic heritage. All donations of $20 or more include a NCPC membership which includes free admission to the center, quarterly newsletters, and notice of on-going pottery exhibits and events. Suggested levels of giving include: $20 for potters, $35 for individuals, and $50 for families.
There will be pottery door prizes for those donating at the $50 level courtesy of The Potters of the Roan and the Penland Potters.
If you think you will attend please RSVP by doing so in the comments!! Thank You!
one of the great satisfactions of loading the jigsaw pieces of a kiln load is the orderliness of the stack: a sort of re-centering of the pots after the shuffling of decorating and glazing.
What a week! What a month!
It's been quite a roller coaster ride this time around and I've taken the last few days to regain a foothold on the life. The kiln cools as I grab the domestic baton that Stacey has handed to me as she teaches at Arrowmont this week. I've traded a hectic life of pottery for the hectic life of Mr. Mom! It's been interesting to say the least. For the last 2 and a half weeks the girls haven't seen much of me and now I'm all they have here at the homestead. We're all holding on to each other as if we're on some sort of life boat waiting for Stacey to return on Saturday! Well, it's not that bad, I'm being a little melodramatic. But we do miss her!!
There's much to tell you about, but I'm afraid that so much will be swept away with the unloading of the kiln tomorrow and the events of the next few days, which I will have no choice but to give more attention to because they will be front and center in this potter's life. I do hope I can look back and write about last weekend's loading and firing of the kiln. Maybe I can weave in some before and after pictures with tales of the perils and the ecstasy of long hours, hard work, and the help of friends and family.
I am stoking the kiln watching the celestial bodies changing guard. Temperature a little behind but gaining after a couple of extended kiln side cat naps: 600*F.
After the pots ar painted with the wax resist, they are dipped in the RJB. The RJB stands for "Randy Johnston Bisque" . It's a nice crackly white slip that looks great on my clay in the salt. Well, sometimes it doesn't look great when it crackles right off of the pot, but mostly it is the perfect vehicle for a surface that has good color and texture.
Here is a closeup of the RJB beading on the wax brushwork. I then dab off the beads from the pot although that's not completely necessary as a small bead gets absorbed in the design or pops off after the firing.
There are a few more pots that need glazing before the loading happens tomorrow. Mighty Micah Cain is on board for the loading and will have some work in the firing.
Here's the exciting conclusion to our painting adventure! When the video begins it will say Pt. 1, but that's an error on my part and I will correct it when I have the time. But now, on with the show!
doesn't this look like a big eye? It's my wax resist after a couple of drops of food coloring!
After a great night of painting, I actually set up a video of myself and a big jar and shot it on my Fuji still camera. No problem, except that it was 12 minutes long and had a gigantic file size!! So I've been limping along this morning with the little Mac rainbow wheel! I'll explain...The computer I'm using is from 2002, the year of our first-born, Evelyn. Evelyn is 7. eMac is 7. In computer years eMac is dead, or should be. But I must say that it is chugging along. But I don't have time to chug along with it this morning. So off I go to the studio while it compresses the video file for youtube. Meanwhile I thought I would share a few pictures from yesterday.
the orange is ink that will burn out. this is my copy of the peony design. i'm not that thrilled about it, but i did enjoy setting up the leaves. (see also, below)
little jar about 3" high
The peony leaf design (r) ended up being a cool "new" direction that I used a lot.
this particular kind of glass (some stained glass remnants
blue glass run on copper green glaze fired on the front
dots!
copper green glaze over black underglaze
