Brick Kiln

I had a couple of very short snippets that
I just didn't get a chance to edit/merge so here they are individually.

More Impressions from the 18th Century

Ironically, with all of my new technology here at the Sawdust and Dirt HQ, I've been having a little trouble focusing on the tasks at hand. It is later than I think, there are most certainly some pots to make as my firing deadline approaches. Yet I haven't finished sharing some of my impressions of Colonial Williamsburg.

Well here are some more pictures of details around the colonial city.

Meanwhile I open a bag of earthenware! What!!

More later.

Return From the 18th Century

table where brick is made

I've been having too much fun surfing at high speed to take the time to blog! Well, I've got to start somewhere.

After the Craft Fair in Asheville, which went really well, I took the family to colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. I've wanted to go there ever since I visited Jim Chalkley in Norfolk a couple of years ago and I did the pottery show at the Hermitage. I think Jamestown was celebrating the 400th anniversary at the time.

Williamsburg is home to the College of William & Mary where my fellow potters Andrew Coombs and Kevin Crowe hail from. I'm sure there are more of you W & M potters out there, only time will tell.

Back to: Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg is an historically preserved late 18th c. city. See this link to view a map. It was pretty amazing being there, although it took some getting used to. There is nothing there that wasn't present or in the historical record of the time.

brick kiln being fired

We were lucky to be there the day they were firing the brick kiln. It would be fired for 4-5 days slowly drying out the bricks and bringing them to about 2000*F. They fire the stack of bricks once a year and during the fair weather months, the brick is made by stomping the clay, then forming the bricks by hand in the brick form.

They wasn't a potter in Williamsburg at the time that this city was "preserved" and that is why there wasn't a pot shop in the hitorical village, only the brickworks. Most of the houses there were were made of brick. In nearby Yorktown, William Rogers made pots. Steve Earp has some interesting posts at his blog, "This Day in Pottery History".

I have hundreds of pictures that I took there and I'm trying to edit them so I can show more here. I'm also trying to get back to the swing of things in the pot shop as well. I guess I'll have to knuckle down and organize my time. With the high speed and the new Mac, I may have to disipline my online time. Oh my.

speaking of disipline!

I'll schedule another post this evening after the gals have been put to bed.

Thanks for your patronage (or matronage) as the case may be!
;-)

Counting The Eggs

I've been back putting pots away, putting the booth away, enjoying the beautiful clear cool skies, visits, tether ball, whiskey, some truck camping, etc. You know, the usual.

I promised a recap of the long 4 day show in Asheville and hopefully by typing this intro some memories will return, so be prepared for some stream of consciousness.
Hmm, to start with, I hadn't used my booth for a crafts show since 2005. So I rearranged things in my shop to accomodate my 6' x 8' booth. It wasn't easy, but it fit. I didn't want to have to make any big changes at the show, but brought my handsaw anyway.

I didn't need it because I was very lucky to get this corner spot!!! Wowsa. How lucky is that? This booth not only had enough space behind for storage and sneaking around to snack, but was also at the entrance of the show. Although Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were cloudy, the weekend was nice and I had a great view of the weather and the oncoming craft enthusiasts! Usually I did the show in the windowless arena floor that you saw in the previous post. I would have to say my attitude was much better in the light of day versus the arena/stadium lights.

One usually tries to predict what to show and where to put it, although one doesn't know who will be coming to the show and what they may be shopping for. This speculation also extends to the prices of one's work and the market. I price my work consistently with my show room prices and my local and national gallery prices. Some of my fellow crafters thought that my prices were a little low. Some customers picked up pots looking for the price, flared their eyes, put the pot down and walked away. I don't know. I guess everyone has different expectations.

In the end, I sold almost all of my jugs, most of my bigger pots, and lots of little plates. My cylinders, although I sold a couple to some enthusiastic folks, didn't get much attention. My little jars and tumblers weren't as popular as I thought they might have been. Some pots were looked at, picked up and marvelled at, but nobody took them home, excet me! What is the message there? Wrong market? Since folks reacted visiblly over and over again, I would have to say the price didn't match people's perception of the pots worth. Hmmm. I guess you could say that I just didn't meet the right person to close the deal.

Maybe next show.

I failed miserably on documenting the many beautiful objects that friends and colleaugues brought to the show. I took my camera with but didn't organize my time to get around and use it. I was busier than usual and that was a good thing. So next time you'll have to join me and see for yourself. I thought the quality overall had bumped up a notch since I had done the show. There were some new faces with great work. Some folks that have been showing for a while brought new work that really blew me away and that was encouraging and inspiring.

I look forward to doing the show again next year and hope to do as well as I did this go-round. But I should never count my chickens before they hatch.

(this from someone who hasn't seen an egg all summer from his 4 roosters!)

;-)

The Load Out

Heading home. Recap etcetera on Monday

Show Setup

The 62nd Annual Crafts Fair of the Southern Highlands opens in Asheville, in the morning. I'm almost set up and priced and probably will come back in the morning to finish and be ready for the crowds! Come see me in booth # 5, just inside the main entrance. The show continues through Sunday at 5 p.m. I hope to see you!

Bird

I gave this pot to Stacey, since it had a little crack in it. It was one of my faves from the bird series I started with at the beginning of the XXXII session. I'm enjoying a bagel and sausage for my late lunch on this very plate.

Coffee Break vol. 23

Just back from the SPPM and prepping the booth for the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands this weekend. But before I pack the truck, why not have a piece of coffee cake and a cup of joe? The cake courtesy of Erin Peters of Bula Bags in Buladean!

Erin is the better half of Mark "pallet-kiln" Peters and she catered the pottery market last weekend. Yummy doesn't do justice to the fine food Erin served up! Maybe "sublime" would be more appropriate.

As for the cup, it's one of my signature 'breakfast cups' with some "church" coffee. French Roasted! I just got it back from Gary Roper. My show with Dan Finnegan is over and it was one of the pots that didn't fly out the door. Gary came down from Lewisburg last night and took a tour of the "compound".

But if I hear one more person say, "that's a big cup of coffee!" I think I'll just.....well, I'm sure ill hear it again. Alway's do. Hey, I know it's big but just look at the size of cups people are being served at their favorite coffee boutique!

We'll, just thought I would share the coffee break with you all. Still planning to return to more regular blogging soon. Just have to stay focused on making some moolah.

;-)

XXXII: Others

some of my favorite pots from the
firing were the double dipped RJB slip with wax
resist like this pitcher. it's always nice when a little
fly ash melts on a pot's shoulder.
this was the only pitcher that i made during this brief session

a design from a Tz'u-chou vase that I incorporated in many
pots. I use new motifs on as many pots aas I can to see how they work on various forms

a hollow rimmed bowl

one of the many cylinders that I explored in the last session

this is a little flask made by my friend Micah Cain.
Micah is a resident up at the nearby Energy Xchange.
He gave me a few of these to paint. the pinkish blush was
occurred when the flask tipped over in the kiln and laid against another pot.

XXXII: Cups