Saturday, December 3, 2011

Studio Open House

The studio sale was today.  Disappointing turn-out, with sales down a good 20-25% from last year.  This is a very small community and there's always the fear that market will be saturated.  Will try the winter Farmers' Market for the next  2 weekends but will postpone next week's planned firing.  My arthritic old hands need the rest and I really don't need the stock.  But shelves and posts and kiln are all cleaned and ready so the next firing will be a breeze.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Art Show


This is part of the display.  The nasty pink curtains come with the hall.  All in all the show went well and sales were as good as last year, despite the poor economy.  Thanks to everyone who came!  Now everything is unloaded and back in place, ready for the studio open house next Saturday.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Pots from the November 17th Firing

Here are a few pots from the last firing.  I apologize for the quality of the photos - the new camera is much better but I definitely need a light box to photograph these shiny glazes and eliminate the glare.  Setting up a photography corner will be a priority project for January.  So again, most of the temmokus were leaning towards purple except at the back and there were several runs.   Even though I'm beginning to appreciate the purple/green/black thing, I now understand why they're coming out like that and will fire to correct it next time.  Even though we weren't getting what looked like obvious reduction (no heavy black smoke, no back pressure) we were getting quite a bit of reduction which is what causes temmokus to run and to lean towards the purple.

Tea dust cookie jar with ash on the front.

Tea dust 3 litre jug with ash and a salt flash.

12 inch temmoku jug

Small jar (about 3 inches high)

Olive bowl in tea dust gone purple.

Tea dust again.

Teadust as it should look, with a bit of salt at the top.

Red shino bowls with some residual salt.

My favourite side plate (red shino, some salt).

Shino cookie jar.

Tea dust with ash.

This is Hamada Rust gone purple with chartreuse ash streaks.

Hamada Rust (purple version) with ash. 



Friday, November 18, 2011

Winter Firing

We fired the kiln yesterday.  It actually got above freezing for a few hours but mostly it was cold and snowing.  Kind of nice to sit around the kiln with cups of hot tea and enjoy the wintery weather.  I was sort  of missing the old kiln and longer firings and getting to watch the whole cycle of the day - hearing deer and coyotes and owls in the night.  Now we start at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning and are done by 8:00 or 9:00 at night.  Much easier on an aging body but not as satisfying to the soul.  I'll unload Sunday afternoon unless it's windy and will post photos of pots then.


Early in the firing.

Passive dampers out with guard bricks to keep the wind out.

View through the stoke hole early in the firing. 

Late afternoon in front of the studio.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Three photos


I'm loading the kiln and planning to fire in 2 days so thought I'd better post a couple of photos from the last firing before posting from the new firing.   The winter Images Art Show is on November 25th & 26th at the Rotacrest Hall in Creston and my studio open house is on December 3rd, so a very busy time.  Then 2 more Farmers' Markets and I'm done for the season.  Looking forward to a bit of down time.  



The after photo.

Dave's bowl.  My standard temmoku with a little salt flash.

Teadust Temmoku with ash.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Before and After

We fired on October 3rd.  Everything went smoothly but again, the results were not what I was looking for with the temmokus.  I even did specific gravity tests, changed the consistencies but they were still too thin.  And why purple?  Is it from reduction?  So here's a preview.  I'll do some photos of individual pots once I figure out how to use my new camera!


Ready to load

Love that speckled suface on the shino.  Wish it fired like that.

Before


After.  All the green & purple was supposed to be black.


Second stack from the front just loaded.
The shinos are reddest at the bottom and paler at the top where the residual salt hits them.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Why I don't dress nice for work.

Being a potter is the best job in the whole world.  That said, there are parts that aren't as great as others.  When I whine about the job it's always about the shelf grinding which is my least favourite part by far.  Half the shelves, from the back of the kiln, are easy to clean with just a hand grinder but the front half needs the angle grinder to clear off the melted ash and blobs of salt that show up even when I don't salt glaze.  It's a dirty job, takes several hours, is hard on the arms, and leaves my hands tingling for quite a while after but it's what it takes to get to the really good parts.  And I love to wood fire!  Now 6 days to the firing.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Getting Ready


We're getting ready for the next firing which should be on October 3rd.  Doing some last minute throwing, bisqueing, and getting ready to glaze.  The wood is cut and stacked, thanks to Wayne, the saint, and his friend the log splitter.  Couldn't do it without him.






Tumble stack bisque

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Farmers Market

I've been going to the Creston Farmers Market since July.  It's been a really good experience being part of this community of makers and growers.  It's also been a good way to keep in touch with regular customers and meet new ones.  The market started a few years ago with just a handful of vendors and is now averaging about 40 with a high of 48 over the long weekend.  It's a bustling, lively place well supported by the locals and is a real draw for visitors as well.

Early morning shoppers

My table

Before the crowds hit

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Some pots from the last firing

The last firing went so well but the pots were mostly just OK.  The shinos came out fairly well but the temmokus fell short of my expectations, which goes to show you probably shouldn't have them (expectations).  The beautiful tea dust from the June firing came out purple with green washes and the Hamada Rust was mostly rust, no black.  The little garlic house is a prototype which needs lots of work as I don't normally handbuild - seems a bit crude but hopefully after a dozen or so they'll flow better.

The next firing won't be until mid-September when we'll hopefully have had some rain, so now I can get some much needed gardening done.


2nd stack from the front

Hamada Rust bowl with geranium reflections

Garlic house

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Keepin' Cool

Every year I promise myself that I won't fire in July again but every year I'm not quite organized enough to have all the summer stock ready by the end of June.  So we fired yesterday with 2 thunderstorms (one little one and one major) and a high of 28 C.  This kiln gets really, really hot and after the last firing in June when I thought I was going to have a stroke I decided drastic measures were required.  So we filled the clay mixing horse trough with our icy well water and when it got to be too much I just climbed in and left Wayne to stoke.  I think it was the best firing ever.

Friday, July 8, 2011

New pots from recent firing

We fired in the heat on June 28th.  The last couple of hours were pretty extreme - need to find a way to cool down.  Might use that horse trough next time.  Here are a few photos of pots from that firing.  Did some glaze testing from the John Britt Cone 10 glazes book.  The Coleman Tea Dust is the only test in the photos.


Shino bottles


Tea Dust Bowl

Shino bowl with Indian fabric stamp decoration

Serving dish with Indian fabric stamp

Coleman Tea Dust bowl

Shino Bowl

Serving dish

Temmoku jar & bowl

From the front of the kiln - natural ash and flashing.

Shino bowl

Cake plates