support your local potter

Tools.

2012-01-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

I noticed this guy Troy Bungart on etsy a while back was making some nice looking pottery tools, but none of them seemed to be what I was interested in so I had kind of forgotten about it. Last week I noticed that Kyle Carpenter had snagged a couple and had them custom made and so I contacted Troy about making me a large rib and a paddle. I've really wanted a longer straight rib for some taller pots, the one I had him make is 7" long. I sent him a crude MS paint sketch of what I wanted and I had them in my hands in 6 days. I'm a big fan of do-it-yourself but when there are people like this who do it far better than I can and for very reasonable prices, I would prefer to support them. The quality is top notch. I really look forward to using these tools and giving a couple of my ten year old Kempers an honorable retirement.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/burlchaser

Cheers!

This month on the facebook.

2012-01-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a recap of what's been going on around here for the last month or so. I had some orders to get out and really wanted to get them out before xmas but I ended up firing off #13 right after new years.

It was a bit chilly so I brought the pots in to wad them.

I received a call from a builder with some scrap wood right around the time I was getting ready to fire, serendipitous

Grinding shelves and taking names.

Glazing some pots out of the back of my truck, it was beautiful day, so why not?

Ground and washed shelves, and a gnarly wood pile.

XIIV Partially loaded up.

Rippin off my buddy Scott.

Cone 10, time to eat!

Missed the bucket. There's a joke about guys and toilets somewhere in here.

Leaf deco, 25# bowl.

My baby girl trying to get warm.

View from the wheel.

Lidded pots.

Some stellar pots packed up for a show, stay tuned for that one!

Cheers!

Two Curmudgeons

2012-01-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Scott and Kay Roberts had a show at the university this past fall and were here to pick up their work and we got to spend a good amount of time visiting and catching up. It was good to see them. Kay says Scott and I look like a couple of curmudgeons. Eh, what can you do.

Cheers!

Little Help?

2012-01-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

I'm looking for a little help so I thought I'd reach out to my blog readers. If there is anyone that lives in the Atlanta region: I am looking for a safe and secure place to store my truck and enclosed trailer for about a week and a half from Feb. 28 to March 7. There are a number of places I've found for long term parking but I have no idea how secure they are. So if there is anyone out there that has any leads or suggestions I'd be grateful to you. Closer to the airport is better but beggars can't be choosers. You can email me: brandon(at)supportyourlocalpotter.com

Cheers!

Making clay

2011-12-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

About 14-1500 pounds of plastic clay in about 2-3 weeks.
Cheers!

Immortality.

2011-12-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is what immortality looks like.

God speed my friend.

New pots on etsy!

2011-12-05T10:24:00.001-08:00

I've posted a bunch of new work on my etsy page. Head on over and check it out! Orders placed by Dec. 15 domestically will make it by Christmas.

Cheers!

Life on the facebook.

2011-12-02T10:04:00.001-08:00

Want to know what you're missing by not being on facebook? Here are some photos from the last few days. I think all these are via my iphone, so mediocre quality.

I was invited to participate in the Carbondale Clay Center cup auction, I'm third from the right. Hanging out next to Val Cushing.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you make 52 pots, you have to slip and decorate 52 pots.

Hoban and Kaylee. I was amused by their symmetry.

My mother has good taste in pots. I snapped this when I was at their home for Thanksgiving. 3 potters from 2 states here, know who they are? Remember that I was born and raised in Minnesota...

The showroom before the first weekend of the homesale. Cold and dreary doesn't make for good crowds. Supposed to be colder and drearier this weekend. Damn.

Sometimes my students are...well...dense. Let's go with that.

Laying down the law with my ceramics 1 students.

Cheers!

Tangible.

2011-12-01T14:51:00.001-08:00

So...I'm trying to make an effort to keep the blog going. In my archives I have about 20 or so drafts of posts that never came to fruition. Some are pretty well outlined, some are just some random thoughts intended to be fleshed out someday. I rarely have the luxury of sitting and working on these because these days if I have time to sit and think it usually needs to be focused on a paper(damn you art history...) Here's one that came out of a conversation I had with my tenant a few months back. I wish I had the time to clean it up and expand on some ideas, but...

I try to have my students look at their work from an anthropological point of view.

How do we know what we know about past cultures? Literature and from the objects they have made and left behind. What does "fine art" tell us about culture? Warning:generalization. Until the late 1800's fine art really tells us only 2 things. It tells us about the upper class and it tells us about religion/faith. If you want to know how the masses lived you have to look at the objects they have made, ceramics, metal works, weaponry, wood works, stone carvings, etc. (A thousand years from now someone may view Voulkos' work with bemused detachment and maybe a head scratch.)

I for one don't want to be defined by walmart or Martha Stewart. Conceptual art...installation art...all gone. What's left are the objects that will define our culture. Ultimately that will probably be plastic bottles, cell phones and hard drives.

Even buying music these days...you're not really buying anything tangible. I wanted to buy a cd a few days ago and I really had to hunt to find it. Sure I could download it, if my computer crashes itunes will let me download it again. But I want something tangible, I want to look at the cover art, read the liner notes and have something to show for my $15.

What about all these hard drives that in a 1000 years will have our entire culture stored on them? Hard drives, jump drives, ipods, cell phones, etc. It will all be gone. We backup our data and then backup the backup and then carbonite it as well. But what happens if/when the ability to read a hard drive is gone?

As long as humans have eyes we can see a photo, read a book, watch a sunset and remember. With hands we can touch pots, use them, hold them to our mouths., enjoy them. We can smell, taste, hear. Put that on facebook. So start living with those things you enjoy, grill a steak(or tofu burger if that's your choice), look at a real sunset, stop staring at your computer and buy those objects in your etsy treasury so that you can live with them.

Make your lives tangible.

40 x 12

2011-11-29T09:59:00.001-08:00

I was waitlisted for ACC in Baltimore this year and I just found out last week that I have a spot. So what was once going to be a delightfully lazy winter break is now going to be jam packed. No rest for the weary. Moving forward, time to work.

Lots of new pots coming to my etsy page this week. Stay tuned!
Cheers!

Mike Dodd

2011-11-27T12:37:00.001-08:00

Applicability

2011-11-25T18:33:00.001-08:00

Double click on the video to enlarge.

2011 Holiday Sale

2011-11-21T12:28:00.001-08:00

The holiday sale is coming up at the end of this week. I've painted myself a new sign to go out by the road, can't miss it! If you're in the Abilene area come check it out. I'll be having an online sale going up next week as well.

Saturday Nov. 26 10am-5pm
Sunday Nov. 27 12pm-5pm
Saturday Dec. 3 10am-5pm

Cheers!

#408.

2011-11-10T15:44:00.001-08:00

This is my 408th post in just over four and a half years of posting on this blog. I have to say that it's been quite the introspective journey. I've been fortunate to make a large number of friends and acquaintences in that four and a half years that I surely would not have met otherwise. Getting into the blogging game early also opened up a lot of doors to new opportunities. I am grateful to my friends and readers for their notes of reassurance and at times criticism. As a result I think that I've grown much farther than I would have on my own. Most of you may have noticed that my frequency of posting this last year has dwindled and unfortunately from here on out it may slow to a trickle. I've had a lot happen in this past season, some good, some bad but the truth is that I am now just too busy and something has to give. I don't intend to pull a Kent Harris and wholly abandon the blogosphere. This may vex some of you deeply but I will continue to be on facebook where you can have a small glimpse into what is going on here as well as delving deeper into some more personal issues such as my love affair with a local burrito joint. At this point in time I'm going to have to opt for quicker and easier but I promise to find my way back here from time to time. I'll leave you with a few more pots from the last firings.

Cheers!

Pots from Firings XI & XII

2011-11-05T15:58:00.001-07:00

Firings XI, XII & The Texas Clay Fest

2011-10-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind but I have a few photos here to share what's been going on. I fired off 2 kiln loads in the wood kiln and was an exhibitor at the Texas Clay Festival which was hands down the best show I've ever done in Texas.

Here are a few photos of prepping firewood. Notice the huge pile of cutoffs here...I wish I could find a use for all this. The chunks are too big to fit through the stoke holes but they're also too small to be worth my time to chop up.

Pallet slats stacked and drying. This is about 2/3 of what I need for a firing from 1600-2400 degrees.

This where the pallet stripping magic happens. The piles on the left and left-middle are slats that are too wide to fit through the stoke holes, I'll have to figure out a way to use them because I have a LOT of them.

I bought a new pyrometer a couple months ago to replace my last one which had a battery leak and fried the innards. This is basically a ripoff of the Fluke pyrometer at much less cost. I paid about $70 for this guy. The fluke runs about $200. This one has dual ports so you can run 2 thermocouples if you need to. It also has a zillion other options. One of the coolest things is that it comes with a soft ware package that you load onto your computer and then plug the pyrometer in via a usb port and it allows you to graph your firings based on temp. I haven't done it yet but that seems pretty cool, possibly useful. My previous pyrometer was from Axner, it worked just fine except that you had to switch to C after 2000F. Weird. But, if you follow me on facebook you may already know that Axner/Laguna is on my shit list and I won't be doing business with them anymore.

Here is a shot of firing XI before unloading. It was a VERY good firing.

I don't have great shots of the work but I'm doing some portfolio shots later this week so I'll get some of those up.

Yunomi and soup bowls.

Platters/bowls from XI. Check out that slab dish in the back, that piece was killer. It's gone into the "permanent collection."

I have a full bucket of this copper green glaze that I mixed up when I was in college, it's a recipe from Randy Johnston but at some point in time I lost the recipe. I use it every once in awhile. I'd never fired it in this kiln so I glazed a couple pots with it to see how it did. Pretty nice I think. I prefer it over a dark body because it darkens the glaze a bit. This is nice but too bright for my tastes. And I think it has a good amount of barium in it, not really my thing.

Firing XII, this firing was every bit as good as XI. I had a few experiments in here, most of which turned out well. I have a new nuka glaze that I'm really excited about but discovered it only does its magic in certain parts of the kiln. A good chunk of this kiln was for a wholesale order and most of the rest came out and went right into bins for the Texas Clay Festival.

This was my first year to get into the Texas Clay Festival and it was phenomenal. The great thing about clay shows like this is that they draw a very specific crowd. I have never had so many people in and out of my booth. I was there alone this weekend and was busy the whole time. I got there over an hour early on saturday so I could walk around and look at the rest of the work but there were already people in my booth and I was selling before the show even opened. So I never really got around, if I did get a break it was to run and get some water or to the bathroom. I also spotted the elusive Keith Kreeger and was able to corral him for a moment to snap a photo to prove that he is alive and working in Austin.

Cheers!

Quick note

2011-10-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

I'm super busy this next week but thought I'd drop a quick note for my readers.

Firing XI was fantastic, a very good firing. The slips looked good, the new clay body looks pretty good. I'm very pleased.

I'm prepping firewood today and will finish loading for firing XII tonight. I'll start it up Monday after my afternoon class and fire into the night.

Next weekend, October 22 & 23, is the Texas Clay Festival. I'll be exhibiting as well as demonstrating slipping and decorating leatherhard pots on Saturday afternoon. So if you're in the region come on down and check it out, the clay fest is always a good time.

Cheers!

Firing XI

2011-10-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

I fired off the wood kiln today, it was a nice day and seemed to be a good firing. The cones were even throughout which tends to be a bad omen but I have a good feeling about this one, we'll see in a couple days! I left my camera at home...didn't really have any good shots anyways. Maybe I'll get them up tomorrow.

I used pallet slats for all the stokes above the grates(1600F - cone 9/10)...450 slats to be exact, I counted for curiosities sake. Approximately +/- 12 slats to a pallet that is about 38 pallets. I found there to be two positive aspects to this:
1) The kiln fired remarkably even, my guess is because of the consistent size of the wood (pallet slats vs. chopped wood.) I'm used to having to adjust the dampers or wood size to even it out, not this time!
2) The pallet wood was primarily oak and there wasn't any dense smoke like there is with pine. No fire department this time!

The negative aspects:
1) Oak has a shorter, harsher flame than pine. Pine has a slow lazy flame that penetrates all parts of the kiln, this means I get good surface on all sides of the pots. Not sure how the oak will do.
2) Nails, lots of them. I just bend them over but they still get caught on everything.
3) I can get about 10 pallets in the back of my truck, my source isn't too far but that's still several trips.
4) Stripping pallets is a bitch. A lateral move from chopping I guess. Most slats have nails that have to bent over and the slats still have to be cut to length.

Overall I think for now I prefer stripping the pallets. I'll let the pots be the final judgement.

It's a bit foolish to have a wood fired kiln in a region where there's not much wood except mesquite.

But...

It's my misery that I HAVE to wood fire. So it is.

Cheers!

Countdown.

2011-10-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend I cleaned out the kiln, ground and washed the shelves and posts and loaded that sucker up. The tentative plan is to fire on Friday. We'll see how that goes, I've got some firewood issues to work out. On Saturday I received a call from one of my wholesale accounts with a reorder they need by the end of the month. My dilemma then(with half the kiln already loaded) was to hold off and make the remainder of pots needed for their order and then fire OR go ahead and fire now then turn around and do another one. The order will take up about 1/3 of the kiln and I've got a big show coming up at the end of the month for which I'm out of lots of things so I elected to do two firings. I do have extra pots, though I may have to find a few people to put some pots in the second firing. This means that after these two I probably won't be firing again until the winter break.

The cleaned out kiln...waiting on pots.

The back 2 stacks.

The front stack. I had a lot of shorter pots this go around, a record 36 shelves in this firing...that's probably going to amount to a bit of a longer firing.

A few weeks ago I was searching around on the web for an alternative way to strip pallets(my wood sources have steadily been drying up.) I currently use a reciprocating saw, which works but is tiresome. I found a nifty modified nailgun that just shoots the nails through the slat...awesome! But $400. I though about modifying a used one but I'd still be ponying up a couple hundred dollars and I don't know if my compressor could keep up with that. Then I found this brilliant chap in the UK who came up with this giant prybar. Genius, work smarter, not harder. Since this would be too cost prohibitive to import from the UK(I'd totally pay for this) I made my own from scrap lying around the school. I'll have to make another because the 1/4" steel won't last, it likes to bend. The oak pallets are a bit harder to seperate than pine but I think this will work. It does get problematic when you only have a couple slats left but...I'll figure something out.

While loading the kiln I found this gal on one of the door bricks I picked up. Gah!

Cheers!

New pots on etsy.

2011-09-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've posted a bunch of new pieces on etsy and here's a quick preview.

This is a taller style cap jar with a cut foot. Crackle slip, ash glaze, woodfired.

Mug, brushed white slip, glaze dots.

Dinner plate, ochre slip with brushed white slip pattern, one of my personal favorites.

The pieces below here are pots that have been tucked away being representative of the best of the best. I feel it's time to part with some of them and let someone else enjoy them.

Platter with handles, brushed white slip and glaze dots.

There are 2 cups like this that I posted. This is a nuka type glaze that I use very rarely. These were fired on the bagwall which in my guesstimation hits somewhere in the cone 12 range, the photo below is the side facing the firebox. Hop over to etsy to see the other side of this cup. I've tried to do more of these in subsequent firings but none of them have turned out like these did.

Teapot with amber glaze and cane handle.

Large teapot(48 oz!) with tile6 slip and cane handle.

Cheers!

The days work.

2011-09-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some images of some of the progress in the studio today. I have more than a firings worth of pots ready to go but I'm probably going to hold off firing until October...maybe. I've had some good things happening in the studio the last few days so I think I'll see how long I can keep it up. I probably just jinxed it. Ah well.

I assembled these teapots yesterday, slipped/deco'd today. The guy on the left will get an ash glaze.

Lidded pieces. The 3 on the left are something new. The 2nd one is weak...the other 2 are ok. The tall footed pieces are something I haven't done in awhile so I thought I'd give it a go.

Some jugs...the first 2 are 8# the last 2 are 5#. Trying mostly new things on these guys. From left: tile6 slip with deco, brushed white slip, ochre slip with white slip brushwork, tile6 with sprigs...That last one will probably get glaze over the whole pot.

Big jug. White slip, sgraffito and brushwork.

This is my new favorite mug. This came out of the salt kiln back in June and it has grown on me. It's become my go-to studio mug. I think this is the first time I've ever called one of pots a favorite over other potters work. Weird. Brushed white slip, M. Simon's black and Reeves green. Check out that pink blush on the left. Thats an ace in the hole.

These are a couple slab pots I made with my students last week. One of the assignments was an assembled piece with applied texture before assembly. I think these are the first assembled pots made wholly from slabs that I've completed since college...I like them, though I don't think I'll be making the switch to slab work. It's nice to do something completely different every once in awhile.

Cheers!

Jim Malone, one of my favorites.

2011-09-18T12:58:00.001-07:00

Anatomy of a treadle wheel.

2011-09-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've spent a bit of time the last couple of days doing a little work on the treadle wheel. The wheel has performed flawlessly except for 2 minor problems. The corners that sit up against the inside of my legs tend to dig in after awhile, a towel in the lap solves this issue. The second problem is that the wheelhead oscillated just a bit, almost a 1/8". That means 1/8 high on one side, 1/8 low on the other. Over the width of the wheelhead that is almost a 1/4" difference. Hasn't made a difference with the skinnier items but with pieces like dinner plates I've had to compensate and trim the feet flat. Not a huge deal but I figured it was time to fix it.

Here is the treadle with most of its important bits removed. I'm thinking of redoing the seat, going for more of a tractor style seat...like the old randall kick wheels. Way more comfy. I gave the wheel a good wipe down, it needed it.

The tray and flywheel awaiting their sponge bath.

So this is where the problem was with the old wheelhead: This wheelhead and the tapered shaft were salvaged from an old kickwheel that was given to me years ago. The head fits onto a shaft with a morse taper, good design but the original shaft wasn't long enough for the treadle so I cut the tapered part off and attempted to weld it to a new shaft. Herein lies the problem: two pieces of shaft welded together are never going to have the precision of a milled one piece shaft. Hence the oscillation. I gave it another go yesterday with a new shaft but even if it's perfectly lined up the welding causes enough tension to move it just a hair. Just a hair on a 1" shaft is about 1/8" over a 12" wheelhead. So I broke down and bought a new wheelhead that would mount to a 1" shaft with set screws, no taper.

Why did I like the tapered shaft so much? It's keyed into this collar for easy removal. No set screws, just lift. Brilliant. I'll try to incorporate this into the new one but I don't think it will work white as magnificently.

Here is the old shaft and the new. The old one was pretty junky looking, the plates were cut from scrap and pretty sloppy. I'm a decent welder and cutter, but the schools cutting torch is subpar. Somehow in the fabrication of the original the shafts ended up not being parallel to eachother, not a huge deal but it does cause irregular wear to the swivel joint that connects the shaft to the kick bar. I bought all new steel for the new one, I wanted one that had a little bit nicer look to it. I may give it a paint job as well. Very few people ever see the wheel up close and could probably care less but...craftsmanship and pride in your work are two things that I believe very strongly in. It doesn't matter if anyone else sees it, I see it. Here's a blast from the past with my views on this matter.

The bottom bearing, mortised into the bottom rail. That's right, mortised. Attention to detail, the flywheel rides about 1/2" above the bottom rail. It looks slick.

After cleaning out the tray I noticed these two little problem areas where the varnish is failing. I'll give it a good cleaning, sanding and re-varnish. I've got a few days until the new wheelhead comes in anyways. I used a marine varnish initially, I think I'll use it again and maybe apply more coats this time around. Overall though I'm pleased with how it has held up.

Cheers!

Process.

2011-09-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

Here are a few photos of how I process my "free" local materials. Free money-wise, expensive in labor. I'm currently processing a bunch of red clay, but the same process goes for the ash. Fortunately the granite I obtain is already a fine powder and needs no further processing. I use a wet-sieving process that doubles as washing for the wood ash. For the clay it keeps the dust down and keeps me from losing fine particles as dust. It takes 2 barrels/buckets of equal size and various sized sieves.

I start by filling a barrel 1/3-1/2 full of material. For red clay I just cover material with water, for ash I fill the whole barrel. I let the clay sit overnight and then mix it into a slurry with a drill-mixer. For the ash I stir it up and sieve out the charcoal lumps and let it sit overnight. The next day the ash will have settled and I'll pour off the excess water. From here on the process is the same.

The first sieve is an old kitchen sieve...probably like 8-10 mesh, on top of a clean, empty barrel. Fill the sieve about halfway and shake as much through as possible.

I use a hose nozzle set on shower to force the rest through the sieve. This is why you only fill the bucket halfway...the rest will fill with water that will be poured off after it settles. This is beneficial for the ash washing, just waste water for the red clay.

The remnants. Wash, rinse, repeat. Rinse out the barrel when finished and sieve back into that one the next day. The ash needs 5-6 hours minimum to settle, the red clay settles much faster. I prefer to just do it once a day though, easier for me. I start with a kitchen sieve, then 30 mesh, 50, 60, 80. After I'm done sieving I'll let it settle, pour off the excess water and pour it into sheets in my drying racks.

The ash barrel. The paddle is for mixing...and irreverent students. You don't wanna touch this stuff, I wear rubber kitchen gloves.

Cheers!

True grit.

2011-09-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

I just finished my evening class and thought I'd shoot off a quick post.

I mixed up a small batch of my clay with 10% 30 mesh sand in it, I wanted to see what it was like. I love the texture that's left after trimming and the slips do some awesome stuff over it but it's a hard sell...hard on the hands too.

True Grit.

Some deco'd bowls. 25#ers.

Some pitchers with a copper green that I haven't used in years.

Every room and studio in our art bldg has a regulator and hookup for our larger compressor that hasn't worked in years. I removed mine because it was in the way of my shelves and wouldn't you know it the sculpture professor tried to fix it. Damn, look at all that rusty water that was in the system. I should've taken a shot of the floor too. An excuse to clean I suppose...and cap the pipe.

That's all for now.
Cheers!

52 x 6

2011-08-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

A productive day...looks like I'll be chasing plastic for awhile. I also have some large bowls and large baking dishes waiting under plastic. A wood firing is on the horizon.

Cheers!

Studio Shots.

2011-08-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Not much to say...I've been trucking away in the studio, working towards a firing in the next few weeks. Here are a few shots of what's happening right now.

Baking dishes awaiting a little trimming and handles.

Baking dishes handled and slipped.

Deco'd pots.

Jugs awaiting handles.

A couple little bottles from the last wood firing.

Starting to pile up for the next firing.

35 Ash

50 Granite Dust
15 Red Clay

Completely Craze-Free. Crazy.

Cheers!

Summer report #2

2011-07-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here are the results of the triaxial blend. I'm pretty happy with it, as I suspected though there aren't any usable glazes(to my liking anyways.) There are several that I'll use as a base for further tests. I wasn't too surprised about what the results looked like, I am surprised about the raw materials alone. The red clay has what I guess is a very high shrinkage(useful for raw glazing!), the granite kinda looks like poorly fire malcolm davis shino on stoneware and the ash...

The ash is completely unmelted. It looks like velvet and I can easily dust it off the test piece. I use mesquite ash, which is a very hard wood and generally speaking the harder/denser the wood the more refractory the ash. I also wash my ash which according to Phil Rogers rinses away about 25% of the fluxes. I learned early on that mesquite ash used unwashed has a shelf life of about 3-4 weeks. My glossy green ash glaze will go matte mustard yellow over time, weird right? So I wash all of my ash. To keep it consistent I wash several batches, enough to last 2 or more years and then sort of dry mix it all which leaves me with one large source that will be consistent from one batch to the next. This means that I don't have to test my material before I mix each batch of glaze. I will do the same with the granite and red clay. Back to this ash...it behaves like other ashes when mixed in 50/50 of 4/4/2 blends which leaves me to believe that the ash is just lacking something on its own to melt and is in fact not too refractory.

I had to make a modification to my blunger by adding pulleys and a v-belt. The motor is 1725 rpms which is much too fast for mixing. These pulleys bring it down to about 400 rpm. I mixed up my first batch a few days ago and it works great. I'm excited to ease some of the strain from my back.

Cheers!

My summer report.

2011-07-03T17:18:00.001-07:00

Not much happening around here. I haven't made any pots in a couple weeks but I did fire the salt kiln with a bunch of pots from my new clay body. I didn't snap a photo but the results were good. No cracking, before I was having all kinds of cracking with backfilled handles and inside footrings(not s-cracks,) and less warpage with plates. The pots also have a higher ring and feel more dense, though I'll have to fire a test in the redux kiln to confirm that.

Just for kicks I ran a triaxial blend with wood ash, local red clay and granite dust. These are 3 materials I can obtain in abundance for free so I thought I'd see what I can do with them. I've used wood ash regularly for years, I use a bit of red clay in one of my glazes and have never used the granite. I'm not expecting to obtain a usable glaze from this test(though that would be ok) but rather I want to see how these materials interact with each other. So we'll see what happens.

I've also spent some time building a blunging blung-o-matic blunger(patent pending.) It has a mounted motor with mixing shaft and a pump so I don't have to get the slip out by hand. It works well with water...the pump is going to be the weak link...I don't know how well it will handle the slip. I'll let you know in a couple of days.

Happy 4th!

Cheers!

Wine & Clay.

2011-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Will you be in or near Lubbock, Texas this weekend with nothing to do? Llano Estacado Wine & Clay Festival! Saturday 10-5, Sunday 12-5 at the Llano Estacado Winery. You can obtain directions from their website.

Cheers!

3rd place.

2011-06-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

There are oodles of lists and sites out there that rank blogs, so many exist that even I've made it onto a few lists. I made it onto this list.

Their synopsis:

•Support Your Local Potter: One could potentially think of Texas as too arid to support authentic artistry. Don't let blogger Brandon Philips get word of your suspicions on the state; he's mined Lonestar country for true ceramics fertility. His blog chronicles his real, gritty, and often glorious experiences as a man of the ceramics craft. He does not refrain from sharing honest and heartfelt anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of a not-always-lucrative career in the art form.
•Why We Love It: A stellar and straightforward blog that makes it clear that the rough blows of everyday life can result in great work.
•Favorite Post: Invincible

My favorite part: "he's mined Lonestar country for true ceramics fertility." I may have to put that on my banner up top. Ha!

But seriously pottery folks, we're getting beat by the slipcasters on the "best blog list." The slipcasters!!! And they make crappy ass over-priced clay.

I've about milked all the fertility out of this piece of the lonestar state.

Cheers!

Bigger isn't better...

2011-06-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the 3 big pots that I was working on. I'm moderately pleased with them. I think the bases are too narrow...if I could chop 6 inches off the bottom of that middle one I think it would be perfect. The termination of the textures are up for debate...it stops where it does because it became too stiff to impress, I'll have to take that into account in the future. It seems like you can get away with a lot more with big pots because of the impressive quality of the scale, so it's important to maintain a critical eye. I like to look at the pieces and imagine them in a smaller scale...would they still pass muster? I've heard my grad school prof say(over and over) bigger isn't better, bigger is just bigger, a good thing to keep in mind. The tallest is 36", the pot on the left has 85 pounds of clay in it...I lost track of the other 2.

I made some plates and a few yunomi with my new clay...I like the way it feels, a little sandy but not too gritty, perfect.

One of the important things to me is the texture of the clay when it's been tooled. I like it to have a consistent light gritty texture. I can't stand fine bodied clays with large grog...bleh! This clay is comprised of stoneware clays, kaolin and ball clay. It uses 60 mesh sand and 48 mesh grog. This looks pretty good to me.

I made this plate from the trimming chuck for the above plates...before I pulled the wall all the way out I pinched four corners(kinda like a pitcher spout) and then contined pulling and ribbing. I kinda like it, it has potential.

Cheers!

Coil & Throw

2011-05-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair, it may be a bit of a snooze.

Double click on the video and it will open in a new window.

Enjoy.

Cheers!

Big Uns.

2011-05-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've been making some big pots...just because. Check out the sweet Mike Dodd via Batterham knock-off. The tallest is 27", certainly not the biggest I've made but good size. These are all made with the coil and throw method.

Here are 3 even bigger pots I'm working on. These will potentially be the biggest pots I've ever made, maybe 40-48" tall. 25# base + 15 coil so far. They are currently 23-24" wide.

Maybe I'll do a video tomorrow of adding a coil.

Cheers!

Glass.

2011-05-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to experiment with glass cullet in my glazes so I decided to attempt to make my own. I collected about 150 or so brown beer bottles, Shiner bottles to be precise...gotta be indigenous. Rather than peel all the labels off I stacked them in the gas kiln and fired them up to 7-800 degrees to burn them off and then pulled them out hot and dunked them in water to craze them so they'd break up into tiny little pieces easily. Piece of cake.

The first 30 bottles. Next I'll start running this stuff through a ball mill.

Here is a unbroken but crazed bottle so you get the idea.

Cheers!

Brushes

2011-05-23T15:05:00.001-07:00

I just posted a bunch of new brushes on my etsy page. Check them out!

Cheers!

Welcome back!

2011-05-20T18:27:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm glad to have some time to sit and post something. School is over, both schools(4.0 for me...just sayin.) The homesale was mediocre at best but at least we made some money. I sold a giant pot which saved the weekend.

I have a few weeks off and have turned my attention to testing some new clay bodies. I am attempting to come up with a decent clay body that contains little or no fireclay. Fireclay has been my nemesis for awhile now and I would like to do away with it altogether. The only available fireclay here is Hawthorn which used to be fine but now I'm having too many problems with impurities and lime pops(and yes, I'm using the 50 mesh.) Fireclay is mined to be used in bricks...in fact many fireclay manufacturers have warnings not to use it in plastic clay bodies. It is typically ground to 10-30 mesh, not fine enough to render the impurities moot. Fireclay is all around just nasty stuff. The difficulty is that fireclay generally makes up the majority of most stoneware bodies. The solution? Well, I don't know. Right now I'm testing a couple bodies made up primarily of stoneware clays, I'm not too fond of goldart so I'm using Kentucky Stone and Foundry Hill Cream, both of these sort of straddle the line of ball clay/stoneware clay. I've also been including additions of pyrophylite to reduce shrinkage and for increased resistance to thermal shock. I've also been using multiple grades of sand/grog(80/60/50) mixed together for better particle size distribution since eliminating fireclay eliminates most of the coarse particles. It's a work in progress and I'll let you know how it goes.

While I have the free time I've also been making lots of brushes. I sold out of the last bunch months ago so I'm going to try to make enough to last awhile. Who'd have thought these would be so popular? Here are some I've made over the last couple weeks, these are all to eventually be posted on etsy(though not at the same time!) My aim is to keep them simple so that they can be affordable. There are many brushmakers out there who make exquisitely beautiful brushes but they're so darn expensive that I'd be afraid to use them everyday(kinda like pots?) They start at $15 for the smallest and go up to $28 for the largest, packing & shipping included. I'm going to attempt to have some of these up on etsy by Monday(along with a few new pots!)

This is the university's circa 1978 Bluebird clay mixer. While I give Bluebird credit for the durability and longevity of it's mixers I will say that I absolutely hate these things. The problem with these mixers is that they don't really mix on their own...they just push the clay up onto the sides and you then have to push it back down into the blades. The newer mixers have a swing open hatch on the top(with auto shut-off) making this process a little easier. This old gal has to be stopped and then swung open OR you can shove your arms in that little gap between the barrel and the top to push the clay down, this is the route that I and most of my students have taken. Before you ridicule me for advising my students to do something so stupid I'll let you know that I tell them not to but I don't stand over their shoulders and watch them...and I can always spot the telltale wrist bruises. Stupidity at your own risk. Also...it's almost impossible to get your arm stuck in the blade this way...we've tested it, you'll have to trust me. The worst that can happen is getting your had crushed against the side of the mixer, losing a little skin.
,

The powers that be have decided that after 33 years of use with no serious injury...this machine is not safe(it is possible, though unconfirmed, that I played this up a bit to get a new mixer.) We live in a society that has no concept of personal responsibility so from time to time why not take advantage of rather than be angry about it? So we're getting a new mixer this summer, hooray! We were going to get a Soldner mixer, I'm a huge fan of soldners, but there are several hurdles that we can't overcome. I thought about getting another Bluebird but the voice in my head responded with a resounding "Hell NO!" So we are going to get a Peter Pugger mixer/pugger that does 250# batches...almost twice what this bluebird does. In celebration of this I decided I'd had enough of dealing with this mixer and chopped the top off. One of the most liberating moments of my life. Mixing is a breeze now, though a tad more dangerous. For you worriers, have no fear, I'll be the only one using it until the new one arrives.

Side note: I still blunge all of MY clay. Blunging is for winners. ;)

Cheers!

Home Sale!

2011-05-13T13:03:00.001-07:00

I don't know where that post disappeared to... Spring Home Sale, this Saturday and Sunday, 12-5.

Cheers!

Post #400...Spring Home Sale!

2011-05-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Cheers!

Owning it.

2011-05-02T18:42:00.001-07:00

I appreciate all the comments on the last post...I didn't mean to leave you hanging there, we had to make an emergency run to Austin this weekend and didn't get back until Sunday evening. I had a post planned in response to that but now it may be a week or two before I can get my thoughts down.

I've been having a short email conversation with another potter and this was part of my response today. All these email convos...maybe why the blogs aren't getting written.

Owning it. Indeed. I think you are owning what you do. It's easy to fall into the lure of wanting to make other peoples pots...I'd love to make pots with gnarly shinos...big jars fired on their sides for five days...anything by richard batterham...but those things don't suit me, they're not me. XXXXXX's pots are f-in awesome but they're not you.

I know exactly what you mean about "serious" work. I constantly wonder to myself if I would be mocked in the public arena for some of the things I do. What is serious anyways? Cruet sets? Fancy teapots? The need for recognition? Peer recognition is nice but it sure doesn't pay the bills. Why do you think all those fancy MFA potters are doing residency after residency? Because they can't pay the bills. No one wants a f-ing $500 oil and vinegar set on a tray. You can spend 5 hours on a pitcher and make it amazing visually but it's still a pitcher, why is it "serious work" because you've spent more time messing around with it?

I think the issue is that if you feel you aren't doing something worthwhile(worthwhile=serious? maybe...) then there is obviously a confidence problem with your work. I'm not directing this at you, i'm speaking generally...or perhaps to myself! I think that's all part of owning it.

I think it's a question of wanting to make a living vs. wanting recognition. And they don't always go hand in hand. There's a good chance that our work will never see the cover of CM, we're not part of the trend right now, our work is too simple and we haven't worked with anyone important. But what does the cover of CM get you? A month of popularity amongst your peers and $50? It's kinda like getting into the SFPN or the AKAR yunomi show, all ego boosting, very little monetary gain, unless potters are your primary customer. But you know what...I think it's okay to want that ego boost, hell maybe we even NEED it sometimes, but I don't think it should be the end goal. You telling me about (f-ing awesome potter) appreciating what I was doing, that was a nice little pick me up the other day. I needed that bit of ego boost.

Whatever...my rant for the day.

Feel free to add your own commentary.

Cheers!

Gettin Educated

2011-04-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Does an art degree prepare students for real life after graduation? Should it?

Is education now job training? Should employers and the market dictate the curriculum?

Ponder on that.

Firing X Pots.

2011-04-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

I unloaded firing X last night and it was...okay. Most of the pots for orders came out just fine. Most of the pots were okay...but just okay. The Tile 6 slip has just not been acting right. About a year and a half ago I received a new batch, new bags, new company, not the same stuff...similar, but not the same. The color I used to get is just not there anymore. I'm going to run some tests, we'll see. I did lose several pieces to cracking...I just can't seem to figure that one out yet. They're not heating cracks, and it's not cooling cracks...some type of stress cracks? Maybe. There were some small patches of oxidation where the pots looked like vanilla ice cream, some reduction where the pots looked hershey bar brown. Fortunately those disasters were a very small portion of the firing. As always though I did get some stellar pieces that I'm really excited about.

Platter with handles...about 16", white slip.

Teapot, white slip.

Cap jar, white slip with amber and black underglaze deco. This was in one of the reduced zones but that works for this slip.

Lidded jar, tile 6 slip with pours and deco.

I'd like to promise that I'll post more later but...last 2 weeks of the semester, crunch time.

Cheers!

Firing X.

2011-04-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

I fired off the wood kiln yesterday, it was a bit of a fiasco. Not the firing itself but the events surrounding the firing.

Back stack of the chamber.

Front stack.

Firewood.

Pre-heating.

Michael Kline assisted me with some carb and sodium intake during the firing.

It started raining about halfway through the firing, no big deal I can deal with a little rain. Then it started pouring...then it started hailing...then it started really hailing. This guy landed right outside the door but was by no means the biggest that I saw.

The yard after a couple minutes. This continued off and on for 3 hours. The barn where the kiln is located is clad in nothing but corrugated steel. It's hard to adequately describe the sound of giant hail hitting a corrugated roof. I think the closest description is 30 kids banging pots and pans together right next to your head for about 3 hours. It just about drove me mad, a pretty miserable experience.

I don't really like to fire in the rain or during overcast days because the smoke and salt fog don't dissipate...but I have never seen it do anything like this. The fog was so dense here you can't even see the showroom. It travelled to the street and cars had to slow down to drive through it. After the firing was over there was still a haze in the park across the street. The fire dept showed up but immediately turned around when they saw that it was just me firing. Because of the lingering smoke and fog we had a multitude of people pull into our driveway and want to help "put the fire out." The fire dept also received a number of calls...I expect a visit from the fire marshal again soon. Dealing with the weather, the smoke, and the good samaritans didn't allow me the necessary focus on the firing. It got to temp just fine so lets hope that all is well. Only a 30% chance of rain the last 4 days... and it picked the small window of time during my firing.

Well, unloading tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers!

Safety First!

2011-04-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Cheers!

Firewood!

2011-04-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

A short little video showing where my firewood comes from. I made the biggest haul that I've ever made from this single house. Usually 2 truckloads at the most.

Cheers!

12 x 12

2011-04-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

32 pots in 2 hours! (I'm not a production potter...I'm not a production potter...I'm not a production potter...I'm not a production potter...) 1# bowls and some mugs that will all be ash glazed. I need some pots to go near the front in the next firing, I'm not too fond of the way my slips look near the firebox.

Pots waiting to be bisqued.

New style of cap jar. I really liked Ron's video post awhile back about decorating these style of lidded pieces. I decided rather than doing two seperate decos on the base and lid that I'd just carry over the deco right onto the lid. This also means that the lid has to be in just the right place every time you put it back on the piece. Ha!

4# vases.

This jar has a white slip on the top half that I textured so that some of the bare clay shows through. Those little dots that are a brown/gray color are Michael Simon's black decorating pigment. I like it on this white slip because the edges go fuzzy, it doesn't keep a crisp edge. Good stuff.

Platter with same deco as above.

Dinner plate with slip trailing. I'm a total newbie to slip trailing. The background is an ochre slip that goes a nice rich brown and the trailing is white. Those green dots may have not been the best choice but we'll see how it fires out.

I'm about ready to fire, I need to make a couple teapots and a few other things but hopefully I'll be loading in about a week and a half.

Cheers!

Michael Simon Talk

2011-04-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Michael Simon and Classmates talk hosted by the Northern Clay Center and University of Minnesota on March 13 is online here. It's close to 2 hours. Cheers!

Pots!

2011-04-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded a bunch of new pots to my etsy page.

Here is a personal favorite.

Cheers!

New Pots!

2011-04-02T17:04:00.001-07:00

Most of these pots are from the most recent firing in mid-February, the others are from the previous firing in January. I will be posting these and many others to my etsy page on Monday, they'll be up at 9am.

Jug...about 1/2 gallon.

Small lidded jar.

Teapot

Large serving bowl.

Small dish/bowl

Slab molded dish.

Dessert plate

Mug, nice flashing on this guy.

I'm putting up about 6 yunomi on etsy.

Cheers!

Nic Collins

2011-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Cheers!

The Gray Area.

2011-03-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

I was really excited about the book that goes along with Michael Simon's exhibition at the Northern Clay Center but was very bummed that I wasn't able to get a copy of it...yet. (By the way...if you're at NCECA and want to get me a copy that'd be great!)

I googled "Michael Simon Evolution"-the name of the book and a link popped up on the first page that was a pdf version of the cover. Going backwards on the address took me here. So if you are so inclined you can view the book online. I'm not familiar with "ibiblio"...apparently some sort of sharing site. I took a gander and you know what? I'm still gonna buy it, it's better than I thought it was going to be.

Cheers!

New Clay

2011-03-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

I made some pots this evening while waiting on the gas kiln to finish up. I have a couple of new clay bodies that I'm testing out and I mixed up about 300# of each. They're really just modifications of my current body. This one that I used tonight has an addition of fine sand on top of the grog and I must say that I really like the feel. The clay feels sandy...instead of gritty. I don't know how to describe it better than that but I like it.

Here are some yunomi, this clay was really soft and I think influenced the shape a little. These are a little shorter and fatter than I typically make them. I think they look a little more generous and inviting.

I received an order for some plates so I made a small run. This is the year for plates, I have to figure out how to get 2o something plates into the next firing, that'll be a challenge.

Deco.

That's all for now.

Cheers!

How do ya like them apples?

2011-03-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Oriental thinking, and indeed all pre-industrial thinking, knows that nature may seem hard-hearted and her laws inexorable and often cruel, yet she herself is the very raw material you are working with, and of which you yourself are necessarily a part. You therefore always have to treat her as your friend, as someone with whom you must somehow keep on good terms, or else you and your works will be no good. She is after all your mother, not an enemy to be subdued, or a slave to be violated.
-Michael Cardew

Speaking of apples, it makes one want to put down their brush entirely.

Cheers!

Etsy

2011-03-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going to spend some time over the next week getting my etsy shop back up and running. I've been happy doing etsy for the last couple years and will continute to utilize it for online sales. The main seller on my etsy is the mug/cup. Can't sell a serving bowl on there to save my life. I do move some smaller bowls, lidded dishes, plates, etc. So here is my question:
What would you like to see on etsy as a buying customer?

Cheers!

much ado about procrastination.

2011-03-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

I remember about 8 or 9 years ago turning in my last college essay and thinking to myself "boy am I glad that's the last paper I'll ever write!" Shoulda knocked on wood.

I'm writing a fairly lengthy essay on Michael Cardew and his time in Africa(at the time of writing this post I am procrastinating the writing of the essay, but that is neither here nor there.) Not for publication or my own bemusement but for credit. No, I will not share my thoughts on why Cardew all but abandoned his wife and children to pursue idealogical dreams about a pottery in West Africa(his words, or thoughts anyways.) I will not for 3 reasons.

Because I am not (insert deity here)'s gift to writing. I am constantly befuddled at the number of people who find value in my lack of wordsmithing when there are better options. Then again...I'm assuming people read my blog because of what I have to say. It's certainly not my charming personality...maybe it's the stunning photographs? I dunno...have to get back to you on that one.

I will not give you the answers. Read his autbiography and draw your own conclusions about this slightly self-absorbed-(but not?!)-man(my words.)

I feel that when you do something because you have to it doesn't always have the heart of something you do because you want to. This is a fancy way of saying that I'm not giving my all. You might say: "but Brandon, I don't want to make pots, I HAVE to make pots." It's possible that you have to make pots to be happy(as I do) but your basis of need stops there. There has never been the threat of a gun to my head or malnourishment because I wasn't making pots, there is however the ever-present threat of my grouchiness if you take my pots away. We make pots because we want to. We follow our dreams because we are encouraged to do so, or at least we were. Remember that quote from Finding Forrester: "we walk away from our dreams afraid that we may fail or worse yet, afraid we may succeed." I don't know if following your dreams fits into the current standardized one-size-fits-all public education that promotes a fear of failure, because after all you may fail at something, heaven(mecca, nirvana, etc.) forbid it may even be a learning experience.

West Africa is littered with Michael Cardew's failures. Okay maybe not "littered" but those thousands upon thousands of pots from years of disasterous firings had to go somewhere, right? When I think of MC's time in Africa I don't think of his failures, I think of his journey to the (relative)success of his pottery training center in Abuja. One success can wipe the slate clean of your failures. Apply that nugget of wisdom to whatever facet of your life needs it.

See what I did there, tied it all together? Clever.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is he talking about?

Cheers!

Off-topic...or is it?

2011-03-21T16:41:00.001-07:00

Someone shared this video on facebook today and I thought I'd share it here for those of you who don't do the facebook. This speech is in fact a poem, much more powerful as spoken word. I have a feeling he's talking about the public school teachers working in the trenches, not the candy-ass college teachers riding the gravy train( I can say that because I'm one of them, right? Also, that was a joke, no need to rip me a new one in the comment section...unless you just really want to.) Though they certainly have their impact as well.

Cheers!

Punching Platters.

2011-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a video for making a 15# platter. Enjoy.

Cheers!

Vlog.

2011-03-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

I got myself a fancy new camera so I can rejoin the world of vlogging. Fridays are the closest thing I have to uninterrupted time in the studio so it seems silly to waste such precious time with doing a video but it was fun, so enjoy the lidded dish.

Cheers!

The NC.

2011-03-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

On our way back from Baltimore we stopped in North Carolina for the night to stay with the Philbecks. I have been blogging for about 4 or 5 years now and one of the reasons I started blogging was after reading Ron's blog. It was nice to finally meet and get to spend some time together. We got on like old friends and Saybra and I had such a wonderful time we stayed a second night.

Knowing that we would be passing through NC it seemed foolish not to try and stop at a pottery or two. We only had a few hours of free time so I made a mental list of the places I would like to stop, number one on my list was Bandana Pottery. I've long admired Michael and Naomi's work and have longed to pop in for a visit. I called them in the morning to see if it was alright to stop by, when we arrived they surprised us with a couple of open chairs at their table and lunch. We had some good lunch, tea and conversation. Michael then gave us a tour of the kilns and pottery. It was wonderful to finally see many of their pots in person, and of course to bring some home.

Just down the road from Bandana is the one and only super-blogger Michael Kline. We popped in to say hello and see what was happening at the Sawdust & Dirt headquarters. It was nice to finally meet him(and 2/3 of his family) after reading his blog for so long. We visited for a bit and got a tour of the facilities and again took home some pots.

Kline is one tall mofo.

Just down the road again and after passing half a dozen other potteries we arrived at Shawn Ireland's place. He was out of town so we took the self-guided tour and...you guessed...left with some pots.

After visiting Shawn's place we went back to Shelby for dinner with Ron and Sarah. Upon leaving for dinner we noticed something a little strange. Brothers from different mothers. Great minds...

The end(s).

Cheers!

Home.

2011-03-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

We're home from Baltimore. We had a variety of electrical problems with our trailer, we'd fix one and something else would pop up. Overall though, that's nothing to complain about. We had a great show, sent a lot of pots off to good homes, made some money and met many bloggers and blog readers. We had a nice visit from Dan Finnegan and his crew from Liberty Town. We also had a nice visit with Maishe Dickman from Connecticut, Dan and Maishe had never met and we all got on pretty well with each other.

After the show we stopped in NC and stayed with Ron Philbeck and spent a day out and about but only made it to 3 potteries. I'll save that for another post though, I'm really wanting to just lounge on the couch for a bit.

Cheers!

Elevator Music.

2011-02-24T17:07:00.001-08:00

It is possible, though unproven, that I may have broken the elevator Saybra and I were riding on and gotten it stuck between floors at the Baltimore Convention Center for about a half hour. When your parents tell you not to jump up and down on elevators you should listen. Apparently you should also listen if your wife has an irrational fear of being stuck. Perhaps I'll share the whole story when we're safely out of the state of Maryland.

Cheers!

We're here.

2011-02-21T19:45:00.001-08:00

We made it to Baltimore safely, though not uneventfully but hopefully we've had our hiccup for the trip. We finished setting up for the wholesale portion today, I don't really know what I'm doing but we'll see how it goes. We built a new booth for this show, we wanted to look a little higher end than we have been. I'm very pleased, the whole new booth plus lights for the price of 3 pro panels!

Show starts tomorrow...and it's snowing. Hmmmmm...

Cheers!

ACC

2011-02-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

I have 5 free passes to the ACC retail show in Baltimore Feb. 24-27. If you will be in the area and have a serious interest in attending I'd be happy to pass one of these along to you. Email me by wednesday evening at brandon(at)supportyourlocalpotter.com

Cheers!

IX

2011-02-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

I fired off the kiln today, firing IX. This is the last firing before we head off to Baltimore. I woke up at 3:30am to get the kiln started, I teach a class at 1:30 so that left me a little wiggle room. I was firing on about 4 hours of sleep, these last few weeks have been some of the most insane of my life. I would like to drop from exhaustion but I just don't have the time. When one has to wake up in the middle of the night and go out in the cold to get the kiln going knowing that the firing is just the beginnning of the day(it's now 11pm and I'm still at the studio) it is amazing the places your mind will go. It is amazing the will power needed to fight the temptations of exhaustion.

I don't like rushed firings, I don't mean that I rush the firing along but rather that I don't like knowing that I have to be somewhere doing something else immediately after the firing. The firing and post firing are a time for contemplation and small celebration and heaven forbid maybe even a few moments of relaxation. All the same though I do enjoy the time with the kiln, especially early on when you can sit close and soak in the warmth before it begins to belch heat. I miss my nightime firings, it somehow becomes a more introspective experience when you're firing late at night.

Well anyways, enough of this blither. I am in desperate need of a shower so I shall retire so I can be back here at 7am.

Cheers!

Jugs.

2011-02-02T21:19:00.001-08:00

We're heading into our third snow day. Record cold and weather, crazy. I braved the 3" of ice that cover our roads and spent 30 minutes on the 3 mile drive to the studio. I got a lot of work done, the last of the work for a firing in a week and a half...and then off to Maryland. I'll brave it again tomorrow to spend the day at the studio. Supposedly this stuff is going to start melting away on Friday. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

From the most recent firing. I'm pleased.

Cheers

Unload.

2011-02-01T11:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was sunny and 62, it was beautiful outside. Today it is 15 degrees and windy with 6" of snow. This weather is not typical for this region, we don't have the infrastructure to deal with it so when it does snow the world stops. But, nothing stops the kiln unloading.

Saybra came with me out to the kiln and snapped a couple of photos with her phone.

This is part of the bone yard, pots that cracked or chipped and have been given pre-retirement leaned up against the wall.

Unbricking the kiln.

A very good firing.

A winner, about 15" tall.

Cheers!

Loaded Kiln!!!

2011-01-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've loaded up the kiln for firing VIII. I'm going to fire it off tomorrow, lets hope it's a good one.

Some exciting news for those of you who don't follow me on facebook: I've started work on my MFA this spring. This has been in the works for almost 2 years but it seems the stars finally aligned and I was able to get the ball rolling. I've been teaching as an adjunct for 3 years now and in order for me to be able to teach fulltime I will need to have my MFA. The logistics are a bit of a nightmare, I'm teaching and working here and making the occasional commute to school which is 3 hours away. I probably won't have too much to share about this here but I feel I owe my readers an excuse for my occasional long absences.

I got the hat so I guess I'm legit now.

Cheers!

Applicable Wisdom

2011-01-27T15:28:00.001-08:00

Here is part of a blog post that I wrote about a year ago. I had more to say but I know that I'll never get around to it. Enjoy.

In 2006 I was let go from a job and was in desperate need of more income. This happened to coincide with the middle of the housing boom and my wife had a contact with a laborer on a carpentry/framing crew so I got the boss's number and called him up to see if I could get some work. The conversation/interview was pretty interesting:
Him: You have any experience?
Me: I've only done a little bit of framing, trim is mostly what I've done.
Him:Do you know how to use a skilsaw?
Me: Yeah.
Him: Do you know how to use a tape(measure)?
Me: Yeah
Him: You sure?
Me: Yeah
Him: Monday morning at 8.

I showed up Monday at 8 ready to work with my shiny new tool belt and clean boots, in retrospect I should've rubbed some mud on them or something. Like most trade/blue collar jobs they like to beat down the new guy and this was no exception. Fortunately for me I'd heard all the practical jokes before so I didn't fall for those(grab the board stretcher out of the back of the truck.) My boss was a functioning alcoholic(like 20-30 cans a day) and a devout catholic and I started near the beginning of lent for which he had given up beer. He drove me/us pretty hard those first few weeks. The first day we were framing up walls...10' 2x6 walls and I learned quickly they had no tolerance for a guy that would only carry 2 or 3 studs at a time. 4 was acceptable but 5 or 6 was more like it. My first task was to use my square to mark all the bottom and top plates with a straight line and the appropriate marking for various types of studs and cripples on the marks that had already been laid out. So I spent a good amount of time bent over doing this. Next up was toting studs to the plates and more bending over nailing them and eventually lifting them in place. At the end of this 9 hour day I was in so much pain that I have no doubt I wouldn't have been able to sleep were it not for my sheer exhaustion. I also know that were I not in desperate need for that job I would not have returned the next day. I stuck it out and adapted, to date it has been my favorite job besides being a potter/teacher.

Along with the knowledge and experience of being a carpenter, I was the recipient of many little nuggets of wisdom from my carpentry boss, most of which are probably not blog-propriate. Some were quite profound, one of my favorite stories is as follows: We were doing a trim job in a spec house, you know, those 2000 sq. ft-ish houses that popped up like crazy the last few years? One of those. The trim work for those houses is pretty simple and straightforward: doors+casing, baseboard, closet shelves, window stools and aprons, and maybe crown molding in the living room or master bedroom. The bad thing about these dime a dozen spec houses is that the trim doesn't pay well at all, it's usually paint grade and as such can be installed by just about anyone. For a crew of 3 we had to be in and out in 2 days, 1.5 if there was no crown, if we wanted to be paid well.

I was setting up to start installing the baseboard and made the suggestion to my boss that to save time we should just miter the inside corners(as opposed to coping, google it if you're not sure what that is.) It's paint-grade, it's going to be caulked, primed and painted, no one would be able to tell the difference. He looked at me for a long second and said:"You'll know. Coping and mitering is the difference between a carpenter and a laborer. Do you want to be a carpenter or a laborer?" Enough said, and I never forgot it.

Pride in your work is of the utmost importance, without it you are just a laborer.

Good enough is never good enough.

Friday night blogging!

2011-01-21T19:51:00.001-08:00

I will preface by informing my blog reading public that my frequency of blogging may fluctuate and trickle over the next few months. I'll do my best to keep everyone informed of the goings on here but serious content will probably be lacking(if it ever existed in the first place.) My PBPRRSEC ratings(Pilcher Blog Post Relevance Rating System for the Elevation of Ceramics) is gonna tank. I'm teaching 3 courses, getting ready for ACC along with committing myself to another very time consuming activity that I'll possibly tell you about later.

I cleaned my studio this morning as it had gotten to be a bit of dump. I've just finished a work cycle that spanned a month and produced about 300 pots. My shoulder is back to near perfect shape so I busted out some platters. Three fifteen pounders and three twenty-five pounders. I haven't thrown 25 pounds of clay in a long time, like riding a bike.

Here is a stack of dinner plates with some new deco. Here is my source of inspiration, and a nifty resource to look at as well.

I've decided to include more clay and glaze stuff in my courses. We do quite a bit of glaze chemistry already, starting in second semester they do basic testing and by the time they're done with ceramics 4 they can understand and modify unity formulas. We've not done too much with clay though. On the first day of class I was discussing with my 3 & 4 students what clay they were going to use. 3 out of 4 of them said they would just use the same old stuff they'd been using since ceramics 1. That sounds like complacency and taking the easy way out, we can't have that. We're going to take all of our clays individually and make test bars and fire them in the bisque, redux, salt and wood kilns. After these results come back we'll do...something, I haven't decided yet. The end result is hopefully they will begin to understand what they want in a clay body. We're also going to test some individual glaze materials to see what they do on their own. Then maybe they can stop asking me if they f4 feldspar is the same as custer, not all feldspars are created equal.

I take my shelves up to the school to grind and wash them, I'm sure that seems weird but believe it or not it's just easier. Stack them up and drive sloooow. I also stack my bisqueware in the back of my truck to transport home.

That's all for now, cheers!

Invincible.

2011-01-09T20:26:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I was throwing some pallets over a fence and I did something to my shoulder, I wrenched it somehow, a sprain maybe. Being in the business of physical labor I'm used to injury and I tend to bounce back pretty quick. This one hurt pretty bad, I've had a hard time sleeping with it. I've had a hard time working the last couple days, haven't gotten much done really. I was supposed to fire off the wood kiln on Tuesday but I can't lift a kiln shelf or chop firewood so maybe in another week. I don't think it's anything serious but it is rare that the pain stays around this long. I've realized that I'm at a point in my life where metabolism has slowed, injuries heal slower, long days are felt the next morning. I'm at a point where I need to take better care of myself, the invincibility of youth has fallen by the wayside. Saybra and I eat well but we don't exercise enough, we work too much-too long. Unfortunately an end to that lifestyle is far off in the distance. So it is. I will get back in the studio tomorrow and make some smaller items since my clay is just starting to come out of the racks, maybe do a little glazing too.

Here was the last of my clay a few days ago, 3 5# pitchers and a 10# pitcher. The deco is evolving, I like these.

These are little slab dishes that could be used for whatever, spoon rest, soap dish, etc. I make about 12-15 at a time and I decorate them all differently. It's a way to try new things without having to worry whether or not you're ruining a nice piece. These are cut from a block of clay with notched sticks as opposed to rolling out slabs. I can cut 15 of these in about 2 minutes.

When I make large pieces I use an electric wheel in the classroom. Our heat is off or broken or something so I dusted off my brent that has been tucked away in a corner of my studio for 2 years. Still runs like a champ.

Lucy of course likes to keep me company, getting to ride to the studio is one of her favorite things.

Cheers!

The true cost of ACC.

2011-01-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

Breaking it down:

Bare bones booth fee: $2095
"Facilities Fee": $65
Required membership in the American Craft Council: $40
Bringing a cargo van or a trailer? "Let" us move that in for you: $300
What do you mean I can't use my own cordless drill? :$80
Electricity: $120
How many electricians does it take to screw in a light bulb? :$120
Wanna tighten your belt? :$45
Are you using your own legs to do that walking? :$100
No, you need to use one of our unionized ballpoint pens: $50
Is that Baltimore Union 486 air you're breathing? Hmmm...$$$
(okay, so maybe I made up those last four...)

I was fortunate enough to know all this going in so it's no surprise to me, but it still hurts a little. Oh labor unions...I will bite my tongue. We are fortunate enough in the south to not get ass raped like this at most of our facilities(pardon my bitter language.) But, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Cheers!

The grind.

2011-01-04T19:27:00.001-08:00

There's not much to report here except more of the studio grind. I've given myself a bit of a break the last week and only spent a few hours here each day. I spent time cleaning the studio and I also replaced a thermocouple on our electric kiln, it turned out that was only part of the problem and next week I'll get to replace the elements as well. I guess that will help round out my kiln maintenance experience.

Today I footed and decorated these platters, they're about 18". The base slip goes on before they're footed, it keeps the middle from sagging in the foot ring.

I like these little dishes, there were actually five but for some reason two of them got a little too stiff to trim while under the plastic. I chucked them across the studio, sometimes you just gotta throw a pot(pause for laughter.) Sometimes throwing them across a room is more therapeutic than throwing on the wheel.

Lug detail.

Cap jars.

Today's freshly thrown work.

A couple weeks ago I made these little dollies for some of my glaze/slip buckets. I store the buckets under the lowest shelf on my ware rack. I slip pots almost everyday so to drag these out everyday tends to hurt the back. I made them with scrap from the wood shop at the univ. I had 8 casters from some unfinished project long ago and put them to use. I wouldn't recommend using the casters with brakes on them but they're what I had. I bought more of the plain ones for the other dollies. My best guess is it would cost $10-15 each to build these, it sounds pricey but dollies for 5 gallon buckets are $30-40. Yikes!

Cheers!

A boy and his dog

2010-12-24T19:23:00.001-08:00

Saybra and I had our Christmas a couple nights ago, before we hit the road to go see family. She had been teasing me for a couple months telling me that she got me the best christmas present ever. She had a painting made for me that is a copy of a photograph that she took when she and I had first started dating. It was taken in my backyard while I was playing with my dog Lucy during a particularly green summer(rare.) This was when I was working as a carpenter and this was a rare day off. I had been doing a little work in the studio, you can see the clay on my shorts, and whats funny is you can see the awesome tanline on my legs from working in shorts and boots, a necessity in the Texas summer. I've had Lucy for a little over seven years, I don't know exactly how old she is but she was full grown when I got her. She was raised to be a guard dog but didn't take to it and was beaten pretty bad in an attempt to make her mean but it never worked. She was rescued and was gifted to me by a friend. She has been my constant studio companion since I first got her. She has a bed in my studio and I bring her with me whenever I can. We almost had to get rid of her a couple years ago because of her territorial issues with our other dogs but she is very important to me so I opted to micro-manage and work with her and she fits in very well now. Saybra wanted to find a way to immortalize Lucy in a painting since she's getting on in years and we're not sure how much time she has left with us. I'm particularly fond of the photograph this is based on, it was a happy day for the three of us. Best christmas present ever? That's a good possibility.

In other news the winter break from school has been no break for me. I've been potting like a mad man since school let out a couple weeks ago. I've got another firings worth of work ready to go and I am getting ready to start making some more. I've got the ACC show coming up in a couple months and the pickings are slim here so I need to bust it and get some good work done. No rest for the weary.

Here is a deco that I'm fond of.

Another 1200 pounds of clay that should be ready in a couple weeks. I usually do this outside but it's a bit too cold for that.

Happy holidays!

Cheers!

Cuttin Cheese

2010-12-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I broke the wire on the cheese cutter that I'd been using since my senior year of high school. A sad day- yes, but I'll get by. For some unknown reason I threw away the handle of the cutter, I could have just replaced the wire, dumb move. I thought it would be simple to find another, I think I paid 2-3 bucks for the first one. It's a simple tool, the bent shape of the handle holds the wire real tight. The problem with most current types is that the wire is somewhat loose and can be hard to tighten. I've looked for one every time I've been out and about, even made a couple trips to kitchen stores but no luck. I searched online today and it was fairly discouraging. Apparently this type of cheese cutter has since become a vintage item. I found one on ebay for way too much money but thought to myself: vintage, I should look on etsy and sure enough I found one for a fair price. I ordered it today. The advantage to this type vs. the newer adjustable ones is 1) the tension of the wire and 2) there is plenty of room behind the wire to make deep cuts. I used to do lots of faceting years ago but now I primarily use it for cutting out the feet on my cap jars. After I broke the cutter I attempted to make one, I used an adjustable and I even tried using a cutting wire held taught between my fingers, none worked to my satisfaction. Sherrill Mud Tools makes a similar tool which is too large for my needs on top of being grossly over-priced. This cheap little cheese cutter is just right for my needs and I haven't found anything to replace it so I'm willing to search far and wide for a proper replacement. It's amazing how dependent and attached you can become on a seemingly insignificant tool. Enough about cheese cutters, eh?

I've posted a few more pots on etsy, mostly to replace what's sold. Real gems from the last firing in my opinion. Here are a few photos.

Cheers!

Etsy Holiday Sale

2010-12-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

Plenty of pots over on the etsy page for our holiday sale. Go check them out!

Etsy Preview

2010-12-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

These pots and several more will be available Wednesday morning at 9am central on my etsy page.

Cheers!

New pots.

2010-12-05T13:44:00.001-08:00

The homesale is over for the day so I now have time to post a few photos! The firing was a good one, there was a dark area that got over-reduced but overall one of the best I've had. We unloaded at about 7am on Saturday morning, the homesale started at 10. Not the ideal way to do things but it all worked out okay. The majority of pots are still sitting in the barn but we did set up quite a few in the showroom and sold a chunk of them. Here are a few pots that I really liked, some of which have already made their way to new homes.

Oval vase. Orange slip over white slip. I did a whole bunch of slip and glaze tests during the late summer/early fall, these were a couple that I liked and did a few pots with. I enjoy the contrast between these two.

Another oval vase.

Lidded jar.

Tall pitcher. Orange slip over tile 6.

Some mugs, all tile6 slip in different parts of the kiln.

Big lidded jar.

Some serving bowls.

Soup bowls, the bowls on the left are stacked rim to rim.

Amongst the tests I did this summer/fall I was looking for a new liner glaze. I used a variation of the old 442 ash glaze for a long time but it just wasn't versatile enough and it was this terrible pond scum sort of yellow when it would get blasted with salt. I used that glaze as a base and changed things, added/subtracted things, etc. I used the salt kiln to test because it gives a very similar atmosphere to the wood kiln. I had several tests that showed promise and then used a couple in larger batches to help ultimately decide what glaze I would use. This glaze is the one that I've chosen. It's a distant relative of 442, this one has no addition of iron so it's a bit lighter. It still yellows when the salt hits it but I like this yellow quite a bit. This glaze is also a little more versatile in the kiln. It looks good at cone 8.5-9 all the way to 11 which is a common temp variation in my kiln.

I'll take photos of more pots later on. The etsy sale will go up Wednesday at 9am.

Cheers!

Firing #7.

2010-12-02T17:05:00.001-08:00

I fired off the kiln today. It fired well, no more that 1/2 cone off in any place where there were cones. The firing went off without a hitch except for the fire dept showing up...again. I appreciate good samaritans but who calls the fire dept for smoke coming out of a chimney? Weird. I met them in the driveway and a couple of them had been here before so they were on their way in just a couple minutes.

It's really important to me and I really enjoy doing all aspects of the firing myself. Gathering the wood, cutting, chopping, sorting, stacking it. Grinding shelves, loading and firing as well. The only thing that I accept help with is the unloading and even then Saybra is the only one that I'll allow. I'd considered having help this last time around and had a couple people interested but ultimately decided to do it all myself. When we woodfired in college there was a bit of a party atmosphere. We'd all hang out and have a good time and the firings would ultimately end up uneven, over-reduced or any other mess of problems because no one was really paying attention to the firing. I've had people want to come out and fire and they always seem to want to barbecue and drink beers which is fun but the firing is a time for focused and diligent attention. My kiln holds about 200 pots which is usually around 2 months work for me(and a good portion of my livelihood), I'm not going to give anything but my undivided attention and the only way I can do that is to do it alone. So be it.

Here is the back stack.

And the front stack, 185 pots altogether. Unloading Saturday morning.

My post-firing beverage. I prefer Strongobow but the only place that carries it is all the way across town.

The online portion of the home sale goes up on etsy Wednesday(12/8) morning at 9am central. There will be plenty of good pots there, assuming the firing went well(fingers crossed.)

Cheers!

Almost there.

2010-11-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

Not much to report today. The pots are all out in the barn, about 2/3 of them are wadded. 222 pots to be exact, I wonder if that's good luck? The shelves are cleaned and ready to go and I cut a bunch of new posts as well. I don't know if I need them but I do have some that are getting pretty gnarly. The kiln holds in the realm of 200 pots with a variety of sizes so it's nice to have extra to choose from. I have quite a few larger bowls so that will probably bring the count down a bit.

More pots.

I sort of fixed the gap in the kiln. It came to me the other day that I did this last year, though the gap wasn't as bad then. I didn't take any photos of the process to fix it but here is what I did last year. I did pretty much the same thing this time though I put blocks on all the corners to keep the strap from sticking on the sharp brick corners. I was able to close it to about 1/2-3/8" which is tolerable I suppose. This was as tight as I could get the strap without breaking the mechanism. I really have no idea why the kiln is walking so bad. Maybe I built it too tight? But then why would it keep expanding? Why only on the firebox side? I guess the weight of the stack buttresses the other side pretty well. I've heard lots of stories about catenary arches walking but it usually takes longer than six firings. Hmm....I think I'm going to have to think about bracing.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day consisting of chopping the remainder of the wood and stacking the kiln. Somewhere in there I have to teach a class as well.

Cheers!

Email.

2010-11-28T15:45:00.001-08:00

We're venturing into the 21at century and are attempting to keep up with email marketing. If you would like to join our email list please fill out the box to the right. We will have a couple newsletters each year as well as notices about sales and shows. Your emails will not be shared and you will have the opportunity to opt-out(but why would you want to do that?)

As incentive to join I will pull an email at random after our homesale and the winner will receive a small serving bowl from the next firing. Sounds good, eh?

Cheers!

Kiln stuff.

2010-11-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

I've finished repairing the kiln. It is good as new, or slightly used I guess. I had to replace that dinky wall on the right side, it took about 2 hours. Lots of cutting. I also repaired the bagwall. It had been knocked into the firebox and was in about 40 pieces. It took me about 45 minutes to put the puzzle back together.

Most of the door was intact about 2/3 of the way up. The top portion had to be mostly redone.

The temperature drops down pretty low in the evenings so I made a little fire pit in the shed to make working in there bearable. It actually kept it quite toasty, I was able to work comfortably in a t-shirt. That hole in the roof is where to stack from my old kiln went through. You can see the framework from my old kiln. The bolts holding the frame to the concrete are bent and I can't get them out, though in all honesty I haven't tried that hard.

My arch has been walking a bit, the gap is now large enough that I can stick my hand in it. That is no good. I'll see if I can fix that over the next couple days.

Tomorrow I'm chopping up the remainder of what I need for the firing and I will begin loading immediately afterwards. Firing soon.

Cheers!

Do work son.

2010-11-23T20:16:00.001-08:00

Not much going on with clay but I have been dealing with wood for the kiln and the kiln itself. I have been having trouble finding wood, not much construction going on here. There have been a rash of thefts amongst construction sites here so the builders that are working won't allow anyone but their contractors on the site. Bummer. I did get two trailer loads of wood(3-4 firings?) from a guy cleaning up his farm outside of town. Most of the wood in the first photo is from that. I'm trying my best to get enough wood cut and stacked for 3-4 firings which should get me through the spring.

My kiln is designed to burn relatively straight pieces of lumber, soft wood does best because the coals burn down faster and don't clog the firebox. Mesquite is probably 80% of the native wood here and is completely unsuitable for my kiln. It is a gnarly, twisted, short tree. The wood is extremely hard(and hard to cut!) and takes FOREVER to burn down. The best wood for a wood stove or fireplace, terrible for my kiln. I've been looking for sawmills, pallet factories, etc. but haven't been able to find anything suitable closer than 4 hours away. Guess I'll keep looking, I'll find a solution to this problem eventually.

Here is the cutting station. On the right is the stack of firebox length wood, still needs to be chopped into thinner pieces, the great thing about pine is that it splits super easy, makes life a little easier. Behind the sawhorses is a pile of blocks that will be split into thinner pieces for stoking under the firebox and immediately to the left of that is a pile that I call f**k-up wood. It is wood that is less than firebox length for correcting temperature imbalance that can't be corrected with just the dampers.

The mess of a wood pile that I'm slowly working my way through. I've made a dent in it and I'll just have to hunker down and get through it. Look at whose name that is on that container back there.

A friend of mine commented that the goats didn't seem to be doing their jobs. They don't leave a perfectly manicured lawn and they don't eat everything but they clear the land pretty well. Here is a picture of our fence line. That is our neighbors back yard which is what ours looked like pre-goats. I have terrible allergies like you wouldn't believe and I avoid mowing whenever possible so we let the goats take care of the back acre. Not too bad, eh?

I've been in the barn/kiln shed in the evenings cleaning it up. I never really cleaned up after demolishing the old kiln because I ran out of time and had to get firing so about 1/3 of the barn was sort of out of commission. So I've been taking care of that mess as well as the goat disaster. I'm also doing a bit of reorganizing in the barn as well for wood stacks and such. I have no photos at this time of that but I'll take some soon.

That's all I have for now.

I hope all my American readers have a pleasant thanksgiving!

Cheers!

Home sale.

2010-11-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

If you would like to be added to our mailing list you can email me with your address: brandon(at)supportyourlocalpotter.com

We will have an online sale in conjunction with the home sale so stay tuned for more info on that.

Cheers!

Lids & Knobs

2010-11-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

I spent the day in the studio footing pots and dealing with lots of lids. I've gotten a lot done so it was a day well spent. I don't have much to say so I'll share some photos.

Some lobed soup bowls. These will get the non-crackling crackle slip and an ash glaze.

Feet.

Cap jars.

Cut foot and un-cut foot. The one on the right will get an ash glaze so I've left a lip around the foot to catch the glaze. I liked the look of it without cutting it like the one of the left so I've left it.

These casseroles are a variation on some that I've made in the past. I put handles on 2 of them and I am unsure about them. These dishes have a flared shape that sort of makes the handles unnecessary anyway so I've left them off the other 2. Feel free to share your opinions.

Knob detail, I like big knobs. That probably means something different outside the states. Ever try to grab a dinky knob with an oven mitt on?

Footed casserole dishes.

Small lidded dishes.

I busted out the window stamp, I haven't used it in a couple years. Meh.

Slipped yunomi.

Cheers!

Reduce.

2010-11-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

I don't have too much to report. I just finished getting my clay out of the racks, so I have about 550# to get through. I'm having a really hard time getting motivated, I want to fire the rest of my work but it has to wait, grrrrr....

Last week I went through the studio and got all the odd pieces of bisqueware that had been sitting around for various reasons and glazed them. I had a bunch of larger bowls intended for the salt kiln but because of the warping we've been having I held them back. So I glazed about 40 pots, they'll help fill the kiln loads for my students(aren't I just a nice guy?) as well as help clean out the studio.

These were made for my amber glaze but why not shino? I like them.

The best part about this shino is it pinholes like crazy, especially over roughed up turned areas.

Ame and 442. The 442 was a tad thick I guess, that's a lot of pooling in the bottom.

This is 442 over crackle slip. I've used crackle slip here and there for the last couple years. The downside to this stuff is that it only crackles real intensely for a couple hours after you mix it. I save the leftovers and use it anyways. It still has a faint crackle on the thrown surface.

And it still crackles nicely over a roughened up surface.

Shino cap jar. This was intended for shino, I turn the whole surface so it will pinhole and get kind of gnarled up like that.

Foot detail.

Ame cap jar.

Just when you think you have your glazes under control they come back to bite you. Bummer.

Cheers!

Svend Bayer

2010-11-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Full video from Goldmark Gallery:

Part one:

Part two:

Cheers!

Today's nugget of wisdom.

2010-11-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm a subscriber to clayart and it is yet another one of the things that I waste valuable time sifting through every day. But every once in awhile you come across a nugget of truth or something that resonates. I admire the moderator's attitude(mel jacobson.) Though I don't always agree with him or much care for his pots, I do appreciate his no BS attitude. So here is a little nugget of wisdom that I wholeheartedly agree with:

"the great sin in teaching is giving too much. `i am a teacher, i have to provide a perfect product for my students`...bullshit. that is not your job, your job is to jog those adolescent minds into thinking, being creative and failure is a big option. if you take away failure, they learn nothing. it is like giving every kid the `stanley cup` just for showing up."

Not so eloquent but definitely to the point.

Cheers!

Despicable but fair.

2010-11-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Saybra and I went to a Warren Mackenzie workshop at Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana, I was thinking about doing a residency somewhere and was checking out my options so we went during the Mac workshop. The sales at his opening were conducted by lottery, which is fair. There was one piece above all that I wanted which was snagged by the person right before me, oh sweet misery. I've since lusted after this bowl, it's shown here in the archives at the red lodge website. I know this because I regularly go back and look at it. I don't know what it is, I can't quatify it but I love this bowl.

So what's the point of this? It's for sale on ebay, I knew it the moment I saw it. The lighting is off but I spent several minutes today lining up the blemishes and iron spots, it's the exact pot. Great, right? How many times do you get the opportunity to own a pot that you've spent years lusting over? Well, it's $150. I think at the opening it was around $60, at his showroom it would've sold for $15 tops. I think if I didn't know Warren and hadn't ever bought pots directly from him I wouldn't think this so bad of a price. So the question is: is it worth it? Is that small bowl worth $150? Something to think about.

Also christmas is coming up for anyone out there that may want to buy me something, just sayin ;)

Cheers!

Work, work, work.

2010-11-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm nearing the end of this work cycle, I've been working pretty hard and have produced in 3 weeks what typically takes close to 2 months. I'm going to have to start the next cycle before I fire this work which is going to be very difficult. My body seems to cycle with the work cycles, it's now prepared to ready the kiln and chop firewood but that won't be happening yet and I can foresee some protest on my bodies behalf. The human body is an amazing thing.

I'll be ordering some new kiln shelves(knock on wood) later this week so I'm hoping to get a firing out at the end of this month. I will spend the majority of the Thanksgiving break readying the kiln. So for now more shots of greenware will have to suffice.

I make a lot of mugs as most potters do. I weigh out all my clay but don't use any kind of measuring gauge except on pots that stack(plates, soup bowls, etc.) Something interesting that happens a lot is that the a lot of the time the pots all end up the same anyways. It makes sense, if you start with the same weight and are doing a certain shape the clay will only go so far, theoretically the same every time. Since I'm not strict about reproducing shapes there are many small variations.

Jugs or pitchers.

Lidded jars with a couple of leaf patterns. These patterns seem to border on kitsch, they have a naive quality to them. I think the fired quality of the pattern will be much stronger and more in keeping with what I am after, I hope anyways.

Tall jug. I did several pots with this pattern that isn't really anything. I suppose it could be some sort of flora, but what? It's probably a subconscious interpretation of weeds from my backyard.

I can only make 12 plates at a time because that's all the bats I have of that size. Someday I'll make some more.

Plate foot detail. I usually leave a little bump of clay(some call it a nipple) in the middle of my footrings. Many historical pots, particularly from the asian culture have these. I've heard a variety of reasons for it so I'm not entirely sure of it's exact origin but it's one of those things that I incorporate as a sort of tip of the hat to those past cultures that have influenced my work. I can't leave them on the bottoms of plates because if it sags in the firing the nipple can actually extend beyond the footring if the feet are wadded.

Here is an example of the nipple. Kline likes the anti-nipple, or maybe we should just call it an innie.

My ceramics 2 students are working on 18" pieces so I made a couple of demos. This was a sectional piece.

Here is the coil & throw demo piece for that class.

This is the work of one of my advanced students, I think he's on to something here. I have a couple of students who make work like mine which is okay for now but they'll have to grow out of it. I really enjoy it when students strike out on their own right away, this guy is a good example of that. His work is typical of 3rd semester quality but the concepts are strong and it will be interesting to see where it goes.

Cheers!

Flashbacks.

2010-11-01T13:09:00.001-07:00

Kline shared this on facebook, I thought I'd share it here as well. It's sad and makes me angry, but so true.

Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is a ghost or "Banshee" caught on film in a never-aired Scottish car commercial. After the car comes down the hill and then comes out from behind the second set of trees, if you look and listen closely you can see and hear the Banshee. It will appear on the hood of the car and it is sort of hard to see, but if you watch the video "full-screen" and sit up-close to the computer screen you should be able to see it. You might want to turn up the sound some too, so that you may be able to hear it wailing. It was never aired for obvious reasons (it was too disturbing!)

Cheers!

Public Humiliation

2010-10-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em.

Cheers!

Work em' hard.

2010-10-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

One of the requirements for my 3rd semester and beyond advanced students is that they have to mount a show of their work towards the end of the semester. I help them and give suggestions if they need it but they're basically on their own to secure a location, promote it and set the show. All of these students except one are 3d studio majors so my logic is this: when you're an artist out there who's just starting out and trying to make it no one comes to you. You have to promote yourself, find venues to show and sell your work, so I'm trying to give them a little taste of that. I helped them shoot photos and they found a design student to design their poster and secured a deal with a local print shop to print them. So far so good, well the title of the show could be better but I'll let that slide. The work they're doing is good so I think the show will be good too.

Cheers!

Let the pots speak.

2010-10-24T08:17:00.001-07:00

Cheers.

Updates.

2010-10-22T22:21:00.001-07:00

I have quite a bit of area to cover in this post. I've been really busy and as is the case for most potter bloggers the blog is fairly low on my priority list. My etsy sale was fairly successful, maybe I'll do it again next year. Those pots went out earlier this week.

Here are our lawn mowers, Lee and Harvey. They've gotten quite large, they're both well over a hundred pounds and lets just say you don't want to get on the wrong side of those horns. You may wonder why Lee looks so filthy, well, he seems to really love pissing on his face.

The last time I fired my wood kiln was in March, I had an extreme teaching overload in the spring and then house remodeling in May, and we don't fire it during the summer if it can be avoided. So I hadn't been out to the barn where the kiln is for a couple months. The barn is actually divided in two. The part with the kiln is completely enclosed, and although the doors don't have locks on them they are latched shut and are made of solid steel. The other part is open to the elements on one side and is where the goats had made their home. At some point in August someone went into our barn through the side door, for what reason I don't know, and left the door open. The goats in their rambunctious nature made there way in and proceeded to destroy everything in sight. The kiln itself is mostly intact, they broke about 10 of my kiln shelves and destroyed part of the front wall, part of the door and the bagwall now sits in the firebox. I discovered this horror in August and have left it as it is since then. I'm now at the point where I have to deal with it. The goats have been given a shack elsewhere on the property so that if someone makes their way into the barn again the goats won't have access. The cleaning and rebuilding will begin later this month. Here are a couple photos of the goats destruction, we'll leave it at that for now.

7 months of neglect on the wood pile and property as well. I put out a call on facebook for someone who has an interest in woodfiring to trade labor helping me clean this up for space in the kiln. So that will get taken care of soon.

Here is the salt kiln at the university that I've been using since May. I've fired it I think 6 or 7 times now. It's held up really well, we need to go in and rebuild the area where the bagwall sits. It's threatening to pull a Kyle Carpenter there. The homemade castable in the arch has held up surprisingly well. It's in better shape than anything else in the kiln.

Here is a mug with my amber glaze. It forms these crystals when it gets really blasted with salt.

These teapots are the largest I've ever made. The two bigger are made from 4 pounds of clay, I'm not sure how much they hold. Large teapots are tricky because of the spout. You want it to work with the scale of the pot but at the same time just because the teapot is bigger doesn't meant that you want more liquid to come out at once.

I was particularly pleased with this large jar. Take note of the ceramic sculpture sitting in the corner there, it was made by a faculty member long ago. I'm the third teacher besides the maker to leave it in its place. It's been sitting there for probably 20 years now.

I've been having problems with large bowls and platters warping all to hell in the salt kiln. This particular one cracked in about 2 dozen places as well. They tend to curl up on the side nearest the firebox I'm guessing due to the dramatic heat. I've lost 9 of these now, a few will make it to the seconds table at the home sale but that's not good enough.

Here are some bowls I footed today.

Some 3# and 5# lidded jars, the lids are in the background there.

Now for some more content. I've gone back to slipping my pots since I'll be going back to the wood kiln this winter. I took a hiatus because I was getting frustrated with how derivative those pots were. The slipped work is where my primary interest lies and I've made the choice to dig in and work through my own misgivings about it. I've decided to decorate every last pot in an attempt to force myself to work through the derivative nature of what I'm doing now. I have no problem if people can tell where influence comes from-in fact I want that, there is nothing wrong with working in a similar style as someone else. But to blatantly copy work with no intent to grow from it, well, that's just sad. So in true pottery fashion it will probably take a few hundred or even a few thousand pots before they are truly recognizable as mine and not some ripoff. Some credit is due to my wife for forcing me to realize that I'm expecting far too much artistic growth for my short 29 years of age.

Cheers!

Cups, cups, cups!

2010-10-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

Cup sale goes up tomorrow morning at 9am CST(10/15) and will run through next Saturday 10/23. Here's a little preview.

Cheers!

Thoughts from Michael Cardew

2010-10-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

"...there has always been a struggle between the adherents of the Just
Price and those of the Natural Price, between idealism and realism. The
doctrine of the Just Price says that a thing's price should represent the
just reward for faithful and diligent work, sufficient to maintain the
maker and his family on what is described as frugal comfort. The adherents
of the Natural Price say that prices are simply regulated by supply and
demand: a thing is worth no more, and no less, than what it will fetch.

The first, with its ethical emphasis, tends to be the view of the honest
and industrious artisan. The second is that of the businessman. A potter
who in any degree feels himself to be an artist should I think incline to
the second rather than the first. In spite of its idealism, the doctrine
of the Just Price is rather narrow and limited. Honesty, in its deepest
interpretation may indeed (as E.M. Forster suggests) 'get us to heaven';
but for the artist, there is no salvation except through his art. 'Art is
like roses: it's a rich feeder'; it cannot flourish without wealth in some
form. It may be, as the poet says, 'Above Either', yet 'the argument is
better for Affluence than Poverty'.

The arguments for the just price, say first, that potting is a way of life,
not a means to other more limited ends. The potter is working to supply
his neighbour's needs and for the love of the work itself. Being honest,
he will be industrious, and this too helps his art; the more he practices
it the better his work becomes. Therefore he aims to make as many pots as
he can, and this will keep his prices moderate. He works for people like
himself, who are mostly of the hard-working but impecunious middle classes,
at need even for the really poor. He would undermine his own integrity if
he so priced his pots that only the rich and great, whose motives are
falsified by the search for status-symbols, can afford to buy them. If
they buy his pots they will not use them, but imprison them in glass cases.
That market is soon saturated, and leads to no new inspiration. For the
true potter, inspiration springs up not in vacuo but in response to the
real needs of daily life.

The argument for the other side says that the market is ethically
impartial; its prices, governed by the mechanism of supply and demand, may
be disastrously lower or absurdly higher than the Just Price. A potter's
output is limited in quantity, and there comes a point where if he tried to
force himself to increase his output, the quality would suffer. It is true
that good pots are best made quickly; but it takes a long training before a
potter reaches this stage unless he is content to make mediocre pots. His
chief aim is not to make pots quickly but to make pots which are 'quick'
and not dead. If his work is good, the demand for it will normally tend to
exceed the supply, and its market value will then inevitably rise. It is
perhaps only in heaven that 'good design costs no more than bad.'

Faced with the choice of abandoning the Just Price or betraying the quality
of his work, he will prefer the work. If he keeps his eyes too narrowly
focused on how quickly and efficiently he can make pots he will be putting
economic and ethical values above the quality, technical and aesthetic, of
what he makes. His work is his raison d'etre and to his work he owes his
first loyalty. Though price is not his preoccupation he will not waste his
energies by pitting himself against the forces of the market, just as he
would not try to use his hands to beat a machine at its own work. Whether
his inspiration is to make humble domestic utensils or gigantic and
monumental pots (and a good potter usually wants to make both kinds), his
eyes are not fixed on what prices these things will fetch but on what in
his dedicated egoism, in the bottom of his heart, he wants to make. Rich
or poor, he is by nature free and not a slave."

I think it's those last two lines that are most important.

Cheers!

Lets get down to business.

2010-10-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last week working my brain overtime trying to figure things out for the ACC show in February. I've been making lists of potenially wholesaleable pots, doing lots of math, and overall stressing. I haven't settled on a making list yet but I need to get to work anyways. I cleaned my studio for the first time in awhile so now I have nothing left between me and the wheel.

I just did a firing in the gas kiln with mostly porcelain work. The firing went very well and I'm pleased with the whole load, the first time in years that I've been happy with a reduction firing. I also had about 30 test glazes and a few stoneware mugs. This should last me awhile, the only thing that sells slower than woodfired pots are clear glazed porcelain pots.

New brushwork pattern I've been toying with, this particular one is pretty much a direct ripoff, care to guess from who?

Bowl.

Scott Cooper inspired jar.

Ame glaze, stoneware on the left and porcelain on the right.

Grouping of pots.

That's all for now.

Cheers!

Coming Soon...

2010-10-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Every fall I run a special sale on etsy, I like to think of it as a customer appreciation sale. Last year I offered $2 shipping on everything. This year I'm having a cup sale. Mugs and yunomi all for the low price of $12 with $6 shipping in the US. A nice woodfired cup shipped to your door for under 20 bucks, not a bad deal. It will go up Friday morning at 9am CST. Mark your calendars!

Cheers!

Bow down people.

2010-10-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

I am apparently a master blogger. This is serious business. All shall love me and despair!

Online Masters Degree

http://www.mastersdegreeonline.net/top-blogs/top-pottery/

Good day to you minions.