Thursday, November 27, 2008

gobble gobble.

happy turkey day or tofurkey day if thats your thing. we're grilling chicken, i've never liked turkey.

so long.

Friday, November 21, 2008

pictures of stuff.


freshly slipped yunomi and mugs.


baking dishes, they were too wet to slip today.


baking dish handle detail.


teapot handle. when i was in college i had an excellent drawing teacher who went on and on about the quality of lines and how lines make the drawing and so on. i've always kept those ideas in mind when it comes to gesture lines and where things are attached. not only does it create a bit of a visual interruption(in a good way i think) but it also gives a nice place for slips and glazes to break and accentuate the attachment. they're also a nice compliment to the way i thumb over the bottom edges, similar edges.


jury's out on this guy. this was a demo piece for my students. there final assignment was to make a piece that is assembled from two or more pieces, thrown or handbuilt or both(teapots, pedestal bowls, drastically shaped vases, etc.). i demonstrated a two part vase with a coiled and thrown rim. not sure if i like it, but thats why slip barrels exist, yeah?


this is my booth shot, i wanted to show my buddy kent the panels in the back. they are hollow core doors from lowes or home depot. there are three of them. two 36" doors hinged together and a 32" door at 90 degrees going back to brace them up. there are some custom brackets to hold the corners together that i'll have to get a photo of later. 1/4 the price of propanels.


finished exterior!


hurricane ike? unfortunately no, i'm a messy builder. looks like a project for monday, or maybe for some students that need some extra credit? hmmmm.....

Thursday, November 20, 2008

date change

we've decided to change the date of our fall sale to december 6 & 7(can it still be called a fall sale in december?) good thing they hadn't printed the postcards yet! i feel like i am neglecting my students trying to rush and get everything done by thanksgiving so i'll give myself another week so i can give them my full attention since that's the way it should be.

on other exciting news i actually made some pots yesterday! i had a few hours in the afternoon so i made several boards of pots that i now have to find time to finish. moving the sale will be nice because i'll have a new firing out before the sale. i've also invited my students to put some pieces in if they would like, i think it would be fun for them since we didn't get to do raku this semester and its always good to let the ceramics 1 students play with some fire. that will also help me fill the kiln, that will be a bit of a struggle on my own with this little time.

as far as 12' drywall goes the trick is balance and leverage. it only took 8 sheets to cover the walls in my showroom(we'll do the ceiling later), and i wanted to avoid as many joints as possible. i backed my truck right up to the front of the showroom with the sheetrock in the bed and made the cuts that were needed right there in the truck and then i only had to carry them 10-15 feet. its best to work from the top down so i tacked a 2x4 across the studs at 48" down from the top to create a ledge and then when i brought the sheet in all i had to do was get it on the ledge and everything was gravy from there.

kyle- i teach at hardin-simmons university in abilene, tx. its a small private(baptist) school but fairly liberal for a religious institution. i am only an adjunct but since i'm the only one teaching ceramics here i get more perks and responsibility than the average adjunct but still they won't pay for me to go to nceca but if i can swing it i'd love to go. i haven't been since it was in kansas city(2001?).

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

crunch time.

i've finished the exterior of the showroom, my computer is not recognizing my camera so i can't upload the pictures but i'll get them up as soon as a i get a chance. i put up all the sheetrock last night...alone, my back is a wee bit sore(12 foot sheets)! my clay is out of the racks and ready to be made into pots as soon as i finish getting the students glazes ready, i'm way behind getting them glazing as i have way over-extended myself this fall. i plan to mix all(or at least most) of the clay for next semesters classes over the christmas break. i'll have at least twice as many students and several art shows...there i go again with the over-extending. fall sale in less than two weeks, firing in less than three weeks, multiple student firings over the next couple weeks, out of town this weekend for a workshop at my buddy kent's place, welcome to stressville.

Friday, November 14, 2008

fall sale

today has been very windy, while up on the roof shingling the wind blew my ladder over and i had to jump off the roof, ouch. my feet and legs can't take that kind of business like they used to. so i'm taking a little break to tell everyone about our fall sale. we'll be showing my pots and some of saybra's photography in our (fingers crossed) newly finished showroom the weekend of thanksgiving. i'll have a firing the following week and we'll be open that following weekend as well. if anyone would like to be added to our mailing list drop me an email(brandon@supportyourlocalpotter.com) with either your physical address, email or both. we'll be sending out this fancy postcard in about a week. back to roofing, so long.

Monday, November 10, 2008

no pots yet.

my clay is not ready yet, so....another showroom post. i've painted the siding a light green. the trim and eaves will get a cream white and the door will be red. i might get that finished tomorrow. the deck won't be finished in time for the home sale, so i've cut in a set of temporary stairs-with no steps yet, maybe i'll do that tomorrow too....or wednesday. hopefully i'll get it shingled and sheetrocked this weekend, its good to be on the home stretch-i wanna make some pots.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

update

i mixed up about 1500 pounds of clay today, it filled all the racks i have(and space). as soon as this batch is out i'll do another 1500 or so. its going to start getting cold soon, cold for texas anyways, so i want to have enough clay mixed to see me through the winter. i have an ambitious show schedule for the spring, 7 shows in 4 months, so i'd like to have a lot of work ready. i think i'm going to build some sort of damp box to hold all the clay, i really get tired of having barrels everywhere. i have an old fridge at home that i've been saving for awhile to store clay in but i don't really want to cart it up to the university and i don't know that they'd appreciate it.

the showroom is coming along slowly, too slow for me anyways. i'd post a picture but it kinda looks the same as the last one. i've done some work on the porch ceiling, finished the exterior trim and done lots of caulking to get ready for paint. i want to shingle and paint this weekend but we'll see if that happens. after that all thats left is the interior. i'm thinking of sheetrocking the walls and leaving the ceiling exposed, it would certainly be a little cheaper and easier, and kind of quaint.

i made my first pot in over a month the other day(other than demos) and it felt good to have my hands in clay again. i'm going to try to do a firing the day before thanksgiving, emphasis on try. we'll see if that pans out.

off to teach my night class(and by off i mean two steps out of the office and into the classroom), vases and bottles and pitchers, oh my!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

i've performed my patriotic duties, i hope you have as well.

Monday, November 3, 2008

messy progress

i didn't get as much done as i would have liked this weekend, but i've made satisfactory progress nonetheless. i was hoping to get the door installed today but that may fall through so i may have to find another one. i finished everything i said i would except for the siding on the front(need to put the door in first), and i'm missing a little piece of roofing felt on the peak because i wasn't sure how to to fold/cut it there so i'll get that done sometime this week. its getting messy out there so i think i'll do some cleaning before i head off to teach tomorrow. you can see that much of the fascia board is pretty dirty, using scavenged building materials is a lot like using secondhand kiln bricks, it may be free but there's going to be some elbow grease going into cleaning that before it can be painted( at least its pre-primed!)

so long for now!