what comes down must go up.

I poured the slab for the new kiln before we left for christmas. I started tearing down the kiln today, its coming apart a lot easier than I thought and with a lot more reusable bricks than I thought.



I think this bagwall is quite pretty; obviously not reusable though.

New slab. I snapped some chalklines for the layout of the kiln, Lucy is sitting right inside the firebox.

I had a nasty toothache before xmas that turned into an abscessed infection during the holiday and was very very painful. Repeated calls to my dentist were never returned, despite their claim of emergency service. I went to the oral surgeon this morning and he is going to remove the tooth next tuesday but until then I'm having to take antibiotics and hydrocodone for the pain which leaves me in a bit of a stupor. I've discovered that I only have about and hour window every 4-5 hours where I can actually work on the kiln. So it'll be a slow haul until next week. It seems this past year that someone or something is always sick or injured so hopefully this coming year will be a year of good health. Happy new year and good health to everyone!

(I'm giving this punctuation thing a try, so I apologize if I miss some now and then!)

pots.

here is what i've been working on lately.

here is a little board i've been putting together with some of the basic shapes i make. i tend to repeat shapes or ideas rather so i put this chart together not so much to dictate the shapes but to remember how much clay i use to make various size pots.


drying racks. i have a bunch of bisque pots as well but who wants to look at a photo of bisqueware?

new pitcher shape, i made a few of these in different sizes, this is the only one with fingerwipes.

new(or recycled) mug shape and handle detail.

fat yunomi and mugs.

when classes are out the studio doubles as storage/drying space. i mixed up my clay inside because i don't want it to freeze but it'll take twice as long to dry.

new(again recycled) casserole shape. these seem to take longer to assemble than the footed ones that i make but are more traditionally shaped so they may be more accepted.

handle detail, i love edges.

lately i've been working with my wheel spinning really slow so that i can get some better lines on my pieces. i've been trying to move away from so much brushwork but also coming up with different patterns. i want the pieces to have a lot of gesture on the surface which is happening but my pots also seem to be getting a bit wonky which i like but sometimes i wonder if its too much. in this photo i'm showing my wife a wonky pot and asking if its too much, she says no its good. a plus from the slooooow wheel is that my pots end up a little more stout in a good way, sometimes a fast wheel can get away from you and your pots get too thin.

i've got a lot of new ideas here and they're all open to criticism

thanks for reading and happy holidays!

not about pottery.

i rarely go off topic here but i'm excited about this. i try not to watch much television outside of a couple of sitcoms and the "this old house hour" but this is easily my favorite show, love it or hate it. i like my shows to take me for a ride, and this one will if you let it.



the music wouldn't have been my first choice but surprisingly the deeper meaning is very in tune with the show.

i like it when potter-bloggers drop tiny glimpses of what goes on in their non-pottery world from time to time, so here is one from me. thank you for enduring if you hate this show. anyways, back to pottery next time.

clay, kilns, and dogs

i've just finished up the last of the clay, so much for lasting me through winter. i had two barrels worth of scrap that i mixed up and are in the racks right now but that won't be ready for a couple weeks. i'll try to get some photos tonight of what i've been working on, the shelves are getting full.

i'm off to lowes here in a bit to get some lumber to make forms for a slab for the new kiln. i want to have the foundation done before xmas. the first firing is on the calendar for jan. 17, so i need to get moving. my friend kent is going to come out and fire with me, so that'll be fun. i've never had help firing before so that will be an interesting experience.

in some personal news, yesterday our dog kaylee was hit by a car. she bolted out the front door as i was leaving, which is bizarre behavior for her. she was heading for the park across the street and didn't look both ways before crossing and the front half of her body got nailed by a lady going about 40mph. the lady was of course at no fault but proceeded to floor it and take off when she saw me, thanks for that. she had tire tracks on her legs which made me think she got ran over, but i'm not sure about that, it all happened so fast i can't remember anything but the sound, awful awful sound. she is doing very well today, walking around and such. she's a little swollen and kind of in a stupor, she probably has a concussion, but i think she'll be ok.

so long for now.

more pots

i've posted some more pots on etsy. they will more than likely be received before xmas if purchased on/by thursday. you can see them here.

the man.

what will you be doing at 85 with silicosis? limitations are in the mind.

i've stolen this photo from Lloyd Cledwyn at llpots.com.

i've etsy'd

i've posted a bunch of pots on etsy. you can see them here.

i had a bunch of photos to post here but i believe someone has stolen my camera. hopefully i've just misplaced it, but i don't think so. it'll probably be awhile before i get some studio shots on here.

we've had several customers today, looks like the showroom is paying off.

cheers!

done

ah, the show is over, time to relax. we had a good weekend, less people than i expected but more sales than i expected. definitely worth all the effort. we still have plenty of pots and will be open every saturday until christmas from 10-6 and if you can't make it then give me a ring because one of us is sure to be around. 325-660-3142. i'm finally going to give this etsy thing a try, give me a few days.

the homestead. house on the left, showroom on the right, studio behind the carport and the kiln is in the barn back in the distance.

showroom and some texas sky.


pots.


more pots.

these are what we still have so if anyone in the blog-o-sphere has to have something drop me an email or call.

cheers.

fire, dogs and sales.

i fired the kiln on thursday, i started at about 4:30 am and it was so bone chillingly cold. the first few hours were a very miserable experience. once the kiln started to heat up and the sun came out things were better. i finished the firing at about 2pm in a t-shirt. i'm glad i hadn't yet torn down the kiln because i really needed some more pots to fill up the new showroom. the kiln fired beautifully and the pots were great.

you may notice an unfamiliar dog creeping into that picture above. we have welcomed a new dog to our family(i know, i know...we just got rid of one). this guy was dumped at the park across from our house, an all too common occurrence. we found him the night before thanksgiving and kept him until monday when the pound reopened. he and our dog kaylee got on so well that kaylee was a big bag of miserable after we took him. long story short, nobody adopted him so we did just an hour or two before he was to be put down. needless to say kaylee was ecstatic. he showed up house broken and well behaved, so we lucked out a bit. we've named him hoban, the name has some correlation with kaylee's so kudos to anyone who can figure that out.


here is a photo of a huge jar that my parents dropped off at the house. this has been sitting in my dads office for a few years but i wanted to have a look at it because i'm thinking of making some more. i did a whole bunch of these one semester in college but this one cracked so my dad kept it around for me. this is one of the smaller ones, believe it or not, but it has more facets than any others i did. the facets are done very precisely with a sureform, a very tedious process but the results i think speak for themselves.


here is a small peak of our showroom...ceiling.


new pots. good feet.


day one of our sale was good, i think tomorrow will be good as well. i'll get some shots tomorrow and post them here.
cheers.