teapots

Today was a teapot day. I assembled a few that I threw yesterday and shot a little video of assembling one. I also broke 2 teapots today while cleaning them for bisquing. I was scraping out excess slip and whacked the spout on one and dropped the lid on another. What a day.

Here are a couple videos of teapot stuff. The first is making the lid and spout and the second is assembling the piece. Enjoy.

stayin alive.

I've just been awarded the Kreativ Blogger award...twice! Thank you Potterchik(?) and Joy. It's nice to know people out there enjoy my blither...let alone read it. I really wish I had a broader blog-reading interest than just pottery but I'm kind of lame like that.

My five choices:
Ron Philbeck-Ron's blog was the first that I ever came across, back when he posted it on his website, pre-blogger. My inspiration to become a blogger.
Joe Bennion-My second inspiration to be a blogger. Joe makes wonderful pots and I love how his work intertwines with his home and family.
Scott Cooper-Scott strikes me as a thoughtfully meticulous person and his blog portrays that. His posts are clearly thought out(perhaps even drafted?), often times border on being philosophical and are always enjoyable to read.
Joy Tanner-Joy strikes me as a very down to earth person and always has striking images in her posts. Clearly a joyful(haha) person and always a pleasant read.
Joe & Christy Cole-I must say I'm not terribly familiar with Joe and Christy but I do feel a certain kinship. Maybe because we're both struggling, roughing-it woodfirers.


I finished building pedestals today, woo hoo! Now it's on to shelving...
I have a firing scheduled for May 1st and I don't have near enough pots. There are going to be several long nights these next couple weeks. I've been spending way more time in the woodshop than the studio lately but I think if I can split it evenly I can get the pots done. This is the first time in my life that I've had a large surplus of pots. I don't necessarily have to fire but I really want to have the best pots and the most options for my show in may. My current struggle is with what to make. I keep a making list but it's more than filled so now I sort of have potter's block. I want to try some new things but the creative juices just aren't flowing. Eh. It'll all work itself out.

So long for now.

look, i have been doing stuff.

I finally got around to making some pots today! I'm sloooooowly plugging away towards the next firing on May 1st. After these pots in the photo are finished I'll be about 1/4 of the way there. I"ll have quite a few student pieces in that firing so I won't have to fill the whole thing up myself.

The way I've been potting and firing so far this year some folks might get the impression that my pots are flying off the shelves. The truth is they're just stacking up in the showroom, that's probably part of the reason I haven't had much motivation to get in the studio these last 2 weeks. I'm pretty much taking the month of May off for some much needed vacation. Vacation for me will consist of gardening, landscaping, house repairs and a week in Kansas helping my older brother do some work on his house. Then in June I'll be teaching a summer course(how do you cram a semester's worth of ceramics into 4 weeks?!!) and get back to the potting. My current stock after the may firing should carry me through the summer so I probably won't fire again until late July-unless of course sales take off!


Todays work. Not much, but it's a start.


20# vase. This is a bad photo to judge scale but if I were to stick my arm inside the spot where the shoulder meets the neck is at my elbow. It's the largest one-piece pot I've thrown in a long time.


This is where a chuck of my free time has been going. I am having to build about 30 pedestals for my show in may. The gallery we're showing at has never had an all 3-d work show so they only have a handful of pedestals. There was an issue for awhile about the pedestals because I felt that I shouldn't have to pay for them, painters don't have to purchase and build the walls, right? Luckily the gallery was able to secure funding so I didn't have to pay for them but I do have to build them which isn't so bad. As soon as these are out of here I have to fabricate a fair amount of wall shelving that I will have to pay for, but that is totally reasonable because it's custom for the show. I really wanted to do floating shelves like these(watch the slideshow), but the expense and amount of labor was too much.

Anyways, no classes tomorrow so I'm looking forward to getting some work done.

Cheers!

pots!

I woke up this morning all gung-ho to get potting. That momentum was very short lived but I did manage to get a few pieces made.

This is the bigger jar from my previous post that wasn't finished. It's under plastic because I haven't decided on slip or glaze. The unevenly spaced ridges(self-criticism) would suggest a glaze but this piece would have to go in the top of the kiln which we all learned last time doesn't fire off my ash glaze so well. Conundrum.

This is my production for the day.

I liked this guy.


This is the piece I chose for my show poster. It's one of my favorites from recent firings.

And the other side.

Cheers!

(insert girly shriek of joy here)

Dolan tools are back! Woo hoo! In case you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of Dolan tools. Bailey has them and so does Continental Clay, I haven't checked anywhere else. Time to hit the trash can kemper.

big pots

I made a few big pots as demos for my students today. I've been meaning to make some bigger pieces for awhile now so this was a good excuse. These aren't big in a Mark Hewitt sort of way but as a functional potter these are stretching the boundaries of what can actually be used.

The guy on the far rightwas made in two sections and is just over 18" with lid. 2nd from right was made with a modified coil and throw method and has a lid to be trimmed tomorrow and the far left has one more coil & throw section to go-it will be lidded as well. I love big lidded jars, I just think they are so cool.

This is a poster that will be circulating at NCECA. EEEK! I'll write some more about this show later.

So long for now.

what am i doing to myself?

I'm sitting here in my office at the school enjoying a couple of burritos for brekafast. The advantage to living in Texas is that there is a mom&pop mexican or bbq place just around every corner. La Popular is a personal favorite, cheap and tasty!

I've been in a bit of a funk since we came back from Houston. Normally after a good show I'm pretty pumped up to get into the studio and get making for the next firing. This time I can't muster the energy to do anything. My wife pointed out to me a couple weeks ago that I haven't taken a day off since I had oral sugery back in january. So I suppose I could be a little burned out. I tend to over-committ myself and push myself a little too hard-which isn't always a bad thing but I suppose it is when it's non-stop. I've lessened the show schedule for this spring, we've dropped both the Denton Art & Jazz Festival and the Lubbock Arts Festival, but I still seem to be working overtime all the time. I have a gallery show that opens the first week in May that will require about a 100 pieces, which normally wouldn't be a problem. The show is a dual show with my friend Kent and we've invited several potters who have influenced our work to show with us. So now I'm stressing because of course I never feel that the work is good enough to show with some of these other folks and I've committed myself to another firing at the end of the month in hopes of getting some better work. Am I being sillly? Of course I am. I need to make myself vacate from the potting from time to time and the chill the heck out.
Sorry you had to listen to all that.

Today we're starting big(20"+) pots in my advanced class. Nothing but dainty girls in that class so it should prove to be interesting.

Cheers!