Owning it.

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

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.

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.

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!

Cheers!

Firewood!

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

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!