I'm out of clay. Bummer.

I used my last bit of clay today. The racks are all full and the studio is a mess. Unfortunately these pots are going to have to be patient a little while longer. My kiln is not yet finished so these will have to stay put for awhile. One good point about being out of clay is that it will force me to get my kiln finished so I can get all pots fired and start on my next making cycle.

I discovered a wonderful interview with Warren Mackenzie the other day. If you ever have a free hour it is well worth the listen. Warren Mackenzie is considered to be the father of American studio pottery and possibly the biggest influence on my life and work.

In case you have ever wondered how many pots 1200 pounds of clay will get you, the answer is this many:

eh.

i had a breakthrough this week. i've been struggling with pitchers lately. i used to love them and be really good at them, but the last couple years they have just look forced and awkward. i have now developed a new shape that is much more to my liking and suitable with my glazing style. this may seem like a small deal to most folk but any potter knows what i'm talking about. this opens the door to a whole new set of ideas and a whole new energy and motivation.

yesterday i sold about 500 of my insulating bricks to a potter up the road named Eddie Krieger. this has afforded me the opportunity to finish my kiln, hopefully. i really want to fire sometime in the early fall.

query

look below at the photographs. they are the same photo. the one on the left is the original. the one on the right has had the color adjusted. my question is this: why are my photos turning blue? the background is gradated white to black, there is no blue in it. i've heard the theory of natural light casting complementary colors....but then my green pots would have a red cast. not so. i shoot in natural light which could be the problem, but i need to find a solution because i can't afford a tungsten setup. what the heck?

brandon@supportyourlocalpotter.com

New Photos

These are some photos of some pots that have been around for awhile, but I felt the need to document them. I haven't been shooting photos of my work for the last three years and there have been many fine pieces that I've sold that never got documented. My girlfriend helped me because I am for the most part photo-illiterate. Good thing I am dating a photographer.

I

All of these pots are for sale if you're interested. brandon@supportyourlocalpotter.com

pots and kiln update

its been a few weeks, but i finally got back in the studio and made some more pots. i said i wasn't gonna do any production, but i just got the itch, i couldn't help it.

these bottles are a new thing. when they're leatherhard i squish them between two boards. the one on the right has a rope texture impressed into it. mmmmm......moonshine.

this is an old favorite, but continually challenging. its really hard to do this fluting on a surface that curves two ways and then keep the lines straight.

this is what is left of the rubble when my kiln crashed......twice. yep thats right. i collapsed it twice. enough said.

here she is in her current state. i still have to put up a chimney, insulate the exterior of the arch, do some more steel work, and build in the door. so i guess you could say this is about halfway done.

for all my fellow kiln firers(is that a word?) you'll notice that i've put in a hinged door. i told myself after my last kiln that i would never brick up doors again. it takes forever and it can be hard on your back. the top of this kiln is well above head height so there is no way i'm bricking and unbricking that every time i fire.

the hinge is my own design(though i'm sure its been used somewhere.) all i have is a welder and an angle grinder, so i couldn't do complex cuts or bend anything. so this is the solution i came up with. the male piece is just a short piece of 3/4" rod welded to angle iron welded to the frame. the female part is just a piece of angle iron with a hole in it. three of these along the frame hold it up, and it swings quite nicely. the biggest problem will be bracing it for the weight once i brick it up. haven't figured that one out yet. its funny how much more complicated things can become when you try to simplify things. if i would just get over it and brick up the door i wouldn't need all this fancy steelwork. but i love a good challenge. thats probably why i'm really doing it anyways.

kiln and pots

these are some pots that i have been working on. i have ceased doing production ware for awhile so that i can concentrate on a bunch of new ideas and hopefully make some good work to get me into grad school.

this is thrown and then paddled to give it some sharp corners. its not finished and i'm not sure where its going, but i like it.

this is my barn. even though i live next to a cult, i always love the view when walking to my barn. i feel really blessed to live here.

pile o' bricks. these are fun to move. not.

this is the base of my kiln. on the left is the firebox, you can make out the stoke hole just below the pole, and the ash cleanout on the bottom. the stacking area will be on the left right in front of the flu channels. the arch will be about 4 feet tall above the stacking area. i was hoping to get the arch up today but discovered that metal barns are really hot during the day. i'm going to have to cut some windows for cross-ventilation when firing so i don't die from heat stroke.

closeup of the firebox(left) and stacking area.

front of the firebox. you can see the holes for air and for the hobs.

new ideas and a new kiln

this is a corner of my barn. this is where i am going to build my new kiln. after i level the very unlevel floor.




these plates are a series that i've been toying with from time to time. i started them when i was in college, but they were never very successful, cracking and whatnot. generally pretty ugly. i was trying to be don reitz, so they weren't very original. there is still a heavy influence in these but i think that i've successfully made them my own.

these plates are pretty stout, i start with about 40lbs of clay and lay it out into a real thick platter. the distortions on the rims are done before laying out the rim all the way. these ones run between 22-24". all the "decoration" is done while it is still wet on the wheel. i wipe and rib away any throwing rings and then lay down a sifted layer of kaolin and sometimes some wood ash accents. i always push in some little pieces of dried clay. thats kind of my signature.

i really enjoy making these from time to time, it lets me do something a little more expressive and risky with a medium that i'm comfortable in. it pushes my limits physically, 40 lbs of clay is no small feat to work with. it also pushes me creatively to find a solution to decorate this large open surface using only raw materials, there is no glaze on these pieces. i rely purely on the texture and kaolin dusting mixed with the salt and ash in the kiln atmosphere to give it the appropriate surface.