A New Line?

This bowl came out of the last kiln load and as we unloaded I heard Alex behind me saying, "Oh, HELL yes!" I'm seeing this as a whole new line of work. I have never wanted to be too matchy, but I really love this look. I know in order to be more marketable as a functional potter, we need to have some standard lines and this on I think I can live with for a while. What do you think?

Big Changes

Last night, the dragonfly dishes came out of the glaze firing. We are very pleased with the results! The matte brown glaze spread a little and turned purple and blue. The result is a much more organic look and feel which is what we were hoping for.

The rest of the pieces in the firing were all worth getting weak kneed over, too! More photos of it all to come!

Dragonfly Dishes

We were up late with a marathon glazing session last night. We had a big dinnerware order to complete with no real instructions for decoration. It was one of those well-you-know-what-I-like jobs.

So, after staring at the pasta bowls and plates for what seemed like an eternity, this is what we came up with!

It felt right when it was all done, so I am sure the recipient will be pleased. The colors will be jade green and matte brown that has cobalt and eggplant accents like this piece below. The kiln is firing now and it is going to be hard to be patient for the results.

Progress!

Today, while Alex was out of the house, I used the power tools! I broke out the circular saw, the jig saw, and the chain saw! When he got home, the floor of the treehouse was done.

The tree comes up through the floor in two places.

Here you can see the triangular shape of the floor from the top side.

Now that we are up in the tree, I can see loads of patterns on the bark. I hear the little guy who makes these holes every morning. I never manage to catch sight of him, but at our bird feeder we get downy woodpeckers, yellow bellied sapsuckers, and red headed woodpeckers so I'm assuming they are all pecking away out here.

How Potters Procrastinate

There is so much to do right now to get ready for summer shows, but instead of sitting at the wheel, we have been climbing up and down trees. Yes, after a short conversation on a Sunday morning and a trip to the lumber yard, we are building a tree house!

We are building in a mature apple tree. We started to build a series of small platforms, but we decided instead to build a large, triangular platform with the point in the enter of the tree and two stilt legs about 10 feet out in the yard.

We spend a lot of time figuring out angles and discussing the next step. Gran'daddy has been a big help and I suspect he's having a lot of fun.

We've got three planks of decking up so the boys have to try it out. They said they'll come back up when we have the walls up!

A Few Things from a Hot Kiln

Jade pitcher - small and sweet but perfectly balanced.

One of a series of studies for making wine glasses thrown in one piece.

Crock? Vase? Utensil caddy?

Rounded mug with perfect form and gorgeous glazing!

I am still in the process of unloading and photographing this load. Yesterday I shot 150 photos and it was only a small portion of what came out of this last kiln load. We re throwing like mad to get ready for summer shows, so more is coming along quickly!

My Favorite Glazing Tools

Every potter has their own way of doing things. I am no exception. These are my favorite tools for glaze mixing, minus the bucket. Well, and the scale. They include my Hanson Mixer, a cordless drill, shelving supports from a Closetmaid kit, a large sieve, and a bunch of cheap bristle brushes I have epoxied together.


This is how I set it up. I have a collection of old, oak school chairs that I use around the studio as bucket perches. I place my bucket on them, then shelf supports, my sieve and my brushy thing I made.

I use the shelf supports for a couple of reasons. They are triangular and coated metal, so the glaze just slides off of them and into a bucket and they are easy to wash. Since they are V shaped and upside down, I can use a knife to cut a couple of shallow notches in the rim of my bucket and everything is locked in place.

My test batch glaze set up is similar and shows off my brushy thing in action, sort of. Notice, my test sieve fits into the lid of a plastic container that we cut. Our test batches of glaze all go into these containers, so the sieve and altered lid can fit on any test container.

I use the brush when I am sieving because it makes quicker work. I have tried scrapers and stirrers and more, but the bristle brushes all epoxied together just scrub the glaze through the screen much faster.

Of course, the most important tool for mixing glazes is an accurate scale. I have mine thanks to Jorgensen Studio. When I was shopping for a scale, she had an extra one and sent it to me. She said it had been given to her by another potter and she wanted to pay it forward. I am so grateful! She makes amazing things, so please check her out if you are looking for amazing jewelry or one of a kind pottery.