Stepping Up My Game

I bought some inexpensive equipment this weekend to take better pictures of my pottery.  It's not perfect, but it's definitely better that what I had before. 

Better, yes?

Thanks to Amazon Prime and some advice from people who know more that I do about this kind of stuff, I've got a light box and two lamps. The box folds up into a pretty small case and the light come off their tripods easily for storage.  I don't have room in the studio to leave things set up all the time, so collapsible and easy to put away were important things for me. I don't really like the backgrounds that came with the kit, but I can work on that later.  For now, this will do just fine.  Ignore the wrinkles.  I didn't feel like ironing.

Here are some things that came out of the glaze fire last week.

I like the black background better than the white, but darker pieces show up better on the light one.

I've gone back and forth all day about whether to mention this or not...tomorrow is March 27.  Allen died a year ago. Sometimes when I need a hug, I wear his apron.  Today was one of those days. 

If that makes me weird, y'all are just going to have to deal with it.  I'm weird, and I miss my friend.

A. Lot.

My life is better because Allen Griffin was in it. Because of him, I have an amazing opportunity to continue to do something that I've come to love and that gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I get to share that with other people - the people who buy my work and the people who share my studio.  That's pretty darn cool.

I made a few things this weekend.  Only a few though.  

I also worked on glazes. I'm happy to say that I've re-hydrated all but about 2 of the glazes that Doby gave me. I need to go buy a few buckets and then, I can finish that little project. I can't wait to test out some of the colors with which I'm not familiar.  (Please note that I did not end that sentence with a preposition even though I wanted to.)

The Glazing Is Done!

Saturday's main task was to get all of this bisque ware ready to glaze. 

Then Sunday was glazing day.

And it's done!

I plan to go back Monday after work and load the kiln after Lisa and Gail have a chance to get some of their pieces done. There are things here that I need to get finished up by the end of this week.  Keep your fingers crossed that they come out OK.

Also this weekend, my old Danskos gave it up.  A sad, sad day.  I may have had those shoes for about 15 years, so I guess I got my money's worth. I'm still so disappointed when I wear out a pair of comfortable shoes.

I got this cookie jar finished up.

Lid trimmed, knob attached, and frog applied to.  I planned for the frog to go on the lid, but it ended up that there was not enough room up there for him.  I think a tutorial in sculpting frogs and turtles and things is in order.  I'm using a spring mold which is OK, but it would be cool to make a frog or turtle and have that instead of a knob on the lid.

I promised to show you what I learned from my new student on Friday.  She came in with a mug from home and asked if she could learn to do this sort of ribbon thing with the end of the handle.  My first thought was that I would need to learn to do it first before I could tell her how to do it. Here's the first attempt.  Not awful.  Not good yet, but not awful

Sara didn't know that I took her picture. Just look at that concentration!

What To Do With An Extra Day?

This week was Spring Break at Cleveland Community College.  This translates to no classes Tuesday-Friday and although I still had to work - seriously, I NEVER get finished - I decided that I could afford to take a day off for non-work related things.  Maybe I should say for other-work related things.

I referred to pottery as "work" the other day.  Someone asked me if I were going to do something last Saturday and my response was, "No. I can't. I have to work."  I'd always said that if pottery ever started feeling like work that I would quit, so I guess I need to make some adjustments in my thinking. I think my response was mostly a way to concisely explain why I couldn't do whatever thing it was that I was being asked.  It is simply quicker to say, "No.  I can't.  I have to work." than to say, "No.  I choose not to do that because I want to be at the pottery studio making things and maybe selling things."

Realistically, pottery is becoming work.  I'm beginning to re-define myself.  I still answer with "I teach math," most of the time when I'm asked what I do, but now I think about the context of the question more.  Depending on the location and situation, the answer sometimes needs to be, "I am a potter."  I remember getting really confused looks from people at Buffalo Creek Gallery when shoppers asked me what I did and I answered with, "I'm a math teacher." It took me a while to figure out why they were so surprised with that answer.  I am used to somewhat negative reactions when I mention that I teach math, but these people were in an art gallery run by artists and there I was saying, "I'm a math instructor at CCC."

I think that I mentioned this in another blog post a few years ago, that someone introduced me to another potter one time something like this: "Susan makes nice pots.  She's also a runner."  I had no idea who he was talking about.  Is there another Susan here somewhere?  Then it hit me, Ron didn't know me as a math teacher.  To this guy, I was a pottery student.  AND he said that I make nice pots.  Obviously I'm still enjoying that compliment.

Saying that pottery is becoming work doesn't necessarily mean that I dread doing it.  The word "work" doesn't need to imply stuff that you hate to do.  Seriously, if you hate your work or dread going to work every day, you need to find other work to do.  Does that mean that I am excited about everything that I need to do at the studio?  NO!  There are things that I do not enjoy but do because they need doing.  Processing glazes and reclaiming clay fit into this category.  On the whole though, pottery is still very enjoyable.  I work hard at it and hope that I always will.

I spent Wednesday in the pottery studio instead of my office.  I worked.  I was tired at the end of the day.  Here's what a potter/math teacher can do when given an extra 8 hours in the studio.  So far this week, I have completed the following:

1. Load and fire a bisque fire. (No pictures of that)  Man, I've got a lot of work to glaze now. 

2. Process 3 more of the glazes that Doby gave me last week.  I worked on EP Rutile (a yellow), Bronze Green Matte, and Nutmeg.

3. Throw 6 mugs and 2 small pitchers.

4. Put handles on 6 mugs...

...and 2 pitchers.

5. Throw 2 plates and 2 pitchers of different sizes.

6. Trim the plates (no picture of the trimming) and get handles on the pitchers.

7. Throw the parts for a good sized cookie jar.

8. Pack up the pieces that didn't sell in the Treasures of the Earth Show and Sale at the Arts Council.  I had an empty box going home!  That means things sold. Yipee! 

9. Taught another pottery lesson. That's 2 now.  Today, she taught me something.  I'll share that when I have a picture to show.

10.  Laugh at Lisa and Gail using scotch tape to make a handle to dip the rim of a bowl in glaze when there isn't enough foot to hold on to.  Who thinks of things like this?  I've learned new uses for dental floss and now tape from these 2.  Priceless!

Believe it or not, there are things that I hoped to do that I ran out of time for.  Namely that cookie jar.  I want to finish that cookie jar and lid.  Perhaps tomorrow.  Oh yeah. Then there's the glazing.  I've got to get started on glazing. 

Scary Things

It started with a phone call. Or maybe it ended with the phone call.

Jeff called me on Thursday afternoon and said these words, "I think you are just going to need to make some chalices."  Ever since summer, I've gotten requests for chalices, and another person had been in the studio earlier that day looking for chalices.  I've avoided making them so far. They scare me.  I'm intimidated by this particular piece of pottery.  They are so fragile.  I make them in 2 pieces, the stem and the cup and join them together, but it's hard (for me) get a good, strong joint and sometimes they break before they are finished.

I sucked it up and just tried.

Looks Ok, doesn't it?  There are 2.  If these survive, then I'll make a few more and see what happens.  I need to work on getting the outside curve of the bottom of the cup part to better match the inside curve of the top of the stem.  Those are the surfaces that make the joint.

Note the level.  I was as careful as I could be to get the pieces together so that the cup sits level on the stem - or the stem sits level on the cup. Whatever. 

There were two scary things this week.  The second one was the result of a phone call too.  I taught my first pottery lesson on Friday afternoon.  I was nervous. Can I explain to someone else the concept of centering and so many other things that I now do mostly by feel? Will the student have any success?  What should I charge?  What if it takes too much time away from my production?  Will bringing another person in change our studio family? 

I get asked a lot about teaching lessons, and my general response is usually about how I'd like to start teaching some lessons but don't have the time right now, etc.  Very true.  For some reason, I responded to this phone call differently.  I really don't know why, and I worried about it all week.  But it was ok.  The lesson went ok.  My new student was able to get a couple of small cylindrical shapes done.  I found myself reaching in and making slight corrections when things were about to go all wonky.  (I didn't know that would happen.)  She only has time for a couple of hours per week.  I think it will be ok.  We will take it one week at a time and just see how it goes. 

I even had time to make some other things!  Here are some bowls.  I'm still experimenting with facets and different ways to add texture to the outside of things. These bowls are all about 2 pounds. 

Last week at Carolina Clay Connection, I bought a new rib.  I'll keep playing with it.  I was checking out what happened when I used it over and over on a single piece.  I think I might like it better if I use it once for some interest on an otherwise smooth piece, but it's good to experiment, right?  

Playing with the new rib made me remember this rib that was Allen's.  (Yes, it still feels like Allen's, but he doesn't mind if I use it.)  Kind of an interesting vase, yes?  

The rest of the weekend involved some last minute clean up before the NC Main Street Conference next week.  I do not enjoy dusting and vacuuming, but I did them.  I have two things to say about that: Number one, it is no fun at all to dust shelves in my gallery.  So many things to move to dust under.  Number two, you do not want to look at the water in a Rainbow vacuum cleaner after you've vacuumed clay dust out of rugs and off baseboards and many cobwebs out of corners.

I'm all ready for visitors next week.  I sure hope that we have some. Conveniently the conference corresponds with my Spring Break at work, so I can take some extra time off to be open during the week and it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

So Frustrating

I think "Susan Jones Blue" is yet another WRONG blue.  Of course I won't know for sure until I fire a tester, but in the bucket it does not look right.  Before I try again to replace the Denim Blue that everyone at my studio likes so much, we are going to have to use up some of these other things.  The number of glazes has gotten out of hand.

I'm really tired.  I processed glazes all day today.  Well, almost all day.  It was too many hours of glaze processing I can tell you that.  I managed to work on five of the glazes that Doby gave me this weekend and then I mixed up the newest attempt to replicate the Variegated Base Blue.  This is what jeans look like after hours upon hours of glaze hell.  I used to think that glazing pottery was glaze hell.  It's not.

Up close and in person you can actually see all the splatters and splashes on the pants and shoes. I just look kind of dirty in this picture. 

The good news is that I believe that I am going to be able to get all the things that Doby brought by back in a state that they are usable again.  Some of them were completed dried out like the one below. 

That's a metal ladle that I was using to break up the glaze before I dumped water in there.  Not all of them were this dry of course, but I thought this made a nice picture. 

This is the stack of buckets after I added water to all of them yesterday afternoon.  I have now emptied 5 of those.  So that's 5 down and 14 to go maybe.  Best not to think about that.  I've done Metallic Black, White Satin, Faux Salt, Mexico Pointe Blue, and M&M Clear Red.  Man, I wish I had some M&Ms right now.  With peanuts or almonds in them maybe. 

In my quest for the "RIGHT" blue, I've added two more blues to the L-O-N-G list of blue glazes that we have in our studio.  We have Floating Blue, Falls Creek Shino Blue, Variegated Blue, Variegated Base Blue, Mexico Point Blue, Bahamas Blue, and Mediterranean Mist.  Then there Sumkynda Blue  that Allen named when he mixed together the last bit of some blue that we once had in the past and the last bit of some white that no one used anymore.  People that's 8 blue glazes not counting the new one this week.  Yesterday I was calling it Fingers Crossed Blue - today, I'm not as optimistic. 

Mexico Point Blue and Bahamas Blue are two colors that I forgot that we had.  I'm really kind of happy to see Mexico Point Blue again.  I'll need to be sure to use that one soon.  Bahamas Blue has never been one that I like much.  In fact, I don't know that I've ever used it.

A Glaze Fire, A Trip to Charlotte, and Some Canisters

We had a glaze fire this week!  I don't think it will ever get old for me to see everything that comes out of our kiln.  Here are some of the things that I had in this last bunch.

Happy egg separators! I love these.

Made some more "cake plates". They may look kind of boring, but imagine a big old yummy cake sitting on there.  Not boring anymore!  Plus they are small enough to fit inside one of those Rubbermaid cake carriers.

There are actually a lot more of these mugs.  I took this picture to show someone the color options. These are available at A Griffin Pottery Associates and I'll be dropping a few off at Buffalo Creek Gallery tomorrow too.

I started on a canister set on Thursday evening. I haven't done one of these in a long while, so I wasn't sure if I'd actually be able to make three things that "match." 

The first order of business for today was a trip to Carolina Clay Connection in Charlotte.  We needed clay, and I'm trying one more time to get the variegated base blue glaze that we want. Maybe third time is the charm?  I hunted around and found a recipe in Allen's files that might be it.  I don't know though. Mike at Carolina Clay said that he called it Susan Jones Blue in my file.  That makes me think that it is not a recipe that they've mixed up before.  If so, we will have yet another blue glaze.  The number of glazes in our studio is getting out of hand.

After unloading the car and moving 500 pounds of clay around to the places that it should be, I trimmed the lids and put on the knobs on the canisters.  I'm pretty pleased with them so far. There is definitely room for improvement, but I think these will be ok. 

 Here's a close up shot of the lid.

 What's this?

This is a whole bunch of clay and glazes that my friend Doby Wright gifted to me today.  She needed to clean out her basement studio to make room for other things in her life.  She was sweet enough to share with me.  It's been a while since Doby made any pottery, so everything is pretty dried out, but I think I'll be able to bring it back.  It will just take a while.  So that part earlier about the number of glazes getting out of hand?  Most of the glaze in these buckets is stuff we already have.  There's only a few new ones. And these are small buckets.  Surely I can find room for small buckets, right?  (I might have a problem.)

The Treasures of the Earth Pottery Show and Sale is still going on until Wednesday, Mar 15. The picture below was taken at the opening reception back in February.  Proof that I was there!  Also, in the striped sweater is my sister Carol.  She was home for a surprise visit that weekend and Dad and I talked her into going to the reception with us.  I miss Carol.  She lives far, far away and I don't get to see her enough.

Here are some pictures of my things that are still available at the Arts Council.

Is it nuts that I think that someone else's pictures are all better than mine? Perhaps it is the lack of back ground clutter and poor lighting?