In December of 2002, I attended a week-long seminar titled Contemporary Potters of Western North Carolina at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (or NCCAT). I had an absolute blast. It was there under the tutelage of George Rector and Joan Byrd that I tried wheel throwing the first time. Oh my! It was so awful. Awful and definitely something that I wanted to try again some day.
Fourteen years after that week at NCCAT, here I am. I own a pottery studio and I am contemplating retirement from teaching and my next career as a full time pauper - I mean potter. 😉 While I still have a few years yet to go before I can retire, it is fun to start thinking about what's next.
So what happened at the studio this week?
On Saturdays when I know its going to be a long day, I go home after my workout so I can get a shower. Yesterday was one of those days. On the way back, I stopped at Bojangles to get some breakfast. When the cashier handed me the coffee, I spilled it all over myself. Oh well. Then when I took the cup out of the cup holder, the cup holder was full of coffee! What? Guess they gave me a defective cup or something. Getting in the rest of the bag, there were 7 creamers, some butter, and a straw. So I've got a lot of cream and a coffee cup that I had to leave outside on the sidewalk. I've got butter and no idea why. It sure wasn't to go on the seasoned fries or cajun filet biscuit. I suppose the straw was for stirring cream into coffee. Once I ate my fries, I forgave them everything though. The fries were really good. I'm a fan of a good french fry.
Yes...pots.
I've been trying to figure out how to make soup bowls with cracker rims like Allen used to make. The last one of his sold back in the spring, so I've been working from memory. I finally had a successful attempt this week. I have a customer who asked me to try to make something to replace some bowls that she ordered online somewhere. She was really disappointed with the size of the soup bowl in the ones that she bought. I got this request back in August or early September. It has taken me this long to get it right. I hope that in a few weeks, I can call her to tell her that I have something for her to come look at. If they all come out, there will be 8 of them.
Here are some mugs that came out of the glaze fire last week. I am pleased with all of them.
My friend Heather has dubbed the cups below "wine mugs." I have a few that are different colors with a different design on them and I'll be making more in the future. They are kind of fun to make (a big plus for me) once I got over being afraid of doing the design on them. They will work for any drink hot or cold although I do personally like them for wine. Finish the drink and the cup goes in the dishwasher. Did you get that? DISHWASHER. No hand washing a delicate glass.
One last thing....if you ever wondered about some of the alternative uses of dental floss, we've got one for you right here. Glaze an ornament in one dip without leaving finger marks. Leave it to my associates for coming up with a creative way to do what they want to do.
Christmas is two weeks away and things are about to get busy. If I don't remember to say it when I see you next, Merry Christmas! A Griffin Pottery Associates will be open our regular strange hours this week. Jeff is going to be a little late getting there on Tuesday, but will be there until 4pm. On Thursday he or I will be there roughly 12 to 6pm. On Friday, I'll be there 1:30 until 5pm and on Saturday I'll be there (possibly covered in coffee) 10 am to about 4 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment