A compliment

I went to Ron Philbeck's kiln opening and fall sale yesterday.  Ron's got a new soda kiln that he built this summer.  Some VERY nice pieces came out of this firing.  I wanted several of them.  He's getting back to what I think of as "Ron Philbeck pots."  My dad has a lidded bowl with a blue bird as the handle on the lid that I have always loved.  I was happy to see some birds making a comeback in Ron's latest work.  

I don't think he realizes it but he paid me a very big compliment.  As he introduced me to another of his potter friends, he said, "Susan makes nice pots," and then went on to say that I am a math teacher at the community college.  Stop right there and let me take that in.  I was just described as a maker of nice pots and then as a teacher.  In my mind it's always been teacher first and then pottery was what I did to entertain myself in my spare time.  Interesting.  And cool.  There just might be a life for me after the teaching is done.  And also very cool that Ron thinks that I make nice pots.  

Inspired, I went back to the studio and made some baking dishes and mugs.  I made the canisters and  4 other mugs on Thursday and Friday.  So 3 canisters, 3 bakers, 1 random other lidded jar, and 9 mugs is the total for this week.  No wonder I need a nap.  

More Bowls

I managed to get 4 good sized bowls this week.  I threw them Thursday afternoon and trimmed them today (Friday).  The trimming went as expected but I really struggled with throwing them.  More than one had to be smashed, re-wedged, and re-thrown.  The clay tried to whip me, but I won.  That really is an indicator of how far I've come.  Even though it didn't go well at first and I had to start over, I still managed to get four pieces made.  It hasn't been all that long ago that I had to work up 6 or 7 balls of clay if I wanted to make 4 mugs.

August Glaze Fire

Here are some of my pieces from the last glaze fire.  

One of the big bowls...you remember, "I like big bowls and I cannot lie..."  The second one didn't make it in this fire.  

Check out the glaze on this one!  Yes, I did that on purpose.  There's a clear glaze that goes on first.  When it is fired, it crackles.  Then I put the red glaze on and fired it again.  It really shows off the crackle.  Fun.  

This bowl was an experiment.  I put a band of white slip on the outside and textured it.  Then I didn't know what to do about glazing it.  I finally gave up trying to be too creative and just did something.  It's alright but I'm not sure it was worth the extra effort.  

Here are 2 of the 3 goblets that I made a few weeks back. The third one was killed before it was ever bisque fired.  They are very fragile before they are fired and the cup came apart from the stem and fell on the floor when I was sanding them.  I think I'd do this again since it was fun and I now know just how scary it is to sand the pieces when they are green.  I need to know if anyone would actually purchase cups like this.

And a few mugs.  Making mugs for the Copper Rock (coffee shop in Shelby) has been fun.  One reason is that I don't feel like I need to make matching sets.  Now when I start to make mugs that are not for Copper Rock, I'm having trouble making them match.  I think I just need to focus on what I am doing a little bit more.

My favorites...the canisters.  I'm very pleased with these.

Buffalo Creekiness

I'm all moved in at the gallery now.  My display (at least for the time being) is on shelves near the door.  I'm really happy with how it looks.  It helps to be in a nice space surrounded by other really nice things.  I have always LOVED this gallery. It seems kind of unreal to actually have my work there. 

Jeff, Mom, and I did our day of training last Saturday.  This was also the day of the 7th Inning Stretch Festival in Uptown Shelby, so there were lots of people around.  In fact, there were so many people still around, that we stayed open an extra two and a half hours.  It was really fun and I think that we will be OK when it is our turn to work the gallery.  

Big News

I have joined Buffalo Creek Gallery!!!  

This is big news in my world and I am very excited.  I must give credit where it is due here, so there's a list of people that I must thank.  Get comfortable...

Thank you, Allen Griffin, for everything.  (The list of specifics is so long, I'll save it for another post.)

Thank you, Katie Earl, for asking me if I was interested in joining and for answering all my questions even while you were on vacation with your family.

Thank you, Jeff Jones, for being willing to work my days in the gallery.  I believe the exact words were, "That sounds like exactly the kind of thing a retired man can do."  

Thank you, Ron Philbeck, for teaching that awesome pottery class last spring.  I learned a lot about making pots, made some new friends (including you and Katie), and learned that stepping outside my comfort zone is a good thing.  Thank you also for cheerfully providing a reference to include in my application for membership in the gallery.

Thank you, Martha Moore, for providing a reference for me and for being excited that I was applying.

Just so you guys realize how cool Ron and Martha are, let me explain about the references.  I realized on Monday that I was required to provide references with my application for membership and that I really needed them at the gallery by Tuesday night.  Ron and Martha didn't hesitate and I hope that they both know how much that means to me.

I'm going over there later this week to take a look at the space that will be given to me so that I can figure out what pottery I need to take for my display.  In the near future Jeff and I will get trained in how to work the gallery.  I will share pictures when I have them.

Canisters, a Platter, and Big Bowls

First they were lumps of clay... 

Then they were cylinders and bowls...

And finally, three days later, a set of canisters.  

I also made a big platter.  Later I attached this rim to a slab for the bottom.  

I needed a big bowl last weekend and didn't have one, so I made 3 of these this week.  Maybe they will turn out nice and maybe I'll even keep one.  Inside my head, I've been hearing Sir Mix-A-Lot, "I like big bowls and I cannot lie, You other brothers can't deny..."  And yes, I am ashamed.  Very ashamed.  

Summer Gets Shorter Every Year

It's been a while since I last logged in here...two months goes by in the blink of an eye.  Here I am with only one week left before I return to work on July 14.  As usual, I've been gone a lot.  I took a trip to Pennsylvania to see my sister, a trip to Kansas City to grade Advanced Placement Calculus exams, and a trip to the beach with the family and my summer is gone.  In between trips, I did make a little bit of pottery, but I was less than disciplined about photographing it and I sure didn't want to turn on the computer.

Today I actually remembered to grab my phone and snap a couple of pictures of what I was working on.  I think I remembered because it was something I'd never done before...GOBLETS.  Why goblets you ask?  Because Allen made some and I thought they looked really cool.  So I decided that I needed to see if I could do it too.

I started by throwing the cups and stems separately.  I used about a pound and a half for each cup and a pound for each stem.  

Next I trimmed the cups so that they fit inside the top of the stems, and then joined them.

You have to make sure that they are level.  

And there we are.  Three goblets that may or may not survive the drying/firing process.

They were pretty dry when I got back to them this morning, so I'm a little worried about the joints coming apart.  I also cracked the rim of one of the cups when I put on on the wheel to trim the bottom, so that one might not live.  

Since this was the first time I'd ever done this, I made NO EFFORT at all to make pieces that match.  This exercise was about figuring out if I could do this.  And I can...and it was fun.  It will be interesting to see what size they end up when they are finished. Right now, they are good sized, but they will shrink a good bit.