There It Is...

I think I hit the wall this week.  I've been pushing hard for the last couple months, and I think that I reached the point of exhaustion where I just had to stop.  I worked a little bit last night and planned to do some serious work today to get myself back on track production-wise.  I went to the studio and just couldn't make myself work.

I'm trying hard to give myself a break about that. The rational side of my brain is telling me that a nap this afternoon was much better for me than forcing myself to try to make things when I didn't feel good.  (I've had that achy-you-are-too-tired-to-exist feeling all day.)

I hope that I'm able to get myself moving tomorrow.  This is the last weekend that I have for a good long while that I'll be able to do any pottery.  I really NEED to be able get some work done.

Last Week

ON MONDAY: Someone had already unloaded the kiln when I stopped by on Monday afternoon.  Here are some of the pieces of mine that were in there.  

Correction: That's everything that I brought home.  8 mugs, 3 baking dishes, 1 platter, 3 big bowls, 1 napkin holder, 1 jar with a lid, 1 canister set, and 4 business card holders.  But who's counting, right?  OK.  I'm counting.  I admit it.  I look at this haul and think, "Wow.  That's a lot of work."  Then I get home and I look at the shelves where I store everything and think about how close the Carolina Pottery Festival and holiday shopping season are getting and I think, "What if I run out of things to sell?"  

ON THURSDAY: The Shelby High School homecoming parade was a 4:15 followed by the Uptown Art Walk from 5:30 to 8:30.  I hurried over after work to get my stuff out of the car and set up inside for the art walk before the parade started.  I teach a class of seniors at Shelby High this semester and several of my students were involved in the parade either playing in the band or driving and riding in the parade.  I stood on my corner (That doesn't sound right, does it?) and waved at everybody.  Then I dashed out to get some supper so I didn't pass out from hunger before the end of the night.  

The Art Walk went well I think.  From all reports, there was a pretty good crowd and there were interesting things going on for folks to see.  We had a fair number of visitors at the studio and I had a good time demonstrating for them.  

I stole this picture off the Uptown Shelby Facebook page.  Yours truly sitting at the wheel, Jeff in the blue shirt, Gail Richard showing me a picture on her iPad, and her husband Jamie watching.  Gail is another one of Allen's pottery students.  I am really enjoying getting to know her.  It was almost 9 pm on Thursday night before I was headed home.  A VERY long day for me.  

I was back in the studio on FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.  Friday was mostly finishing up some of the pieces that I started the night before.  I also got started on a couple of pigs.  A few years ago, I made some piggy banks.  Then I had trouble with finding the right size corks for the snouts and ended up with 6 or 8 pigs that have no noses.  Discouraged, I quit making pigs.  

It hit me the other day that perhaps I'd have more luck if I made some pigs to go with the corks that I already have.  So, I'm giving it another whirl.  

Here I've got the pig standing on his nose to have his butt trimmed.  We want a nice, round pig butt if possible.  

Ears, eyes, and tail ready to be attached...There are also some legs somewhere, but the legs aren't funny to look at, so I didn't take a picture.  

This pig is actually still missing his tail because I almost forgot to put it on.  We'll see if the nose fits when I'm all done.  

I loaded another glaze fire today.  Notice that I closed the peeps this time.  Fingers crossed for good results.  I've got a lot of stuff in there.  

Today, I finished the glazing that I'd been working since Thursday evening.  Yes, I did work on it for 3 days.  I had a lot to glaze.  Somebody has made a lot of pots recently.  Let me think...there were 3 baking dishes, two platters, a canister set (3 pieces with lids), 9 mugs, 4 business card holders, and another jar with a lid.  (This is a lot for a part time potter.)  I almost never just use one color, so it takes a while.  

Then I loaded the kiln.  It takes me a long time to load the kiln.  (Anyone sensing a trend here?  I work slowly!)  Imagine a puzzle.  You know that all the pieces are probably not going to fit, but you want to cram in as many as you can.  Oh yeah, the puzzle is 3 dimensional, so not only are you making pieces fit side to side on the shelves, but also figuring out how to put everything on the shelves so that they stack as efficiently as possible.  Nothing can touch; don't put things too close together or too close to the walls; think about airflow.  That's what loading the kiln is like for me.  I always feel a little bit proud when I shut the lid and turn it on.  

I also threw some flower pots.  (See photo below.)  My friend Kim asked me a while ago about making some pots for a new shelf they had just put up in their kitchen window.  I hope I manage to make something that she likes.  I kind of like them so far...

Uptown Art Walk on Oct 9

I'm excited to be participating in the next uptown art walk next week.  I will be at Allen Griffin Pottery throwing pots that night from 5:30 to 8:30.  Buffalo Creek Gallery is also planning a big shindig honoring the new artists during the art walk.  Make plans now to stop by.  The press release below has more information about the plans for the evening.  There will be artists at most of those locations demonstrating their talents.

Press Release: September 29, 2014

 

Contact: Tricia Woodland, Uptown Shelby Association, 704-484-3100

Corine Guseman, Cleveland County Arts Council, 704-484-2787 (for more information on the artists)

 

Showcasing the vibrancy of local artists, galleries and art friendly spaces throughout Uptown Shelby, we welcome visitors on Thursday, October 9 for an Uptown Art Walk. In conjunction with the Cleveland County Arts Council “Handcrafted Melodies: Instruments & Musical Notations” opening reception, ten Uptown businesses will host a variety of local artists for demonstrations, exhibits, refreshments and other special events. 

The Art Walk will include a spectrum of visual arts – including pottery, paintings, woodcarving, flint knapping, mosaics, jewelry, journals and live music. 

Maps for the event will be available at the participating venues starting October 3.

 

Participating venues include:

 

·         Allen Griffin Pottery (art)

·         Buffalo Creek Gallery (art)

·         Cleveland County Arts Council (music, musical instruments & art)

·         Dragonfly Wine Market (art)

·         Lily Bean Micro-Roasted Coffee (art)

·         Newt’s Pub Burgers (open mike & art)

·         Peace Avenue (art)

·         RollOver Pets (art)

·         The Fuzzy Peach (art)

·         Homespun (art)

 

The Art Walk is free and open to the public, with festivities taking place from 5:30 - 8:30pm.

 

The Uptown Art Walk is a partnership between Uptown Shelby Association and Cleveland County Arts Council to draw people to Uptown and encourage new audiences for the arts in our area.  This evening event will span venues on Warren, Washington, and Lafayette Streets.

Rubbing Elbows With Famousness

Last night I had an opportunity to hear Open The Door For Three perform at Dragonfly Wine Market in Shelby.  Not being particularly in tune (ha!) with the Irish music scene, I didn't know what I was seeing when I saw the ads for this concert at first.  Then my dad explained who they are, and what a big deal it is that little old Shelby managed to attract world class musicians. So we went.  And it was awesome.  If you have a chance, check them out.  http://www.openthedoorforthree.com/ 

It's a long story involving his annual trips to what we refer to "Band Camp" (actually Celtic Week at the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College).  I'll spare you the long story.  I'm not sure that I'd get it right anyway.  The condensed version of the story is that my dad knows Kieran O'Hare and Liz Knowles, who are the piper and fiddler for this trio.  Seriously.  He is on a first name basis and is FaceBook friends with these people.

I'm getting to the point of why this story is in my pottery blog...

Dad wanted to buy a copy of their CD to give to Jeff and me, but Keiran insisted on giving him one.  I had just asked if they could take a credit card (I never have cash) and Dad hands me the CD.  All I could do was stand there with my mouth open looking like an idiot.  Trying to help me out, Dad said something about sending them some pottery or something sometime.  It just so happened that I had a box of new stuff in the car that I'd picked up earlier in the day.  So after the concert, I ran out and got each of them a mug.  Ooohing and aaahing ensued which I'm pretty sure was just them being polite.  Dad snapped this picture.

Liz Knowles , Pat Broaders, and me.  

(Kieran was talking to John Champney at the time.)

Then this morning as I was dragging myself around trying to wake up enough to get ready for work after being out way too late on a school night, I found the issue of Clay Times that came in yesterday's mail.  I started flipping through and found an article about procrastination which seemed pretty appropriate since I was having trouble moving myself in the direction of a shower.  I'm reading along and I see this:  

Ron's famous!  Maybe he was before and I just didn't realize it.  So I guess I've been rubbing elbows with famousness longer than I thought I had.  

Little things are important

I forgot to close the peeps.  (Smacks palm into forehead)

Peeps are little holes on the side of the kiln that (I suppose) one could peep in to look at things as the kiln fires.  For our purpose, they are holes that should be closed during the firing and then opened once it is done to help things cool off.  I forgot to close them.  I remembered the peeps sometime Saturday night, but by then it was too late to do anything about them.  

I don't know how much affect this had on the results of this firing, but I was very disappointed in some of my glazes.  Glazes that normally do not disappoint me.  So I'm blaming the darn open peeps.  On a positive note, nothing that I saw that belonged to others looked bad to me.  Hopefully I am the only disappointed potter this go around.  I have a fear that I will destroy someone else's work by doing something wrong when I'm the one loading the kiln.  

So I promised pictures....

Starting with some of the duds.  These are supposed to be a redish brown called ketchup red on the top.  I used this glaze on several things and they all came put a very yucky brown.  I could not stand to even take a picture of the big platter that I glazed in ketchup red.  All that work for ugly brown.  Sigh...

Some things turned out ok even it they weren't quite "right". 

I like the variation in color that I got here.  Clearly some areas got more glaze than others and I am OK with that.  Alright.  I'm trying to be OK with this.  

Good old floating blue.  A relatively consistent glaze.  Lighter areas are where the glaze overlapped.  I LOVE the leaves on this one.  

Mugs in tan and red that turned out nicely.  

Pretty darn happy with this casserole.  This one is tan, red, and blue.  The blue is on the side away from the camera.  I like the red and tan the best.  I think it is more interesting.  

I couldn't get a good shot of these mugs.  Red, blue, and green, and the overlap of red, blue, and green.  Not bad...

And the same glaze combination on a bowl.  

Glaze Fire

Here is a shot of the kiln ready to fire on Saturday afternoon.  

I hope to follow up later this week with some pictures of some of the pieces of mine that are in this load.  Stay tuned...

I'm still in panic-production mode in my pottery related thinking, so in addition to glazing everything that I hope to share with you later, I also made some new stuff.  More mugs and the platters pictured below.