And A Month Later...

This happened over the weekend.  This pot thinks it is a bat.  Or maybe not.  Maybe it started to collapse and I tried to save it by hanging it upside down in front of a fan.  Sometimes gravity and a little moving air is just what the doctor ordered.

Speaking of doctor, I had some minor foot surgery on Nov 13.  That's why it has been an entire month since I posted to this blog.  Surgery will severely cut into a person's ability to do fun stuff like pottery.

I did this for a while...

I was a good patient and did the whole stay off your feet and rest thing as long as I could.

Then after a week or so, I graduated to this...

At this point I was still wearing my "boot" but getting up and around a bit more.  If you put a plastic bag over your foot it doesn't matter if the glaze splashes out of the bucket.  I still wasn't up to throwing at this point, but glazing I could do.  (Note: I said that was not up to throwing....I did NOT say that I was throwing up.)

Not too shabby for someone who walks with a pronounced limp, right?  What?  You say limping has nothing to do with the ability to pour glaze over bisque ware?  You are right, but I'm still pleased with how these pieces turned out.

The vase on the left (with 2 colors), the red tray on the left, and the hors d'oeuvre plate (that's a holder for toothpicks in the middle of that plate) are available for purchase at Buffalo Creek Gallery.  

For My Next Trick

The Carolina Pottery Festival has come and gone, so now the focus is on getting ready for Christmas.  Yes.  I said it.  The C-word uttered before Thanksgiving.  Normally I have a very strict rule of  no thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  However, I'm learning that one must think WAY ahead when one needs to sell things.  

The Holiday Open House at Buffalo Creek Gallery is Thursday night from 5 to 8 pm.  There will be food.  There will be drinks.  There will be art.  There will be artists.  Everyone is invited to drop by.  In fact, you should make plans now.  Come to the gallery after work.  Do a little shopping.  Then have dinner at one of the many yummy places to eat in beautiful uptown Shelby.  

As you shop this holiday season, I encourage you to remember this: 

"When you buy from an independent artist you are buying more than just a painting or a novel or a song. You are buying hundreds of hours of experimentation and thousands of failures. You are buying days, weeks, months, years of frustration and moments of pure joy. You are buying nights of worry about paying the rent, having enough money to eat, having enough money to feed the children, the birds, …the dog. You aren’t just buying a thing - you are buying a piece of heart, part of a soul, a private moment in someone’s life. Most importantly, you are buying that artist more time to do something they are truly passionate about; something that makes all of the above worth the fear and doubt; something that puts the life into living.” - Rebekah Joy Plett 

I took some more pottery to the gallery this morning so that there would be plenty of work on my shelves for the Open House Thursday night.  See how full those shelves are?  Lots of pots!  

And one close up.  This fish platter is pretty different from anything that I've done before, so it deserves to be highlighted.

Carolina Pottery Festival Tomorrow!

I spent most of today over at the LeGrand Center getting ready for the Carolina Pottery Festival.  And I took all of 1 picture.  That picture is so out of focus that I don't want to share it.  I encourage you to check out the website http://www.carolinapotteryfestival.org/ or the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaPotteryFestival for more information and pictures.  

Hours are 10 am to 4 pm and admission is $5.00.  There is some really nice pottery to see and the venue is top notch.  Toward the end of the evening tonight I took a walk around to check it out.  There are many, many things that I would buy in a heartbeat if I had unlimited funds.  It is so neat to see all the different kinds of pots that people make.  

I mentioned in my last post here that I hadn't been in the studio in quite a while.  That hasn't changed.  I still haven't had time to do any pottery work.  I miss it. Here are a few pictures that I haven't shared before of my last work a few weeks ago.  

Vase...

Horse head....

Mugs...

October Is Here...And Almost Gone

I knew that things were going to get really busy about mid-October.  Sure enough, I haven't had time to update this blog or make any pots in a couple of weeks.  

The last time I was in the studio, I took my assistant, Lady.  I thought she might like to spend some time hanging out with me and hoped that she'd just relax there next to me. 

Like this.  Doesn't that look all cozy and nice?   

"I love going places with my mom!  She is the best.  I could hang out all day here with her." 

That didn't happen.  Instead of a relaxed doggy, I got constant whining and pitifulness.  

"Let me see how far I can go on this leash..."

Eventually, she settled down and then I realized that she was hiding under the table.  

Poor Lady!  

All this while I was working on getting these pieces glazed.  

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...