Did you notice and the painters come back

Well Mark had to point out to me that the vase on the left side of the picture posted below was missing a tad of glaze, just under the handle.

Whoops, we touched that up before it went in the kiln today.

The other vase on the right hand side is something Mark is playing with.

I am saying play away.

He went to a workshop last month on making handmade brushes with Kent Mclaughlin from Fork Mountain Pottery.

Mark use to fly fish and tie his own flies. This lead to making brushes and sometimes pins for me and our daughter Anna.

Mark's brushes did not make it out of the fire.

And fire is not kind to brushes. They all looked like a bad hair day.

Mark came home with some nice brushes and has been " playing" with them.

He needs a bit more down time to really work into their use.

And, we are looking at other satins to use.

So far this is just a black slip base stain, if that makes sense.

And good or bad, I will post it up after it comes out of the kiln.

The other exciting news today is when we walked out the door the painters were busy painting the building.

It feels really good to see the building with this fresh look.

It feels like the last thing that we needed to do to finish the building.If there is anything we have forgotten it just does not come to mind.

I told the guys doing the painting that the building looked so pretty!

Which made them all smile,

The head guy told me this is gonna be one "spiffy" looking building.

You know, I think he's right.

It's a plan!

When we get ready to fire the big kiln I have a board we made for the first kiln load back in 1982.
The board is the same size as our kiln shelves.
All I need to do is fill the board. Unload it onto our carts.
Then I take each piece and examine it for small rough spots, these I sand off, then I wax the pots using hot wax and place it back on the cart for glazing.
The kiln holds 19 to 20 shelves of pots.
We then wheel the carts, which hold the pots, up to the big room along with the glazes and get busy.
The last load was planned Tuesday, while bisque was firing, we then started glazing on Wednesday and we finished on Saturday.
The shelves are clean and tomorrow it will take us about 5 hours to load and brick up the door.

Mark will fire while I start galzing tiles.
Good thing we took that trip away.......





Pots waiting to go in the kiln.

Let's go to Penland

What would a trip to the NC mountains be without a trip to the Penland area?
Penland is full of studios of all kinds.
Glass, Metal, Jewelry, Fiber and Pottery.
I love taking a trip up there and seeing what is new.
This trip with all the rain we just picked a few things to do.
We went up to the Penland Coffee house for some coffee, tea and lunch.
The food was so-so- nothing to write home about, but the coffee was good.
We walked around the dining hall and I have missed this tile entry way.
So Catherine and I had our picture taken by Mark.

From there we wandered over to the Penland Gallery to see what was going on in there.
I saw one of Michael Sherrill's works as we walked through the door.
This one is for you Linda:

I wanted to go and see Michael Kline if we could catch him at home. I rang him up and got a message and thought I should have let him know sooner we would be in the area.
I handed the cell back to Mark and there was a message on it. Michael was around and would be there until 3 or so. We jumped in the car and headed over.
Michael is not far from Penland and with Catherine as our guide we didn't even have to back up and turn around.
We found his shop and stopped in in time for the first fire in the wood stove. Michael is always a treat to talk to and he showed us around his workshop and gallery.

I loved the sign over the door.

A good reminder for all of us!

I don't remember all that was being talked about, but it included some conversation about Bats.
Look at that handsome pot behind Micheal, don't you want to just go pick it up!?
We walked out to his covered area to see the clay mixing operation. It looks like he has a work horse of a pug mill there.
It is an older model he picked up, but it certainly looks like it does the job.



I always enjoy chatting some shop with another potter and seeing how they work.
It was great to have Michael take some time out of his day for us.
I came away with one of his pieces which I have not taken a picture of yet! I will hold it ransom until Michael comes to Seagrove and picks out something from our shop.
Thanks Michael it was good to see you as usual.
Instead of running around in the rain we headed back to Catherine's house for cards and games.

The rest of the trip was spent catching up with Catherine and seeing what see is doing in her studio.
Catherine has been working on some tile samples.
New work for her.
And speaking of work! Time for me to get there.

Waterfalls

We left Asheville at 9 am. I had mapped a loop for the water falls we wanted to see.
We would go to the ones on the far side and then wind our way back on H64 to the others.
Then snake our way back to Asheville.
I had planned a possible 2 hours to get out to the first falls. We were pleasantly surprised when it was about an hour and 20 minutes to Cullasaja.

We turned a quick corner and there it is. You have to be careful pulling off for this one because there is not much shoulder to park on. We were able to just squeeze between a parked car and a motorcycle.
We parked walked over to look at the falls and the women on the motorcycle said, "Hello"- we exchange the usual, "where are you from?" They were from Florida. When we said we are from central NC. She asked, "Where?"
I said Central NC because not everyone knows where Seagrove is much less Whynot.
When I told her Seagrove she laughed and said, " I have been to the potteries there." Then I said "We run Whynot Pottery" and she said. " I have been in your shop."
As we talked I remembered her and her husband.
Small world.
But it was time to take in the falls- this first one is Cullasaja Falls.

Down the road a short road was Dry Falls.

This one you can hike down and walk under the falls. What a real treat. Just beautiful and powerful to stand under and behind this rushing water.

Then on to Bridal falls which you can drive under. It was small compared to the first two. No pictures we needed batteries for the camera.

We drove on to Cashiers and had lunch and then it was on to the second set of falls.

It took awhile to drive over to Brevard and into the next area for falls. Before we got there we could see the weather changing. Clouds were building up and we knew it was going to rain.
We stopped and talked to the rangers, who told us that one fall was an hour hike.
We drove up hoping the rain would hold off.
We found Looking Glass falls just as the rain started.


As we climbed back in the car the rain went from coming down to pouring.
As we came to the parking lot for the hike we decided not to go. This turned out to be wise.
As we drove on the rain stated coming down in sheets.
It was raining so hard we could hardly see.
I mapped our way out of the forest . looking for a quick way back to Asheville.
Turn on 151 I said.
We crawled down- up the road to the turn off and as we turned off hoping this was the right road the rain was just pouring.
This road was narrow and winding, Did I say winding.
We could see the back lights as Mark made the turns.
He loved it! What a guy! He is laughing his head off and whooping it up while I am holding on and thinking why are we here? Why am I here, is this the right road????
We twisted and turned and twisted and turned our way through 151 until finally a straight way and a stop sign.
Yes, I was praying......
Then back to Asheville.
This I know, I want to go back.
This was just a taste of the waterfalls.
I want more.
I love the power of the water and the beauty of the rocks.
I love the "WOW" emotions the falls bring for me.
I am planning the next trip.

Tomorrow Penland- today work.....

Asheville and Penland with a few waterfalls thrown in.

Mark and I headed to Asheville for a much needed break.
Our first stop was to see Brain and Gail McCarthy of Highwater Clays in Asheville.
several years ago, about 6, Gail bought a house which was falling down and full of critters of all kinds.
Through a lot of pure will and determination Gail turned the house into a sweet B&B.
We stayed on the first floor in the Potters room.
The whole house is full of potters works and it was a pleasure to see the pots and a great place to base while we took in Asheville and took a day off to see waterfalls.
We had a great lunch with Brian and Gail at the Clingman's Cafe when we first got into town which is just down at the end of the block from Odyssey.
Great food, simple, but very good!

That evening we meet with Brian over at the Wedge for beers.
The Wedge is a brew pub across the street from Odyssey off Clingman Drive.
You can grab a beer and a bowl of peanuts and sit outside among the steel art.


Since the last time we were in Asheville the area called River Arts District has turned into a large art community with the area full of studios of all types. There is just about anything you would like to see there and the studio's seem to be open at all hours.
The Wedge is a great place to for the artist to take a break, grab a beer and just wind down at the end of the day.
While we were sitting talking and having a beer Michael Sherrill walked over to say hello.
He was in Asheville picking up some supplies with his youngest child and stopped in at the Wedge.
A dinner at Salsas Downtown and we were ready to call it a day and get up early for waterfalls.


Tomorrow- Waterfalls and backroads.

A weekend away

Hi! We are home from a trip to see NC water falls- pictures coming.
We were in and just about out before the rain.
We were rained out of the last fall by sheets of water.
It was raining so hard we could not see and had adventurous trip back to Asheville on a road which would make an gastroenterologist smile!
I will be back with some pictures!

Rosemary

The only plant around the building which survived the fire.

Rosemary still going strong.

In fact I think it has taken over!

How to make it rain

Take one building add paint.

The painters will be back next week when the sun comes back.

Meanwhile pots are being made and are drying .
Bisque kilns are firing.
Rain is good, Right?

Seeing RED!

As most of you know, we had a studio fire July of last year.
We spent a year getting our studio back in shape and getting ourselves back in shape to work.
One of the last things on our list was to paint the building.
Today the painters came and here are the results for the first day.

This is just a primer coat- but the building will be a barn red with a nice blue trim.

We are pretty jazzed about having this done.
And, unless we come up with something else, this is the last thing to check off the list.

That is not just fall you feel blowing your way, it is us taking a deep breath of relief.

I feel a change a coming....

Something is up! I will post it later- there is a change coming.....

The weather

How can we stay inside when the weather calls you outside?
It is not often we get such wonderful weather here.
We get cold and we get hot, but we don't get these great mild early am sweater to late afternoon warm and evenings cool that often.
At least not for days.
Much less a week!
It makes my mind wander.
So we are firing bisque kilns and storing pots for a gas fire.
I'll get back with those cone 6 test glazes after we fire a gas load.
Meanwhile--- I hope your weather is as wonderful as ours.

Clear results

I want to thank Mike for his information on the commits page.
From Mike:
"A year or so ago I wrote a free website to allow people to store recipes and calculate the unity formula for your glazes. The site is http://www.glazecalculator.com/.Also, you can post your recipes. Here is the info on the glaze you posted as an example:http://http://www.glazecalculator.com/"

If you have not taken a look do so.

Not much here but the results.

The winner to date- Ron Myers.

The younger Kate cone 6



This is the shiny White out of an old ceramics monthly- 1982


Time to check the garden, fix some food and later check out the night sky and the

moon flowers!

A night for star gazing, kiln unloading and more moonflowers

I unloaded the latest batch of test last night around 10 pm.
As I went out I saw the sky was full of stars.
It was one of those clear nights you get in September.
The stars were enough to draw me back outside after unloading the test.

I took the test inside the house and Mark and I went over them all and then I said ,"you have to come out with me."

He was not interested as he was reading a book. so I grabbed a lawn chair and went myself.

As I sat out there watching the night sky, I heard the door open and Mark come out.

We walked further away from the house and enjoyed some time taking in the stars.
Beautiful- sigh.
Food for the soul.
I was happy with the last results and I promise pictures.
This last test I used white slip with some color slips on top.
Good melt again with Meyers and Younger glazes.
Little melt on another cone 6 I stuck in for one more try.
So I need to line up all my tiles for a photo shoot.

I know you "need" one more picture of moon flower!
Just humor me, there were 20 one last night!

Clearly we are getting somewhere

When I came out of school and started doing glaze test I did not know anything about testing glazes. I meant not one thing!
I would read a recipe, look at the color and mix it up and I would get yuck.
Then I would quit.
I would rather throw pots.
Now I know there are some factors in getting the glaze you want.
First off what clay body do you want this to fit on?
What atmosphere are you firing in?
What is the color of clay body?
How are you firing and what is the temperature range you are looking for.
With all this in mind I went after the clear glaze.
The clay body I am using is Highwater's Red Stone.
Firing to 2185-2190
I wanted a good melt which would work well with slips.
Before the studio fire I was testing and working with slips at cone 5.
The fire took all the slips with it.( darn fire!)
I have finally had some time, let's rephrase that.
I have made some time to work on slips again and I wanted a really good clear glaze.
I tried Ron's clear glaze and it just did not have quite the melt I wanted- close but not quite there.
Thanks Ron!

I looked at a very old Ceramic's Monthly, 1986, and found a clear there using Gerstley Borate. Good melt, but with that blue tinge which come with Gerstley. Maybe for some thing else....

I then moved out on the Internet to find a glaze for slips by Kate the Younger.

Kate the Younger Clear Glaze
Cone 6
Raw Material
Ferro Frit 3195
70%
EPK Kaolin
8%
Wollastonite
10%
Silica
12%
Total
100%
Add:
Bentonite
2%
And in digging through my notes and such from past workshops I came up with a clear glaze from Ron Myers.
The Kate Younger and Ron Myers have won out.
Both had a good melt with good shine on the clay body.
I will fire yet another group of test today.
Red stone, white slip, color slips and see what comes out.
I'll also post up the other recipes, but I am in the basement office and the recipes are out in the studio.
I have to get them back here to put in the computer file with some notes.
I do have one more clear I came across which we used many years back.
I think it might need testing too.
It has only three ingredients.
3134 frit and something, something.... I'll post it up as well.

Cone 5 clear

So it is fall and we should be doing nothing but making pots.
But then there is that kiln we are working on- and we are testing glazes.
I am looking for a really good clear for cone 5.
Yep- 5 not 6.
I have tested two and I have three others to try today.
What I would like is for the glaze recipe to include what temperature the glaze fires to.
I have a target temp of 2185-2190.
The clay body I use does not like to go to 6 and is happy at these temperatures.
So anyone with suggestions for a cone 5 clear shout them out!
I can add them to my list for test.
Meanwhile- it is time to get back on the wheel and make some pots for the next gas load.

why put off today what you are not going to do tomorrow

How did it get to be Friday?
I think I must have spent part of this week in a dream land far away.
I have messed around all week and now it is Friday.
After unloading the kiln and then jumping right into tiles. My brain went on shut down mode.
I could not seem to focus.
I cleaned up bits of the studio, jumped around from think I will throw to let's test some cone 6 slips and glaze.
The test won out, I mean who starts throwing on Thursday afternoons?
Oh, you do- well not me.
So yesterday we mixed up some test and this morning I glazed and placed them in the test kiln and they are cooking along right now.
Why in the world do Iget so distracted.
I set the calendar up with the next show, kilns to be fired, pots to be made and suddenly my mind goes walk about.
So I will finish the test, check the results and get myself back on the wheel on Monday.
See- theses are GOALS.
Better go turn up the kiln!