Saturday, March 17, 2012

Blue and it's not baby blue that is for sure!

We finally sorted through the last kiln load and loaded quite a few pots into our small sales shop. Gallery seems too dramatic a use of words if you could see our small sales area. Oh, it's plenty big enough to get some folks in the door, but with the two firings we are well stocked on our shelves and there are still some pots to fit in somewhere.

I need to get some pot shots other than the ones in the kiln. These seem a bit squished between the two kiln shelves. The round one with the iron red on the bottom is a real winner. Low and fat it would make a great piece for a side or coffee table.
I don't know about you but there are times as I unload that my mind will start to decorate a whole room around a piece.
I can see the table, chairs, fabrics and the room. This sometimes gets me in trouble as I find that I have taken the piece to the house....hummm Mark will look at me and say, " can you afford that?"
Back to the shop it goes.


This bottle deserves a better shot.

This is a peek in the kiln and shows you some of the Navy glaze. It is very dramatic.
I am very curious to see how the showrooms will be set up for this glaze it goes perfect with the fabrics.
We were a tad taken back by the cost of the glaze since we are working with cobalt to get the color.
Shock  waves ran over me when I saw the bill alone for the cobalt.
The price just for the cobalt for a batch of glaze was about $64.00 ouch!
We are going to test it with a tad less cobalt to see if we can lower the cost but keep the color.
The other glaze for the collections you can see looks very washed, it is a purple with browns in it. Again it works well with the fabrics.
Then the picture has the Satin Green or Longleaf glaze on it.
It has been interested to play this out and see the pots in one glaze.
Hopefully the buyers at the market will see something they like.

Next week- wheel work!
We both have teapots on the brain and all the work for the next kiln loads are going to be for us.
Best get cracking!
M

10 comments:

Dennis Allen said...

Very nice!

Amy said...

Neat to see some of your pieces at Raven Pottery in Southern Pines. Really like that blue ash or whatever it's called glaze. Rich colors! Hope all these find new homes.

Judy Shreve said...

That bottle is a beauty! And why is blue so expensive! Yikes - hope yall can tweak it to a lower cost.
Some really nice pieces in this firing!

Shortstuff said...

Navy and lavendar? Now you're singing my song, girly.

That's so blue it almost looks black.

"Can you afford that?" Sounds just like Mark. ;^)

Michèle Hastings said...

pretty pots.
baby blue would be less expensive than navy!

Linda Starr said...

Lavender for me, although I have never decorated a room with lavender, hum, just sewed with it. Looking good.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

I know, but cobalt makes the most lovely color indeed :) the price for my secret yellow ingredient is quite abit more expensive, but worth it!

cookingwithgas said...

good morning! Let me see if I can get Gary's secret- that is one nice yellow he has.
Ana Leslie- wait until you get here and see those colors!

John Bauman said...

I take it that the $64 is for cobalt carbonate? Either way, I'm surprised. I have a 2% cobalt glaze that is as dark as navy (it's not navy because it lacks the blackness of navy), but at only 2%, even with $50 a lb cobalt, I just don't use much in a batch.

Nice bottle, by the way!

Lori Buff said...

Cobalt is expensive because we are currently importing it from places like Africa. The good news is that we've found some in America which could help the price drop in a few years.