House Number tile

 I often hold my breath when I put these in the kiln, but after a few minutes I breath and walk away. It's all done until it's done.

I was very pleased with the results.

Special Orders

 This winter we worked on special orders for customers. This is a great way for us to start any year, but this year it was a good way to keep us going in these uncertain times. While Mark worked on bowls for eating noodles, I worked on tiles. It has been fun to bring a vision someone brings me to life. It is both scary and rewarding.

 We are sending these all off to new homes, and that, my friend, is what and why we do this.

Be safe,

Meredith

The world is uncentain

 Just stopping in on my way out to the studio. I have those orders that need some attention today.
I am thinking about us all as we hunker down to staying safe and out of crowds.
We are in a good place I think. We have some food, supplies, and work to keep us busy.
Stay safe.
M

Someone is working

 I keep telling you all that I am working on tiles but it is slow going with days spent at the college. The weeks are flying past me as I fill in for them while they are looking for the right person for the job.
 Meanwhile, there are things that need to be worked on here as well.
Taxes, housework, baking, cleaning, you know all those things that make life work.
 That cleaning thing, it has to happen.
I always look at what I can do in 10 or 15 minutes.
That few minutes makes all the difference for some things, just a lick and a promise.

It seems when I get busy elsewhere I am drawn back to the kitchen here.
I am not sure why but if I cannot make pottery I bake.
It also centers me.
I do like decent bread and Mark and I both like good granola that is not filled with a lot of sugar.
I have posted the recipe before but if you like:
preheat oven to 275- I have jumped the temperature up by 25 degrees.
I usually put 4 cups of good oats in a big handmade bowl.
Then I rough chop 2 cups of nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, cashews or pecans, you get to choose.
I then add roasted sunflower seeds salted or unsalted.
I like Cinnamon and a bit of salt depending on the sunflower seeds.
Toss this all.
Wet- I start with oil, 1/4 cup, on top of that I add honey, maple syrup and a bit hit of molasses up to 3/4 cup mark on a measuring cup, plus 1 TBS Vanilla
See- do what you like.
beat all the wet to a smooth mass, pour over the dry and mix well.
Pour this into a large cookie sheet with sides, cook 15, stir, cook 10-12, stir and add dried fruit.
We like a mix of raisins and craisins.
Stir those in, turn down heat to 250, heat 5-6 minutes.
Cool and store.

Meredith's Granola
275 degrees
4 cups good oats
2 cups of nuts
2 tsp cinnamon
a toss of salt
Mix together:
1/4 cup oil
honey, maple,molasses to 3/4 cup, plus 1 TBS vanilla
 1 cup fruit raisins and craisins
Bake 275 for 15, stir, bake 10-12 stir add fruit, bake at 250 for 5-6
Cool and eat.

Cheers folks!
M

The aftermath

 It was great to be out at the show in Seagrove and see so many old and new customers. We are back home, the shop is filled and we plan to put our feet up and relax a bit this week.
The best part of a show is watching folks buy gifts for others and watching them buy something for their own home as well.
It is a lot of work, but worth the effort it takes.
I have to thank my sister who drives down from Virginia to help.
Thanks Sister!

 We have plenty of work left if and when you are out and about in the area, do stop in.

A customer favorite, our oil lamps, great for when the power is out or just to enjoy on the dining table.

Our customer favorite small bowl for those yummy treats or sides. I like this as a dessert bowl, Mark thinks it's too small, Goldilocks and I think it's' just right.

 More oil lamps

The best spoon and utensil  crock. These work so well for all those things you need close at hand.
Number one with our customers.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Eat some pie!!

October firing Ms. B 2018

It was time

 It was time to get down to some dusting in the shop. We live on a long dirt road and if you know dirt roads you know they can be dusty. We have had a lot of rain the past week which can bring down the dust making it a good time to spruce things up.
Our sales shop, "gallery", is not really big, but even a small space needs to get a dusting now and again.
I don't even want to tell you about chasing out the spiders.
It looked nice, shiny, and clean enough to share.
I am back on tiles while Mark is throwing pots to help fill out the kiln.
Tomorrow I am back in the classroom my one day a week at the college. I did enjoy the summer off, it gave me more days of focus, time to put in a flower garden, and time to chase some butterflies.
Fall is coming, come out and see us!
Cheers!

let us celebrate the simple act

Of making simple pots, to use and enjoy.

.

A vase made by me when I was a student, still holds flowers.

Pots to enjoy, pots to use, pots to drink from, pots to eat from and use everyday.
Life is too complicated not to.

The mess

A quick picture of the mess of the glaze.
We are almost ready to load the kiln but I am teaching tomorrow so, we will load on friday.
Is it really, really the down hill slope of 2017?
Hold on!
M

A day for planning

It's time to plan a firing for Ms. B,
even though she is a smaller kiln than the old workhorse kiln we had, now retired, we try to keep the same habits we always used. We still feel it saves us time in the long run to know which pots are going in the kiln with a side shelf of extras that are on stand by as fillers for that hole or two, or as a replacement for a glaze gone bad.
We have a board that we marker off back in 1982 for just this job and it still works great.

 The new layer to the planning is taking a picture with the camera or phone to look as we are loading to be sure we are getting the pots in the right placement.
The top picture will be the top of the stack. The picture to the right will be used about midway up, 6 inches in height. We also make sure the pots will fit under the height requirement. Learning to make like items makes the work of planning easier.

 There is nothing worse than having one pot that is too tall for the shelf to toss off the loading and leave us looking at or for a pot to take it's place. It is also best if you notice that too tall pot before you put the shelf down.

I am working in some red clay right now. These pots will help me fill out the electric kiln when I am glazing and firing tiles. I found that just trying to fill up a kiln with tiles takes too long. We have slowly been adding some thrown pottery to the mix to help move things through at a quicker pace. The idea is to keep these shapes simple, useful items such as mugs, bowls, spoon rest, birdhouses, sugar jars and salt jars. I am sure a few more items will find their places in the mix.
We have fired some pottery with the last two firings of tiles, I am pretty sure that it will make my life a little easier, maybe, I hope, of course, what could possibly go wrong.....
More pictures as things move along.
Cheers!
M

The big pond

 There are times that you need a new view to look at. We recently had to take a trip for family, but also took a few nights to go see the big pond we both grew up with.
It is interesting that we both spent time at this same area. He as a teen, me as a kid.
There are a lot of memories tied to this area. While we were there we had the most wonderful weather. It almost had us going home and packing it all in. Then we remembered July.

 We decided to hold in NC with our own humidity and heat.

We are both back in the studio, me rolling tiles, him throwing bowls.
It is a great week for getting some focus before the summer semester rolls in.

Ah, such beauty the beach can be....
Cheers!
M

You can't all make bowls

As you all know I am still teaching one day a week at the Community College.
One of the things I do is load kilns.
I load the bisque kiln and some days I am loading a glaze kiln as well.
There are these times when everyone is making bowls.
I can't tell you why, maybe it is the alignment of the stars, the moon or a combination of both.
The problem with everyone making and glazing bowls is shelf space in the kiln. What do I put around all the bowls? How do I get them all in? It has become a  puzzle for me to figure out.

In our own studio we know for every serving bowls on a shelf we need 10 mugs, 4 to 6 juice cups, and maybe an odd item or two.
We also know, that in order to fire well using gas the kiln needs some mass around the bowls.

I just grabbed a picture from a firing done last year, as you can see that there are many like items on a shelf, but in order to get good heat flow through the kiln, we will vary sizes. If I packed a shelf with nothing but beer mugs, 3rd from the top, I could block some of the pots from getting the heat and later the reduction that is needed.You can see that along with the mugs are salt jars, a juice cup or two and some spoon jars.
Looking above or below you will find like items staggered with unlike items. Again this helps the kiln heat all the pots, and helps those pots get an even reduction. Or, as even as possible.

In the electric kilns we fire I use as much space as possible filling all the nooks and crannies I can.

I was trying to find a picture for you and ran across a picture of the large gas kiln that we are not firing right now.
You can still get a feel of how much you will need other pots to fill a kiln.

When we plan a load to fire we usually work off a list, knowing that filling the kiln in the most efficient way to work. We work towards a goal. Mugs, oil lamps, lamps, crocks, juice cups, bowls....jars, creamers, trays... and so it goes.
How do you map out your work, even if you are not making pottery you need a plan to get a job done.
Are you just making bowls all day, or do you have a lot more on your list?

Just another day in the studio

 It's the end of the day, mud has been tossed at the wheel, pots have been made.
Time to put our feet up and plan out tomorrow.
I hope you get to do the same.

Don't

 take my picture.
Okay.

I know, I am such a liar.
Mark is working up some big bowls.

While I am working on Sugar jars and creamers.

What is it about jars?
That was the item I did not want to make as a student. It is the item I make the most now.
I guess that back then I was not ready to make them.

 And, what is a jar without a creamer. I know, I know, it's a jar, wise cracker that you are.

We are working up the next kiln load of pots. Most of it is ready and waiting for these last items to be finished.
 I really wanted to get some cream and sugar sets made. We have a few in the shop, but most have made their way off to new homes.

 That handle looks large! Things appear closer than they are, and bigger.

I have some tiles that I am playing with yet again.

These are left from a past project and I wanted to see if I could add to them and possibly enhance what was going on with the waves. Now all I need is that last glaze to go on.

Fall is in the air.
The last few days have given way to cooler mornings.
I don't want to rush things, but here it comes ready or not.

Cheers!
M

For most of us

 we don't really have to worry about winter. We are the people who like to watch winter on the news. Oh, look, we like to say smugly to one another, snow. I am so happy they have it and not me.
 Watch out what you say, make those words sweet, winter is listening.
As soon as they reach the tip of your tongue you need to swallow them back down, DON"T say a word, don't even think about it.

Snow has come our way again this week, with promise of more.
Is this a problem?
I am trying to make it a non-issue by not fretting about not being able to get to school once again. I was up, showered, dressed, lunch packed when the snow started.
So what to do when you plan to go away and then find out you are staying.
First thing is enjoy that cup of coffee.

 Then make a plan.
Or, try to make a plan.
Last week my plan was tiles.
In order to get these made, carved and finished for dying, I need more than one day. It takes one day to roll, one day to start setting up, one day to lay out designs, one day to carve and one day to finish them enough to leave them alone.
That is 5 one days.
If I am going to teach, I have to plan this for when I know I have 5 days, even if that means that Sunday, before I work on Monday, is one of those days.

To your left, a blank

 To your right, a cut out of the tiles.

I like the 6x6, but I like the fun of leaving  some of the tiles with that natural roundness that happens as I am rolling.

I have a number of patterns that I use 8x8,6x6,4x4.

I try to get as much goodness as I can out of the space, but that is not always possible. I use to make many small items from the leftovers, but now that eats into my days, so I don't.

Mark is staying on the wheel as he adds to his pile of production pots.
Oil lamps, bowls, and pitchers are flying off the wheel on the other side of the room.

I love a good pitcher.
There was a discussion the other day asking if any one still needs a pitcher, or if people still use pitchers.
I started thinking about how I use them; water my plants, water my guest, flowers, gravy, maple syrup, melted butter, oil, salad dressing...
 just to name a few.
How about you, do you have a favorite way to use all those pitchers? Tell me, I need to know.



A public service notice from Mark.
Happy 24 days people, 24 days, just hold on.