It starts with paper

Where does something start for you?
For me sometimes it starts with a piece of blank paper that just begs me to put something on it. The paper is usually just some scrap of paper that could be sitting there, maybe even waiting for someone to toss it in the trash or recycle. I look at it and find a pencil.
I come from a long line of doodlers. My parents, my siblings. I find that I listen better if I have that pencil and paper.
When I use to sit on boards people thought I took long notes. My notes were short, it was the empty margins that  held my back of the brain thoughts.
I can hear you better if that voice is busy.
What I am finding out now that I am 10 years into tiles that the doodles are finding their way onto clay.
I draw them, then figure out how I want to put them on.
Playing first on paper helps me work out the design.

 I don't always worry about fitting the design on just right. I like them off set a bit.
As I work I think that maybe I should stick to just one thing, but the back of the brain wants to explore what happens if I do this or that.
There are times I draw on the tile in pencil and can look at it and think, naw, no,nope, just don't like it. Sometimes I set it aside and go back the next day. If I go back and still don't like it, I can erase it.
 Then wipe it down and start on it again with something new.
If I make a real mess of it, I place it back in the bisque pile.

These are ready for some background glaze and then over to fire.
Fingers crossed.
I hope for the best.
Cheers, just waiting for the snow tomorrow.
M

Knock-Knock

Who's there?
I am working on these tiles and glaze testing to see what the colors will do on a white clay body.
I am firing my 4th electric kiln load since school went out for the summer.
We have had some very successful firing for the black glaze with the layered glazes on top.
I would show you, but the camera is just bouncing the light off that glassy glaze right back at me, to date I am not happy enough to post pictures of the combo. Maybe you just need to come see it.

Back to tiles-- I use a red clay body and pretty much know what the glazes will look like as long as my application of glaze is good, switching to a white clay body will make some changes in the look.
I have 2 test in this kiln the one above and a smaller one.
I have put several small test in the last time I fired, but now it is time to see what happens on a larger piece.

 Here are the small test that I tried, placed beside a white 3x6 tile that will be used with them. I thought the background went too yellow and put in a test that should be a bit white without being a harsh white.
I think the red and the green for the leaves will be fine, I am fretting over background color.
I can find myself stuck on solving a problem to the point where I need to just put it down, go wash the dishes, look at a book, weed the garden, find something else to concentrate on until my brain works out the details that I need to get back to the issue. It's like sleep walking, and, I know it works for me.



The brain is such a mystery.
There are other times that I will talk to my brain about an issue I am having and just ask that it look into a solution while I am sleeping. It has worked for me.

I am firing the test today, cool down and look at then tomorrow. It truly is the best thing about this kiln, less wait time.

Here's the shop view from the work building now that the large kiln is gone. I am enjoying the new view and the light that comes in through the door.

Living with Mr. Doubt

Do you wake up some days only to doubt every thought in your head?
There are days that we all breeze through life, like a skater on ice. Then there are other days that it is all you can do to take care of the task at hand.
Those are the days that Mr. Doubt comes to call.
He is great at sitting on your shoulder and whispering sweet nothings in your ear. He loves to start with, "what are you doing?" and then go on to,"where are you going with this?' Oh, buddy, get off my shoulder and go bug some other poor soul.

I think we all have these times no matter what you are doing as a living where you feel like an imposter in your own skin.
There are days where it's all good and days where a good hide under the covers is what you need.
We love what we are doing, but there are days that we wonder if.....wonder if we should have taken a different path, a better path to a higher life style. I do wonder if I had been the teacher I thought I was going to be if I would have lusted after being a potter. We all wonder if, if this, if that, if only.
Then you get a grip and move on.
This is what we do.
And, Mr. Doubt, go take a long walk on a short pier, I have things to do.

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?

Fillers or tuckers

 When filling up a kiln we all think about the many pots that it takes to fill the space. There is always a space that you can tuck a piece of pottery.
  These small juice cups have become a favorite of many of our customers that they have become part of the plan anytime we are firing.

It is funny how they have gone from extra to a must have.
Mark probably makes 30 to 40 of these per kiln load.

 They are just the right size for the corners at the end of shelves, between the kiln bricks. They are also good between some of the larger pieces.

We glaze them in a variety of glazes and have found that many of our customers like to mix and match them,
rather than have them all match, they will look for 6-8 that don't match.

 I love that the buying public has caught up with me.
I don't like everything to match and I go out of my way to be sure that some things don't match.

Of course that does not mean you can not have 6-8 of the same things, by all means please do.

I also find it fun to hear how these are used, water, wine, milk, a shot of your favorite hard stuff.

Mark made some new tumblers for Ms. B and we both ended  up keeping a second to drink from.

Mine has become my favorite for now. It feels really good in the hand and drinks well.

Don't tell but I have favorite coffee mugs as well....
I have one I will hand wash in order to use again. With  cabinet full of cups and mugs this is so silly- but there you go- I am washing this one..

I also look at these and wonder what is my favorite glaze.
Hummmm, that might be another post.
M

It is December, don't you know?

The weather here the past week has been a great reminder of why we live in the south.
We have been having 70 degree days.
How can you beat that!?
I know a change is coming and winter will be on us soon , but it is hard to beat these days of still warm days or as I love to call the , "the flue days".
We have been catching up on other things besides pottery, but are getting back in the swing of things pottery wise as well.
The bisque kiln was loaded yesterday, after a trip to buy a new microwave and put the car in the shop, and today we are back on the wheel.
It always seems that December is a month where we catch up on all things ignored.
The car goes in the shop.
A closet gets cleaned out.
I pay attention to the dust and the corners in the house.
I look at the pile, I mean really look, of the year's worth of paper work.
You all know what I mean.
We all tend to shove this stuff aside while we are busy and then the next think you know it crawls out like a forgotten long lost cousin that you always knew was there but no one wants to talk about.
Now I still need to finish fixing the blog, catch up on the piles and corners and figure out what is happening for next year.
And don't even say Christmas shopping...
There it is out there as well.
We find that we are so busy making sure that our customers have their gift shopping done that we get a bit behind...and the family after 30 years does not want more, or sure they do---pottery?!

I did go do something fun Sunday and went off with a group to make a wreath.

I had never done anything like this before and it was fun to just lose myself  in the process.
I did not think I just did.
It was relaxing and there was hot chocolate and nibbles... Mark stayed home to fish and watch football.
I bet he would pay real money to send me off again.
Hummm
Well pots are calling.
M

a few pots got listed on the etsy shop- our favorite mugs.
It was great to see one being used by Tracey at her end of the day, blow out weekend.
Note to self- change her blog feed to The Fifth Floor.....

A sign of the times

It's time.
It's time to get a new sign made for the end of the driveway.
This one was done in 1994 and it seems a bit dated and worn.
Tired- time to retire.
We have yet to find the time to come up with a new sign but I think we need to chuck this and start over.
When we had our first sign done it was before computers made it easy to design your own.
Yea, we are talking back in the dark ages, before the earth cooled.
It was 1982 and a fellow potter student had a back ground in graphic Arts and she designed our sign, stamp, business card and logo. There is no font that matches what she did back then and we have had others try to repeat the logo without much success.
But- things change and what seemed up and coming then seems more like the hair-do of the 80's.
You know how you look back and think- gee, did we really wear that, did we all go for the poodle perm look- guys fess up some of you were right there getting yours done too.
It is time to maybe start anew.
Time to think about changing the look- new colors maybe.
One of our hesitations has been that we have had problems with folks who think our sign looks better with rocks and eggs added.
I know- we were not thrilled with the additions, but they liked it enough to come back more then once.
There is also the issue of the open/close sign.
We paint one, they steal it.
We paint another one and take it down every night for a year and then get lazy- they steal it again.
We go to the hardware and buy one of those tacky looking ones, you know the ones, and they even steal those.
We have thought of ways to keep them from stealing them but it might mean jail time for one of us.
So we are still thinking about how best to attach an open/close sign which does not grow legs in the middle of the night.

The orchid is still blooming away.
She has one more pod to open.
She has started dropping a few of the blooms.
Seems our days are numbered, but I have enjoyed her everyday.
I am thinking about taking her back to the Orchid place when she is all done to see if they can lay hands on her and bring her back for someone else to enjoy.
Our days are numbered.

Mark and I took a long walk the other night.
We went up the back pasture and walked what will be a new road into the back of the property.
Today the we had someone here to plant grass on the road bed and sorta fix things up a bit.
I took this picture because it showed how different the soil is from one area to the next.
Look at how red that soil is at the top.
It might be worth trying to make a slip out of it.
Then I have to show you our trees.
See that sweet little pine tree sticking up?
We had all the land replanted after it was cut last fall.
Oh, I didn't tell you all about the cut.
Too painful- but life is full of pain and changes and sometimes you just have to roll with those changes.
Me- the tree hugger had to have the timber on the farm cut last fall.
I dealt with it pretty well considering all that had gone on before and since we cut.
Changes- you don't get to live this long with out them.

So what are we doing in the pottery?
Throwing- how about you?
M