New Address for Whynot Pottery

We had an address change in case you use maps to find us.
Whynot Pottery & Acacia Art Tile
1015 Fork Creek Mill Road
Seagrove NC 27341
336-873-9276
Whynotpottery.com

Let's just say

 that life got a bit busy the last few weeks after we unloaded the kiln.
Work starts back tomorrow, I am sure that will spark something more to say.
Meanwhile enjoy the last of this sweet Sunday.

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

Next weekend we will celebrate

Mark and I will be set up at the local show at the Luck's Cannery in Seagrove NC
Dates: November 17-19th
Opens Friday night: 6-9
Saturday: 9--5
Sunday: 10-4

Mark will have our shop open for regular hours on Friday and Saturday.
Not a crowd person, go out to the shops, many of them will be open.

Come out and bring your Christmas shopping list.
M

Button, button

We all remember playing this game as a kid.
Button, button, who's got the button?
If you don't know how to play this you need to look it up, really.
I have made buttons off and on for some crazy reason or another. A few weeks back as I was working on tiles, I made buttons.
When they came out of the kln I thought they were pretty cute.
I could see these on a  hats, sweaters, kid's clothes, pillows.
Just fun accents.

 I really like those stars, just a whim to cut them and make them into buttons.
I think they are cute.
A word I don't usually use with our work.

Who knows when I will try some again since things are heating up for the holiday season that is coming quick.
Mark also had 3 Tea Pots out of the last kiln that I had glazed in some of the newer combinations we are firing in the electric kiln.
It is a different way for us, but one that we are enjoying.

There is one more that I just could not get a decent picture of, all the shinny black just lets the light bounce right back at me.
I have never declared myself a person who knows how to take good pictures, I just shoot until I get lucky.

Teapot looks better in person.

Hug your loved ones, tell people hell-o as you pass them, reach out with kindness, do good things, life has been a bit hard lately and many are in pain.
I hope we can all find a way to make things better for each other.
m

something we are working on

Here is a line of teacups that we are working on.
 It has taken months of testing, firings, and planning to get to this point.
 We are happy with the results and next step is to push them into production.
I'll let you know how that is going.
BTW- I have added a step to comments because of our friend Spam.
I'll be checking and confirm your comments as I can.
Thanks!
M

These pots rock

 Just in case you are living under a rock and not going to see our page on face book I will put up some of the teapots from the last firing in Ms. B
I love the warmth of the brown with Mark's quick design running around the pot.
Then there is the new blue ash glaze that can be very blue, but looks good with a bit of that same warm brown to calm the waters a bit.
And, Mark's designs just fit the spaces so well.

 The weather this past week has been calling for some walks at the zoo. Today we walked at the zoo and followed that up by walking downtown in Asheboro just to be there in the calm of the early morning while all the stores were shut up tight.
Then a ride out on the back roads to look at the trees as they start giving the green up to bits of color here and there.
I love fall and remind myself at how quick it can come and go.
Look everyday.

Here is a nice bit of detail on the tea pot lid, just a few drops of glass to make it even better.

 And, here is the glass of the pond.
We have had great weather with little wind to speak of, it makes the pond reflections show up even better.
With a full moon out there it is time for me to take a look to see if it is at the tree tops yet.
Cheers!
M

W

Do you want to take a wee look?

 Top peep hole- cone 9 down and cone 10 just bent.

 Top of the kiln.

 Door is coming down.

promise....

those tea pots and tiles

 Mark continues working on pots to fire in Ms. B,
While I continue to work on tiles.
I am glaze testing.
I have a wee test kiln that I have been using to try and reproduce a tile I glazed months ago.
It was one of those  moments of let's see how this goes and then I was done with it. Now it seems I need to reproduce my whim.  I can't remember what I did yesterday much less what I did months ago. Then again as in all testing I see some possibilities in some of the things I am trying.
Both of these teapots are heading to new homes soon.
Mark and I were both surprised to see how quickly they were spoken for.

 

I am playing with some new to me methods of glazing tile. It has me on a fast track and I am now trying to figure out how to have more tiles made for me to work on.

I had planned to roll tiles this morning as soon as I went in to work.

Instead I picked up a paint brush and before I knew it the day was fast over.

So- tomorrow is another day for me to get some clay rolled out and then paint while I wait for tiles to dry.
Sounds like a plan.
Happy Summer!

summer fun

or; this blue is for you.
Mark is really enjoying firing Ms. B. this is his third load since he put her back to work. When we built this kiln we were thinking about a few possibilities for her.
First off, the big kiln takes a lot more work to fill, glaze, load and fire.
Second off, the big kiln was built in 1986 and it has begun to show a little age.
It has some "bald" spots that I think could be showing up in the firing.
He was a work horse, but we no longer want to ride behind him, and, it is time to look at where or what we will do in that spot next, but that is for another day.
Third, and, last but not least, we want to work in some new glazes. We know that all things move in new directions, it is true, you must be willing to move with them.

In Ms. B we are working on different wood ash glazes, adding in a few softer, brighter glazes, trying new and different and a little of the old.
We use to make a lot of the Turquoise glaze with wax resist, we have stuck some test in this kiln, and, we are having some success. What we have to do now is look at the old recipe and compare it to what new chemicals that are out there.
If you read me here you know that we have had some issues with chemical changes, as have many other potters.
Nothing stays the same, more testing to come.
So, stay tune, ride along with us and we'll see what comes up next.
Enough about us, go look at pots.
M
 

Flowers, Pots and double fun

If it's okay with you I will give you the run down on my crazy wild ride of a week next time.
It's been fun!

And, when she's good...

she's very, very good.
There is a learning curve with any kiln and I think that we are back on the correct path with this one.
Much happier.

Let's do it again!