Finally back on the wheel

So after 2 months and untold hours being a shopkeeper I am finally getting some wheel time. Emotionally it feels good to be making pieces again. Physically on the other hand it has been a bit challenging. Even with a softer clay the wedging/throwing process is really starting to cause me some wrist issues. I have managed to make a couple of pieces in the last week, some of them I will even keep.

I started off with a few one piece goblets. These have turned out to be fairly popular so I thought I should make up a few more.

Here is the video of the making of a couple of them. Or not, for some reason blogger is not letting me post my youtube videos. So here is the link to it instead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1F2gXMCMwQ

The globe things are an attempt on my part to make "chopstick" lid containers. Here is the link to the making of one of them. I definitely need to work at it some more but it could make its way into my bag of tricks... maybe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prySYW4W-kw

And finally I threw an American Southwest style storage jar, and then immediately randomly brushed on some white slip to give it an Asian feel. Southwest/Asian fusion. Its not just for trendy restaurants anymore. Okay that sounded a little less corny in my head.

I am thinking that this is going to be unglazed on the outside but I will wait to make the final decision about that until it comes out of the bisque.

I have a semi busy day planned today, I need to get the new goblets slipped and decorated (yes I will get pics). I also need to finish up the recycling that I had just started. I think that one of the lidded containers should also be ready to have the lid cut on it, so I will get that done and the video of that up. Maybe if there is time left over at the end of all that I will make some more. I need more casseroles, cereal bowls, plates, dessert plates, and tumblers. But it does feel good to be making again.

New Pieces, New Shop Space... Busy Week

Well I have have a fairly busy week. I took advantage of last weekends nice weather and got another glaze load fired. It was kind of a mixed bag. Several pieces didn't come out as nice as I would have liked, in addition not only did my pyrometer decide to fail on me, I realized that the box of cones that I had bought last time which not only are used in cone packs but also in the kiln sitter on the kiln are not cone 1 like they ought to be. There are some that are cone 06 a few cone 04 and some that I am not sure about because I can't read them. Needless to say that this makes firing a serious challenge.

I did mange to get a couple of pictures before I boxed them up.

As much as I like this green slipped bowl it ended up with a crack most of the way around the outside.

In other news I have been hard at work setting up new shop space. I got the opportunity to have a small space next to the used book store that I have been displaying my work at. I have spent much of the week working on getting it set up and displaying not only my work but that of local artists as well.

It is in serious need of TLC but it is getting there. I have spent a good portion of the time bleaching the walls, and have decided that I am just going to take the plunge and paint over them. The years of various uses that the space has seen have left a permanent mark on them.

Not sure if you can make it out but I found a good use for all of those pottery videos that I made and uploaded.

 

Latest Firing and such

Okay so I will admit it, I am a bad blogger. I have said this before and will probably continue to say it. I try but there always seems to be a good reason not to sit down at the computer and write a blog post. Lately the problem has either been that I am working and at the point where I am done working I am all tapped out of creative energy, or I am not working and that is usually because I am not feeling creative at all. I blame the latter on the ridiculous weather that we are being afflicted with so far this "spring". The last 10 days is the perfect example... we had 4 days of storms that were constant enough that there was not possibility of getting any firing done. This past weekend was much nicer with lots of sun and temperatures in the mid 80's. I did manage to get 2 kiln loads fired, a bisque load which I was able to pack very full and I now have the remainder of the winter's work bisqued with the exception of a couple of large pieces that are to big to play well with others. I also got a glaze load for the new line fired. I am generally happy with most of it. There were a couple of pieces that I was not super excited about and 2 pieces which went straight into the break bucket. I had hoped to get another glaze load fired but it was late yesterday afternoon when I unloaded and there was no way that my body was going to allow me to fire overnight last night. Plus we are supposed to be getting some decent thunderstorms today starting around noon and there was no way that I would have been able to get the kiln unloaded before then. Tomorrow the forecast is for... wait for it.... SNOW. I mean seriously it is May, we shouldn't be getting snow. So this week is going to be kinda useless for firing.

I haven't managed to get much throwing done lately, with the exception of a couple of fermenting crocks. Hopefully at least one of them is spoken for but I am not going to count on that until they are done as I have had pretty poor luck with them and cracking in the firing.

This is one of the German style ones that has a channel to put water in so that you don't have to skim them

This one is an American style one with straight sides

Both of them are about 1 gallon, these will go into the load with big stuff that I have left.

Here are the pics for the latest firing.

Om mugs for a customer pretty happy with the way these came out

A few slipware mugs, still happy

This mug gave its life for a glaze test. I am looking for a green glaze. Not sure what happened with this, there is definitely green in the glaze where it is over white slip, over the raw clay it is much more blue, hmmmm.

This tea bowl was kinda a glaze test as well. I dumped the little bits of glaze that were left over from test tiles into one container and mixed it up really well, beats dumping them down the sink. Kinda happy with this one.

10 inch dinner plates, there are 2 that say Live Simply/Love Greatly and 2 that say Speak Kindly/Act Generously. These ended up getting a good amount of reduction and I am not sure how as the kiln itself never went into reduction. Regardless I am happy with these and they should go pretty quick.

A couple more 10 inch dinner plates. This glaze is a tad bit under matured. It should look like the plates above, I had considered refiring them but I have decided it is not worth the risk of them warping which would be a serious possibility, maybe they will grow on me.

Small bowls, generally okay about most of these. They are about the perfect size for a scoop of ice cream and a serious amount of chocolate sauce.

This bowl was another sort of glaze test. It is the exact same glaze that is on the tea bowl but in a slightly cooler part of the kiln. I like this one as well.

I am seriously edging towards feeling like I need a larger kiln. As it is I am having to make to many choices about what goes into the kiln including having to break up orders which invariably leads to different appearances. I have contemplated adding another couple of ring sections to this one if I can find them but apparently 21" kilns are becoming rarer and nobody is getting rid of the used ones. I think that I need to do some more thinking on this.

I am also giving a lot of thought to bringing the studio back to the house so that I can work outside but that is not going to be until the weather settles more than it has been lately. 

And finally I am going to try to make an effort to post more regularly than I do, I like to think that that will happen more once the studio is back here but I know better than to promise anything.