Pictures of Pitchers

This was one of the first salt glazed pitchers I made in grad school. The handle attachment was so weak, so tentative... it is hard to look at now. It was sprayed with a wollastonite slip, then poured the inside with a tenmoku glaze, and then once fired in the salt kiln. I had high hopes that it would turn out this luscious buff yellow. Didnt quite work out.

This pitcher was made for me by Dave Funk. I love the thick salted surface! Rich and melty. Almost like flowing chocolate! Dave's handle attachment was so much more confident than mine, it inspired me to take bigger risks and to really seek out a way of creating handles that were uniquely mine. Took a long while to get there, but I think in the end, they definitely felt very different. I'll have to dig up some of those pitchers from Cold Springs Studio sometime.

Trying to Get Ahead

Getting ahead is oftentimes a pointless endeavour. During the Winter 2008-09, I tried my darndest to get ahead. I figured if I threw enough pots, we would have enough to carry us through the Summer and into Fall. We did great. We have consistently had mountains of bisqueware just waiting for an open kiln. And yet we never got ahead.

Inevitably, something goes awry. First it was an acute case of diverticulitis that way-laid me back in June. Tuesday I go in for surgery to resect my colon. No fun. It means I will be down and out for 4-6 weeks. For the first two weeks, my mom will be here (from Miami!). R&R is such an uncommon thing around here. The concept of actually relaxing and recuperating is such an anomaly. But I am going to be a good patient, and I am going to utilize my time out of the studio to work on other non-clay things.

I have decided to dive feet first into the Strobist-world. Just in case you've never heard of Strobist, check out David Hobby's blog. If you make images with a camera, you'll find his blog an endless source of information and insight.

I also aim to begin working on articles I promised myself I would write during the winter. I think this will also be a perfect time to pull together various ideas for classes I would like to teach. Writing a curriculum always stirs up writer's block in me, so this is a fine opportunity to reach around the subject from the other side.

Until I am back in the studio, Hannah, Nancy and Aurora will have to make do without my throwing. I have made a pile of pots this past week, and hopefully will see many of them glazed before the end of the month. Here's a quick shot of what's been happening in the studio this week.

Learning Slow

Sorbet bowls stacked

Teabowls, canisters, and mixing bowls

Or should I say slow at learning? Or learning to be slow?

This has been a very intense week for me. Between preparing for surgery, finishing orders and trying to get projects finished in the house... I have been going non-stop. While working on installing two new ceiling fans I realized I had to stop. Not because I wanted to, or because I was done... but rather because I had hit a wall and had no idea how to finish the project. Wiring has never been easy for me, but I enjoy the problem solving aspect. This was a toughie though. Lots of odd permutations of three-way switches and too many wires for the boxes. So I sat down and stared at it. For hours. I stopped working at 10pm, after nearly 4 hours of sweating and trying to bludgeon my way through. Two hours later I woke up and called my construction-guru Lee. After ten minutes I had a completely new approach. Solved the problem. Next morning Nancy and I finished off the fans, wrapped it all up, and sure enough, it worked PERFECTLY.

What did I learn? Slow is a good thing. Go slow. Learn from the slowness.






I had planned on getting a glaze firing through on Friday. Didn't happen. Three orders are waiting to ship... waiting on pots from this firing. Instead of rushing things, I waited till Sunday to fire. I had more energy, more time to glaze pots, more time to ensure I wasn't missing something. This morning I got to unload the kiln at 7am. What a gorgeous firing! Everything I needed for the orders turned out great. Such a relief.

I have been needing to take pictures of things in progress in the studio for weeks. Now that Dana and Justin are gone I find it a lot harder to get the camera out. We share a love for taking pictures... and without their feedback, I find it much harder to take the time to play. (play meaning take pictures, experiment, try new stuff)

To that end, I played today. I took my new light diffuser, set it on the stand and rigged it so that I could filter some of the light in the kiln room. Made the images very different. I think, as I slow down, I am starting to see the light differently. Our eyes crave contrast. Not sure why. Probably has to do with pattern recognition. But our camera sees so much less range tone-wise. By filtering some of the light, the camera can see closer to what my eyes perceive. At least, I think that's what is happening!

So what's next with this slow learning? Well, being down for 4-10 weeks post surgery is going to mean NOT making pots for a while. What else can I do during that time? That leads to a lot of questions and opportunities. I dont normally have down-time. Perhaps this will allow me to pursue some of the writing I have wanted to do. Maybe I'll get more reading done? Maybe I will catch up on all the bookkeeping I have been procrastinating on. Perhaps I will be able to add more images to our WholesaleCrafts.com site. Heck, for that matter, maybe I will finally be able to organize all of my images. I need some way of figuring out where all my images live. Ideas?

New Pots on Etsy today

Finally had a few minutes this week to get new images shot of some of our recent work. Lots of pitchers in these last few firings, so it was time to get some new images made. Also tried some experiments with our cranberry glaze. Took it a bit hotter and it is a MUCH better glaze now. Really like it. Unfortunately, since we dont normally have time or need to fire much hotter, and it makes all of our other glazes look weird, we need to reformulate the Cranberry. Should be ready in a few weeks I hope!

The Butter Yellow is a glaze we semi-retired last year. It just wasn't moving off the shelves nearly as fast as all of our other glazes. Sure enough, we tell folks we aren't gonna make it anymore and suddenly there's a furor! Go figure. So we brought it back for this year. When this batch is out, we're done with it.