Sunday and loving it

©(598) - "from a clam shell, inside looking out", currently on loan to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. Ithaca Ceramics exhibit will be having an opening on July 11th, 5pm - 7pm

©42998VII - untitled

Today was one of those days where the air was just as thick as peanut butter. About an hour ago the rain finally came and brought some cooler air with it. The forecast originally called for a fairly still day, winds of less than 10mph. Well, sure enough, as soon as I was setup outside to spray some pots, the wind kicked up and made me work that much harder to get the spray ONLY where I wanted it. Got it done and turned my attention to some BIG platters that needed some epoxying of eyelets on their backsides. Betcha never imagined that epoxy goo, slathered all over, on paper plates could be considered aerodynamic! Yeah, well.

In all, it was a fantastic day. We had visits from some wonderfully fun customers and still managed to get a lot of work done both on the house, the garden, the yard and in the studio. Nice day!

Here's another couple of platters from the vault. More to come.

Ideas that slowly crystalize

(12199C) - whole lotta crunch goin' on

(82098I) nearly 3 days of cooling after a 4 day firing to cone 8 in a brick saggar

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it is that really ties things together, what sums them up, what leads to the solution, etc. I think that crystallization explains it succinctly. First off you have to give ideas, problems, chemicals...lot of room to flow, expand, explore. Then there's a certain amount of work that has to be input (heat! stimulus, $$). Time becomes a factor too. Too much time during the input end, and you just burn out. Throw too much money at something and it may as well be burned. But JUST the right amount... and at just the right time, and it is better than gold. Same with glazes.

Where it gets interesting though is when time becomes a MAJOR player. By leaving things alone, and not changing or inputting new information... sometimes this becomes the catalyst. With these glazes, the super-slow cooling of many days made such a huge difference. Crystals I have never seen before in ANY glazes, were not only happening, but they were popping up in ways I am still amazed by. Imagine layers of ice forming on a lake. Then rain on top, freezing. Then a cold snap, and more ice forming below the first two layers of ice. I have glazes with similar behavior. Stranger still, are the ones where there is still a very fluid and sometimes gaseous bubbly interior! Those are some amazing glazes.

So we are left with time. Time cooling. Time left alone. Perhaps that is what this time over the past few years has all been about. Time for me to solidify my feelings about teaching. Time for me to get my head into a space where I can focus on my student's needs. Guess that means it is time for me to get back out into the teaching sphere again. Workshops here I come!

I have spent so much time lately making images of these BIG platters that I am embarrassed to admit how LITTLE time I have spent in the studio making new work. I forgot how much FUN these big monsters are! They are so heavy and huge! Even the 18-19" ones are still around 30-40# !! Having this spiffy new lens (Nikon 60mm micro f2.8) has made ALL the difference.

So what next? Well, my thinking lately has been to make a book of ALL the platters. Try to finally have some way of documenting the whole series. I think the first place they will all end up, is our website. I think it would be great if they could find greater visibility via galleries and exhibitions, but after this year, I wont be holding my breath. Eleven of them are now in residence at Cornell's Johnson Museum. The show will open July 5th.

More platter details

©2008 (81998H) - currently on loan to the Johnson Museum at Cornell University

©2008 (82598C) - wait till you see this one in person!!

After spending the weekend shooting more platters from the Glaze Tectonics series, I am excited! It has been over 8 years since these last saw the light of day. In one crate, mice moved in a made my life an olfactory hell. Other than that, this has been amazing. Here are a few more details from some of the upcoming platters! Hopefully I will get a chance to clean up the larger platter images tonight or tomorrow.

Demands, Diamonds and Demons

detail of 12199C - untitled

These past few days have flown past. My original plans for last week were to get caught up on all the outstanding orders and make way (and time) for new fun stuff before our next shows in July. Didnt happen. Instead, I found myself on Friday, frantically trying to get the LARGE Glaze Tectonics platters ready to head to Cornell's Johnson Museum for an upcoming show. (as soon as there is web info on this I will post it.)

To that end, I tried to shoot all the platters I took to CU. Some turned out well, others not so hot. I will include a few tonight, and more tomorrow once I have had a chance to do some editing and cleaning up.

by the window - shot with Nikon D80, Nikkor 60mm, f2.8AF-S lens, daylight

Best thing that happened on Thursday was Aurora's end of the year concert. I asked her, before the concert, if she was nervous about performing. Nope. She was jazzed up. So, in a brief quiet moment before dinner, as the light was coming into the dining room just right, I caught a quick picture of her.

And lastly a curse goes out to my pal in Miami...Jose... who turned me on to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.... oh jeez! This guy can WRITE! I have seen way too many nights where I slid into bed at 10pm only to turn out the light sometime around 1am. Damn you JOSE!!!! Storyline manages to merge a private-eye wizard, vampires, Chicago cops and hoodlums, demons and fallen angels. Oh boy! Good books, fun plots, wonderful dark humor and a great way to take the edge of the day.

It's all in the details

finally starting to see bees in the yard more often than last year

among the allium we find....

Sometimes I feel like I get too close to things. Other times I feel very detached. Today was one of those days where I understand WHY I make pots. The mud that flew through my hands just a few days ago really made someone's day today.

Here's to the small stuff.

Stopping to smell the flowers

a wonderful columbine given to us by Leah a few years back

nothing quite like a hot pink foxglove/digitalis

This has to be the oddest June in my life. One week we are in the 90's and today could barely get above 60... (not that I'm complaining!... today was NICE!)
The rain has really made a huge difference in both my attitude and in what plants are finally blooming.

Here are a couple quick pics with the new lens my family and friends were kind enough to get me for my birthday/Father's Day... THANK YOU Nancy, Aurora, Mom & Dad, Carrie, Tobi and Bruce.... I LOVE this lens!!!

Train Track Blues

It has finally happened. The tracks have been laid. Now we're singing the blues with blue rubber bands on Aurora's new braces! Her original plan was to go back to school today after getting her braces installed. Made it halfway home before the headache/jawache kicked in. So she has decided that the afternoon will be spent with popsicles and cold drinks and tylenol instead.

Can you see the moon?

why a red door?

the broadside of a barn

can you see the moon?

It is always hard to find a way to express all the different thoughts running through my head as the day draws to a close. I probably should do my blogging in the morning when I am less fatigued and more focused.

Tonight I am thinking about the similarities (and differences) in how I pursue my photography and my ceramic work. Very interesting comparison. More on that tomorrow. For now, more pictures from last weekend's outing to Seneca Falls. I sure hope we can get up there again this weekend for some early AM shooting. Very different light!

Storm Rollin' on Through

Tonight the sky was lit up like I have never seen. The rain came down all at once for 20 min or so. A few hours worth of water in minutes. Then the sky cleared and the sun began to go down. By the time I realized how cool the light was, we were probably 5 min or so from total darkness. Here's my first real attempt at seriously LOW light shooting.

Happy Birthday to me

one of the pictures Nancy shot with my Nikon

That's right, happy birthday to me... yesterday I turned another year older. To add insult to injury, the weather has been wicked hot and humid. Feels like a hairy gorilla came and sat down on my shoulders!

To mollify the humidity and to escape the heat, Nancy and I put our kayaks in the lake for a morning dip yesterday. Paddled around long enough to wake up two herons and a couple of mallards. Great time. Heck, anytime on the water is GOOD time! The big success of the morning paddle... getting out of the boat without tipping, no getting wet, and no falling over. Last thur when Aurora and I were getting out, I stepped backward, tripped over my paddle with one foot still in the boat, flipped end over end, and found myself on the opposite side of the boat, laying in the water and wondering what on earth happened. So yesterday was a better step in the right direction.

After cleaning up and putting the boats away, Nancy and I decided it was just too darned hot for anyone to be out shopping for pottery (seeing as how we had seen NO traffic the Saturday before!)... so we put out a sign saying " TOO HOT TO MAKE POTS" and then headed off for an excursion around the lakes. We found ourselves wandering along routes 5 & 20, driving through Geneva, Waterloo, Canandaigua and eventually ended up out in East Bloomfield, stopping along the way at antique stores and such. Turned north from there and went to Pittsfield. Had fun looking through a bike shop. Finally headed home via route 96 through Victor and Phelps and such. By the time 7pm arrived, we were about an hour from home, the sun was dropping in the sky and we were driving through Seneca Falls. Nancy asked about stopping to take some pics of the rundown mills along the river. Here are a few of my images. More of Nancy's images hopefully later today or tomorrow... or maybe just a link to HER blog!

Flowers don't whine

Second abyssmal show of the year so far

our booth at 100 American Craftsmen at the Kenan Center in Lockport NY

I know "business is always good"... but it ain't. Anyone who argues that this whole economic slow-down will blow over is either obscenely rich and insulated from this insanity, or they are just living in dreamland. This past weekend we watched for three days as sales went from bad, to worse, to nothing. In the 20 years I have made pots and the 24 years I have sold pottery (previously for my aunt Beryl in Miami).... I have never seen days with NO sales. We had wonderful crowds at the show, but no sales on Sunday. Maybe it's one of those towns with the blue laws still on the books.... no pottery sales after 8am on Sundays. Who knows?! All I can say is that we lost our shirts.

The upside: the promoters of the show were wonderful. For the greatest part, our fellow fine-crafters were amazing. There was a much smaller quotient of the artists as hacks. No buy-sell. Overall, there was a really good showing of the state of fine crafts.

Typically, on a given day at any show, we get all sorts of questions. People want to talk about their experience with clay, with what they've collected in the past, whatever. I LOVE IT. The exchange is probably one of the biggest reasons I make pots. I love that sharing! There was precious little of it at this show. Probably our biggest shock was the number of people (42) who asked us if what we were making was Fiestaware. Not comparing our color range to early 20th century American Art pottery.... but asking us if we were SELLING Fiestaware. Mind you, the show is called 100 American Craftsmen. I think the name of the show should have been a clue.

We met a couple at the show where the gentleman was downing a Starbucks tall at 9pm... So I had to know why... late shift? All night drive? Nope. He has 4 daughters that range in age from 4 to 2.5 to 2.5 to 2.5..... yep, triplets.... talk about the estrogen ocean! After ordering some footed mugs we talked about how much they enjoyed the textural elements of our work. Usually we hear the words COLOR first... texture later... so this was interesting. Turns out, like many men, he is partially color blind. Red could just as well be green or dark brown. BUT the texture is what caught his eye. All the raised slip trailing and textured stamping... really made an impression (pardon the pun). I love doing custom orders, but I LOVE doing orders where I know that the pots are going to be used and loved. I look forward to the day when all four daughters in tow, they come to visit the studio. Guess I'll have to make sure to have more mugs on hand!

End of the Day

Memorial Day weekend comes to a close and the prognostication for rain is BUST. I spent the morning watering the transplanted daylilies JUST so it would rain. No avail. After a pretty slow day in the studio yesterday, no customers, a few phone call orders for a wedding registry in California (next weekend)... we decided that today would be even slower in the gallery. Nancy and I had been contemplating a drive to Canandaigua and Pittsford to check out two galleries we've been approached by. What a gorgeous day for a drive!!

Tonight was one of those nights where the humidity came in and sat down to stay for dinner, but no rain came. In the end, as I was weeding an old bed and trying to get ready to add some dahlias, this luscious sunset came right over the pines and nearly screamed at me to pay attention. Not a bad way to say goodnight.

Wondering About Tourism

In the past couple of years we have seen some remarkable changes in the demographics of our customer base. When we first began selling our pottery in the Ithaca/Trumansburg area, our main focus was on our local clientelle. We put up posters all over the Commons in Ithaca, everywhere we could find on Cornell's campus, and almost every storefront window in Trumansburg. We also advertized incredibly heavily in our local papers and mailbox circulars. End result... not much. Probably about a 2-3% return on investment our first year and less the second and third years. Hmmm.

Our next idea to get folks out to the studio was to join the Greater Ithaca Art Trail and the Trumansburg Area Chamber of Commerce. For the past three years we have taken both organization's brochures with us to all of our fairs and shows. Our biggest hurdle has been getting people to understand that the Art Trail brochure comes out in June or July for the given year, so when we do shows in May - July, we often have the prior year's brochure to hand out. Sometimes people are really confounded by finding "last years" brochure. But getting 50 Ithaca artists to have their slides/images in for jurying before December just wont happen. Sort of like herding cats.

This approach worked well in some ways. We had a lot of visitors during Art Trail's first weekend, but the second weekend was usually slower for us. Since we are doing Art Trail during the middle weekends in October, the weather can be pretty iffy. Some years it verges on SNOW!
Other years the weather has been beautiful. Last year the leaves were just raging reds and yellows... but our visitors must have been out leaf-peeping because our second weekend was almost devoid of Art Trail visitors.

Two years ago we joined the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. At the suggestion of Jeff and Judy at the Cayuga Creamery, this year we joined the Fingerlakes Tourism Alliance and the Fingerlakes Artist and Crafters Network. This past Thursday I joined Judy and Jeff on their annual brochure delivery run up and down Cayuga Lake. In less than a week after hauling ourselves around the lake, we're already starting to see the fruits of our labours. Not bad.

Next weekend we'll be at the Kenan Center at the 100 American Craftsmen show. Should be a very interesting time for us. From what I have heard from other ceramic artists who've done the show, this is THE show to look forward to! Nice.

Bringing this back to the topic of tourism.... most of the shows we do in Rochester, Ithaca, Canandaigua... are all fairly small, local shows, nice but not huge money makers. What they are fantastic for though, is getting our name and work out there... and subsequently, getting more visitors to come down to the studio. This has proved over and over to be the BEST way of going from a single sales encounter to a longer lasting patron/potter relationship. So, hopefully, we'll see more of that in the Buffalo region next weekend as we do the Kenan show.

Trimming and Drying in the Sun

Today is one of those truly rare days in the Fingerlakes. SUN SUN SUN, gorgeous puffy white clouds, silky blue sky... nice breeze carrying the sunshine everywhere.

And what am I doing? Trimming. Loading a bisque. Late last night Nancy and I decided we needed more sorbet bowls for the upcoming show at the Kenan Center - 100 American Craftsmen show next weekend. To that end, I threw for a while last night, dried them fast in the sun this morning, trimmed most of the afternoon, and am now sun-drying them further in hopes of loading this bisque and firing it off tonight. Fun and FAST.

My real hope is to be done with the mud part of the day soon so we can go toss the kayaks in the water this afternoon. Nancy hasn't been out on the lake this year yet. Perfect day to put paddles in the puddle!

Last weekend, this weekend

Way out in Cayuga Lake

"Try and catch me Dad"

Aurora looking good as she plays in her Necky

Aurora's first time out in HER boat

Last weekend Aurora and I were able to get out on the water, paddle around on glassy smooth water, and take a few pictures. With film. I havent shot film since 1999. Probably never would again except that waterproof digital cameras are still prohibitively expensive and seem to be a real compromise in technology. We found a waterproof 35mm camera back in Feb, and planned to take pictures in FL while we were diving. Didnt happen. Turns out that the NiMH batteries we brought with us had lost most of their charge in the time between leaving NY and getting out on the boat in FL.... got the camera into its housing, all ready to hit the ocean, and zip. Nada. Nothing.

Fast forward 3 months, and we loaded it with fresh batteries, and took it with us kayaking. Wonderful thing to have with us on our little voyages. Here are a few of the pictures.

Reflections

This weekend has been pretty interesting. Rather than spending it all immersed in making pots for our upcoming show, we had a chance instead to unpack pots that are part of the family museum... our collection of other people's pots, historical pots, and some of my old relics. Fun stuff. Nancy decided to tear through the guest room and root out anything and everything in that room. Time for major spring cleaning!

Aurora and I made a wicked strawberry and rhubarb crisp today for a potluck at our local CSA, Sweetland Farm in Trumansburg. Alas, today was wet, cold and really grey so the CSA tour of the farm wasnt really a fun option. We arrived, ate our share of all sorts of interesting foods, and then stood around wondering who all these people were. Even after having lived in this small town for almost 8 years, I still feel like I know hardly anyone. Hopefully joining this CSA will help with that.

Mothra vs. George

Mothra

Me n' George out on the lake again

Today was pretty sweet. Started the morning off finding this wild white moth hiding on the doorframe into the house. Didn't move an inch all day, despite all three of us banging through the storm door over and over.

After taking care of morning chores, handling the morning's footed mugs, and decorating yesterday's batch of footed mugs, Aurora and I went out for a little kayaking adventure on the lake. Wonderfully glassy smooth water. Just amazing this year. We made it out about 40 minutes or so, not terribly far, then this wild chilly wind came off the hills. The water started to hump up and get little goosebumps on the waves. Pretty wild! So, we took the hint and started heading back. Made it to shore, loaded up and even made it home with time to get the boats off before the rain hit. What a deluge! Rained for about an hour, with 10 min of that time being such a hard rain we couldnt see across the driveway! Hopefully tomorrow will be a little sunnier and we'll be able to get the boats into the water again. It is such a great excuse to get out of the studio and out onto the water!

Getting Wet

At last, GEORGE and I got wet! After all the waiting, today was the perfect day to hit the lake. Suffice to say, the pictures cant convey the awesome-ness of the day. Just amazing. The water was so glassy smooth near shore that you could see down about 20 ft or so. After venturing farther afield I found that the north end of the park's jetty was harbouring the bigger waves. As good a time as any to see how the boat would behave... and so I went. It was very interesting. More on that another time. For now, let's just say, it was an excellent day. Sun and fun.

Oh, and we unloaded a fantastic firing this morning. Great pots. Most are getting packed up and shipped out tomorrow. Guess that means I need to make more for US.

Downtime is such a downer

Been off my feet now for over a week. Just after my last posting I had my third bout with diverticulitis. It was the worst attack I have ever had. Well... after a week and a half of major antibiotics, I am on the road to recovery. I have to give credit where credit is due though. Without Nancy and Aurora I wouldn't have been able to cope. Our neighbors and friends all came to our aid. Many thanks to Mary Ellen Salmon and her hubby Joe, Ken Bedell, and Robert Lodinsky. Makes me mighty proud to have such good friends!

It is always staggering to me how burdensome being sick seems to be. I was behind in production BEFORE I got sick, but now I feel like there is a mountain of work waiting to be dealt with.

Ahh, but at least there is work, right?

Ran some tests on our Sunset glaze this week. We have been having the most unusual problem with our most stable glaze. Sunset has been our ROCK for the past 8 years. All of sudden it has FREAKED out. Looks like a bad sunburn complete with blisters and crawling and other nastiness. Mind you, this isnt happening in a 5 gal bucket or a 1000g test batch....nope, this is going on in our production volume 20gal bucket. And of course we have 4 orders waiting for sunset. A Perfect Storm eh?

So, after ruminating on this for over 3 months now, and trying to wrap my brain around the causes, everything keeps coming back to the stain which seems so improbable. We went through and remade the glaze, 2x now, with new stain, new raw materials for the rest of the glaze ... and each test was the same result. BAD Sunset. Yesterday's test was interesting though.... I figured that Mason may have changed the chemistry of the stain, increasing the zirconia in the mix, then it would reason they have decreased the cadmium/selenium encapsulated by the Zr. How to test this idea.... I figured the first need was to get the glaze back to being smooth and silky, so thickness in application was my first goal. Nailed that. Then started adding MORE stain to see if I could recapture the depth of color and hopefully overcome the apparent lack of Cd/Se. The tests came out this morning early... and lo and behold... by increasing the stain from 9% to 14% we can get pretty close to our original color and the smooth satin quality seems to be back. At this point, my standing questions to Mason are yet unanswered. Hopefully I will finally hear back from them this week! Next step; a 5gal test batch and application on REAL pots!!

Here's hoping for salvation of Sunset.

Saturday and here come the crowds

Starting at about 10am, we started seeing the beginnings of our Spring tourists coming to the shop. I think there is a collective sigh of relief to know that we are still drawing customers in light of the economic dire straights the media hypes so heavily. Mind you, I dont disagree about the economic straights that we are in... but I think the media has definitely created a level of panic that wasnt there and maybe shouldnt be there. From our end, I have seen, both at Wine Trail events and Chamber of Commerce events, this general sense of malaise and resignation. I think this is a self fulfilling promise. Nancy and I used to say, when we first began, Business Is Always Good. Say it often enough, and it starts to seem that is the reality.

In effort to play into the media hype about these wonderful rebate checks coming from King George, we have christened our new Kayak, George. Here's a quick pick.

Taking Carrie's Platter to Cornell's Johnson Museum

Carrie's Purple Platter

Detail of 122198J-Carrie's Purple Platter

Nancy and I have been invited to show some of the platters I made when I was in grad school at Utah State. It has been nearly 9 years since these were last shown publicly. My hope is that they will find a good reception in this community.

To that end, today I took Carrie Crane's Purple Twister Platter to be photographed by Cornell's Johnson Museum staff. I am excited to see how their image differs from the one I made here. This is actually a composite image. It was shot outdoors, on a telephone pole, at 11am, bright sun, and then superimposed onto the background of a platter which had been shot indoors last year. God Bless Photoshop.

Fun things!