Boil Bubble

81998H - Pink Pustules and Toothpaste ©2010

81998H - Pink Pustules and Toothpaste ©2010

There are so many things one never expects a glaze to do. These platters threw that idea in the garbage. (which makes sense considering how many hundreds of these platters ended up in the dumpster!)

I never imaged I would keep a platter with pink glassy pustules covering the surface. I never expected I would be excited to see frozen examples of cracked glacial toothpaste. Go figure.

Looking Back

Back when Nancy and I were first getting Cold Springs Studio Pottery off the ground, our focus was on making kick-ass retro stylin' pots which could work just as well in a modern asain-aesthetic lifestyle. To that end, Nancy and I looked at piles of magazines and books trying to understand how to convey that message with our images.




At that point, I had gone through my first back surgery to fix a herniated disk which had ejected disk material which had become lodged in the spinal canal. Not fun. Left me with my right leg partially paralyzed. Post surgery though, I had a six week recovery at home. Keeping me from going out of my mind, I decided to pick up digital photography. I had shot primarily with slide film in the 5 years prior to that point, but digital seemed easier.



We borrowed cameras from folks we knew, from different departments that would loan them out at Cornell... even tried a few in stores here and there around town. After doing a fair bit of internet searching, I settled on the Olympus C-5050Z which at the time (2003) was a pretty high end camera. I couldn't afford a dslr yet, and this could do almost everything that my older 35mm camera could do.






With the Oly in hand, Nancy and I set up all sorts of shots in our make-shift studio. We had virtually nothing that anyone would recognize as lighting gear. A cobbled together lightbox hung suspended from the ceiling in our throwing studio. Made from foam core, lightweight wood and spare electrical parts, this lightbox formed the basis for our photography work for the next 7 years. Here are a few images taken back then... and then revisited in Lightroom this week. Pretty interesting to see how these images can be re-imagined.

Still sorting more stuff

Okay... I have collected a mountain of stuff for the pottery studio over the past 20 years.
I mean, we're talking TONS of stuff. The time has come to start saying goodbye to much of it. That said, most of it is now up for grabs. Seriously. My library is now up for sale. I have a great pdf explaining each and every title.... and prices too! Anything that I can't sell (cheap!) to a potter, I will put on ebay at the going rate (which is a lot more than I would ever consider asking of a fellow potter.) [Okay, we have had numerous folks emailing, asking me to send them the pdf for the books.... HERE it is!] (I will do my best to update this daily as books sell)...another caveat: this pdf is 7 pages in color, it isnt a small file, so please be patient while it loads.

I am also getting rid of a lot of display stuff from the studio. Props, plate stands, plate hangars, and miscellaneous stuff one acquires so as to best display one's work. Pictures are available. Suffice to say, if you saw the display stands in any of my earlier studio images... those props are now up for grabs. Make me an offer and I will pack up a box for you.

I am also selling off massive quantities of Mason stains. Obviously, having worked in bright colors, we have a LOT of Mason stains. In many cases, well over 10# of many of some stains. Make me an offer on the whole lot and I will be a happy guy. Otherwise, I start breaking this all down piecemeal. I will probably be grumpy about this in the end.

I have a wonderful digital balance from Ohaus (Scout) model available. $50. CHEAP. Paid over $100 for it and it has been a fantastic addition to my glaze bench.

For folks who weigh out their clay before throwing, I have two medium scales (weigh up to 25#) available. $15 each.

I am happy to ship in whatever manner folks want to pay for. If you happen to live locally, so much the better! Come and get it. I will be making this list more comprehensive in the weeks to come.

Full PDF of the booklist and yes, this is a BIG file. Drink some coffee while it loads.