Living With Pots

This soup mug was made by Ashley Kim. Not sure if you can make out the detail, but there is a line of red stitching around the waistline of this soup mug. Amazing feel in the hand. The recurved handle fits so incredibly well.  Ashley is having her holiday studio sale right now, so grab some pots before they are gone!

This next mug was made by Lynne Hobaica. My friend Sabra bought it for Aurora when she and I visited the Genessee Pottery in Rochester back at the end of Summer. Fantastic show! Just wish we had been there opening night so we could get more pots!

This last pot is one of my earliest bowls. Probably hadn't made two dozen bowls at this time. I thought of this as a BIG bowl when I made it. I had my daily lunch of ramen noodles in this through my second year of college. It travelled with me across the country so many times. It made the trip to WA state, to Florida, back to MA. Eventually out to UT for a long time. Finally it made it's home back here. The strangest thing about this bowl is its boring color. Honey Clear was a glaze I picked up from Vince Pitelka when I was at UMASS/amherst. It is a very VERY matte magnesium based glaze, but by adding 15% manganese dioxide to the glaze, it becomes a wonderful satin matte, with a gorgeous honey color. It feels almost like silk. Unfortunately the anemic color really killed sales. Nancy says it is quite possibly her least favorite glaze she has ever seen me use.

The other novel thing about this bowl is that is has red slate powder wedged into the claybody. A friend dug some up from the running track at Smith College... in hopes of making an oil spot glaze based on recipes from Nigel Wood. His glazes never worked out, but I used some of his red slate powder in my claybody. Shredded my fingers while trying to throw the stuff. Imagine glass in your claybody... slate is sharper! ouch.

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.

Where things are at

Two weekends ago, Nancy and I BOTH threw our backs out. Nancy is already feeling much better but I am still feeling down. The real issue right now is whether or not pots will be ready for the holiday season. At this time, I dont see it happening! So, that adds to the stress.

In any event, I did have a chance to take some nice pics of some new pots.

Enjoy