Next Month, Next Year and some Old News

I am starting to change my mental gears as I prepare for my 30th(!) visit to Great Britain this summer. I have an exciting trip planned...I will fly into Edinburgh, Scotland and spend a couple of days there before touring in the countryside before visiting old friends. Then it's on to new friends...Hannah and Paul will be putting up with me for a few days. I will do my best to entertain some of the members of the Scottish Potters Association and, in a twist that I find delicious, I will teach the Brits to make teapots!? I think that there might be a space or two remaining if you happen to find yourself in the west of Scotland.From Hannah's I will drive south to the Cotswolds, my home away from home since 1978 when I first visited. Toff and Georgie Milway are incredibly kind to maintain my little Cotswold cottage for me when I'm here in the U.S. (lol) and I'm anxious to see all my friends there. I'm still figuring out my trip to Devon and Mr. Fitch (if you're reading this, Doug, I'll phone you this week), but I do plan to get there at some point. I'm sure that he owes me a beer!

The good news keeps on rolling...check out the listing below for next years adventure!

Kevin and I led a kiln building workshop at Penland 10 years ago and they have asked us back to do the same trick again. Check out the other lads that will be joining me! Hot stuff!

And, in case you remember that salt kiln we started months ago, I finally got a welder out to the site and we are ready to set the arch, although I have no idea when we will get to it.

50 Shots of Courage

I won't fire again until the autumn, but I am trying to get a head start before I spend a good chunk of the summer with my British 'cousins'. I've been doing lots of testing lately, and I love to sell my test tiles! You will notice that these are my classic 'juice cup' form. Very mystical stuff...I'm no Doug Fitch, but I do think about getting a proper video camera...this is fun!

Me and Donna Summer

A couple of tiny films, sorry about the sideways viewing!

Bandana via Warrenton

I wanted to share some photos before this event joins my line-up of sweet memories...

Naomi and Michael's pots

Several week-ends ago I drove over to the home and studio of Warren Frederick and Catherine White. They were hosting an afternoon potluck/demonstration/sale with Michael Hunt and Naomi Dalglish for a group of pottery lovers from Washington, DC. Michael demonstrated the making of a Korean "Ongii" pot, traditionally used to make kimchee. It was a wonderful to see!

These beautifully made slabs, thrown and stretched on the floor, are then shaped in an arc before being joined to the slab base that he's pounding out below.

 The arc creates the rudimentary flared shape of a pot and a second on top curves in towards a neck.

Here he is adding a coil to draw the neck in further. I didn't get a picture of the hammer and anvil paddling that did most of the shaping, it was too captivating to remember.

Michael is kicking the wheel the whole time. It looks like he's throwing here, but that would be a bit of an exaggeration. The paddling makes for very strong walls that can be stretched thin as a result.

Warren and Catherine's anagama kiln

A studio scene

9 years ago I taught a kiln building workshop with Kevin Crowe at Penland...Warren and Catherine were our guest artists, Naomi was one of our students and it was there that she and Michael met! And we 5 will all be exhibiting together this fall at the "POTTERY ON THE HILL" show in October (with 10 other great potters!).
My own pots don't owe a lot to asian ceramics, but I love most anything made out of clay and it is always inspiring to around folks who are masters of their materials.

Biblio-pottery

This piece will be available this month at LibertyTown's annual Patrons Show. Tickets go on sale Friday (Thursday if you are a "Friend" of LibertyTown...and I ain't talkin' Facebook friend, either!). We have 50 wonderful pieces of art and craft donated and we then sell 50 tickets for $150.00 each. At the end of the month we have a drawing and as each # is drawn, that patron gets to pick their favorite work. The big black planter from yesterday will also be included, filled with beautiful plants! (sorry, Caroline!)

to 5" high

Now, Where was I...?

before

So, I figure that if I publish 8.3 photos a day I will be paying the low, low price of a penny per photograph. What else can you buy for a penny?...and what do kids do in place of penny candy? I used to love to go to Vick's, the creaky old corner store of my childhood. He had an ancient oak and glass  candy counter and behind it were dozens of choices...peach stones and mary janes, licorice and pretzel rods...all it took was one quart bottle with a deposit on it and you could fill your pocket! But, I digress...

I spent today slowly going through the pots from the firing, parsing the results from my latest effort. I could have used more heat, but it really was worth taking a chance to change things up. There are lots of tasty pots and some of the large vases are really quite excellent.

Second Chamber

Second Chamber

First Chamber

Large Planter.

21" high 

24" high

Turn this pot inside out!

A rare mishap in this firing. There were very few seconds at all!

Bread Plates

Extra large teapot

The Last Freebie

Somehow I had one more photo left in my 1GB of free Picasa storage so here's a little view of another glorious spring day in the Old Dominion! We unloaded the kiln today and it was full of excellent work.

I made lots of changes, both to the kiln itself and to how I fired it, and there is still much to digest, but I feel really good about the results. There are, of course, many questions and maybe I'll find a few answers as I take a further look at them as the week goes by.
I do plan to 'pay the (google) man' for more photo space; it looks like it's $2.99/month and there is a short delay before it's available. I'll show you lots o' pots then. In the meanwhile, allow me to tell my right-hand man, Jason, who missed the unloading (he's out west for a much deserved holiday) that all is well and you got a bunch of sweet pots waiting...and some shelves to grind!

#12

Thanks to everyone who took the time to help me keep at this blog writing thing-y.
I'm heading out to light up the kiln for the 12th time today. As ever, expectations are high and I'm always eager to throw sticks on a fire.
I hope to resume normal activity here next week when everything settles down. I think I'm just going to 'pay the man' for more space. Any other solution requires more of me than I am able or willing to do.

My last blog post!?

So, Blogger changed everything up (they never asked if I wanted them too) and now I am unable to upload photos...they say that my picasa site if full and I must pay for more space. I didn't even know that I had a picasa site for my photos, let alone that there was a limit. Now they want me to pay them . Does anyone know what's going on? Without photos, I can't see the point of this.

Fabulous...

Getting the proper fuel for my wood burning kiln has been a struggle over the past few years. Pine slabs are at the top of the list, but most of them end up in the chipper these days. But Mr Coleman has a yard full and he was happy to deliver it for a very fair price. Happy days are hear again...