The sorting commences for all those pots that were hiding in the back room, that will go on sale at really great prices in about a week.
Here are some glimpses!
When you teach, it's great fun to see students growing skills and confidence.
We started out with our student pair of handbuilders making similar vessels. As they learned techniques over the course of the weeks, I left our two hours more open. By that I mean that I gave them guidelines based on materials available that day, but they began choosing what they wanted to do with them. As neither had worked with clay in any regular way before starting with me, the challenge became more and more fun as they learned how the clay handles best and they started to test its limits.
In today's session, A. began by rolling a slab. She chose a slump mold to build a vessel, a rounded-square wooden salad bowl. She carefully laid the slab into it and trimmed off the overhanging edges.
A. rolled a second slab, made it thin, and brushed it with a warm palette of underglaze colors. This would be used as "fabric" to cut clay appliques from.
She cut shapes from the slab and applied them inside the very damp surface of the rounded-square vessel.
(The clay of the vessel will be ivory when fired.)
Then, with a thin layer of plastic over the vessel, A. was able to impress the clay into the surface without marring the layer of underglaze colors on the inlay.
D. began by rolling a big slab and fitting it over a plaster hump, aka hump mold. She made a large, open bowl.
(It received black and white underglaze brushwork. ...And now you know who D. is.)
D. brushed the outside of the large, open bowl with black and white. It had to firm up a bit in order to be taken off the plaster hump mold (so the interior could be underglazed), so D. turned to her next bit of work.
This time D. let a thin clay slab drape naturally into a bowl I keep hanging around the studio (spare bowls are very handy as slump molds). The slab formed great curves as it folded into the smaller bowl, curves which she had the good sense to just let be! She added brushwork in the interior of the drapey bowl.
(Some mixing of colors in little cups before brushing. The feathery white will give the colors a floaty looking base.)
We went overtime but there was so much to do! Some days two hours are not enough. Whatever wasn't finished got wrapped up in plastic till next week.
A good day at the pottery studio.
There are lots of pottery seconds (in very acceptable condition) and orphans (whose sets went on without them), and fairly nice pots I just put away for a while and never took out again. They have been hanging around in the dusty back room where my kilns live.
Isn't it time to shine them up and clear the kiln room? Yes!
Dang, there's a lot of them!
Keep your eyes open for an upcoming sale in the next couple of weeks. The prices will be really affordable. I really need the space on the kiln room shelves! I am ready to say goodbye to nearly all of these pots that have been hiding in the back of the shop. They need to overcome their shyness, face up to their worthiness, and go to good new homes.
I'll keep you posted!
This rattle came from friends, who bought it in Israel. It is a closed hollow form with a few clay pellets inside.
One of my students yesterday liked the idea of adding sound to her work, and made a rattle like this, only bigger, and of course it has its own, different sensibility. It's a lovely thing, even before it has been fired. She added a stand so it can be displayed upright.
Some of the vessels made by Toshiko Takaezu, a notable clay artist who lived for many years in New Jersey, were closed forms ("moons", as she called them), and some of them have tiny clay pebbles inside them. I read an interview where she said that she liked to put this occasional surprise in, to be discovered if one should lift or move the vessel. It would be unexpected music. I suppose that for those "moons" on pedestals in museums, visual presence is their first function; they will rarely be touched or moved; but when they are, there will be that tinkle of sound as the little clay beads shift inside.
I had a birthday this week. Suffice it to say I've been making pottery for a looooong time. I believe there are still a few new wrinkles left in me, though ;)
How many years have I been attempting (between bowls, mugs, plates, and more), for example, Seder plates and Chanukah menorahs? Oh, since 1985 or so. And how many of those items have I made that worked out reasonably well? I could probably count 'em on two hands and two feet. Making the pieces that carry out the envisioned design has always been many miles of trial and error.
What's taken me so long? Hoo boy. Besides the time spent on those trials and errors, I like to say, "Life intervenes." Our children and extended family, time spent attempting to write, a break for a brief, unsatisfying (and poorly paid) job in retail, a side trek to learn some jewelry making, a year here and there when I lost the yen to work with clay, a late return to finally graduate college, and more cooking, laundry and dishes than I ever dreamed I'd have to do; that's what intervened.
And "that completion thing"..? Ah, yes, finishing anything that last 10%-15%... I have a global-type approach to life, not linear, and my distractibility...can you say "Oooh, shiny..." and dart sideways frequently? After all this time, I understand that's my wiring. I look to its benefits, and I work with it.
All my life I have loved observing, drawing. playing in the mud, examining textures, exploring colors, and mulling things over. And all those side trips have taught me many things that I cherish and which nurture me as a person and as an artist. I am imagining and thinking about things much of the day.
Am I living richly from the proceeds of my pottery? I don't know any potters personally who are, though I think there must be a few somewhere (maybe Japan, where potters of note can become "Living National Treasures"). In fact, most potters of the dozens whom I know have other jobs so they can pay all the bills, or have spouses through whom they have supplemental income and medical insurance. But we still do what we do, and never, ever think of it as a hobby. As one of my students said last week, "there's something about the clay..." Yes ma'am, it's habit forming, tactilely satisfying, and magnetically creative.
In the last year I've had an uptick in business, putting my work out for public consumption on a regular basis more than ever before. My Gallery Downstairs and website both turned one year old a short while ago. And with the help of a very organized consultant who CAN think in a linear fashion, plus my own dipping into online seminars, books, articles and videos, I'm finally learning some important things about the art of doing business. It's a very different art than I am used to.
It's also only in the last year I've been teaching regularly in my studio. I balance space and time for my own ongoing work and the work of my students so we can share the same studio. I balance my work time and theirs, and try to keep my non-teaching schedule productive and on point. Often I work into the evening, knowing that three hours will be knocked out of my next workday because I will be prepping the studio, teaching, and cleaning up after the students leave. But I confess, it has added a dimension to my workspace and my plans that I am enjoying very much. I wanted the challenge. I wanted people around who are drawn to clay, as I am.
A year older I may be, but what a year it was! More of the same would be delightful.
After making the 16"-17" Seder plates on the potter's wheel, and trimming the Seder plate feet, It was decoration time.
First, a light coat of white underglaze on the leather-hard plates.
Then, a sheer, pale orange brushing of underglaze.
Once that's been thinly distributed on the surface, I put down a template that will help me space the brushed decoration and start drawing with a fine brush and black underglaze.
With the shankbone (z'roa, symbol of the Paschal lamb) drawn, I draw the egg (symbol of the holiday offering in the Temple in Jerusalem).
Then comes the drawing of horseradish root (bitter herb, symbol of suffering of the people in slavery in Egypt).
Charoset (my choice, since there are many different recipes for this food) is represented here by the bricks and mortar made and built into cities in Egypt. (My family recipe for this is 1 apple, 10 walnuts and sweet red wine to mix.)
(I added a trowel of mortar later...)
Parsley to symbolize spring, (which gets dipped into saltwater at the Seder to represent tears,) and a romaine lettuce leaf which many people use in lieu of eating that impossibly sharp horseradish, complete the Seder plate drawings.
It's not done yet! A wash of several subtle underglaze colors over the images, and a slip-trailed border of light blue underglaze, and the plates are ready to dry and fire in the kiln.
(This is another from this batch, similar but not exactly the same.)
I think this design has staying power. More matzah plates coming up, too!
I threw 3 Seder plates on the potter's wheel last week. At 16" to 17", these plates were too large to fit within the splash pan that goes around the wheelhead, which could have contained the wet stuff. Instead, I had to take the pan off and just get to messing with the clay. It was purely mud-puddlicious. The spray of water and clay extended in a four-foot radius around my potter's wheel while I made these. I had half an hour's job just sponging up the mess later from over, under and around the wheel and adjacent studio furniture. I still found more dried bits the next day where they had fallen from where they were sticking underneath things.
Trimming the excess clay from the bottom of these plates (there were 3) on Sunday similarly made a deep pile of flung shavings on wheel, floor, and my jeans-covered knees. The photo hardly does this heap justice. Even after shrinking a little in the drying, the plates were too big to fit inside the splash pan that would have collected the trimming shavings.
A HEPA-rated dust mask was necessary to gather up the dry scraps after I trimmed the leather-hard plates with my trimming tools. (Breathing this dust for years could give a potter silicosis.) Once it hits the floor I don't recycle clay, due to bits and motes of floor shmutz getting into it that will interfere with making new pots from it later on. I threw all this scrap out instead. Frugal Me doesn't like this, but Hardworking Me struggling to throw new pots with floor stuff in it knows this is just practical.
Next: Making the Seder Plates!
Using those slump molds some more. When I made them I had some ideas how I wanted to use them, and here are two.
Seder plate, rawware
1) This is a Seder plate for Passover with the dishes for the various Seder items on it. It's about 16" in diameter at the moment, though it will shrink 12%.
Same plate and small dishes with underglazes on showing what the Seder items are; below. (Has to dry and be fired, clear-glazed and fired again.) Seder items drawn here are: horseradish root, egg, shank bone, parsley, lettuce, with bricks and mortar to represent charoset.
(Slab, slump-mold to form Seder plate, with underglaze drawing on it. Mimi Stadler, 2015)
Some of the colors will change fairly radically. Clay will be ivory, not browny-gray, and underglaze colors will darken.
2) Matching in color, without the black images and with the addition of dark peach letters, a Matzah plate. It was made from a slab I slumped into a great big, round plate that had been made and bisqued (but never glazed) by my old friend Selma. I added a foot ring, also made from a slab.
(Matzah plate. When the underglazes are bisque fired, I believe the word Matzah, spelled here in Hebrew but hard to see, will be darker and easier to see. If not, I'll go over it in black. Mimi Stadler, 2015).
You can see that the plate has a raised profile. If you look hard you can also see that it has a hole (actually 4) through the foot ring so it can be hung on the wall:
My further slump-mold adventures.
The first glaze kiln of 2015 was a nice one. Each kiln now seems to contain vessels that point the way in new directions. Some are really worth pursuing. For example, these thrown-stretched-slumped vessels are conjuring up a whole line's worth of ideas.
Here is the plate/bowl with simple line drawings in black on ivory.
Now here's the same sort of thing, thrown and stretched and slumped, only bigger and with a bit of extra edge manipulation, and a completely different glaze treatment:
Here is another type of very shallow bowl, only made from a rolled out slab instead of being thrown on the wheel first. It is stretched like the ones above and, like them, slumped into a form I made (and showed you in this blog last time):
Because they were made from slabs, they have no well defined rim like I leave on thrown plates or bowls, so they're pretty even in thickness. They feel thin and light, minimalist. The glazing is simple and utilitarian, easy for me to put on and therefore making it easy for me to do more of should I be asked. Different beginning, same treatment otherwise; another branch to explore, like the side branches off a river when I am kayaking.
I intend to keep following and exploring this whole line of slumped dishes in its varied permutations and see if it keeps being satisfying. So far, so good. Following and exploring a line of thought and process is what potters do, which you know if you're a potter but you might not otherwise.
This exploration seems bound to branch down simultaneous, different paths for a while. I can make these thrown vs slab, with or without rim manipulations, with or without handles, with either brushwork or colored glazes. Who knows what variations I can add, given experimentation?
In other news (still interrelated because of the black and white line brushwork) here's a deep plate/shallow bowl, with a bit of Art Deco design inspired by summer (I hear we're having snow tomorrow but in the studio I can dream of summer):
Here's a thrown plate (the one above is also thrown) with more of that black on ivory brushwork:
I wanted the back to be interesting, too:
These are decorated using brushes made from deer and squirrel hair by a Northern New Jersey brushmaker named Mitch Nottingham. The brushes almost seem to make the marks themselves. While I am decorating this way, childhood summers sort of take over my whole attitude. I spent a whole lot of time outdoors looking at the way plants and animals moved, and that flows through the brushes while I work. It's very engrossing and relaxing.
First I made those bottomless circles on the wheel, really just bowl rims without the bowls, that flare outward as they rise. Then I bisque fired them to make them permanent. Now they are a kind of slump mold. I blogged about that lately. But now you can see how I am using them!
(Bowls and a plate from wheel-formed slump molds and wheel-thrown slabs. Photo Mimi Stadler 2015)
I threw round flat plates on the wheel in three sizes, from 6 oz, 11 oz, and 3 lbs of clay respectively.
I let them firm up very slightly. They were still fairly sticky. Then I lifted each one carefully and one by one (still carefully) threw/pulled them against a piece of canvas on the table to stretch them into flat ovals.
Then I formed dishes out of them in the new slump molds. I laid each soft, stretched plate onto a bisqued slump mold and gently fitted the clay to nestle down into it. I cleaned up the rims a bit, let them firm up, and removed them from the slump molds. Voila! Freeform dishes. Can't wait to put some color on them.
This is the first item on my new "Trying New Ideas" board on my Pinterest page, by the way. Because I like it that much.
Thank you, my friends and customers. You helped make December 2014 my highest sales month this year, both on the website and in The Gallery Downstairs. I'm always looking to grow, improve, and also try to create new designs. Your interest and patronage this month gave me a real boost!
What to do now? Save or spend? I'm thinking of buying a de-airing pugmill (that is a biggie) ...more ready-made underglaze colors at $10-$40 a pint...a couple of new Bison trimming tools (a decade or so ago, they were $55 apiece)...and of course December's sales totals don't meet all those dreams. I'm getting carried away. So I will let another quarter or two go by, and try my darnedest to make good work and keep those sales going.
I figure, if I can make it to advanced age, with clay work happening in my hands, I will be happy all the way. (And seriously, a pugmill to knead and de-air my clay would really help my back and wrists along the way.) So I've got (theoretically) lots of making of work to do yet, and maybe, if I follow in the footsteps of Mikhail Zakin and Karen Karnes (Ms. Karnes is still working and showing), and that amazing Mama of Dada, Beatrice Wood, I may still have time to use that pugmill and those expensive tools, and there may yet be a good bit of time to experiment with colors and clays and forms...
Imagine that.
What on earth are these? They don't look like anything anyone would buy, do they?
But they are important parts of my studio! They're two kinds of molds. Believe it or not, they are going to help me create vessels.
I made both kinds last month. First, the pile of oval (plus one big round) rings without bottoms were made by throwing (spinning) on the wheel. They've already been bisque fired in the kiln.
The other oval, platelike one sitting on the rim of the kiln is dry clay, ready to be bisque fired. I made it by slumping a slab of clay into one of the big bottomless oval rings.
These are all called slump molds.
They are the sort of things I can use to make oval and round vessels in lots of sizes out of clay slabs, without sitting at the potters wheel all the time. They can be used over and over. I need variety of movement and physical effort in the studio, meaning incorporating time away from the wheel when making vessels, so as to keep my back from complaining too much. Also, the sweep of surface on the vessels made by slumping clay slabs into these molds means great canvases for my brushwork.
More tools, made myself! Enhancing my business infrastructure daily, and economically.
I'm busy loading the bisque kiln (first of two), cleaning up a messy studio, and teaching today, so here's a video to watch instead of reading my pottery musings!
(Dan at Ingleton Potters made this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frn7HmpJVVk)
Dan's got quite a few How-To videos on his Youtube channel, and he's fun and instructive. This one's quick and kind of mesmerizing. Holy Swiss cheese, Batman!
For those of you who were way ahead of me with Pinterest, I finally got onto Pinterest in the last week (click here to see my Pinterest Boards) and I'm finding it fun and habit forming. Today I added a 'Great Videos by Potters' Pinterest board to my page. There are so many cool videos to see by generous potters to be found on the Web! I'll add more as I come across what I think are the best. You can find the link to the ones I have HERE.
Happy Chanukah to my Jewish readers!! I'm celebrating, too.
A customer who bought a honey jar some months back really loves it and wanted to give this item to some friends as a holiday gift. She asked me to make five and to personalize them. Glazing was up to me. Turnaround time was about three weeks. I enjoyed this one!
Yesterday and today, I made slab vessels, which are in very low supply in the gallery (both online and off), and one small jar, thrown as a demo for a student.
Freshly formed clay "trays":
(Except for the textured ones, I am giving these underglaze color. I often decorate work when it is freshly made, then clear-glaze over it for the second, final firing in the kiln.)
(Black underglaze on the big rectangular platter. I haven't etched this last one yet with a sgraffito design...)
(Sgraffito done.)
and one thrown jar with lid:
The ones without underglaze are still like blank canvases. So I brush black underglaze on selectively, and here and there I etch through it with a fine wire loop tool:
These are quite a lot of fun to make.
When they are bone dry they will go into the first firing of the kiln, which goes to about 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, they will be glazed by dipping, pouring and brushing with the wet glazes. Then they will be loaded into the kiln again for the last firing, to about 2200 F. I'll post those pictures in a couple of weeks.
What's new at Mimi Stadler Pottery?
Selected items on this website (see menu at the very top of the page) are now 10%-20% off for one week only. You may have gotten an email from me about it already**. Sale begins today, December 3 at 8 a.m. EST and ends on December 10 at 8 p.m. Browse through the pages to see what's a great value!
In addition, I have just updated my website with new pieces. Here is a sampling:
The new Chanukiot (Chanukah menorahs). Good as a Chanukah gift for someone very special, or for a one-of-a-kind gift any time of the year. Each is quite different from the other. This is one of the three I just took from the kiln.
(Chanukah menorah in black, chartreuse and white. Photo Mimi Stadler 2014)
The new Cog Mugs are not up on the site yet, but will come out of the next kiln and be posted at the end of the week. They are delayed because I am going to put them back in the kiln to refire for a smoother glaze finish. I want them to be at their best! Here is a preview of what they will look like. They have nice, all around interesting surface decoration. When they are ready, they will be $24 each; remember that part of the reason you may like these is how interesting their labor intensive creation process makes them. There are ten cog mugs. You can contact me at mimistadlerpottery@gmail.com to reserve one.
(The cog mugs have something to look at on every side. Photo Mimi Stadler 2014)
Two new serving pieces.
("Grasses" tray with handles. Photo Mimi Stadler, 2014)
("Bird" serving tray. Lots of texture on this one. Photo Mimi Stadler, 2014)
Looking ahead to spring and summer, Grandparent Vases, just the right size for dandelions and violets from the yard brought in by little ones. A wonderful gift for parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents and friends you may know, and very inexpensive!
(Only about 3" tall- Grandparent vases! Just $10. Photo Mimi Stadler)
So this is my shout-out from the Gallery Downstairs, where the shelves are full of some terrific things. Just please remember, the sale is one week long, and then it's done for at least six months and possibly a year.
And last but not least, happy regards from the busy studio, where I am mixing up little batches of new glaze colors to try, my students are learning at a rapid clip, and I'll be making pottery for spring through the cold months of winter. In the meantime, I'm planning a one-time event for the evening of December 7th that will bring three couples or friend pairs into the studio to play with clay for a fun evening...
*(I respect my readers, and since I did not ask you first before adding you to my list, I hope it was welcome. I wanted to quickly apprise you of this limited time sale. If you would like to opt out, there is a simple, clear way to do so provided at the bottom of the emails. If you choose to stay on the list, I promise not abuse the privilege of emailing you. Once a month would be extraordinarily frequent, and it is much more likely to be four times a year. By the same token, if you are NOT on my email list and would like to be, contact me and I'll add you- go to "Contact", way at the top of this page.)
Seasonal work has the pressure of deadlines.
The studio is covered in objects all at some stage of glaze application.
(Glazing has begun. Feet and lid galleries are waxed. Notes on what and how are being written.)
Those five honey jar sets I've mentioned lately are needed just before Christmas.
Glazed chanukiot (that's Chanukah menorahs in contemporary Hebrew) are at long last ready to go into the kiln. Chanukah begins the evening of December 16th this year. (Although it is true, if they're not ready for Chanukah, they still make wonderful wedding gifts.)
The big mugs will have complicated glaze designs on them, but today these are still partly covered with black underglaze, partly by latex resist, and still waiting for more glaze application. The completed pieces will be revealed, after glaze firing, (drum roll!) on my pottery page on Facebook, (yes, that is a safe and clickable link...) and in this blog by Sunday afternoon, November 30th. Check back!
This year I started teaching in my studio. My first student is on her third 8-week session, working on the potter's wheel. My two handbuilding students have had their first two classes and are picking up technique and information rapidly.
(Trimming a foot on a bowl)
How is it going? Really fun. They are all learning at a happy pace and I really enjoy teaching. I have taught many summer campers from age three to twenty for a couple of weeks at a time (a very short term basis), and a few teens in my own studio over the years, but until now I haven't taught adults on a regular basis.
(Building a bowl from a slab)
It is a bit of a challenge doing all the work I need to do for my own pottery. Saturdays (Sabbaths) and religious holidays are out of the picture in the studio, always, as I have that priority. So now I am often in the studio evenings and Sundays to compensate.
There are new designs to plan and try, always bread-and-butter pottery (bowls, less expensive serving pieces) to make and trim, glazes to mix up and use on the pots, kilns to maintain, a floor to mop, tables and wheels to keep using and keep cleaning up, and a gallery that really needs dusting at the moment and re-stocking after each kiln load. There is this website, where you are reading my blog. There's learning how to publicize the gallery and website, and brainstorming with my business consultant now and then. It was busy before...and now I really enjoy working with these great students. I sometimes wish I was 27 again, as I was when I started working with clay, full of energy and with a body that was stronger and more flexible without lots of hard work to keep it that way. (Gym, gym, gym!)
Sometimes I wish that my way with this medium could have been a straight path instead of a hop hop hop through the random open spaces in a busy life. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride..." I can't really regret what wasn't, since during the years I wasn't able to focus on developing as a maker of objects, I spent my energies raising three terrific kids, and worked hard at it. I started the linear path of this career very late, with my website and gallery now about a year old, but people do that all the time; it's called a second career! At this point my professional life is pretty engrossing, and wants tending almost every day, even with the relatively minor obstacles of an semi-aging body to work around.
It's about making, selling, and about teaching, too. There's a lot less cooking and laundry, and I don't need to drive anybody anywhere or put several schedules ahead of my own like I did as a full time mother. Life's gotten full and interesting in ways I used to hope would come about. I don't think I'll ever retire.
Monday, after the Potters Guild of NJ Fall Festival (show and sale). The pottery left unsold is in boxes in my gallery, to be unpacked and put back on the shelves.
It's a very good time to pause for radical shelf dusting in The Gallery Downstairs. Needs a floor mopping, too. But... maybe on Friday. So much to do before then, making pots, trimming them, teaching, blogging...
A show can mean a long day for me, and one where I am on my feet (my choice- there are chairs but I prefer to move around) and looking for diversion. I do love to talk about the art and craft of pottery. It's the teacher in me.
Once, one lovely gentleman asked me all about the kiln the wares are fired in. He was a chemist in his late 80s. He asked me very intelligent questions. I enjoyed that chat. He didn't buy anything. That was fine. Other people did.
Sometimes, it is someone asking me about commission work, because they like my work but I am not showing something in their color palette or a particular item. I've been asked for mustache cups, curling iron trays and butter keepers. I've been asked for sets of dinner plates and cereal bowls, or personalized honey dishes. This time I was asked whether I would make some of my birds as rattles. You know- what a great idea! Glad I had that conversation. It will add the dimension of sound to those birds.
My colleagues in the Potters Guild of NJ keep growing and improving in pretty spectacular ways. Here are just a few of the potters.
(Judy M., left, originated this show and has managed it for years. Beth D., right, is a big seller here, as is Judy.)
(I walked in and immediately began my shift at the wrapping table, with Mary, a new member. It's a big Guild- shows are a good way to get acquainted.)
(Su N. and Ellen M. never fail to make me laugh and have been doing so for some time now. That's one of Su's face jug people peeking over her head from on the shelf, unbeknownst to Su. These guys hate to be left out of the picture.)
(Linda G. and Carol P. were doing a shift at the money table. Even the work shifts have some fun in them, when done with friends.)
(For a newbie, my tablemate Tracy G. sold lots of good work, including soap dishes. He combined his daughter's handmade soaps with his handmade soap dishes for great gifts that really sold. )
(A love of antiques and a great hand with a glaze brush give Nancy a special, one of a kind way with plates and more.)
(Amanda K's cranberry and white glazed ware and ceramic jewelry were beautiful. That's Fran E. looking on from the back- apparently she coordinated her sweater with Amanda's pots... Fran is our monthly Guild meeting host at her beautiful studio, and Amanda is one of our potters who has grown as an artist by leaps and bounds in a short time.)
(Norma M. in front of her pottery. I kept wrapping up her work at the wrap table...Go, Norma, go!)
(Martha B.'s 2-part vase was too good not to photograph. It was one of many great pots on her table.)
(I had a good look at Barb D.'s goblet/vase/candle arrangements, which were right next door to me. There is always much to look at on her table, and plenty to buy.)
(Linda A. draws with brush and carving tools on her pottery. Caught here at work...)
(A close-up of the amazing Linda A. at work on a buffalo cup. That's dry, unfired clay she's drawing on with those gifted, practiced and most capable hands.)
(Diane S.'s work is to the right of her in this photo.)
(That's Debi R. on the left, queen of Topaz Cocker Spaniels and recent children's book author about a special cocker spaniel- can you spot the doggies in the photo? Playful pups are everywhere here. Seen with Debi, a browsing guest, aka my friend Nancy posing with an apple slice.)
Was it a lucrative day? For some. The Guild members collectively took in a good bit of profit, although some did great and others, just a little bit of business if at all. It's work, but good work. A fun day? For all, I think. Wish I took more photos of these artists! Maybe next time.
The eleven fat-handled mugs came through the bisque fire unscathed. The handles stayed on. The bottoms remained intact.
I note this because years ago, when my mugs were thrown on the wheel thicker and I rushed them into the kiln sooner, once in a while a bottom blew out or a handle developed cracks. Today this is rare. First, I throw a lot thinner and the mugs can dry evenly. Second, the stoneware clay I am using this month is great for sticking together when attached, unlike my favorite porcelain which is frustratingly ready to crack at all joins.
These mugs stayed intact despite their neighbors in the kiln, a pair of chanukiot (Chanukah menorahs) that exploded quite thoroughly on the adjacent shelf, flinging big and little shards a foot all around. These were two of the chanukiot I wrote about recently, the ones with the wire at the top. They exploded because they are still earlyish prototypes of a thrown and altered form, which in this case means they are unevenly thick. And I confess, I hurriedly and insufficiently dried them, just like my first mugs so long ago. The moisture still in the thick parts escaped too quickly in the heat of the kiln, and boom... or actually more of a "whump"...
Is it a given that after 29 years of making pots I will "get it right" the first time? No. And is "right" a stable quality from one to the next? No. The odds are good that I'll figure out the angles of this particular challenge soon, though. Eventually I tend to. So: "How long did it take you to make that chanukia?" Twenty nine years and counting...
Meanwhile, these are the chanukiot that made it, a diverse lot, about to be glazed:
(Chanukiot or Chanukah menorahs, not yet glazed and fired with the shiny stuff)
And just for fun, here are the beer mugs with underglaze stripes already bisque-fired on, about to start getting some detailed glaze treatment. The big handles are hollow, by the way.
(fat (hollow) handled mugs, ready to glaze and fire with color)
