Spring Artisan’s Day

If you’re in the neighborhood, come visit me at the Spring Artisan’s Day at Weston Nurseries. I haven’t done this show before, but I like the woman who is running it and by the looks of the advertisement she sent out, it appears well run with nice vendors. It will be my first outdoor show of the year, so hopefully we’ll get a sunny day – finally!

Custom Mug

This is a porcelain mug I made especially for my 14-year-old daughter. Mint green and pink are two of her favorite colors, and the carved out feet, polka dots and swirls add a whimsy and playfulness that I still see in her, even though in many ways, she’s not a kid anymore. Children grow up so fast these days, but hopefully my daughter will enjoy this cup for years to come – that is, if she doesn’t break it in the meanwhile.

Basement Tour

Here’s something other than pottery for a change – a tour of my basement. As a potter, I probably spend 1/2 my time in the basement. I throw and hand-build upstairs in my studio, and make glazes, glaze the pots, and fire down below. At this point in time, I’m getting a little anxious for Spring. It can get quite chilly in the basement during the winter months and it’s hard to work when my fingers and toes are so cold. I’ve learned to schedule around the kiln firing though, which certainly warms things up considerably. Too bad I can’t figure out a way to steal some of that heat for the rest of the house – we’d save a lot on our heating bill.

This is the area where I store my glaze chemicals, all labeled and safely tucked away in plastic containers. Glaze chemicals are quite toxic if not handled properly and a heavy duty respirator is required when working with them. I also store my clay and some of my inventory here. The third shelf over towards the right was given to me by a good friend who somehow always knows when and where to get stuff that is being given away free. This particular find came from a college library in Boston. It’s perfect for storing pottery because it’s narrow in depth and I can add and move the shelves up and down easily. Plus it is made of metal and quite sturdy. As you can see though, I’m running out of room. That’s why those 3 bowls are on the floor – there’s nowhere else to put them! Thank goodness the craft fair season is almost here. It’s definitely time to sell some pottery and make space for more.

This photo was taken outside the entrance to the “kiln room”. The kiln room is completely encased in plastic sheeting, including the ceiling. Before I put up the plastic, I could smell the fumes when the kiln was firing clear up on the 3rd floor of the house – not a good thing. With the advice of an engineering friend, I surrounded the area with plastic and put in a second ventilation system (a fan that blows air out another window) in addition to the one that is hooked up to the kiln. Now I can stand right outside the plastic room when the kiln is going and not smell a thing – a good solution without having to build walls, and much less costly too.

This photo was taken inside the kiln room. My kiln is actually quite small. Someday I’d like to get a bigger one, but for now this one will have to do. Luckily it works like a champ. Being small just means it has to be fired more often. All of the 5 gallon buckets you see are filled with glazes. I have more than 40 buckets stored in this room – way too many glazes for one person. Eventually I’d like to whittle them down to 12 or so of my favorites – a much more manageable collection. On the back wall is a board where I hang up my glaze test tiles – the ones that are worth keeping anyway – and on the table is a load of bisque ware ready for glazing. Which reminds me, I better get to work soon. My basement isn’t the loveliest place in the world, but it fills the bill for what I need to do. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

New Mugs

I’ve been terribly neglectful of my blog lately. It’s not a bad thing really – it means that I’ve been preoccupied in my studio, working on new ideas and building up inventory in anticipation of a great craft show season that for me, starts in April.

Some of the things I’ve been working on are bowls and platters with cut rims and new mug shapes, including the one on the left above. This particular shape was inspired by a friend who received a mug (the one on the right) made by a student as a thank-you gift for a project she worked on at Mass College of Art. Because she loved it so much, she asked me to recreate one for her husband for Christmas. My version is bigger and fatter at the bottom and the rim is thinner, but the shape is pretty close to what she was looking for. It’s virtually impossible and not exactly desirable to copy someone else’s work, so it felt a little funny using hers as model. I do have to say that I love the thumb-hold idea and plan to use it again on some other mugs I have in mind. And the glaze on my mug looks nothing like my friend’s, one big difference being that mine was electric-fired versus gas-fired and I used a wax-resist technique on the bare clay for the pattern. All in all my friend was quite pleased with the result. I’m now back to the drawing board experimenting with some new shapes and designs along this line that will hopefully appeal to the craft-goers this Spring.

Red Shino Platter

This is one of my favorite pieces that came out of the gas kiln at the Harvard studio this fall. I love this glaze – it’s called “Malcom’s Red Shino” and when mixed with “fire”, it develops fantastic results with just one application and a little wax resist here and there: carbon trapping (the blackish areas), various tones of red and orange, and a luminous sheen around the edges. It makes me long for a gas kiln of my own, something that won’t happen anytime soon though. There’s just no place to put it. I’d have to build an outdoor shed and have either a gas line or a propane tank installed. And if the truth be told, I’m a little afraid of gas. I mean, I cringe every time I turn on the stove. Still, the thought of all the incredible glaze effects that only a gas reduction kiln can produce nags at me every once in a while. Maybe someday the time and place will be right.

In the meantime, I keep plugging away at refining my electric glazes and continue to take classes to keep up with all that is going on in the world of ceramics. This winter I’ve switched studios and am taking a class at “Purple Sage Pottery”, to try someplace new and to be closer to home. My teacher is great and the group is small and intimate – some of the students I already know. Last but not least, I have access to a gas kiln and look forward to experimenting with the studio’s glazes and making some new discoveries.

Cruising

As promised, here are a few photos from the cruise my family took during the Christmas holiday in the Caribbean. The first photo is from Cococay, an island that the cruise line owns. Sounds like the ultimate tourist trap, but it was a beautiful place, small and low key, with crystal clear water and pure white sandy beaches. The second photo is from the island of St. Thomas where we hired a local guide to drive us around, then deposit us on a beach for a couple of hours. Our cruise ship is in the distance (the 2nd one to the right) which gives you an idea of just how enormous these boats are. Our ship was 3 football fields long and 14 floors high – a mammoth feat of engineering and design that absolutely blew my mind.

In the beginning of the trip, I have to admit I was a little appalled at the extravagance of it all, especially in the midst of our country’s economic crisis – the luxurious decor, the gourmet food, the royal service and the non-stop entertainment was almost too much to take in – not to mention the energy and waste the ship must generate with 4,000 people on board. The fact that cruise ships burn 100’s of gallons of diesel per hour made me cringe – that’s a carbon footprint that I can’t even begin to comprehend. But after a few days, I made an effort to change my attitude and let my worries go. After all, the cruise was my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary gift to us and I didn’t want to be caught complaining. Meanwhile, I found myself getting used to the routine of the cruising life: working out in the spa, taking saunas and steam baths, eating 5 meals a day, attending workshops, watching ice shows and musical productions, shopping in the promenade, catching a movie, and playing Bingo – yes I played Bingo! And the service was outstanding. I could get used to someone else making my bed everyday and leaving a chocolate on my pillow. I was actually disappointed when it was all over and time to go home.

The best part of the week, of course, was spending time with my family. Because we live on opposite sides of the country, I don’t get to see my parents or my brother and sister and their families very often. Cruising was a great way for us to spend a vacation together. There wasn’t any work involved, no stress over what to do or where to go, and there were enough activities and sights to see to keep everyone, from ages 7 to 75, happy as could be. Even my 17-year-old had a good time. That’s us in the photo below, relaxing before dinner in the upper deck bar – another activity that became part of our routine that I thoroughly enjoyed. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad – and thanks for one of the best trips we’ve ever taken.

Happy (Belated) Holidays

I’m playing catch-up today after just getting back from a 7-day cruise in the Caribbean. My parents decided to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary by taking us (meaning my family and my brother and sister’s) on quite the trip of a lifetime over Christmas vacation. Once I get organized, I’ll post some highlights. The photo I posted above is a cropped version of the Christmas card I sent out to friends and family. I hired an awesome local photographer in November to shoot the girls in the marsh a few miles from where we live and am planning to have some large prints made for us and for the two sets of grandparents for Christmas – another project I’m a little behind on. December just has to be the busiest month of the year. Meanwhile, Happy (belated) Holidays to everyone. May your lives be filled with peace and love as we look forward to the New Year!

Red Pepper

This is a ceramic red pepper made from a 2-part plaster mold – yet another example of what I’ve been doing in my mold-making class. The first time I glazed one of these peppers, it was in a single red glaze that came out very flat and uninteresting. For the next one, I dipped it in the red glaze first, then dipped it in an amber brown glaze and got this weird mottling effect that I like a lot. On some parts of the surface, you can see all the way through the 2 layers of glaze to the clay body underneath. Very cool!

Fish Plaque

Here’s another example of some of the work I’ve been doing in my mold-making class. To make this plaque, I originally carved a fish out of scrap clay, cast a mold of it in plaster, then pressed fresh clay into the mold and added a background, thinking it might make a nice wall hanging. I had planned to build a wooden frame around this piece once it was glazed and fired, but it warped a bit too much in the kiln and now I’m not quite sure what to do with it. Maybe I’ll find something along the lines of a plate hanger so that it can still be hung on a wall like I had initally intended. I’m not sure about my glaze choice either. The good news is I now have a mold so making another one and testing a different glaze is a snap. Next time I’m going to make the fish without a background. I may add a couple of clay loops on the backside so that a wire can be strung between them and the fish can hang flying solo for a different effect. Again, it’s nice having a mold to start from so that the energy going into the design can be directed towards how to alter, add or change the look of the final piece without having to start from scratch. Each casting will have its own personality without looking mass-produced. That’s my hope anyway, and why a mold can be a great time-saving tool to have in the studio.

Artichoke

This is a slip-cast porcelain artichoke made from a 2-part plaster mold and glazed in one of my favorite glazes called “Spearmint”. I’ve been taking a mold-making class this fall and discovering all sorts of wonderful objects to replicate. I’ve mostly selected vegetables to start with – squashes, peppers and pumpkins, with a frog and a fish or two thrown in. I’ll post more photos as things come out of the kiln.