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Monday, October 20, 2014

Almost planning for the future...




So really, I would like for this to make up half of my income.  That is not actually a lot of money. But anyway that is more goal....

So for next year I will have my partners in crime list all the places we want to make sure we go to for art shows.  And then we will look and find what we have missed that we really should get to.  Between three of us I think it would be rare we would not be able to make it happen.

and I did start my etsy page, but won't post it yet as there is nothing on it yet!


Other future planning, This is Bertha.  She will be a down draft kiln.  I need to have concrete laid in the yard so I can have a level place. Then I will buy burners, and then hoses and parts to attach burners.  Then get brick and new kiln shelves.  At that point I can start the build.  Somewhere during that time I am hoping to have ended up with the large propane bottles I really need.

Each step is some money, and I think that by summer I can be firing with Bertha.


Last art show was not great.  We did ok sales, and really only because of two buyers.  Luckily entrance fee was negligible and we got some exposure to the local community.

here is a thank you note from CFAM.  This is the farmer's market.  I guess my pot was a hit!


Friday, October 17, 2014

And... another firing....


So, here are the results of the last glaze firing. And then another art show.  Fingers crossed!!

So you can see in the right corner, more bats.  I realized that if I am at the community studio I use up almost all the bats sometimes. So I bought more. Prior I had used the community plastic bats and bought bats for plates that help them dry.


Last set of mugs. I did a close up because I was struggling to get the glaze show up correctly in the picture.




These blue bowls were a commission. They are "rice bowls".  I did a close up because they don't quite look blue in the over shot picture.



And a pitcher... that survived....


This is a larger shallow bowl.


Here is a overview of these shallow bowls, below are close ups to see the oxide designs.





Though not a great shot, here is The Three Potters booth at a local art fair put on by a church.  Inside show, the first one this year.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Glaze-Bisque-Glaze

So in the last glaze firing I got some pots done.  I did not do pictures of all of them, but here are some highlights.

This was done with a friend who carved out the design.  This is a silent auction item for Empty Bowls


I did a few of these bowls, 1# side dish or ice cream or such.


And some noodle bowls in Celadon.



A few other items as well.  Here is a small serving dish done with blues.


This one had a few issues and so is a 2nd, but we will keep it at home for use.




So then, I did a bisque and these are my pots in that firing all done.  I had decorated them with oxides prior to bisque.


So, I cleaned the kiln shelves and glazed my pieces.  I had a few that did not fit in the last glaze firing. So this killed off all of my pieces and actually all of the studio's glazed pieces.  So it is firing now and will be ready to open about 11pm tomorrow... so realistically it will be opened in the morning.


Friday, October 10, 2014

Empty Bowls 2014

That is not our poster, but I really liked it. Our Empty Bowls event in October 17th. This tuesday I will drop off all of the bowls and art  pieces for the silent auction.

Below is one box of the bowls made.
We had 19 bowls donated out of stock from potters
We made 72 bowls just for Empty Bowls this year
We had 15 pieces donated for the silent auction.

I have been working like crazy this season for our end, and had lots of help.



I figured I would donate one of my noodle bowls. Those seem to be my thing anymore. I like to make them and they sell well enough. So I keep making them in addition to other things.





Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Dinner Sets?

So below is the set up for three single place setting dinner sets. First picture, bottom left is actually something else.  Now there are three, and I have no idea why the computer did not import one of the sets, but whatever.




So here you can see two of the sets.  They will sell for $50 per set.  I will try to tie it up with ribbon to hold them together.



So this is a new form (and same bowl noted above that did not belong to the dinner sets).  it is a shallow bowl with a very slight foot.



We remain in selling season so I keep making what I can in openings given my day job.  In december I can start making my own christmas gifts and that will end the season.  In the meantime, by my count, I have one last farmer's market, and five other one off art shows, and I am the featured artist in November for 1st Friday.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Please Don't Crack

Two more large bowls, just trimmed. They needed longer than the rest to get to this point.
Now they are all wrapped in plastic and will be left until bone dry. This may take awhile, but large things love to crack due to uneven drying.

5" x 10.25" Bowl



4.5" x 10" Bowl



And the rest of the bowls all were trimmed as well two days prior.  I am hoping that the next three days are enough to dry everything out.



Friday, October 3, 2014

Raku

I make functional pottery.   That is my passion. But I also like to fire.  So I fire other people's Raku.





Thursday, October 2, 2014

Two days of greenware

Two days of throwing, drying now... over 60# of clay.

This was all made today.


Threw these yesterday, I put handles on them today.  Sadly, I dropped on when putting pots of shelves to dry.


Both Bowls are about 4.5# and were thrown today.


These were all thrown yesterday.  Only a few were dry enough for me to trim today.