Simple Circle Studios

Selling Out, or Just Plain Selling

2012-01-20T11:19:00.000-06:00

Today I went ahead and signed up for a table/booth for the Valentines day sale at SIUC. (Not a great website, but it gives you the basics I guess.) It is not a very big thing; it only looked like 15-20 people had signed up so far. I figured I didn't have anything going on in February though, so I would go ahead and give it a shot.

I needed to get some new stuff done for a wholesale thing before February so I went ahead and made some stuff for the Valentines day sale too. Now at first I was not too fond the whole kitchy, make things for specific holidays thing. I had mixed feelings about making stuff specifically for this show, but I did it anyway...sort of.

Not exactly your run of the mill hearts and such, but sort of fits the whole Valentine's day thing...sort of.

I started writing some sort of diatribe about selling out by making stuff you wouldn't normally make for the holidays. As I was working on it, though, it got kind of convoluted and messy, so instead I will just refer you to a previous post on Ron Philbeck's blog about making Christmas ornaments. There is some good discussion on there about the perceived pottery class system and making what you enjoy making vs. making schlock to turn a quick buck. If you haven't read it yet, check it out.

As far as the stuff for the Valentine's day sale, I don't think it falls into the schlock category. I really enjoyed making (most) of the things I made. That anatomical heart and the robots will definitely be coming back in the future. And that was the general consensus on Ron's blog: if you enjoy making it, who gives a shite what other people say about it.

So what is the next holiday, St. Patrick's day? I think I can work with that. Until then...

-Rob, simple Circle Studios

It is snowing sideways

2012-01-12T11:14:00.000-06:00

Thus far the winter season has been mild in southern Illinois to say the least. Today, though, the high temperatures dropped into the low 30's and there has been a stiff breeze blowing. I know this is no big deal for most folks north of the Mason-Dixon, but I hate cold weather. Really hate it. I would move to Hawaii if I could. Thus, after going to the post office to mail a package (Yeah Etsy!) I am hiding inside while my trusty little propane heater warms up the studio.

In other news, Judy Tavill posted a blog about the benefits of a blog vs. facebook; a topic that has been on my mind lately. I have always preferred blogging, but lately I have been thinking that one is not necessarily better, they just serve different purposes.

As I have said before, I was always opposed to facebook, despite my wife's insistence that I get an account. It always seemed like a waste of time. I never saw the point in dealing with all the inane bs that people put up on facebook. No one cares what I had for breakfast or how many times I blew my nose today or how much I hate doing dishes; or at least they shouldn't. Find something more constructive to do with your time. Long story short, I have a facebook account...and it still seems like a big waste of time, at least for the most part.

Facebook can, however, reach a large number of people quickly, which makes it a good marketing tool. As some people have commented on Judy's post, a blog is good for connecting with other potters; facebook is good for connecting with potential customers. This is the only reason I have not deleted my account yet.
And even better, my wife got me a fancy ipod for Christmas. This makes it very easy to snap a picture of whatever I am working on and throw it up on facebook without breaking the flow of my work day too much. I can easily get my work in front of people and perhaps get them interested in what I am doing.

I still prefer blogging to get ideas out into the ether. I can flesh things out, think them through a little more, etc. It is more like a nice letter to a long distance friend(s). Facebook may have its place though.

And finally, some pictures of the last stuff out of the kiln. These actually came out shortly before the new year, but I didn't want to put pictures up as some of them were Christmas presents.


Rooster Crock, This seems to be a fairly popular design as I have gotten a few requests for similar items


Dandelion Vase

Plant/Vine Plate. Just glad this one made it through without blowing up!


Surprise Mugs. Each of my nieces and nephews got a personalized mug for Christmas. Fun stuff

And some of this stuff is in my Etsy shop if you want to check that out.

Well, the studio is probably warmed up by now, so I probably ought to get to work. It is handles and trimming and plates for the rest of the day. If you find me on facebook you might get a quick shot of work in progress!

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios

Pictures of present...if I had pictures.

2011-12-21T11:09:00.000-06:00

I am running one more load through the kiln this week trying to get some Christmas presents done. I don't want to put any pictures up here, even though I am sure the people they are intended for will never read this. That and I do not have any pictures of them so...you know.

In getting enough stuff to fill the kiln I was carving a few things this week.


Rooster crock & large mug. Both for an order...sort of.

Medium-ish plate with branch/vine thing.

I ran a bisque load yesterday and unloaded this morning. I had two plates in there again, loaded on top this time, and there were no fatalities. Yay. Everything is waiting to to be glazed and fired as I type. It should get run through tonight, so pictures next week.

And here is a picture of my recent studio visitor.

I saw him running around the garage (aka my studio) on Monday. He got pretty bold, sneaking out from under my work table and coming up right behind my dog before running away. I haven't seen him in a couple days, though, so I don't know if the dogs scared him off or what.

And finally, some not very exciting news, but still kind of cool. I got my first sale on Etsy last week. Payment received, cup delivered, everything went smoothly. So...there's that. Ok, Christmas present and other pictures next week. Until then.

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios

At home with the Bub

2011-12-14T11:13:00.000-06:00

It looks like Noah might have pink eye, so he had to stay home from the babysitters today. Not really a big deal, but it means that I will not be able to get into the studio much; maybe during nap time. I will be able to get some more business type work done, though.
So I guess on the agenda for today is: finish Christmas presents, get contact info for potential retail outlets, call photographers about getting pictures taken for show application and take pictures for posting stuff on Etsy.

Speaking of Etsy (and Chritmas presents, wink wink, nod nod) I finally have a few things in my shop. Just posted a couple last night, actually. As I have said before, it is a laborious process (for me at least) but I suppose it has to be done. Any way, here are a couple shots from the shop. Click on the pictures to check it out.

Blue and brown whiskey cup

Green and brown mug

Back to child care. Until later.

-Rob

I got those paper, business, computer work blues

2011-12-07T09:30:00.001-06:00

I have been stuck doing paper/computer work for the past two days. I don't exactly hate it, but it is definitely not my forte. I have gotten a few things done, though. Updated my mailing list after the show last weekend (not a bad show!), messed with tax stuff, and unfortunately got signed up on the facebook.

Now the facebook was not really my decision. My wife was messing on her facebook and the following conversation ensued.
Wife: I'm going to sign you up for facebook.
Me: Don't do that.
Wife: But you need to have a page for your business.
Me: Really, don't do that.
Wife: I'm signing you up.
Me: Ugh.

So now I am on the facebook. From what I have seen on there so far it is largely just a waste of time. Perhaps I will be able to utilize it better in the future, but I'm not counting on it. If you should want to hook up with me on the facebook...well I really don't know how you would do that. Search for Rob Lorenz or something I guess. I will probably be on there even less than I am on my blog and such though.

On a more productive note, I finally got some stuff posted on my Etsy page. I am really just starting to get into this and, as many people have said before, it is quite time consuming. Taking pictures, editing pictures, writing descriptions, posting, etc. I only have a few of them up right now; if you want to check them out just click on the pictures below. I should be getting more stuff up there over the next couple weeks.

For those of you who are more versed in the world of Etsy, how do you work your Etsy inventory? Do you make stuff specifically for posting on Etsy? Do you just take the stuff off your Etsy shop when you take it to a show? Any help or general input on the subject would be much appreciated.

Now to get back to some more tactile work, I actaully get to get back into the studio today. I'm trying to get another load through before the 18th. We'll see if that happens. Until later.

-Rob

Catastrophic Failure

2011-11-29T11:04:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to show you what I found in the kiln this past Sunday.

I ran a bisque load last week and, after a long Thanksgiving weekend, unloaded right away Sunday morning. This is what I found on the bottom shelf. What that used to be was a 16 inch platter that I spent quite a while decorating. Disappointing. Not entirely sure what caused this platter to explode. I have a few more to decorate still, so we will see what happens with those.

I am getting ready for a big-ish craft fair this weekend at SIU. If anyone is in the area come check it out. There is usually some pretty good stuff there. Next week: how to butcher your own meat.

Episode 423

2011-11-19T10:43:00.001-06:00

MST3K 423 - Bride of the Monster: Mad scientist Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) lives in a remote swampy area attempting to create an army of atomic supermen in his lab with the help of his mutant assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson). He performs Frankenstein experiments on intruders, takes revenge on his critic, and feeds his enemies to a pond-dwelling octopus.

This past week has been a decorating week. That is by far the longest part of my making cycle. Finding the right image for the piece, transferring the design then carving everything. Sgraffito is a very laborious process. It is also very gratifying though, finally seeing what you had in mind realized.

Here are a few quick shots of the work in progress. I am working toward a bisque firing next Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. I have a show at SIU coming up the first weekend in December. I should be able to get one, maybe two glaze loads through before then.

Some I liked pretty well; some were just ok and some were duds. I suppose that is how it goes, though. I never really have a clear picture of what a design is ultimately going to look like until I see it on a piece. Thus some designs I try and they just don't work. Oh well.

Still quite a bit to decorate in the next couple days, starting with these wine sets.

And finally, a handful of platters that I was working on before. I have come to find that platters take quite a while to dry. They finally got there though, so I could trim and finish them. I am by no means an expert platter maker, but I think these turned out pretty well. We'll see how they look with some decoration on them. Until then.

-Rob

Episode 619

2011-11-11T15:42:00.001-06:00

MST3K 619 - Red Zone Cuba: Follow the meandering adventures of an escaped convict and two ex-convicts he recruits along the way as they become involved in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, and a quest to find a hidden treasure in a tungsten mine.

Here are a few of the things I have been working on this week.

Some ice buckets that will be part of wine sets. I am still working on the handles. Next time I want to try moving them down the side a bit or perhaps altering the rim a bit to create a little more room under the handles. Maybe a handle that goes over the top of the bucket; that was actually the original idea. There's a lot to play around with on these.

I'm really diggin this new vase shape. It makes for an interesting shape to decorate. It holds flowers pretty well too!

These will be turned into spoon rests. Although I suppose I could just leave them as is. They wouldn't work bad as dessert plates.

Finally a few plates/platter. Not really sure what you would classify these as. They are about 13 - 15 inches across; a bit large for a plate, but a bit small for a platter. These are actually the biggest ones I have made. I am happy with them so far but they have a ways to go yet.

Craft Fair Quote of the Day

2011-11-05T17:42:00.001-05:00

Says an older woman (50-60ish) to her younger relative:

"Did you see the priiiiice?! I love coffee but I don't love it enough to pay $18 for a coffee cup!"

Then they both walk away with the $3 whole sale "crafts" they bought earlier.

Halloween (That's when she gets so mean)

2011-10-31T21:58:00.001-05:00

So earlier I said I would regale you with the Halloween exploits of my family and I. Here are those exploits. They really are not that exciting. Saturday we were going to take Noah to some festival thing at the mall, but then Alicia decided she didn't want to go. Thus we puttered about the house all day until it was time to go the festival thing at the school. Alicia said it would be loads of fun. There was to be a cake walk. So we got Noah into his costume (hand made by his grandma). He and the neighbor boy were going as monkeys in a barrel.
The festival was decidedly less than exciting. When it came time for the costume parade Noah was aces, riding in the barrel like a pro. The neighbor boy cried whenever he was put in the barrel with Noah.

I guess it is pretty easy to understand why. That is one ferocious looking monkey. They won a prize for the costume, despite the crying lad.

After wasting a couple bucks on little games that Noah was less than interested in we went home. We didn't bother sticking around for the cake walk.

After Noah had his Halloween fun it was time for Alicia and I to go out on the town; kick up our heels if you will. Funny thing, though. Due to some rather rowdy partiers back in the days of yore all of the bars on the Carbondale strip are closed the entire Halloween weekend. Even stranger thing, you can go one short block off the strip and the bars are open. If I owned one of the bars on the strip I would be pitching ten kinds of fits about that.
But I digress. We did not dress up, but we went to check out a bluegrass band at a bar just off the strip. They were ok; the opener was outstanding. It was just one guy by the name of Alex Kirt. He played dirty delta blues with a wicked distorted slide guitar and a little kick drum. Great stuff.

It is now Halloween proper. We, again, did not dress up. We are currently sitting on the couch messing around on the computer; I blogging, my lovely wife working on my new web site (more on that in the future). We live at the end of a road in a pretty small neighborhood, so we have only had a few trick-or-treaters. Which is cool as it means a relatively quiet night now and more candy for me later. And as soon as I am done posting this I am going to finish watching Nosferatu while I finish my whiskey. Oh, and I unloaded the kiln earlier too. All in all a good day.

The Past Three Days...

2011-10-31T11:47:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to post this for a while, but have not found the time. Now I am finally getting around to it, so here is what has happened in the past three days since I started writing this post.

Friday I cleaned up the bisque ware and got everything waxed and ready to glaze. It is a pretty good load of stuff; a lot of tumblers and whiskey cups, some bowls, some mugs and a few new vases.

I also had a couple of test ornaments in there. I used to pit/barrel fire my ornaments but have not been able to get very good color on them. Thus I made some ornament hangers to fire them with low fire glazes. The hangers were basically cylinders with kanthal wire strung between the sides.

Unfortunately they will both need to be re-fired (or something) since the wire sagged quite a bit and the bottom of the ornaments stuck to the cylinders. As a result I constructed ornament hangers 2.0.

This should take care of the sagging wire problem at least. These will get tested in the next bisque firing.

Saturday was spent in Halloween endeavors. I was going to write a bit about all that here, but I think I will save that for a different post later tonight or tomorrow.

Sunday (after sleeping in for a good spell) I glazed everything and got the kiln loaded and firing. I have a couple glaze tests in there; just some different clears and a satin to play around with. I am trying not to be too anxious to pop it open. It is currently at 650 or so, so I should be able to unload this evening some time.

Now I have to get stuff ready for a show this weekend. It is at a smaller college (Southern Illinois College) in Harrisburg, IL. The spaces (if I remember correctly) are only 5.5 by 10, so I am imagining a big room, foyer, etc just lined with a bunch of tables. I am going to have to rework my display to fit the space but keep it looking professional. It bothers me when I go to craft fairs and it looks like vendors just set up a table and threw their wares out there.

Today I am working on a set of shelves that will sit on top of the table. I will probably take a couple of pedestals as well. If I have time I will tackle the problem of proper table cloths and a better looking sign. Of course that will be between unloading and cleaning the new work, taking pictures, inventory and pricing, etc, etc. I will try to take more pictures of everything and get them up here. Until then.

-Rob

How to Fail at a Craft Fair

2011-10-13T12:42:00.001-05:00

Ok, I don't really know exactly how you would go about failing at a craft fair as far as what step you would take. I do know that I was pretty good at it a couple weeks ago, though.

Two weeks ago I had a booth at an art and wine fair near where I live. It wasn't a big thing; one day, 30 - 40 vendors, but I figured it would be a good avenue to get my stuff out locally. I was wrong. During that 6 hour art and wine fair I sold exactly...wait for it...nothing. I did not sell a single piece. Now I have had bad fairs before, but I have always sold something, even if it was to other vendors. Selling nothing was a first for me. I think the biggest problem was that it was an art and wine fair. 97.4% of people were there to listen to music and drink as many free wine samples as possible, not buy stuff. Oh well; now I know.

Last weekend I was at a fall festival in Missouri and that went a bit better. I didn't sell quite as much as I sold there last year, but it was a slow year for the festial all around. And now I am getting ready for a couple more fairs coming up in November and December. These are bigger shows (I think) and are closer to the Christmas season, so I have somewhat higher hopes for them.

Here are a few more shots of the stuff that came out of the last kiln.

Salt Jar (NaCl stamped on the lid)

Bunny mug There is a carrot on the other side.

Salt & Pepper Shakers Possibly my favorite color combination.

Cloud Mug Not really fond of the color, but I dig the design.

More later. Until then.

-Rob

Recent Work

2011-10-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

Here are finally some pictures of the finished work I pulled out of the kiln a couple weeks ago. Later I will post some more pictures and give a brief account of the two shows I had the past couple weekends.

These oval vessels are fun to make, but they are not extremely functional.

They work ok for flowers if you use one of those green foam block things, though.

These tall-ish squared vessels were originally made as vases, but work pretty well as utensil holders.

This is a mug that I showed in progress a ways back. Here it is finished. The black on the rim is a comercial gold glaze that I tried as an accent, but it didn't turn gold, obviously.

I really like this design, but it took quite a to complete.

Until then.

-Rob

The Unload

2011-09-16T08:33:00.001-05:00

Here are a few quick shots from yesterday. And I threw a few more things after I took this picture. Pretty productive, I would say. Looks like I will be chasing plastic today.

Here are a few shots of the kiln as I was unloading yesterday evening. A decent firing. There were some things I really liked, some things that did not work out as well as I hoped. I will get some more pictures up next week.

Layer 2 (forgot to take a picture of the top shelf)

Layer 3

Layer 4

I guess that is all for now. Until later.

-Rob

Ready, aim, fire...or something like that.

2011-09-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

Here is the work of the past couple days. As I said in the last post, I got a bisque load fired and out. Yesterday I went about the task of getting everything sanded down, washed off and waxed for glazing today.

Here is everything laid out with wax drying, waiting to be glazed. It doesn't look like a lot, but it was enough to fill a kiln. On a side not, I hate the color of that wax. It is just a commercial cold wax resist, but I added some red ink to make it easier to see. Now it is a sick bubble gum/pepto-bismol pink. Next time I am going to have to add a different color.

Everything set out once again, this time all glazed and ready to go. The kiln is now running through a glaze cycle and is currently at...1280 F and rising. It should be finished by morning and I should be able to unload tomorrow night or Friday morning. I will snap some pictures of the finished stuff and get them up here when everything is out.

As Christmas is approaching I decided to work on some ornaments. Previously I had just barrel fired them with some interesting results. More often than not, though, they just came out smudged with soot and what not. These I made with low fire clay (that I got for my second continuing ed class that failed to garner enough interest) and plan to glaze with some old low fire glazes I got from the wife's cousin. Before that happens, though, I will have to get some kanthal wire and make some sort of contraption to hand them from. I'm not really fond of using stilts

Damn dirty low fire Christmas ornaments

I guess that's all for now. Here's hoping the kiln fires off alright and everything comes out looking spiffy. Until then.

-Rob

I was all by myself...

2011-09-09T22:09:00.001-05:00

It is Friday night, the wife is out of town...what to do? Well, if you are a potter with a bisque kiln firing and a child sleeping in the other room, you sit around drinking hard cider and watching Louis Black. This guy is freaking hilarious. He is mostly a political satirist and as far as I can tell he is spot on. Great stuff.

This past Tuesday I once again attempted a continuing education class at the local community college. It fekin' sucked. I had three people pre-register and only two people actually showed up for class. That is exactly nine people shy of a full class. It is extremely disheartening to have a class canceled. As previously stated, it fekin' sucks.

On a lighter note, the bisque kiln is chugging away. I am really happy with a lot of the stuff that I have in there this go around. I am anxious to get it glazed and finished up. I am going to go ahead and use the regular clear glaze that I have been using on this load, I think. I am, however, planning on testing a few different clear and satin glazes. I would really like to go in the satin direction if I can find something that works. I don't know that I really like the super glossy finish that I have now. The satin finish (I am hoping, anyway) seems more natural; softer, not as harsh. We will see. Until then.

-Rob

Scratchy scratchy

2011-09-05T16:15:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the stuff I have been working on lately. All of this stuff was thrown quite a while ago, but I have just recently gotten around to decorating them.

Bank with lid (the money slot is on the other side)

Oval flower vase brick thing

I really enjoy making these vase things, but I don't know that they function really well on their own. You would either need to put a lot of flowers in there or use one of those green foam flower block things. Perhaps a lid with holes in it?

Salt and pepper keys

These have a hole in the bottom for a stopper. I got a bunch of them a while back, but they do not work like I thought they would. They do not stay in the holes very well. Now I have 90-something sub-par stoppers. Suck.

Small round jar with leaf pattern

I am happy with this jar...except for the fact that the lid has no knob. I plan on epoxying some sort of knob on it after it is done, but I am not sure what.

Lidded bank and squared vase.

Two rather different styles of decoration. I really dig the realistic stuff, but it takes quite a while to do.

I am getting a little burnt out on carving, though. Or at least my hands are. I am going to have to try working in smaller cycles. I am also going to have to do some reformulation of my slip, I think. It is not very durable in the green state and frequently smudges or scratches while I am carving. It may also have something to do with spraying it on instead of brushing or dipping.

Let the Drawings Begin!

2011-08-25T08:00:00.006-05:00

I finally got all the old green ware that has been sitting around the studio slipped and ready for decorating. My wife came in and snapped a couple pictures while I was working.

Rob hard at work.

The sprayer I am using is a Critter brand syphon style paint sprayer. It works with regular 1 pint canning jars, which makes it very easy to switch colors. It gets clogged occasionally, but not so much as to make it un-usable. It would be nice if I had a little more control over the spray pattern, but oh well. It works for what I need it to do.

That is one kick ass spray booth set up!

This is my very sophisticated spray booth...half a plastic drum on concrete blocks. There are plans to build a new booth that contains the over spray more and makes it easier to reclaim it. I also want to get it hooked up to a ventilation system. Many thing to do.

Shelves of greenware with colored slip, ready for sgraffito.

Now comes the drawing cycle. Once I get all this stuff decorated I will get back on the wheel. I am also running short of clay so tomorrow I will be heading up to St. Louis to pick up 1000 pounds of B-mix. Not really looking forward to the two hour drive, but it is better than paying to have it shipped.

Done-ish

2011-08-16T10:06:00.002-05:00

As I said in my last post, my batteries arrived and I went back to work. Of course, they were not the exact batteries I needed, but with a slight modification they fit my tools. And thus the completion of the cabinets.

Preparing to instal wall cabinets.

Wall cabinets up.

Doors on.

The not quite finished studio.

Fully loaded cabinets. Pretty freakin' sweet.

Granted everything is not quite there yet. I still plan to re-do the top of my work table, get a second set of shelves, get a sink, tile the counter top, make a proper spray booth, permanently instal the kiln vent...ok, maybe "not quite there yet" was understating things a bit. Regardless of what is left to do, though, the space is functional so I can finally get back to work making stuff.

Hopefully I will have some better content next time. Until then.

-Rob

Get back to work!

2011-08-10T13:03:00.002-05:00

The new charger and batteries have arrived. Construction may resume. AND I am looking at a window a/c unit tomorrow, so I may not have to sweat to death in the studio any more. Good deal.

No one puts Rob in a corner! Ok, a circle saw puts Rob in a corner.

2011-08-04T09:12:00.002-05:00

Well the wall cabinets are ready to go up...almost. I have sort of worked myself into a corner. Everything is put together except for one piece of panelling. I cut everything else with a hand saw, but this piece is too big to do that. And I would be able to use my circular saw...if it had any power. I have been putting off getting a new battery and charger and now when I need it, I don't have it. Foolish, foolish Rob! So now I get to spend entirely too much money on a new battery charger and a couple new batteries and wait for them to arrive before work can continue.

In the mean time I have been painting everything. Two layers of some cream-ish color on the bases; two layer of brown-ish on the panels.

I have a little bit of touch-up work to do and I still need to paint the wall cabinets. Otherwise they are done, well, apart from putting everything back together. I am going to hold off on putting the knobs and pulls back on. I think I am going to try making some custom pulls, just for fun.

And finally, here is a better picture of Daisy for you Gary.

Next time perhaps I will have some clay related news to report. Until then...

-Rob

Construction again (RE-construction, if you will)

2011-08-01T10:01:00.006-05:00

In case anyone was wondering, no, the continuing ed class did not make. We actually had fewer people show up for the second class than we did for the first. They are, however, going to offer it again this fall. The program director said fall enrollment is usually a good deal higher than summer, so there is still a chance.

As far as what has been going on for the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of moving stuff around, a lot of building and a lot of spending a week in Branson. Ok, only a week of spending a week in Branson, but you get the idea. That was a big family vacation thing (15 people!). Hectic, but enjoyable.

Most of my time has been spent renovating the studio. I decided to claim more of the garage and get things set up proper. Not a lot to say about it, but here are a few pictures of how things have been going.

Old Studio Set-up

Creating more space

Creating more mess

Still a mess

And here is the latest thing I have been working on.

Truck full of junk

To the untrained eye this is a truck full of junk. But to the discerning individual this is...well it is still a truck full of junk, but junk with potential. Actually this is an old set of cabinets, sink and counter top that I got hold of. Storage space was a problem with the old set up. I ended up having tools and what-not stacked everywhere, taking up space I needed to work. Hopefully this will remedy that situation.

Beginning of the end of disorganization...maybe

The cabinets were not in the greatest of condition, so I have spent a lot of time and a lot of scrap lumber getting them reinforced and such. As of now I have all the base cabinets in and the wall cabinets should be ready to go up today. I plan on repainting them since they are currently a dirty 70's brown. It is an extra step, but I know they will bug me every day if I don't repaint them.

I have also been working on a new chicken coop that I will be able to move around the yard. More on that later though. Right now I have to pick up some lumber and such to finish said coop before getting after those cabinets again.

I just saw an owl riding in the back of a pick-up truck.

-Rob

Studio Saga 4: On the Fence

2011-06-15T05:48:00.003-05:00

Two thoughts on teaching classes today.
First of all, I have come to the conclusion that I really only want to teach clay classes. I am currently teaching three summer classes for middle/high school kids; one ceramics class and two that are more arts & crafts kind of things. In the ceramics class I have not had a single problem. I just put the clay out there, show them a couple things and the kids work for the full two hours. In the other classes, though, it is exceedingly difficult to keep the students focused on the projects. Work that should take them at least an hour to finish gets slopped through in 20 minutes...ugh.
Secondly, the continuing education class I am teaching had its first meeting last night. Initially I was worried because only three people had preregistered for the class; we need 10 for the class to carry. Last night we had five people show up, so now...(multiply by four, carry the three, subtract the square root of x...), ok now I am still worried. It is still on the fence. All the ladies in class agreed to harass their friends and family to get a few more people in next week. I will again be hitting up my (very small) circle of influence to see if I can scare up a few more students. If we can get eight people we might have a fighting chance. Next week is the last week for registration, though; if we don't get it by then we are out.
So if anyone is in the Southern Illinois area, or knows someone in the area who might enjoy taking a handbuilding class, please send them my way. Who knows; if someone shows up with a reference from one of you fine folks, a mug or something just might find its way into the mail. That's right, I am bribing you all...please accept if at all possible.
Until later...

-Rob

Studio Saga Vol. 3b: The Teaching Aspect Revisited

2011-05-24T20:50:00.003-05:00

According to the last post regarding this subject I was in contact with the continuing ed. director and trying to contact the ceramics instructor. As it now stands, both the director and the instructor have been contacted and met. The result? No, the instructor was not thrilled with the idea of having a continuing education class in "her" studio, but the class will proceed non-the-less. Yay for Rob!
If anyone reading this is in the southern Illinois area and is interested in taking a class in ceramics, or if you know someone who might be, you can check it out here. It is a hand building class called "Ceramics for Beginners." We will meet Tuesday nights from 6 - 8:30 starting June 14th.

Additionally, I have contacted another school (K-12) about teaching next school year. Initially I did not really know what kind of class to offer. I was given the school's contact information and told they might be interested in offering more art courses or something.
Hmmm.... So I called up the school and talked to the principal. They already have an art teacher who handles the studio side of art, but she is not much interested in teaching art history, which is something the principal would really like to offer. I have yet to fill out the applications and such, and brush up on my art history, but it is another lead. We'll see where it goes.

Mass Production on a Small Scale

2011-04-18T10:53:00.008-05:00

A couple weeks ago I wrote a little post/essay thing about mass production. And I do mean I wrote it...on paper...with a pencil. That concept would probably be foreign to most kids today. They would probably say that it was too much work to physically write something and give up before they even started. But I digress. I wrote the post...then lost it. To the best of my recollection it went something like this.

I recently got a comission to make a number of magnets for a local living history museum type thing (Saxon Luthern Memorial...check it out, good stuff). This year is the memorial's 50th anniversary and they wanted to "celebrate" it by giving away commemorative magnets at their major events. Since I already have some work in their gift shop (including magnets) and since my mom is the curator, they asked if I would be able to come up with something. Yay for nepotism!

So how many magnets do they plan on giving away? Over the course of the year they estimated 2000-3000. Whoa. That's a lot of magnets. Being the agreeable chap that I am, though, I said I would take a run at it. I started out doing some sketches and carving up a prototype. After that got the ok I made a plaster mold.

Plaster press molds for magnets

Now this was the first time I had ever made a plaster mold, so I was delving into new territory. It didn't seem too complicated, though, and I think the first mold turned out pretty good. I have since made six more to speed production, but they didn't turn out as well. I think the plaster was too thick. They work, though; the casts that come out of them just require a little more cleaning up.

Cast of the commemorative magnets...fancy.

Thus far I have finished 150 magnets. The glaze did not turn out anything like it was supposed to, so I am not going to post a picture of that. Suffice it to say that it was supposed to turn out gold, and silvery black is not the same thing as gold. But I have quite a few left to make, so I will get it worked out.

Later I will post more about the actual production part of it. How exactly does one man make that many magnets by himself? Is he Superman? Tune in next time to find out!

Studio Saga Vol. 3: The Teaching Aspect

2011-04-10T22:09:00.005-05:00

A quick post before I run off to bed. It has been a while since I have written anything regarding the future studio, mostly because there has not been much to write about. Recently, though, I have made a small amount of headway on the teaching front. I contacted a local community college about offering a pottery class in their continuing education program. It was actually way back in January when I first contacted the program director; he said to wait until mid March and send him my resume and such. Done
So now I have talked with him a couple time via the computer box and he seems very interested in offering a pottery course. Apparently they used to have one, but for some reason no longer do. I also contacted the full time ceramics instructor at the school to discuss studio issues. She was not in when I called so now I am eagerly awaiting her reply.
As I think I said before, the original idea was to offer classes in my own studio, but I think the start up costs (space, insurance, utilities, equipment, etc) are a bit much at this time. Hopefully teaching at the community college will work out so I can supplement whatever studio income I can generate. Then I can build the studio up a little at a time and offer my own classes some time in the future.
Ok, that is all for now. I will see if I can scrape some time together tomorrow to rant about mass production.

This killing time is killing me

2011-03-30T10:56:00.006-05:00

I have been meaning to post on here for the past week and a half, but it seems like something always gets in the way. Just now I stopped writing this for a few minutes to jot down a strange dream I had this morning (it was about a wombat that was the size of a hampster). See? It is always something. Then last night, after putting off the blog for yet another day, I was thinking; it is not really the typing and posting that takes a lot of time. Even editing and posting pictures does take that long. It is composing the posts that is a bit time consuming. This led to the realization that while I may not have a lot of time in the evenings, I do have quite a bit of time during the day when I could get my thoughts down. Being a hall monitor in a high school is not the most difficult job in the world. My day consists of writing passes for visitors, signing people into the building, checking hall passes and ocassionally breaking up a fight. (It is actually quite sad that a full time hall monitor position is needed to begin with, but that is a completely different subject.) This leaves me with large-ish blocks of time with little to do. I usually use that time to work in my sketch book or stare mindlessly out the door. I think I will start using my door staring time to compose blog posts (I wrote this post this morning and I am posting it during my lunch break!). Then maybe I can post on a more regular basis and perhaps more frequently! Aren't you readers out there in the inter-web lucky?

Know Your Goat!

2011-03-02T19:44:00.003-06:00

Earlier I promised more on goats. I know how the goats keep people coming back for more. Well here, today, we have more on goats.

Recently while talking to my wife and possibly other people in a context that I do not remember the topic of animals was brought up.
(Side note: My lack of memory was not due to anything untoward. The situation was just unimportant.)
Much to my suprise my wife says that she would not mind having a goat. My jaw would have dropped, but I'm a pretty cool cat so I kept it together. You see, I have wanted to expand our current animal ownership for a while in an effort to be more self sufficient. My wife has not. Thus when she said she was open to an animal larger than a basset hound I was quite taken aback.

Eventually we got to the crux of the matter, though. Why would she be ok with having a goat? Because she thinks it would be cute to see our son playing with it...she wants another pet. This is not exactly what I had in mind. When she says goat, she is thinking this...

When I say goat I am thinking this...

Missed it by that much.

Regardless, the issue is now on the table. The wife is ok with goats; I am ok with goats...the only question now is would it be worth it? In an effort to help make this decision a little easier I purchased some goat products (which are rather expensive!) to give them a try. Not much sense in raising goats if you don't like what comes out of them. I liked both the milk and cheese; my wife was ok with them. We have yet to try the goat meat. Perhaps this weekend.

Similarly I have started doing a small bit of research on raising goats and I can tell that I have barely scratched the surface. In that regard, if anyone has any good resources on raising goats (books, websites, magazines, etc) I would appreciate it if you tossed them my way.

Ok, enough goats for one night. I have to go do dishes and whatnot. (This is where a clever sign off would be if I had one. Any suggestions?)

-Rob

Insert Clever Blog Title Here

2011-02-21T19:50:00.006-06:00

I had a three and a half day weekend this weekend, which was nice. I got quite a bit done, but nothing in the studio. Instead it was a weekend of getting outside, taking care of animals, house work and playing with motorcycles. I also spent some time just hanging out with my wife and son; something I don't get to do enough of.

Today was especially good as I got some eggs pickled (the chickens are producing an abundance of shelled goodness) and got bread baked. I also got our microwave fixed; a chore that has been hanging over my head for quite some time now. Things are looking up in the kitchen.

Another high point of today was getting the motorcycle (Hank) running. Oh I wouldn't say that he runs well by any means, but at least I can get him started. The plan now is to get him a seat (he is lacking that essential component), get him licensed (another missing component that the government thinks is important) and get him a good tune up. Hopefully I can get these things accomplished pretty soon as I have been hankerin' to get out on two wheels. I would have been able to take Oscar (the smaller bike) out, but I think I fried an electrical component messing with the battery. So it goes.
The ultimate plan is to get one bike running decent so I can ride it while I tear down and rebuild the other one. Do I know how to build a motorcycle? No. Do I even know how to work on engines and such? No. Am I going to let that stop me from wasting large amounts of time and money trying? No.

Now, as far as pottery goes (this is supposed to be a pottery blog after all), not really a lot happening. In late January/early February the art club at school was making ceramic pendants for a festival at the school. We made them pretty quickly with a variety of bisque stamps the school had on hand (sorry, no pictures of these). Despite being free they did not go over very well (folks were more taken with the henna "tattoos" we were also doing), but I did enjoy making them. I don't know that it is something I would want to do a lot of on my own, but it might be a fun distraction every once in a while. And it could be a nice little something I could throw in for lagniappe.

I did get a chance to sgraffito a couple mugs...
Oh! Side note: I got a new spray gun for spraying slips and glazes! Perhaps after I have used it a little more I will do a little review post.
...The first of these I made for myself. I make hundreds of pieces and ocassionally keep seconds, but rarely if ever do I make things specifically for my own use. Oh sure, I make stuff for my wife from time to time, but never something just for me. So finally last week (or some time, I really don't remember) I up and made myself a mug.

Rob's owl mug - side A

Rob's owl mug - side B

Apparently I was working on this mug at the same time Ron Philbeck was working on his fantastic owl and branch yunomis (check them out here and here). He got his posted first, though, so now I look like some kind of Johnny-come-lately. Oh well; maybe I will just call it a Philbeck cover pot (you know, like a song cover but with pots).

The funny thing is that when I was deciding what kind of decoration to put on my mug it ended up being exactly the kind of decoration I have been wanting to do on all my work. I think I mentioned a while back about wanting my work to be more narrative instead of just decorative, and I think that is how these mugs turned out. Or at least it is a step in that direction.

This mug is the Bomb!

You can still see the pencil marks on this one where I was playing around with the final design. I decided to go with just one skull bomb though and suggest the others with the dotted drop lines. I was thinking the lines might look good with some luster embellishment. I forget what color the slip is, though, so I don't know if it would work. (Don't ask me what the imagery means because I have no idea.)

Now the problem is finding a clear glaze that is not going to distort the images. The one I have been using has a tendency to run and smear the sgraffito images a bit. Not a big deal with the more abstract, decorative designs, but I think these would need to be more crisp to be effective. Actually I am not sure if that is due to the glaze or the slip. Either was a bit of testing is in order.

Ok; unfortunately I have to go to school tomorrow, so I better knock off.

-Rob

Post Script - Goats! More on that later...

A Nice Little Pat on the Back

2011-02-07T10:24:00.008-06:00

I have been sick for the past few days. Nothing too big; just your garden variety severe cold/flu. I went home from work early Friday, spent the next three days in bed (my wife has quarantined me to the bedroom so Noah doesn't get sick), and stayed home from work again today. It pretty much sucks. One bright spot though. When I haven't been sleeping I am getting caught up on my blog reading. While doing so I noticed that Julia over at Henhouse Pottery was kind enough to bestow upon me the Stylish Blogger Award. Julia writes a fantastic blog about her trials and triumphs living simply and providing for their family on their homestead. I have the utmost respect for her and her family and for what they are doing. It is something I would like to do myself some day.

As part of accepting this award I am required to reveal seven things about myself that most folks probably do not yet know. I am not usually the revealing type, but I suppose I have to play by the rules to get the award (there is not a real award or anything. it is just a nice little pat on the back of recognition). And for all you know I might be lying anyway. Let's go!

1. I am a book snob. I am very particular about how my books look on the shelf. I will buy an additional copy of a book if it looks better or is in better condition than the copy I already have. I actually have a grand scheme in mind to print and bind copies of all my books so they are all of uniform appearance on my shelf.

2. I have very little faith in America's public education system. Having attended a private school, then having worked in a public school for 4+ years I can tell you there is a marked difference. Even in the short time I have been working in public schools they have gone down hill. Perhaps it is just the school I am working in, but I am afraid it is not.

3. I am not in the military, nor have I ever been in a fight. This is somewhat related to no. 2. For some reason many of the students at school think that I used to be in the military. They doubt me when I tell them I was not. Similarly, many students are astounded to learn that I have never been in a fight. I try to explain that there are very, very few instances when fighting is necessary; that there are other ways to deal with problems. Sadly, they do not seem to understand this concept.

4. When I was younger my family once went for a year or so without a t.v. Again, many people do not understand how this is possible. I was glad when our current t.v. stopped getting reception. A computer is bad enough.

5. I cannot stand having hair. I have had my head shaved to varying degrees since high school. I don't think it has been longer than 1/2 an inch in the past 14 years.

6. IT by Stephen King is the only book (the only thing really, book or otherwise) that has ever scared me. Once, shortly after reading it again, I was hanging out by the river. The water was down, exposing a 6ft or so drain pipe. I knew it was foolish, but I was a little creep-ed out to go look in it. I made myself do it anyway and no clowns came out to eat me. Take that Stephen King!

7. One time I saw a UFO. What was it, you ask? Well I'm really not sure...that is what makes it unidentified. It looked like a long silver...shape in the air. I would have dismissed it as an airplane or blimp or something, except it did not move. For almost the entire ten minute drive from work to the babysitter it did not change position. Weird.

And now this has taken far too long. I will come back later with the other requirements for the award. Until then.

-Rob

Pondering the Pig Problem

2011-01-11T14:20:00.009-06:00

I meant to post this last weekend, but you know how things go. And quite frankly, posting crap on the internet is not really my first priority...ever. On one hand I understand how this can be used as a sort of journal as well as an important part of marketing myself and my wares. On the other hand, I just don't care. It is sometimes annoying and feels like an obligation as opposed to something I want to do.

And on that note, here we go. The past few weeks, while school was on semester break, I got quite a bit of work done. I was pleased. School started the 3rd, though, and since then studio work has come almost to a stand still. So I guess this is actually a look back at what I accomplished the last week of break.

These are a couple simple wine sets. They are pretty simple, just cylinders, so they are good to warm up with. And they are largish, so they provide a good surface for decoration. I made these with wine cups as opposed to stemmed glasses. Not that I have anything against stemmed vessels; I have actually been working on making some to include in a wine set. In my mind, though, the stemmed glasses seem much more formal. I like the idea that these are for the more casual wine drinker; someone who is taking them on a pic-nick or just hanging out on the back porch. A cup seems more suited to that.

Salt & pepper shakers. Nothing groundbreaking or anything. I am refining the shape a bit, but you can't really tell here. And aren't potters always refining the shapes of their work a bit? At least I am.

These are parts for some banks I am working on. My wife said make banks...so I make banks. I made a few of these a while back actually, and was ruminating on how best to get the money out. I went with lidded banks for these. Perhaps a bit more difficult to save money if they are so easy to get into, but I guess folks will just have to learn some self control. (A tall order these days, I know.)

So these are bases and lids. I made sure to leave enough clay on these lids to trim an ample knob. They are actually all trimmed now, but no pictures yet.

And the one below is an almost completed bank. I obviously did not leave enough clay to trim a knob on this one, but that was intentional. The plan for this was an animal knob. A pig, specifically. Easy enough, right? Well, apparently not. I attempted to make a nice little pig to stick on top there, then I attempted to make another...then I attempted to make another.

I even had a nice little toy pig to look at when making these attempts. But alas I could not come up with anything I was happy with. Part of the problem is that I want to have at least a somewhat realistic animal. I do not, however, want to spend a great deal of time modeling and carving the animal.
Solution? Obviously practice is the most logical one. The more animals I make the better and faster I will be able to make them. I am looking into other options, though, to expedite the process. I have considered finding or making a plaster mold of a small toy pig, leaving a knob and stamping the top of it with a pig stamp, carving the image of a pig into the lid, etc. I would really rather have a three dimensional animal on there, though. Any suggestions send them my way.

And finally, my wife said make salt cellars...so I made salt cellars. The lid of the one in front is small enough that it doesn't really need a knob, but I think it would probably look better if it had one. Neither has a space for a spoon, but these were fun to make so I will undoubtedly make more in the future, perhaps with spoons.

I guess that is all for now. We did not have school today due to inclement weather. I may post something regarding that topic later.

-Rob

Mugs, Jugs and Ornaments...I'm not going to say "Oh my."

2010-12-22T18:56:00.007-06:00

This is really unprecedented; two blog posts in one day. Sure, one was really from yesterday, but still. See what being home and actually working in the studio leads to? I'm not going to say I have anything interesting to write about, but at least I have something to write about.

So today there was no shopping or anything to take care of, just studio time. I made myself a little list of things to get done and started hacking away.

My go to mug shape has a tendency to tip when it is near empty due to a combination of a narrow foot ring and a sizable handle. It is not a big problem, but I am working on correcting it. I am playing around with the foot ring mostly. I do not really want to make the handle too much smaller as it would affect how it is held and how comfortable it is.

Rob's go to mug shape. Note the large-ish handle, small foot and flaring rim.

I am also toying around with different mug shapes. I use the shape I use because I like it, but also because it is simple, uncomplicated. I'm not a big fan of complications. Thus this new mug shape is also simple. It is kind of the inverse of my standard, having a narrower rim and a wider base. I am hoping this will push the center of gravity low enough that I can use pretty much the same foot and handle as on the other mugs. I am pretty happy with how they look so far.

The new standard? Perhaps...perhaps...perhaps.

This is another mug shape I am playing around with; not to fix any problems, just to mix it up a bit. It is a fun shape that is simple, but also has a lot of potential for variation. If anyone is actually paying attention they may notice that this is the same type of mug I used for a commission a couple weeks back. Just a fun fact for ya.

Volcano mugs. I call them that because they kind of look like volcanoes!

And this is just another shot of the mugs that I thought was kind of neat. It looks like they are marching off to battle or something.

After the mugs I threw a set of bowls. Now these I am in a bit of a quandary over. I have finally found a bowl shape that I am happy with. The only problem is that they do not stack worth a crap. Ok, they do not stack bad, but because the bottom is wider than the rim they do not stack inside each other. Thus they are very tall when stacked and do not fit in a cabinet well. Hmmm... I suppose I will just have to get these trimmed up tomorrow and give it a good think.

A family of bowls drying on their heads.

Next came ornaments. I know it is a bit late for ornaments, but, well...I don't care. I made ornaments and there you go. I started out with eight but dropped a few when I was moving them...foolish, foolish Rob. These will probably be sgraffitoed (I'm not sure that is a word) and/or glazed as opposed to previous ornaments which were barrel fired.

And finally, I threw my first cider jug today. It is not exceptionally large (12 inches tall by 9 inches wide); nor is it especially well made. I threw it in two sections, using about 7 pounds of clay for each. I think I let the bottom section dry to much, though. When I put them together they did not really blend very well. You can still kind of see the seem where they are connected.

Shabby cider jug.

Construction aside, I am not really pleased with the overall shape either. It is too wide for its height. It needs to be either taller or skinnier. It actually was taller before I collared in the neck. I was contemplating throwing a third section with the neck on it but decided to go this way so I could get it finished. Now that I look at it, it probably would have been better to throw a third section. Oh well, maybe next time. I guess I will put a handle on this tomorrow and see if that helps any. If not it may end up going in the scrap heap.

That's all for now. I probably will not be back on here until next week, so merry Christmas & whatnot.

-Rob

December 21st: A Blog in Three Parts

2010-12-21T16:07:00.003-06:00

Editor's note: I was actually going to post this last night, but technology is a harsh mistress. Here it is now, though, chocked full of bloggy goodness.

Part 1: Shopping

I hate shopping. I had to finish getting some Christmas presents this morning as well as do some grocery shopping. I was not amused. Oh, I don't mind browsing through a book store or checking out the new arrivals at the local record store. But a list of crap I have to go track down, usually at multiple locations? Not my cup of tea. Alas that is what was required of me; so I spent this morning getting groceries, not finding what I need at one store, waiting for the other store to open, driving across town to find the other store is still closed 15 minutes after it is supposed to be open, driving back across town to the grocery store again, etc, etc. Once again, I hate shopping.

Part 2: Lost Time...or Perhaps Gremlins

Have you ever had one of those days where you work and work and work, but when you look at the output for the day it looks like you got nothing done? That was my day today. I worked; I know I worked. But all I have to show for it is a few cups and a few ornaments trimmed. Sure, I spent the morning shopping (see above if you forgot), but what the hell happened to the afternoon? It's like gremlins came along and destroyed any evidence of my work. My day was quite unproductive pottery wise, leaving me unsatisfied and a bit confused. Consarnit gremlins! Leave my work alone!
(Editor's note again: Thus far today has been much more productive. Perhaps more on that later.)

Part 3: The Holidays

Don't get me wrong, Christmas is great, but it is really quite over done. What started out as a religious celebration of Jesus' coming has been superseded by a celebration of Santa and consumerism. Not officially of course, but for all practical purposes. I suppose that is somewhat appropriate, though, as Christmas was used to replace the pagan celebration of the winter solstice, among others. What goes around and all that.

Personally I do not mind the celebration of the winter solstice. Not because I am a sun worshiper; I just really hate winter. It's cold, it's wet, and the days are so blasted short! If I didn't have family here I would probably up and move to someplace warmer. Hawaii sounds nice, or maybe somewhere along the gulf... But as that is never going to happen I will look kindly on the winter solstice as a turning point in this dreary time. Sure, around here (southern IL) we still have at least two and a half months left of cold, wet weather, but at least the days will start to get longer again, and that is a step in the right direction.

So tonight I am going to eat a few tacos, drink a couple beers and maybe some wine and celebrate the beginning of the end of winter. Here's to longer days, warmer weather and being more productive tomorrow.

(Editor's note yet again: I did indeed eat tacos and drink beer. They were both tasty. Then I lit into some Mark Twain goodness. All in all a good night.)

-Rob

Beware the school kiln...and school in general for that matter.

2010-12-17T18:53:00.005-06:00

A while back I was asked to make a couple mugs and a canister for someone who was retiring. Good deal; I can do it. Only problem is I don't have time to get a full load put together by the time they need to be done. Solution? Find another firing to jump in on before the deadline. As luck would have it the ceramics teacher at school was generous enough to let me put a few pieces in with her classes stuff. Good deal; I can still get it done. Throw throw throw, decorate decorate, and here we go.

Two mugs ("Retirement coffee is the best kind of coffee."), one and one extra, just in case. The designs are pretty similar, but not exactly the same. I like the movement in the first one better (I don't know that it comes through in the picture too well). The second one just has straight sides; too static. I do like the design on the second one better, though.

The client (my mother in law) took the second one. I hope the recipient was happy with it.

She also requested a canister to store well wishes & such in. I was not very happy with the results, but she thought it looked good. Unfortunately, due to the condition of the shelves in the school's kiln (unwashed, glaze puddles all over), this piece was glazed to the shelf and took some pretty good sized chunks out of the bottom edge when it came off. Thus it was unfit for sale. My mother in law still liked it though, and after I ground the bottom pretty good she decided to keep it for herself.

And for the random child update, we started Noah on cereal the other day. He wasn't too sure what to make of it at first, but after a few minutes he got the hang of things. I guess I have a new commission for some baby dishes coming up.

I should have plenty of time to get that done, though. School just went on semester break for two full weeks. That gives me quite a bit of time to get the banks, ornaments, bowls, serving dishes, oil lamps, etc done that I need to finish. And now I guess baby dishes too.

On a completely different note, someone stole my sketch book the other day! (My wife is laughing about me writing this because she has already been hearing about it since it happened.) It was in my desk at school when I left on a Friday; there was some sort of school function over the weekend, and when I came back Monday my sketchbook was gone. Who the f--- steals a sketchbook?! I can understand why people steal cars or jewelry or whatever; they have something to gain from it. What does someone gain from stealing a sketchbook? It is not like there is some big black market for sketchbooks, is there? GARGH!

Ok, I am done ranting...for now. Until later.

-Rob

Studio Saga Vol. 2b: Naming Rights

2010-11-18T18:26:00.010-06:00

In a previous post I solicited suggestions for a new name for the studio. Thanks for all of your input! Pretty much everyone agreed that Simple Circle Pottery was first pick. I was kind of leaning in this direction anyway, once again proving that I am the smartest man alive. Please notify my wife.

Anyway, I had mentioned that there may perhaps be a reward for name suggestions, but since I went with my own suggestion a winner had to be chosen in another manner...random number generation. The very scientific random number generation went as follows.

Rob - Pick an number between one and seven.
Alicia - Why?
Rob - Because I asked you to.
Alicia - I would rather know what I am picking.
Rob - Why?
Alicia - Because I need to know whether or not what I am picking is important.
Rob - Please just pick a number...I'll do the dishes!
Alicia - (looks at Rob scornfully) You have to do the dishes anyway.
Rob - But I won't do the dishes if you don't pick a number.
Alicia - (looks at Rob even more scornfully) Yes you will.
Rob - (frowns sheepishly) I know.
Alicia - O.k. I'll pick a number if you clean the whole house this weekend...
Rob - (grimaces) ...fine.
Alicia - ...including the showers...
Rob - SIGH...including the showers...
Alicia - ...and you have to give me a back rub tonight.
Rob - FINE! Just please pick a number...
Alicia - Can I change my answer if I don't like what I picked?
Rob - I suppose so.
Alicia - Fine...5. Now what was I picking?
Rob - A random number for my blog.
Alicia - Hmm. (goes back to reading her baby book)
(Note: Things in blue may not have actually happened.)

And thus the random number was chosen. The fifth comment on that post was by...Gary Rith! So if Mr. Rith would be so kind as to send me his mailing address I can ship out his prize (pictured below) post haste!

I guess that is all for now. More to follow as things progress. Thanks to everyone for following along!

-Rob

Getting dirty and doing for yourself

2010-11-07T22:00:00.004-06:00

I have been doing a lot of talking and a lot of thinking about my studio recently, what with the new plans to open a full time pottery business. Unfortunately I have not been able to do a lot of working in the studio lately. Thankfully that changed this weekend.

I read an article last week (I believe it was in the latest CM) about what you really need in a studio to make work. It obviously led me to think about what I would actually need to get the new studio started and what I wanted that could wait until later. It also got me thinking about the space I am working in now. Why am I not making pots? Granted, there is the baby aspect; not having as much time and such. More than that, though, I think I have been doing so much thinking and planing and pining over how great it is going to be to have a bigger work space with (hopefully) more equipment and more time to use it that I have failed to make use of the time and space that I have now. So I finished reading the article and thought to myself, "I have space to work. I can make a little time. Get off your ass and make some pots!"

Thus today I got off my ass and got a little dirty. As I have not thrown in a while I decided to start off with some mugs. This also worked well as I have a couple orders for mugs that I need to get finished.

The pieces in front are actually for a single mug order. I was trying out a new form, though, so I made a number of them to get something I was happy with. The request was for a big coffee mug. I think I made them larger than my normal mugs, but I am not very good at guessing how much liquid will fit in a form. I suppose I will see when they are finished.

The rest are my regular mug forms; some for an order and some just to restock the shelves. These I have already tested. I use 3/4 of a pound of clay and they usually end up holding 8 - 12 ounces.

Now I have 20+ mugs to trim and handle, which is a lot at one time for me. Luckily I have Thursday (Veteran's Day) off work, so I should be able to take care of things then.

Now for something only vaguely clay related. I am lucky enough to have been born into a family that knows what it is to work for something and knows the value of doing things for yourself. I am also luck enough to be part of a family that has the means to do these things from time to time. Pictured above are two gallons of apple cider that we pressed a couple weeks ago using an old manual cider press that my folks have access to. (We actually pressed a lot more than two gallons; that is just what I took home.) Granted it is probably not as efficient and modern presses, but it gets the job done. I might have taken pictures of the whole process but, well, we were busy pressing cider. Maybe next time.

Now, as to what is up with the picture. When I have time I like to brew up my own beer. I also have some blackberries that I will soon turn into wine. So naturally when we were pressing cider my thoughts ran to making hard cider. After getting this stuff home I did a little research and discovered that making hard cider is actually a lot easier than wine or even beer. Very simply, you add some extra sugar (this ups the alcohol content, better preserving the cider), pitch your yeast and wait. So that is what I did.

Another optional step was to purify the cider with sodium or potassium metabisulfite. This is supposed to kill any wild yeast and bacteria that may give the cider an off flavor. Since it was an optional step I decided to try a gallon each way to see if it really made any difference. The jug on the left was not purified and had already been fermenting a couple days at the time of the picture. The jug on the right was purified and I had to wait a couple days for the sodium to do its thing. I was really surprised at color difference when I went back to look at them. That was last Tuesday, though, and the purified jug has been pitched and is fermenting away. It too has undergone a dramatic color change. Strange. Now it is just a waiting game.

So how does this have anything to do with clay? If you are going to make cider you darn well better have something to store it in. A nice big cider jug is on the production list for the next firing. I doubt it will look as good as this one by Doug Fitch or this one by Dan Finnegan, but I'll give it a go anyway.

And now it is way past my bed time. Time to put Noah to bed and hit the sack. Until next time...

-Rob

Studio Saga: Vol. 2

2010-10-25T19:47:00.005-05:00

I believe the studio is going to be registered as an LLC. From my limited knowledge of business, this would probably be the safest route. If you have an opposing opinion, please share it. Those of you with businesses, what are they registered as and why did you choose to do it that way?

In any case, in order to register as an official business we will need a name to register as. I have been going by the moniker "Simple Circle Studios," but my wife (heretofore known as "Alicia") thought it might be better to have something with the word pottery in it to make it easier to identify what the studio does. I tend to agree with her. Since I do not really have much of a business presence built up I don't think changing names will make much of a difference. Thus we have been brainstorming lately to come up with a different name for the studio. So far we have come up with the following...

Mud Chucker Pottery
Chestnut Pottery (pending on the acquisition of a specific property)
Simple Circle Pottery
S.C.S. Pottery (Simple Circle Studios Pottery)
Rockwood Pottery

I know there have been more but I can't remember them at the present. I like Mud Chucker, but Alicia thinks that name would be too coarse for my style of work and might scare people off...I don't agree. Chestnut is the name of a cafe we are looking at for a possible studio space, so that one would depend on getting that building. Simple Circle Pottery would be pretty easy, as would S.C.S. Pottery, especially as I already have stuff set up as Simple Circle Studios or some variation there of. Rockwood has no meaning whatsoever; Alicia just thought it sounded nice.

Now your job, faithful reader, is to assist in the naming of the new studio. Give me your opinions of the present options and let me hear your suggestions for names. Alicia and I will sift through them all and if we pick yours (ala Ron Philbeck), perhaps I might be able to find a little something as a token of our appreciation. Let's hear those names!

And so there is at least one picture in this post...

This fine piece of work is a mug I recently purchased from Brandon Phillips during his Etsy cup sale. It has a great gestural movement and a knockout handle; not to mention the wood fired surface. Perfect for a cup of coffee or some freshly pressed apple cider with just a pinch of whiskey.

Ok, I have bread to finish and a kitchen to clean. Remember, send in those name suggestions and you may be handsomely rewarded! Until then...

-Rob

Studio Sage: Vol. 1

2010-10-20T18:57:00.005-05:00

DISCLAIMER: This post consists entirely of words. There are no pictures. It may, in fact, be quite boring. If this does not sound like your cup of tea, farewell gentle reader. I hope you come again when you may.

It has been far too long since I have posted anything on here. Part of the reason has to do with my new son. My current schedule is: pick up my son after work, take care of him until my wife gets home, eat supper and catch up on computer stuff, try to take care of any cleaning that needs to get done, etc. then go to bed so I can get up at 5:15 am and start it all again. All that leaves very little time to get into the studio.

What is more than all this, though, I have been rather depressed lately. Depressed about not being able to work like I want to; about the prospect of never being able to turn pottery into a business, about having to work some menial, shit job that I hate for the rest of my life. And really, that is what I was facing; doing something I barely tolerate for the rest of my life just to pay the bills.

I have been bothering my wife for a number of years about not working in a school (or wherever) and starting a full time pottery business. Her response was always the same. Once you can make as much selling pottery as you do working now, then you can do it full time. I could never seem to convince her that I would not be able to make what she was expecting while working another job, at least not a full time job. As it would be rather difficult to start a business without her consent I was stuck.

Now here comes the good part.
I am not entirely sure what brought it on, but my wife finally agreed to starting a full time pottery studio. I think she finally realized that since raising a child is not going to be getting any cheaper, if we didn't jump in now it was probably never going to happen. Granted it would have been nice if she had let me do this four years ago when I first mentioned it, when we didn't have a child to worry about...but I'll take what I can get.
Enough of this talking. I will keep you all posted on how this whole adventure goes.

-Rob

How do you take a good picture of your work?

2010-08-17T20:01:00.005-05:00

Ok, so they are a few days later than advertised, but here are some shots of work out of the kiln. I finally got something of a photo cube set up so these pictures are moderately better than before. I still have to play around with the lighting set up. I am also pretty dissatisfied with my pictures as a whole. They just seem so boring; not very good for advertising the work. I'll have to work on that. Any tips on that front would be welcome.

Blue serving-ish bowl with rectangles, 3.5 x 7 inches

Light and dark brown serving-ish bowl with circles and stripe, 3.5 x 7 inches

Light brown salt & pepper shakers with...whatever that is, 2.5 x 2.5 inches

Light and dark brown flower basket with swirly plant things, 6 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches

I will post more pictures as I get them taken. Until then, don't forget the eggs.

-Rob

Sneak Peek

2010-08-12T20:49:00.003-05:00

Just a quick peek in the kiln. It is still a tad too warm to unload, but the kiln is propped open a bit and I will be at it first thing in the morning.

Glaze fire is go!

2010-08-12T10:48:00.007-05:00

I finally got all of the work decorated. I decided to run everything through the bisque this time. Next time I will keep a few pieces back to single fire just to test how it will work. If it works out o.k. I might be able to save myself a considerable amount of time and energy eliminating the first firing.
Here is most of the work decorated, but not yet fired. I had quite a few bowls in this round of work. I also had some new forms; banks, oil lamps spice shakers, knob-and-all, etc. I am very interested to see how they turn out and if they will sell. That is really always what it comes down to, isn't it? I really like making the banks and oval flower baskets...but if they do not sell I will probably not be making very many of them even if I enjoy it.

Yesterday I managed to get everything glazed and loaded, so I was able to run a glaze load through last night. Here are the left overs that did not make it into this firing. I am going to have to throw more next cycle. I think I could probably work it out so I can throw enough to fit everything in one bisque and still fill two glaze loads. Of course that is if I don't single fire.
I am also going to have to throw a wider variety of forms. Like I said, I had a lot of bowls in this cycle which made for a bit of unused space in the kiln. I had a few small items, but not enough to fill all the voids around the bigger items. It looks like there may be more spice shakers in my future.
I am pretty excited to get this stuff unloaded. Aside from the new forms I have in there, I also used new colors of slip. My old slips I mixed using oxides & such. These I mixed using mason stains. I already tested them a while back and was pleased with the color of most of them, but they were lacking something that the oxides had. They were too clean. I will just have to wait and see how these turn out.

Glazing my work is the easiest and fastest part of the process. Since all the decorating is done before firing, glazing just consists of dipping everything in a big bucket of clear. I am trying something new in this load, though. On a few pieces I sprinkled some wood ash over the wet glaze. Now ash glazes are not my favorite, but some ash can do pretty cool things. I am not sure how this topical application will work, but I am anxious to find out.

And last but not least, here is the latest slug. You will have to excuse the picture quality. My wife spilled water on the camera, so it kind of fuzzed out on us for a bit. It is right as rain now, though. You can't really tell from this picture, but this guy is laying down with his back arched.

Kiln temp as of 10 am. It will probably be some time tomorrow before I can get everything out and photographed. I will try to get something up when I do.

It's Decoration Day, but not the holiday

2010-07-30T18:35:00.007-05:00

This week has been decoration week, which consists of spraying layers of colored slip on all the greenware, then carving images and designs through the slip to reveal the white clay body beneath. So how has that all gone?

Set up spray booth & such...check.
Slip greenware...check
Carve...che- wait, it's time to bale hay, carving will have to wait.
Bale hay...check.
Ok, now carve...check...for a couple hours anyway.
Bale hay again...check.
Now we can carve for a while...che-wait, there is a fire call, carving will have to wait again.

It has been a pretty hectic week, only allowing me a few hours here and there to get this stuff decorated. Thankfully today I had a relatively uninterrupted day to get down to it. Here are some of the results.

Oil lamps and a set of bowls with various brown, blue and black slips.

Large-ish serving bowl in a couple different colors of brown. I was pretty pleased with how this design turned out. I will have to try it again in the future.

Salt and pepper shakers, wine set and a berry bowl set in various shades of brown, blue and black. Not real happy with the shakers, and I am undecided on the design on the wine set. I do
like the pattern on the berry bowl though. It too will be returning.

And finally, a green and black teapot with a plate design on it. That is, I was originally going to use this design on a set of plates, but thought it might look good on here. Still not happy with the proportions on this thing, though.

I was thinking about spraying a thin layer of clear and single firing some of this stuff. Not the stuff with wax on it (teapot, oil lamps, bowl set), of course, but I could swing it with most of the stuff. I have always been kind of leery of single firing, though. I'm always worried something is going to blow and ruin the whole load. I don't know; the jury is still out on that decision.

Now it is a break for supper and possibly a movie, then perhaps I will try to decorate a couple more pieces before bed. Wait, my wife just informed me that instead of more deco we will be bathing our son. I guess that works too.

-Rob

As one cycle ends...

2010-07-28T08:45:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was a very frustrating day; well, at least yesterday morning. It was one of those mornings where nothing seemed to go right. Things were broken, both accidentally and intentionally. As an example of the difficulties I ran up against, here is the large canister I had been working on for a while.

I threw it using coils, got the lid thrown and trimmed, and even got some decent looking lugs and a handle on top. Yesterday, when the handle had finally set up enough to remove the lid without breaking it, I popped the top only to find this.

Apparently when I cut this guy off the bat I cut through the bottom. Shit! And since I could not see this until I took the lid off, I finished the whole thing not knowing that it was all for naught. Oh well. We'll just call that one practice, I guess.

Things finally did settle down, though. As my shelves were filling up with green ware it came time to leave off the throwing and start up the decorating cycle. Thus I got things set up and applied slip to all the green work I had. While most people dip their work or pour slip on, I prefer to use a spray gun as it allows me to blend different colors on each piece. I will have to take a picture of my current spray booth set up some time. It is different from my original booth as that one developed a crack and spilled over-spray everywhere. This one does double duty as a trimming catcher.

Here are a couple of the results from yesterday's efforts. I actually meant to take pictures of these oil lamps earlier, but alas it did not happen. So here they are in all their slipped glory. I guess oil lamps could be pretty simple, but I tend to complicate things. Instead of just a simple bottle I added a lid/snuffer, which necessitated stops to hold it in place. I also added a separate fuel hole so you do not have to remove the wick to refuel. And last but not least, a handle is always...handy.

And finally, here is slug #8. It kind of looks like he was shot out of a cannon and missed the landing mat. He is dealing with it pretty well, though.
Ok, now I must tend to the chickens and garden before I find my sketch book, sgraffito tool and a comfy chair and set to decorating. Maybe I can get some stuff finished up before I have to make hay this afternoon.

-Rob

The biggest thing I've ever thrown...

2010-07-20T08:21:00.004-05:00

Here it is...the biggest thing I have ever thrown. Sure it does not look that big in the picture, but I assure you it is huge, at least by my standards. Which means it is really not all that big. This here is going to be a flour keg. It is roughly 13 inches across and 11 inches tall, with the lid adding another couple inches. I know this is pretty small potatoes for some folks, but considering the average size of my work is probably around 6 inches in any direction this is a pretty big achievement for me.
I went with the coil and throw method to make this guy. For those of you unfamiliar with this method, this is how I did it (that is not to say that this is the proper way of doing this technique, though). I started by throwing a flat base as wide as I wanted my jar. To this I added a thick coil around the edge and pulled it up to start the wall, leaving extra clay on the rim. After that had set up for a bit I added another thick coil and pulled, etc, etc. Today I will make sure the lid fits and try trimming. Hopefully it does not completely fall apart as it dries.

This is some other work I finished up yesterday. Flower baskets in the back and a couple of teapots up front. I was not really satisfied with how the teapots turned out. It has been quite a while since I have made teapots and, especially now looking at the picture, I am not happy with the proportions. Oh well; something else to work on I guess.

A wine set I threw yesterday. It consists of a ice bucket/bottle chiller and a few small cups. Not sure how many I am going to include when it is all said and done. My wife does not think this item will sell very well, at least not with the cups. "Who drinks wine out of cups," she says. I decided not to remind her that she has drunk wine out of cups on many occasions while sitting around a camp fire.
Besides, I am not a fancy wine person. I know stemmed wine glasses serve there purpose for people who want to be fancy and talk about clarity and legs and bouquet. I am more of a homemade wine kind of guy, though. I just want my wine to taste good; and if I can drink it out of a nice piece of pottery all the better.

This is a tile mold I am working on. I made an original a while back and let it dry out (that is what is in the middle), then packed wet clay around it to make the mold. I know I could have done the same thing with plaster a little easier, but I am not especially fond of working with plaster, probably because I just have not worked with it much. Bisque molds work just as well, and you don't have to worry about plaster chips working their way into your clay.

And finally, another installation of rattle sculptures. You cannot see very well from this picture, but I really like the gesture on this guy. He is leaning forward quite a bit and looking down. Rather menacing, especially with his horns. I think I am going to try making this a regular thing; maybe make one or two a week and post the results. Until then...tschus.

-Rob

With regards to "Dark Thoughts"

2010-07-18T08:33:00.004-05:00

I just read a post by Whitney Smith, along with the comments on said post. I was going to comment as well, but as tends to happen, my comment got a bit lengthy. So in an effort to keep the comments on Whitney's blog more concise I decided to do my own post on the subject.

Yes, the craft industry is in a time of transition. But what really worries me is exactly where it is transitioning to. A lot of people say that there is currently a push towards more quality, hand made items. And to an extent that is true...at least within our circles. People naturally have a tendency to surround themselves with other like-minded individuals. Thus a lot of the people we interact with do have a desire to buy local, hand made, sustainable, quality, etc. Unfortunately we do not interact with the majority of society.

Now mind you, the following is not backed by any kind of hard evidence, just my casual observations. But it seems to me that the people buying quality handmade goods (like ours) are mostly older (30+), affluent (upper middle class) individuals. These people do not make up a large percent of the buying public. A much larger percentage of the buying public (the majority of society) is spending their money on crap. Mass produced, cheaply made, use once and destroy crap. This in iteself is not worrisome. This is, in fact, natural; it is to be expected.

What is worrisome is the transition. Like I said before, there appears to be a move towards more quality goods because those are the people we associate with. Perhaps there is a broader movement, but from where I'm sitting, I haven't seen it. What I have seen is a proliferation of cheaply made products. An increasing number of people are buying crap because that is what they can afford. And because more people are buying it, manufacturers are making more of it, and making it cheaper to increase their profits. Because it is cheaper now people buy even more crap, and the circle continues. And what is worse, fewer and fewer people can afford to purchase quality, hand made products, meaning more and more people are buying the crap.

Is this just a low point in the craft industry? Will the pendulum eventually swing back in our direction? I certainly hope so. But based on the recent economic trends and my experience with younger generations (whom we will be relying on to sustain the craft industry) I don't expect it to happen any time soon.

The economy is in the toilet. And despite what any experts say to the contrary, I have a feeling it is going to be there for quite some time, especially for a market like ours that relies mostly on an affluent clientele. And from what I have seen working in a public high school, the next few generations have little to no interest in quality made products. They have been raised in a throw-away society. They do not expect things to last so they do not make an effort to look for things that last. They are perfectly content to spend money on a product, only to spend more money later when the first one breaks (or they are just tired of it and throw it away).

An economy in the crapper; fewer people purchasing quality goods; the increase in production of disposable products; future generations with no interest in quality...all this adds up to a pretty bleak outlook for the craft industry in the near and possibly distant future. While I do think things will improve, I am not sure they will ever get back to the bustling economy some folks are used to...at least not in my life time.

Does this mean that there is no hope? Obviously not. It is simply a challenge. It is a rough patch that will have to be muddled through. Now, we might have to muddle for a while, but eventually things will turn around. And it is an opportunity to help educate the public about why buying quality, handmade goods is better than buying mass produced crap.
What this down turn also allows for is a reexamination of the industry, pricing, business practices, etc. Is selling through high end galleries that tack on 30 - 40 percent commission the best way to get your work out there? Maybe, maybe not. Is it really necessary to charge $40 for a mug, $50 for a bowl and $70 for a vase? Maybe, maybe not (I would lean to the "not" on this one, but that is a different subject). What do you need to do to continue supporting yourself doing what you love? It will obviously be different for everyone; but it is something we should continue working at and something we can support each other in.

That was a rather abrupt ending, but I ran out of things to say so I'm done. Tschus.

-Rob

Sometimes I make a Slug

2010-07-12T11:22:00.005-05:00

I do not usually make much sculptural work; mainly because it it more time consuming than my functional stuff and it does not sell. I have, however, made a few small sculptures here and there, mostly as demonstrations for classes. This one was actually an experiment with some paper clay that turned into a project for a class.

Slug Man #1

He is small (only about four inches tall) and made from a pinch pot with additions. In the summer classes that I recently taught I had the kids make something similar, but with beads inside so they rattled. This is obviously not a groundbreaking project for a beginning clay class, but the students seemed to enjoy it. Here are a couple of the examples I made for the class...

Slug Man #2

Sorry it is not a great picture. It was taken as he was sitting on a shelf in the bathroom.

Slug Man #3

His arm was severed in a tragic gardening accident. Surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday...or whenever he comes out of the kiln.

And here are a couple of examples of what the students came up with. In addition to unicorns we had turtles, cakes, dragons and a bizarre five-faced volcano monster. These two are actually in my studio right now waiting for a glaze firing. They were the only two that I could not fit in the kiln at school.
And finally, all this example making got me going to do a little more sculpture work on my own. These slug men were made Friday. Although the original slug man was not a rattle, I kind of liked the idea, so these fellows double up as musical instruments.

And on a completely unrelated note, this morning I took a test to be eligible for a job as a fire fighter in Carbondale. The written portion was this morning; this afternoon I have to go take the physical portion. If I pass those two I will be interviewed to see if I would be suitable as a fire fighter. Unfortunately this does not mean I will be offered a job or even that there is a job available. The city is required to test every two years to compile a list of possible applicants. Then, if by chance there would be an opening on the department (which does not happen often) all they have to do is go to the list. You cannot even be considered if you are not on the list. Thus, even though there are not any openings at this time, and there are not likely to be any any time soon, a testing I will go. That's all for now. Tschus.

-Rob

Starting summer with the sound of crying

2010-07-07T08:16:00.008-05:00

It has been a while since I posted anything on here, so a quick recap of what has been going on in the merry old land of Rob.

From June 7th to July 2nd I was teaching summer enrichment classes at the high school I work for. These were not really a big deal, just something to keep the kiddies busy and out of trouble for a while. There were three classes a day, each class lasting 2 hours. Personally I thought 2 hours was a bit long for each class considering most of the participants were incoming freshmen and had the attention span of...well, freshmen. I was teaching three classes: a drawing class, an illustration class and a ceramics class. While they were not terrible and the extra money was nice; these classes mainly served as a reminder as to why I do not want to teach anymore.

During that time I did manage to get some stuff done in the studio. My wife wanted a piggy bank for a friend of hers. Not having much time to sculpt a traditional piggy bank I went with this type of bank instead. This is not, however, what she had in mind, so I guess they will be finished and put up for sale some time. I did enjoy making them, though, and if I can get rid of these I will probably make more. Along that line, what are everyone's thoughts on putting a hole in the bottom of the bank to retrieve the money? I have a hole in the bottom of these, but it seems that I could save myself the trouble of finding stoppers and making sure they fit right by making the hole on top a little bigger. Not huge, mind you, but big enough to get the money out relatively easily. Thoughts?

I have also been playing around with bowl forms, trying to find one that I like. I think I finally got one; now I just need to work on throwing it consistently.

A short time ago I also purchased another motorcycle. I have a Honda 450 (Oscar), which runs decent and such; but I quickly outgrew it and was looking for something bigger. Lo and behold, I stumble across a Yamaha XS850 Special. It is an 850, so it is a good step up from the 450. It has a nice big 6 gallon gas tank, good for long hauls. And it has an interesting 3 cylinder set up (as opposed to most bikes with 2 or 4), which I thought was cool.

Sure, it needs a little work, but for $400 it was hard to pass up. So slowly over this summer (and probably into the winter) I am going to be giving it a good working over to get everything in proper running order. I do not have a name for it yet, so any suggestions there would be welcome.

And finally, what has been eating up most of my time lately is this.

A week and a half ago my wife quite unexpectedly went into labor 4 weeks early. Thus on June 27 at just past noon our first child (Noah) was born. Pretty cool stuff. Even though he was a month early, he was fine. No stay in the NICU or anything. They watched him for a few hours in the nursery to make sure he was breathing ok, but then he stayed with us in the room until we went home. Noah has been getting a good deal of my attention as of late, so I have not been in the studio in a while. I am going to try to get in there later today, though, to get some teapots started. Now, however, I think Noah needs his diaper changed. Ah the joys of fatherhood.

Tschus.
-Rob

Righteous Indignation

2010-06-08T20:50:00.002-05:00

This has nothing to do with pottery, but it does have something to do with small businesses, which should be of some interest to most potters. Sunday, while perusing the newspaper, I came across this article. As a proponent of small business and as a hobby beer brewer, I was aghast at AB/InBev's audacity. For those of you who don't feel like reading the article, here is a quick recap. Anheuser-Busch/InBev is suing the Illinois Liquor Control Commission because, as an out of state producer, they are not allowed to be a distributor in Illinois. Illinois breweries, though, can self-distribute within the state. They (AB/InBev) are claiming that small, independent breweries who self-distribute have an unfair advantage.
Really?! Are you serious?! The largest brewing company in the world, with a net income of $4.6 billion, is worried about an independent brewery with a distribution range of 60 miles?!

I have not bought much AB product since InBev took over. Partly because I prefer craft brews and partly because August Busch IV selling out really cheesed me off. Occasionally I would pick up a case of Busch...but I'm pretty sure that is done after these antics. I find it hard to support a company who is working to hold back independent businesses because they are not satisfied with billions of dollars in profit. Bloody savages.

-Rob

To boldly go where many thousands have gone before!

2010-06-03T22:04:00.003-05:00

At approximately 10pm, central time, I officially became a seller on Etsy! I just got my shop set up yesterday, and finally listed my first item today. (That was my big goal for the week.)

And that is probably the only item I will have up for a little while. I got my photo set up cleared away enough to snap a few shots so I could get something on there that was better than a towel and a counter top. I have a lot of work to do on and around the photo area, though, before it is really ready to roll.
Not that it will make the pictures any better. I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to cameras and lighting and white balance and such. It would be really nice to be able to go to a workshop dealing with all that, but I have never heard of any around my area.

Is this really such a good thing, though, that I will be selling on Etsy? It is a flooded market place. Do I really want to be lumped in will all of the thousands of people out there pumping out mediocre (if not down right bad) work, and offering it up to the public?
I considered these things briefly, right before I considered how much money that mug was making while it was sitting on a shelf. I am fairly certain that millions of people are not going to walk through my house in search of handmade goods any time soon. On Etsy, however, at least it has a chance. So for better or for worse...here we go.

On a completely unrelated note, I got a free CD at P-mac Music today. P-mac is this cool little independent music store I used to work at. The owners are first rate folks. Check out their web site, and one of their stores if you're in the neighborhood. Anyway, so what did I choose for my free music selection? Primus: The Brown Album. Les Claypool is a freaking genius. The whole album is good, but Fisticuffs and Shake Hands with Beef get my top picks.

Heeeey batter, batter!

2010-05-31T06:45:00.004-05:00

Things have been a bit busy around here lately. I have been wrapping up the track season, preparing for summer classes and doing a lot of cleaning and such in preparation for a new child. (My wife is with child, due at the end of July. Fun stuff.) Thus I have had little time for blogging or clay. The baby's room is almost done, though, and school is out so I should have more time. To start getting caught up...

(Sorry for the crappy pictures. My photo set up was displaced to get the baby's room ready and is not yet set up in its new location.)

This is one of a set of bowls that came out of the last glaze firing. I was somewhat disappointed with the colors. These were supposed to be light brown at the top, but the color "burned out," making it kind of difficult to see the sgraffito designs. Oh well.
I am really fond of this form, with the rounded body and tall foot and all. My concern comes with how these would stack in a cabinet. Making functional work, these things ought to be considered I suppose, but where does one draw the line when considering the "form follows function" argument? Is it enough that the bowl functions properly as a bowl, or should that function extend to how it is stored as well? Should a potter (i.e. me) find a new for that stacks better, or is it o.k. to say, "I know this piece will not function perfectly in every aspect, but artistically this form is the most pleasing to me, so I am going to leave it as it is."

These are two of the batter bowls that I was playing around with a while back. I call them batter bowls, but I don't know if they are really big enough to qualify as such. They hold approximately four cup, so they are more like over sized gravy boats or something. I was really a bit worried, though when I was cleaning these up. I washed them and tried pouring water from them, BUT THEY DIDN'T POUR WORTH A CRAP!! I was vexed. I believe the problem is with the spout being too short and not quite sharp enough. Next time I will extend the spout further down the body to create a better throat to direct the liquid.
Not to be entirely beaten, though, I tried mixing up some scrambled eggs in one yesterday morning and it worked like a charm. I think the lower volume (the bowl was only about half full) and the higher viscosity of the liquid slowed things down enough to make it pour properly. So it may work as a batter bowl, just not as a pitcher. I am going to make some waffles in a bit to further test this theory.
And now, I just found a spot that I missed shaving. If I don't go take care of that my wife will probably try to pull it out later. Hope everyone has a good Memorial day. Tschus.

Bad Motor-scooter Part 2

2010-03-31T21:56:00.004-05:00

Since I know everyone has been sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what the results are, I present to you...the bike! Oscar (the bike's name is Oscar, the truck behind him is Rudy) was recently stripped of his factory finish and given a new paint job. He doesn't look too bad with the side panels and everything on there. Honestly, though, I liked it better when the tank was down to the bare metal. Oh well.
I also put on a new drive chain before taking him out on the road. That improved the performance quite a bit. The next step is to take a trip up to St. Louis and talk my younger brother into helping me clean the carburetors.

I have been working on some bowls that will become batter bowls in the near future. I threw a couple tonight, but neglected to bring the camera out, so no pictures yet (I just love keeping everyone waiting, it's how I make sure you all come back). Luckily we have off school this Friday for Easter break, so I will be able to get down to it for two full days before family stuff on Sunday.
Oh! And would you like to hear something funny? Not really laugh out loud funny, but more of a hit yourself in the head with a hammer funny. I was disappointed, but not surprised at not being able to go to NCECA. I especially wanted to go to the Making Through Living, Living Through Making pre-conference, so I was very excited to learn that they would be streaming it live on the web. I still had to work, but figured I could catch a little bit of it during lunch and such. When lunch rolled around I got my pb&j and hunkered down in the break/conference room ready for some good time pottery fun. I log on to the computer, find the web site and boom; there's the video! Sweet! Now I can enjoy a cool 30 minutes away from the kiddos watching some great potters do their thing. After a second though, I notice there is a problem...the computer doesn't have any sound! Sure I can see the great things they are doing, but when they stop to answer a question or explain something I cannot hear all the great things they are saying. Once again my plans are foiled...

Bad Motor-scooter

2010-03-22T21:27:00.003-05:00

I have been spending a lot of time outside the studio because of track (I don't know if I have said on here before that I am an assistant track coach, pole vault). I am planning to step that back a bit, though, only coaching a couple days a week. There have been other projects as well, however. The biggest of which is this.

This is the 1982 Honda CM450e that I purchased a couple years ago. Up until three days ago it was the factory maroon in color. This weekend I spent almost two full days sanding it down to the bare metal. I really dig how the bare metal looks, but will be painting it; it doesn't look as good with the seat on it.

The seat covers the back fender too much. So the tank and side covers will be painted olive drab, which goes a bit deeper and a bit brighter with the clear coat on it. There will also be a black star on the side of the tank. Of course I may strip all that off again later if I decide I don't like it. I will do this for sure if I ever get a smaller seat. Obviously this is a project that will be going on for quite some time.

On the clay front I have been pumping out some mugs and such. These were photographed promptly after getting handles, and blogger then just as promptly turned the picture on its side. Why does it do that?

And here is one of a pair of planters (left) and a stack of very small bowls. The bowls were tests to fine tune the form. They each have a tallish trimmed foot that you cannot see due to their stacked nature. As such they remind me of a small set of stacked forms I did in college that had a similar shape...I wonder what ever happened to those.

And now I am off to put one more coat of primer on the bike's tank before I go to bed. More to come in the future. Tschus.

-Rob

post script - along with the motorcycle theme, check out Jesse Irwin's Motorcycle Don't Run Blues. Great stuff.

Ear we go again...

2010-02-11T20:32:00.003-06:00

Here are a few things I have been working on recently. I think I may have actually posted about these vases before, but it has been a while. Here are the results. Well, the green ware anyway. I used Gimp to make them all fancy black and white to get a better sense of the form...and because it is just fun.
Anyway, I was having some troubles with adding the ears. They never really turned out how I was picturing them.

I think #'s 1, 3, 5 and 6 are ok. Number 5 probably works the best; it stays close to the vase body and doesn't feel quite so added on. They still have a long way to go. Any thoughts?

And here is a lidded jar that was going to be a teapot body, but it just didn't feel right as a teapot. It actually doesn't feel right for anything I am making right now. It is far too polished. It looks more like something I was doing back in college. Strange.

On a different note, I have been reading through some old issues of Pottery Making Illustrated at school lately. I had a subscription to Ceramics Monthly a while back, but that mostly just frustrated me. It always showed a bunch of artists, usually the same age or younger than me, presenting professional photographs, doing grand things in the field of ceramics. Frustrating for someone who is working hard and getting nowhere. PMI, though, is more like the working man's pottery magazine. The articles are great and helpful; not just reviews and such. And the pictures, while still professional, are more like snapshots into a real potter's day, not set ups for a magazine shoot.
Not trying to knock CM or anything, just finding some good stuff in PMI right now, more down to earth stuff. And on that note, it is off to bed. Tschus.

-Rob

Sunday, muddy Sunday

2010-01-31T19:06:00.007-06:00

I was hoping to relate some good news to you all out there in blog reader land, but certain things have not yet transpired, so that particular piece of good news will just have to wait... I hope I didn't just jinx myself by telling you all I had good news. Crap.

Anyway, today was another good day filled with pots and chocolate cake. After rolling out of bed and finally getting out to the studio about 9:30 or so I hunkered down to some throwing. Bowls are something that I do not really make many of. I think it is just because I have not found a bowl form that I am really comfortable with yet. Regardless, or perhaps as a way to work out this problem, I threw a batch of 1 and 1.5 pound bowls this morning (sorry, I don't have a good picture of them). They turned out passably fair, but nothing to shout about.

I've had an idea for vases like these for a while. I started with a plain cylinder that I squared off (obviously) and kind of dented up a bit. I wanted them to feel a little more loose. Later they will get some ears, kind of like my oval vases. This is the first time I have tried these, so I am anxious to see if they live up to my expectations.

These here are some tea pot bodies and lids that I worked on today. It has been quite a while since I made anything with a lid, so that took some work; probably far more than it should have. I tried making them a bit larger than my regular tea pots, starting off with 2 pounds of clay instead of 1 to 1.5 pounds. And I am really going to have to find some tiles to make a tile bat system. I had to resort to throwing these lids on 14 inch masonite bats that I usually use for plates.

And last but not least, some more mugs from the extra 5 pounds of clay I had ready. You can never have too many mugs. The shelves are filling up; and as soon as I have enough for a full load I will be heading into decoration mode. Not quite as fun as throwing, but important none the less.
Oh, one more thing, if anyone is looking for a good photo manipulation program, definitely check out Gimp. I don't really use it for anything but touching up and resizing pictures, but it seems like there is quite a bit you could do with it if you had a notion to. And it is free! You can't beat that with a stick...tschus.

-Rob

Does it smell like yeast in here to you?

2010-01-25T21:50:00.003-06:00

I was going to post this yesterday, but it just got too late. Yesterday was a pretty good day by all accounts. I spent the morning in the kitchen playing with yeast, first making bread (a rather nice whole wheat), then brewing beer (I won't know if that is nice for a while). After lunch it was out to the studio to get some work done. I now have a nice batch of reclaim worked up and ready to throw. I also finished up a few things I started on Saturday.

First we have a couple bowls that got trimmed. There were three to start with. One bit the dust, though, when I failed to realize my Giffin Grip was not on the wheel head properly. Drat! These two I was not entirely thrilled with at first. Not real fond of the wide rim sticking out there. They are beginning to grow on me now, however. I think they will end up as planters after I punch some holes in them and throw some plates to go under them.

And here are some fancy little oval vases. I have been playing around with this idea for a few months or so. One problem I have always had with them was how to handle the seam between the wall and the base. I left it visible on these, but have blended it in on other. Not sure which I like better. Any thoughts?
The little spiral "ears" I have done before; they are probably my favorite addition on these. The lug kind of things on the rim of the one in back don't do much for me. I was somewhat pleased with the feet on the one in front, though. I had not tried these before, and they definitely need some polishing up, but it might be another direction to go.
Now everything is happily drying under plastic and awaiting slip and decoration. And it is time for me to go to bed. Tschus.

-Rob (I decided to start signing my posts...not sure why.)

Studio Tour

2010-01-19T21:28:00.003-06:00

OK, I tried to post this for a while yesterday, but for some reason it was not working. So here it is once and for all. If it doesn't work now, I just give up.
Yesterday I did quite a bit or organizing and cleaning and such in the studio. The morning, though, was spent messing with the new kiln. I had to adjust the lid so it sits flat on the kiln; just loosen a few screws, slide up the hinge bracket and you are done. Sounds simple, right? Close to two hours of frustration says otherwise. After trying in vain to adjust the lid, researching how to adjust the lid and again trying in vain to adjust the lid I finally called L&L. Yes, I probably should have done this much sooner, but oh well. As it turns out (as I suspected, actually) it was the tension in the spring in the hinge that was preventing me from adjusting the lid. With this new knowledge it was a mere 15 minutes to get everything worked out.
So here is a brief tour of the newly organized and cleaned studio.

Work table, wheel, extra/trimming wheel, new kiln

Kiln (again, with flat lid and re-routed vent piping), new work table with canvas and wedging block

Kiln (yet again), new work table (again), new shelves (already full of junk)

New shelves (again, still full of junk)

Now if I can just get in there to make some new work.

Studio Progress

2010-01-17T20:04:00.004-06:00

So far this has been a nice long weekend. By no means stressful, but busy and getting stuff done. Yesterday the wife and I did some running around and I picked up a set of shelves for the studio. I was originally planning on building shelves, but buying the lumber to build them was not going to be much cheaper than buying them from the store. And I figured the store shelves would be more versatile in that I could move them if necessary and adjust the shelf height if I so desired.
After getting them home and putting them together, though, I probably should have just built my own. It would take too long to explain all the reasons why. Suffice it to say that I am not entirely pleased with my purchase. Oh, they will do I suppose, and they will undoubtedly be better than what I was using before. If I am ever again faced with the choice between building something and buying something, though, I will go with building if at all possible.
Other than that slight disappointment, the studio is coming right along. The table is covered with canvas, the shelves are put up, things are getting put away...before long I will actually be able to work in there. Tomorrow I am off work, so I will be finishing up the studio, test firing the kiln and possibly even throwing a little. Then I might be able to put some new pictures on here. Until then, however, more shots of older work

Little Slug Man, about 4 in. tall by 3 in. wide, paper clay with stain and clear glaze

Round lidded jar, celadon & tomato red glazes, gas fired cone 10 reduction

Let's Table This For Now...

2010-01-10T20:39:00.008-06:00

Good, productive studio day today. I got stuff moved around, cleaned up and, AND I got a new work table put together. It is a sizable 5ft long by 32 inches deep; a nice big work space. I was toying with the idea of putting a slab of sheet rock on top of it to get that whole moisture absorption thing going on, but that would add a lot of weight and is not all together necessary. I do still need to cover it with canvas though, so I guess that is on the agenda for this week.

Also on the agenda for this week is the building of a new set of shelves. I only have one small set of plastic shelves at the moment. They fill up pretty quickly and I always run out of shelf space before I have a full kiln load. This problem will undoubtedly be exacerbated since my new kiln is supposed to hold twice as much as the old one. I will have to go get some lumber to complete that project, though. I got off pretty easy with the table; it was constructed entirely of scrap lumber that I already had on hand. Net cost to me? An hour or so labor.

I guess that is all for now, so here are some random pictures of older work.

Teapot #7553, Cone 6, Sprayed on slips with carving

Satellite Shots, Same as above

Paints, not Pots

2010-01-08T08:06:00.007-06:00

As luck would have it (I guess it would be luck) we had a bit of snow the past few days. And even though it was only a few inches, school was canceled. People south of the Mason Dixon get kind of stupid about snow. Ok, I may not technically be south of it, but I'm pretty close...close enough that people still get stupid about a couple inches of snow. So now I have some extra time to catch up on this stuff...hooray!

I know I said I was going to keep you all fully appraised of my artistic endeavors over the semester break, but I didn't. I know everyone was dieing to hear about my goings on (note the sarcasm) but I am a world class procrastinator. So here are a few shots of the paintings I have been working on.

This is how far the original painting got. It was universally decided, though, that this did not really fit the motif of the bed room. I did enjoy working on this, though. It was fun playing with texture and layeringSo this was the second attempt. I know, it is really pedestrian, chincy crap, but that is what the sweet wife wanted, so that is what she gets. And it does match the bed room better. It still has a small bit to go, but not much. I did not enjoy working on this one as much; it was more a labor of love.
So that is that. Now I am going to put my extra time to good use and clean up the garagio so I can get back in there, if it is not to cold, that is.

Oh happy day!

2009-12-18T16:28:00.003-06:00

'Tis indeed a happy day. Why? The reasons are two fold. A: School is out for Christmas break starting today. I do not have to return to dealing with 17 year olds that act like 7 year olds for two full weeks. 2: My kiln was hooked up today! Since I was home today instead of at school my wife's cousin dropped by to do his electrician thing. Everything went astoundingly smooth and I now have a fully functional L&L beauty in the corner of my studio. And later I get to go to a party...I guess that makes three good things about today.

And for those of you who like to look at pictures...Here are a couple gorgeous tea bowls I purchased recently from Southern Clay Works (the faculty and grad students at SIUC).

This picture doesn't really do them justice. The one of the left hold a tidy 6 oz and is perfect for that nightcap to wind things down at the end of a long day. Great hand feel, not too heavy but sturdy enough to be functional. The one on the right I have not used yet. Technically it is a Christmas present from the sweet wife and I am not allowed to use it until the 25th.
And what did I get the wife in return for such a great gift? Behold!

I guess it doesn't look like much now, but then again it isn't finished yet. I will post the progress on here as I get more of it done. She knows she is getting a painting (in fact, she demanded it), but I am still going to try to keep it somewhat secret. "But Rob, how will you keep it secret if you are posting pictures of the painting on your blog?!" Well, aside from when I first set it up and showed my wife, I don't think she has ever read my blog...so no worries!

Heat up the griddle and break out the bacon!

2009-11-20T17:39:00.002-06:00

I know this has nothing to do with pottery, but I have decided that I can still put it on here...I won't get in trouble.
So anyway, my chickens (all two of them I have left) have finally started laying eggs! Well, at least one of them is. I was getting pretty frustrated with their progress thus far, what with them being over six months old and not having laid a single egg yet. Last weekend, though, I was gone for a couple days and came home to two eggs; and right in the nest box where they belong! So what did I do with my new bountiful harvest? Why I dropped and broke both of them, of course. Not to worry, though. I got another (unbroken) egg on Wednesday and one more today. They are still rather small, but so are the chickens. The shells seem a little brittle too, but that can easily be fixed with a little extra calcium in their diet.
So yahoo for chickens...yahoo for eggs.

Shambles!!

2009-11-19T17:43:00.002-06:00

The studio, that is. Everything that wasn't nailed down has been moved, shifted, re-shifted and so forth. This is bad because it is preventing me from getting much needed throwing done. I have a little show at a winery the weekend after Thanksgiving and not a ton of work.
What could possibly make this situation good?
How about the fact that my studio is in shambles so I can hook up my new kiln! That's right, I have a brand spanking new kiln with which to fire my wares. (On a side note, what does spanking have to do with being new? Isn't spanking generally considered a bad thing and new a good thing?) If you have read my blog before you know that my previous kiln decided to quit working at the most opportune time possible. While I probably could have fixed it (or, more likely, pay someone to fix it...I'm not extremely handy), it gave me a good excuse to get the new kiln I have been wanting for a while. So now I have a handsome L&L electric kiln with digital controls sitting in my garage. Now all I have to do is talk my wife's cousin (a licensed electrician) into rewiring for me. I will take a few shots after everything is hooked up and the studio is back in order. Until then I will do my best to bore you with inane chatter.

Mug analysis

2009-11-04T21:12:00.005-06:00

I was reading through the blogs I follow the other day and this post by Brandon Phillips piqued my curiosity. Obviously, I immediately began mulling over the mugs I have been making, thinking about the weight, capacity, heat retention, etc. "Exactly how much do my mugs weigh/hold?" I wondered. "Sure they function, but do they function as well as they could?"
Now, I had always been taught that thinner is better, thus my stuff tends to be pretty thin and rather tightly controlled. But I have always admired work that, although a bit hefty, has a very fluid, natural feel; a loose, gestural quality. One of my favorite video clips (that's right, just a clip off of Ceramic Arts Daily. I am too cheap to buy the video) is of Matt Long throwing a mug and explaining his philosophy behind it.

So I set out to throw some more substantial mugs. I started with a full pound of clay instead of the 1/2 to 3/4 that I normally use. Here are the results, freshly trimmed and awaiting handles.

It was obviously not very comfortable for me throwing that much clay just to make a mug. And as I was getting ready to trim them, feeling the weight, I had my doubts. Afterwards, though, I must say that I am rather pleased. I have a couple new forms I will be playing around with, and while I am still not entirely comfortable with them, it is pushing me to move in a bit of a different direction. Now lets hope I don't screw everything up with the handles...

Oh, and as far as my previous work goes...I picked four mugs that looked like they represented a pretty good cross section of my work (I like to experiment with form & size)to measure and such. The weights ranged from 5.5 oz to 10 oz. The capacities ranged from 8 to 12+ oz. They all have pretty thin walls and smaller handles. I'm not saying you would burn yourself on them or anything, but they get pretty warm with fresh coffee in them.

I will measure and weigh this next batch when they are finished. That might not be for a few weeks, though, as I am preparing for a new addition to the studio. More on that later...now it is time for bed.

Productive Weekend

2009-10-26T19:42:00.003-05:00

I had a fairly productive weekend in a none pottery sort of way. That is not to say that I did not get any work done in the studio; but I was feeling about as good as a bottle and a half of wine can make you feel when I did. Suprisingly, I came out with a couple things I was pretty happy with.

But my main accomplishment this weekend would have to be "winterizing" the chicken coop. After the involuntary reduction in our flock (6 out of ten turned out to be roosters, which my wife's morning schedule could not abide, another was claimed by probably a racoon) the coop was a bit large for their needs. Therefore the old coop (which unfortunately I do not have a picture of) was torn down and replaced with this.

Granted it is no master work or anything. There is obviously still much to do. I need to add a door, shutters and some roofing material, but they should be much warmer and happier here than in their previous dwelling. At least I hope so.

And here is shot of the girls adapting to their new abode. They can no longer roost in the rafters of the coop, so they claimed the tomato cages that are still in their run.

Show Report

2009-10-23T23:48:00.006-05:00

O.K. So a couple of weeks ago I had a couple of shows in which I was involved. The first of which was not great, but not as bad as I thought it would have been. The set up was not out standing, but when you are setting up in a commercial business, what can you expect? The second venue was more of a craft fair than an art show, but I had a pretty good day, especially compared to previous years.

The Friday night setup...

No sales this night. It was kind of cool and rainy so there was not a whole lot of traffic coming through. Seemed to be a generally good response none-the-less.

The Saturday setup...
Fall Festival at the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, MO. A really nice day aside from the mud. Hectic what with nieces & nephews running around everywhere (my parents run the place the festival was held at, so lots of family there), but a pretty good time.

You call THIS and art show?!

2009-10-09T17:07:00.003-05:00

It is now 5:35 central Standard Time, and technically the "show" I am participating in has already started. And yet I am here at home. Does this bother me? Not really. I am trying to take advantage of every opportunity I can to help build the rather paltry art scene around here, but I am finding it very difficult to be very enthusiastic about tonight. It is an art walk of sorts put on by Heartland Arts (a good group to be sure). Since there is a severe lack of art galleries not associated with the university in Carbondale, however, a number of businesses down town display art work in their shops for the night. This is all well and good, unless you have a less than stellar business in which to show. I am trying to be positive, but the business (which shall remain nameless) in which my work is displayed has a... oh let's say a very "lived in" feel. I stopped in there earlier this week to check things out and the floors were not swept, counters were cluttered, etc. I says to myself I says, "Maybe they are busy and are planning to clean up a bit before Friday."
No such luck.
Floors are still not swept, counters are still cluttered...just not a very appealing place to show work. Or even to go look at art work for that matter. But enough of my belly aching. My sweet wife just got home and she is in a very good mood. Maybe she can lend me some of it for the night. Now it is off to get some grub and check out some art. I'll take the camera and try to get some pictures posted later this weekend.

Kiln-tastrophy; or, I really am quite foolish

2009-10-04T09:44:00.006-05:00

Next weekend I am supposed to be participating in a couple of shows around my neck of the woods (southeast MO, southern IL). So like any well prepared individual I was scrambling this past week to get work made, decorated and dried to get a load through the kiln so I would have enough work for both shows. Friday night I got everything decorated with slips & whatnot and loaded the kiln for a bisque fire. Saturday morning the kiln is still firing...Saturday at lunch the kiln is still firing...Saturday after lunch the kiln is still firing. Now this is not a large kiln, mind you; and even though I set it on a slower program, should not have taken anywhere near this long to fire. I do not have any witness cones in there, though, so I cannot really check on its progress. I think to myself, "maybe the elements are just starting to go. It is a pretty old kiln, and I've never had any problems with bisque firing before." I finally decide that even though the kiln sitter has not tripped I will shut it off. Let's take a look at the results, shall we?

Before...

Oh doesn't it look great! Full shelves; so much potential!

After...

While it makes for an interesting piece of sculpture, it's not really something I can sell at a craft fair.

The problem? I relied on the kiln sitter to do its job. Much like tigers and tuna fish sandwiches, I am kind of stupid that way.

One Step Closer to Dinnerware Independence

2009-07-10T08:49:00.006-05:00

So lately I have been working on some place settings for my sweet wife. Here is the progress so far. They just came out of the bisque firing earlier this week along with some other fetching items. Ten plates made it through so far. I originally started with twelve, but two of them bit the bullet during trimming. They are not entirely consistent in their shape, but they are pretty close; just a couple that are a little off. I haven't thrown many sets this large, so I am not great at it just yet. I sprayed them with a couple layers of colored slip with a newspaper resist. They will get a coat of clear glaze and will hopefully look like the second picture when they are finished.

These are some vases that I threw a while back but just now got around to firing. They also have slips and glazes sprayed on with some abstract sgraffito work. Like the plates, these will get a coat of clear glaze before heading back to the kiln. And yes, the one on the right is broken. Apparently it did not clear the kiln lid like I thought it had.

And this is one of my favorites out of the batch.
My wife thought the the skunk was kind of foolish, but I liked the idea of pairing somethig that smells bad with something that smells good. I think there will be more skunk vases in the future.

Instant Spray Booth

2009-06-26T15:25:00.004-05:00

I was just going through my not so routine blog check and came across a post by Jen Mecca, part of which concerned the application of surface treatments (i.e. terra sig, slip, glaze). So I thought I would use it as a nice little seg-way into my own “spray booth” set up. For a while I have been spraying slips and glazes onto my pieces so I do not have to brush them. I do not have batches big enough to dip pieces and I hate brushing on glaze; thus spraying. I found a used air compressor and spray gun relatively cheap; the only problem I have run into is a spray booth. I do not have the space or funds to get a “real” spray booth, so I have been trying to adapt as best I can. For a while I just sprayed without anything, which worked, but also covered everything in the garage with a nice layer of slip/glaze dust. Then lightning stuck and an idea worked its way into my head.

The most advanced spray booth since the stool on a side walk!

Clear plastic tub + blocks + banding wheel = instant spray booth! And the tub is tapered at the bottom, so when you set it on its side all of the overspray runs to the back. Drill a hole in the bottom and you can easily catch and reclaim all that precious glaze! Granted there is no exhaust system and you are somewhat limited as to the size of pieces this will work for, but better than nothing. And relatively good for smaller spaces as it can be used for other storage or tucked away under a table or in an attic or something until it is needed.

And the group for this post is the ever impressive Clutch. Good old fashioned rock n' roll/heavy metal. And they have some of the best, funniest, wittiest lyrics this side of the chicken shack! "Condoleeza Rice is nice, but I prefer A-Roni"...freaking great.

Garage Days Revisited

2009-06-15T17:05:00.003-05:00

To get in the proper mind set for this post I am listening to Garage Inc., which is a compilation of a bunch wicked cool recordings by Metallica from '84 - '98. They are all covers, re-releases of garage days revisited, b-sides, one offs, etc. Excellent listening, and fitting since I have been forced to move my studio out of the new shed and back into the garage. That is not to say that everything is packed up, but I am once again cramped between the front end of my truck and the back corner of the garage. Oh well.
I have managed to get a bit of work done in there since moving everything back. Aside from glazing a bunch of stuff with my fancy pants spray booth (more on that later), I have started a dinnerware set for my wife.

These plates are about 12 inches across right now, but they are still wet so they will shrink quite a bit yet. And they will be accompanied by dessert plates and bowls. No cups as we already have plenty of those.

And here are some more very unprofessional shots of some of the mugs out of the last firing. These are actually the first mugs finished for the 100 mug challenge. I gave myself a tentative deadline of the end of June, but I don't think I'm going to make that one. Only about 12 completely finished so far...

Yellow slip with clear glaze, I forgot to glaze the inside though! Drat!

Light brown slip with clear glaze, cone 6

KPI celadon, cone 6 (slightly over fired)

KPI Speckled Tan, cone 6 (slightly over fired)

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

2009-06-12T19:18:00.005-05:00

So there has really been almost no progress on the ceramics front for the past couple weeks, with the exception of finally getting a glaze firing done (pictures to come). This is due in part to other family and household obligations... and in part to the fact that I am so freaking tired! Since school is out I started a new job this week working construction with my father-in-law. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind the work. Actually I haved enjoyed a lot of it so far (except putting in fiberglass insulation, that I hate). What I didn't count on, though, was how exhausted I would be after doing manual labor for 8-9 hours. Everyday this week I have come home after work, taken a shower and promptly fallen asleep on the couch. Needless to say not much work got done in the studio. Hopefully this slugishness will abate as my body is reintroduced to manual labor and I will be more productive when I get home. As for now my plans are to hit it hard this weekend cranking out plates.

Here is a quick peek at one of the pieces out of the kiln on Monday. It looked so tasty I had to make some tea and try it out.

Cone 6 porcelain with commercial glaze, slightly overfired

Getting back in the swing of things

2009-06-05T09:01:00.005-05:00

As I have been having problems staying connected to the internet I have devised a plan. I am going to type this stuff and save it on the ‘ol computer like a journal (which is kind of what a blog is anyway, right?), then post it in the fleeting moments when the internet is cooperating. So here goes…
The past few weeks have been busy, but not. That is, if feels like I have been very busy, but it doesn’t look like I have accomplished a whole lot. That is very frustrating. So in an attempt to get back in the swing of things I think I am going to have to set a specific time each day to get in the studio…and stick to it! Sounds simple, right? My wife says I have a knack for doing things the most difficult way possible, so I’ll probably figure out a way to complicate it. First order of business, finish glazing so I can finally fire the kiln.

And so this post is not without any pictures...

Teapot #7553, 4" x 4.5" x 6.75", cone 6 porcelain with colored slip

Teapots are by far one of my favorite things to make. There is something about them that just seems complete, that seems right. Sorry, these pictures are not great. I am not a photographer and have a pretty shoddy picture set up right now. Building a light box is another thing on my very long list of stuff to do.

Howdy all...

2009-05-19T16:41:00.003-05:00

Wow! It has been forever since I have posted on here. Not that I haven't wanted to, but technology is the devil, especially when it is not working properly. Internet service at my house is notoriously unreliable. Of course the fact that we are really just filtching wireless internet from my in-laws 100 yards away may have something to do with it. I cannot, though, take any credit for the storm that put many without electric for days on end. Being that we live in southern Illinois, we were hit by the inland hurricane or mega cyclone or whatever the hell you want to call it. And while, thankfully, there was little damage to our house, it did mess up all kinds of stuff around here and southeast Missouri. Needless to say, blogging was not on the top of my priority list for a while. Anyway, the stupid internet appears to be working right now so I thought I would pop in and let everyone know I was still around; and that there will be more posts regarding a number of things in the near future. Now for those of you (like myself) who like posts with pictures in them...

Lidded jar, 4.5 or so tall & wide, cone 10 reduction stoneware

This is a jar I made a number of years ago when I was still in school. One of my absolute favorites. It just recently found a new home after a sale over mother's day weekend.

Busy as a turnip...

2009-04-27T18:39:00.005-05:00

It seems like it has been quite a while since I posted on here, but I don’t guess it has been that long. I guess it seems longer since I have been so busy, unfortunately not so much with studio time. Not to say that the time hasn’t been productive; just not as productive in the way I would like it to be. I have been doing an awful lot of teaching lately. I am booked almost solid for subbing between now and the end of the year. That’s right, I am…SUB-MAN! Wherever there are teachers (within 30 minutes of my house) that are sick, busy or just too damn tired of their students, I’ll be there! Good for the pocket book, not so much for the potter.

I have also been busy with other endeavors more closely related to pottery. Last Thursday I did a pottery demonstration for the grade school in my home town. It is a pretty small school (34 students K-8th), but that made it easier for everyone to see. The students appeared to enjoy the demo. They had never really worked with clay before, so it was something new for them. While prepping for the demo I also got a little time in the studio to work on some stuff for an upcoming mother’s day sale.

These are some 2 pound vases. The tallest one is about 8 inches. They will get some sgraffito decoration later this week.

And this stuff will (hopefully) get glazed so I can get a glaze fire done this Friday.

Speaking of surface decoration, here is my newly painted studio. It used to be a rather unsavory dark green color which didn’t exactly match the house. It still needs another coat of paint along with some other things, but it is on its way. Between this, the yard, the garden and a grass fire I had a pretty interesting weekend. Maybe things will slow down some this week...but what fun would that be?

And here is a little segment I'm going to call "This week on Rob's playlist," where I will feature a different musician/group from the depths of my cd collection. This week it is going to be Hank Williams III. Hank III is the son of Hank Jr., grandson of Hank Sr. and one of the finest country music singers out there right now. He sings good old fashion country; more like his grand daddy than his dad. And don't overlook his hellbilly fare; country music with more than a dash of thrashy punk. AND (that's right, there's more) for you truely hardcore folks there is always AssJack, his thrash metal side project. Good stuff. He is probably my favorite musician as of right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6B-X6EEiHE

That's some mighy fine picking and a diggin!

2009-04-15T09:24:00.002-05:00

So here I am, sitting at the computer keeping up with this whole blog thing and thinking about what I need to do today (wedge clay, get throwing/glazing/firing schedule figured out, make clay stamps, go to the library, etc) and it suddenly hit me; bluegrass music is freaking great! Now I like a wide vriety of music; everything from heavy metal (I'm going to see Slipknot & Devil Driver in a couple of weeks!) to world music to country/bluegrass and even some wierd electronic stuff. And then there is the really odd stuff like Tub Ring, Super 8 Bit Brothers, Bad Livers, etc. But I am sitting here listening to my country/bluegrass station (good, old country, none of that new pop country crap) on Pandora, drinking my coffee...there is really nothing like some good bluegrass music to start the day. A little bit of Flatt & Scruggs, some Dillards and Stanley Brothers, and throw in some Wayne Hancock and Hank Williams for good measure...good stuff. Ok, now I have work to do; off to the studio!

Barrel Firing

2009-04-12T18:05:00.008-05:00

The first of April was a rather busy day. After setting up a new shed/studio I managed to squeeze in a barrel firing. It was full of Christmas ornaments that had been waiting to be finished for quite some time. I started firing about 5pm (after the shed was in place and the ruts left by the delivery truck had been flattened out and filled in) and let it burn till about 10. By that time the fire was pretty much out and I was ready to go to bed, so I slapped a lid on the barrel, weighted it down and let it smolder.

My extremely high-tech firing apparatus.

I expected to be able to unload it the next day, but with the lid on it continued to smolder for another day or so. When I finally opened it up, this is what came out.

One of the great things about barrel firing is that the results are somewhat unpredictable; you can never be quite sure how things are going to turn out. This is also one of the more difficult things about barrel firing. I got about a 50% success rate with this. That is not to say that half of them broke, but half of them were good enough to keep. The others wait to be fired again another day. And after being cleaned up and polished…

It's like a little ornament family portrait, awwww.

I love the colors on these ornaments, especially the rusty oranges. Unfortunately I am not sure what exactly caused them. I had a number of combustibles and such in the barrel (straw, salt, copper wire, baking soda, banana peels, coffee grounds) and I tried to keep track of what was where, but everything got pretty jumbled up. I can say for sure that the saggars didn't really work though. I guess it did not get hot enough that far down in the barrel (they were at the bottom). I will try stacking the barrel different next time to see if I can get a hotter, more consistent fire.

Some of these were finished with floor wax and some were finished with acrylic spray. The wax gives a nice satiny finish, but also leaves a rather unpleasant aroma (it actually made my wife sick). The spray is a bit more glossy, but more efficient and I think it will probably protect the ornaments better in the long run. All in all a pretty good firing.

A new home for Simple Circle Studios

2009-04-12T17:35:00.005-05:00

Wow! Somehow I managed to let two weeks slip by without posting anything! I can’t say that I have been terribly busy, although I have had some things going on. Most notably of which, I got a new studio! That’s right, a new studio…well, sort of a new studio…ok so it is really more of a little shed, but a shed where I make pottery! Sure, it doesn’t have electricity so I have to run an extension cord 40 feet from my garage to be able to throw or listen to music or have light. And sure it might not have insulation and only one tiny window, so it is going to be terribly hot in the summer and unbearably cold in the winter. And perhaps it does not really have quite enough space for all my studio equipment (the kilns are still in the garage). No, it is not perfect, but definetely a good start for a studio. No grills, bikes, tools, lawnmowers, etc, just pottery. (Ok, maybe some chickens, but on the outside and probably not for a while.)

The new home of Simple Circle Studios! Sure, it may look like just a shed on cinder blocks, but...ok, it's pretty much just a shed on cinder blocks.

The inner sanctum; my escape from the hurly burly of life...I think it needs a fern.

Glaze Fire Results

2009-03-29T10:56:00.004-05:00

I hadn’t planned on posting on here today, but the weather is less than great, canceling both my roofing plans and my barrel firing plans, so… This morning I did get to unload the glaze firing I did yesterday. I have been having some problems with firing my kiln to cone 6, so this was kind of a test firing.

I never really realized how small my kiln is. I got done unloading and thought, “Wow, there was hardly anything in there!” I knew my kiln wasn’t huge, but man, it is small! Now I’m always going to be self conscious about my kiln size. Actually, between the realization about my limited kiln space and its recent chicanery with glaze firings, this would be a good time to look into hooking up my “new” kiln. (My wife’s cousin recently moved and gave me all of his old pottery equipment, including a kiln and wheel!)

So here are the results. There were a couple of grow pots (planters), some tea bowls, a few mugs and a number of glaze tests. I was fairly pleased with how everything turned out, especially the toasty color of the clear glaze over the tea bowls. The color doesn’t come through too well in this picture, but it is nice…or at least I think so. I still have to go through all the glaze tests, but I think they will yield some good information.

This is one of the mugs that I have been working on. It has a light underglaze wash and clear glaze on it. I have a few more that are textured like this, but I am not sure about finishing them the same way. Would a colored glaze be better? Do I need to do something with the handle? I don’t know. Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome on this.

And finally, the over firing issue. This load was over fired, but only slightly this time. I set up a witness cone so as I could keep an eye on it throughout the firing, but apparently I didn't watch it quite close enough. After running through the firing schedule for about seven hours the automatic shut off had not dropped on the kiln sitter, but the witness cone was bent so I turned it off. When I unloaded this morning some of the work was slightly warped, but not terribly so. And then there was this…

You can see that the cone is bent slightly more than it should be (at least I think it is), but the bar for the kiln sitter is hardly bent at all! What?! So the question; is there a problem with the kiln sitter or did I somehow get a bad batch of bars? Both puzzling and frustrating.

Sleepy Sunday Morning

2009-03-22T12:20:00.004-05:00

So this morning I get up kind of late because I had a fire call at 2am (I am a volunteer fire fighter, by the way) and didn’t get back to bed until 3:30 or so. As I stumble around groggily I says to myself, I says, “I know! I’ll start some coffee and when I get done unloading the kiln it will be piping hot and ready to go!” How’d that one work out? Not too good! I came in from unloading the kiln to find my counter tops covered with freshly brewed coffee. Apparently the filter broke, and the pot got clogged with grounds sending the brew everywhere but in the coffee pot. Since then I have been sitting around smelling coffee but not being able to drink any because I am too stubborn to make more.
Anyway, another fairly productive week this week. Aside from teaching a couple times and helping my neighbor tear of his roof, I was in the studio most of the time. I was able to run a couple bisque loads through this week, which was cool, but I still do not know what is going on with my kiln. The firings went off without a hitch, which is a good thing; but I don’t know what will happen when I try another glaze firing. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Bisque load #1, featuring glaze testers, larger bowls, Christmas ornaments and failed canisters...

...and bisque load #2, featuring the beginning of the 100 mug challenge, more Christmas ornaments and low fire glaze tests. I don't usually do low fire work, but I had some glazes laying around from a few years ago and I was just given a box of 50 or so more, so I figured I'd test some and maybe use them on ornaments or sculptures or something. The vases in the back are not mine. They were made by my wife's cousin about ten years ago and have been sitting around unfired ever since. Now they are fired and ready to be glazed!

The mugs are rolling pretty good. I have 30 in either green or bisque ware. Now I have to start worrying about glazing…Ugh. It would be easier if I had some test tiles to go by, but if you read my last post you know how that went. Well, I have lids to work on, mugs to glaze and I guess more coffee to make, so I probably ought to get to it.

Burnishing my balls on spring break

2009-03-14T09:36:00.005-05:00

That title is a double entendre, by the way. It has one meaning which is rather innocuous and one which is...not. Keep reading to find out which way I meant it!
So this past week has been a good week, with the exception of Wednesday which was a little demoralizing. It’s never fun having someone tell you that what you are doing is little more than a glorified hobby, especially when it is what you are trying to turn into a career.
But anyway…it was spring break this week so I didn’t have to worry about being interrupted by teaching. The only thing that took me away from the studio was applying for a job at the SIU library. Sure, it is not exactly what I would like to be doing, but it would be nice to have a steady income for a change, and I would still have plenty of time to get in the studio. Here’s hoping that goes well. In the mean time I got a decent amount of work done. Not as much as I would have liked, but decent.

In order to keep myself motivated I have decided to take the 100 MUG CHALLENGE! (doesn't that sound like something you would hear on Oprah? "Next time on Oprah, the 100 Mug Challenge and how it can change your life...") You can check out the inspiration for this at the Fine Mess Pottery blog. I do not have a deadline or show set up for my 100; I am doing it more for the practice and to build inventory. I started this week and have 13 green mugs thus far.

These are a few more of the mugs and a couple canisters I made as tests. Man, those were a trip! I didn't realize how long it has been since I made lidded jars. The forms are close to what I was looking for, but I had quite a time getting those lids to fit properly. There are definitely a lot of flaws with these canisters, so they may end up being used for saggars or just in the scrap heap. Maybe my next project should be 100 lidded jars.

12 glaze testers. Since my last glaze testing went horribly awry I had to make more pieces to retest. I decided to make things that could actually be used, though instead of just little tiles. So...bud vases! And they were pretty fun to make to boot.

And finally, bowls. I have been wanting to try some bigger stuff and bowls seemed like a good place to start. The walls might be a bit thick, but even. They would work well for mixing bowls. Now I just need to get those handles figured out. It is the first time I have tried that type of handle and it was troublesome getting something I was half ways ok with. The balls inside the bowls are more christmas ornaments like the ones I talked about earlier. They are all burnished (hence the title) and ready to go in the kiln. I guess that is all for now. Back to the studio and moving a kiln.

Oh the Irony-or-This IS a real job!

2009-03-11T09:31:00.005-05:00

So I wasn't really planning on posting on here today, but after reading a great post and comments on the blog this artist's life by Whitney Smith I decided I had to, but more on that in a bit. First...

What is wrong with this picture? Nothing much on first inspection; maybe these are some pendants or earrings or something. But then there is that "Oh shit" moment when you realize you just opened the kiln and these are supposed to be the witness cones and kiln sitter bar. I'm not entirely sure what happened, other than the kiln over fired, which made the glaze tests that were in there completely useless. Most everything was scrap except for a few things that didn't have hellacious bloating in the clay or weren't slumped beyond salvaging.

The few things that did come out were actually kind of interesting. These are a few keepers. The three cups in the front and the two blue cups had slip sprayed on them and should have turned out matte, but with the over firing the slips appear to have melted into a satiny glaze. Of course this isn't exactly what they were supposed to look like, but hey, you take what you can get out of something like that. The really ironic part is that I put the witness cones in this time because I was afraid the kiln might have been under firing. I can definitively say that is not a problem. Now if I can just figure what went wrong...

And now for the really great post. Ms. Smith talks about the trials of being a professional artist in her blog, and in this post in particular she talks about the crap we often get from other folks about not having a "real" job. It seems to me that most of the people who look down on being an artist as a profession are people who have a JOB. And by JOB I mean they do not get any sort of satisfaction out of work other than the paycheck at the end of the week. It seems some people think that if you enjoy what you are doing it doesn’t really count as work. Thus artist, who enjoy what they do for a living, don’t really work and do not deserve the same level of respect as people with jobs that do work. Why can’t people understand that being an artist is just as valid an occupation as anything else? Some people choose to be lawyers; some people choose to be plumbers; and some people choose to be artists.

Just let me get back to my groove...

2009-03-05T16:46:00.006-06:00

I'll tell you what, when payday rolls around having a real job is nice, but otherwise it is just a pain in the ass. Earlier this week I was really on a roll working in the studio. I was getting stuff fixed, getting stuff organized, getting stuff done! I was ready to start digging into the new batch of clay I just got (500lbs of B-mix and 50lbs of black/brown, good stuff) and totally stoked to be getting down some nice designs for sgraffito stuff. Then the call came...Don't get me wrong, I don't mind substitute teaching; sometimes I even enjoy it. But when I am all ready to get going in the studio it messes up my flow being called in to work. It is tougher getting back in the studio groove after teaching all day than it is getting to it right away in the morning. Anyway, enough of my belly-aching. Here's what I did manage to get done before life reared its ugly head.

I finally got my wedging table fixed. It worked ok before, but it was kind of wobbly and I had to lean against it so it wouldn't bang against the wall while I was wedging. Now it's solid as a rock! It also has a concrete top that I ground smooth and covered with canvas so there is a better surface to work on.

These are a few replacement cups I had to make to finish out a bourbon set. I guess you could call them yunomi if you wanted to be all fancy, but I am none too fancy so I just call them little cups. The set is actually going to be up for auction through Art Lovers Trading Company and the Southern Illinoisan newspaper, both in Carbondale, IL. So that is kind of cool.

These are some Christmas ornaments I am working on. I talked to another potter at a craft fair in St. Louis who made ornaments & I thought I would try my hand at them. These have actually already been trimmed. Now they are waiting to be burnished, bisqued and barrel fired at a later date.

And finally, a few pieces of sgraffito ware. The plates are small (6 inches across) and will be accompanying a larger plate I made last year. My wife confiscated the first plate from my stock and requested two smaller ones so she could hang them as a group. I will definitely have to use this ribbon motif again, though.

The planter was my first attempt at wheat. I was really happy with how it turned out, but I think I cracked the bowl while I was carving, so this may turn out to be a test piece for a new clear glaze. If all goes as planned I will fire the kiln Saturday, so I might have some pictures of finished work next week.

Good weekend...

2009-03-01T10:05:00.004-06:00

So I turned in my grad school application Friday. I was told that the professors check pretty frequently for new applications, so I might hear something in two or three weeks. I guess it is in the hands of the faculty and grad students of SIUC now.

On a less nerve wracking note, I have been having a pretty good weekend thus far. I went up to St. Louis to help my brothers with some drywall work, which was a good time in and of itself. On top of that, though, I also got to pick up seeds for the garden, which I will be working with later today. On top of that I got to go to the pottery shop up there (the closest to southern Illinois I've been able to find) and pick up some much needed supplies.

I have to say, Krueger Pottery in St Louis is an outstanding store. Every time I go there it is a great experience. And I know this sounds like a staged sales pitch or something, but rest assured I am in no way affiliated with Krueger Pottery. I don't work there; I don't have any friends or family that work there. It is just a genuinely good store, which is a rare thing these days. Yesterday, for example, I went in to pick up some clay I had ordered. Even though I am not what you would call a frequent customer (2, maybe 3 times a year) Ryan, the owner, recognized me and helped me with everything I needed. They are always ready to help and offer their sage advice to everyone from beginning hobbyists to studio potters. It’s just a darn good place.

Signature chops and grad school

2009-02-26T17:10:00.005-06:00

There seem to have been a few folks talking about signing work and making a chop and such lately (MudStuffingSketchbook, Colorado Art Studio). I have always tried to sign my work, partly because that is what we were asked to do in school and partly because my wife gets on my case when I don't. I tried making a chop a couple times but never ended up with anything I was happy with. I wanted my signature to be impressed in the clay, but carving backwards into plaster clay anly made a raised signature. I finally made one this week, though, that I am pleased with so far. I'm not sure why I didn't think of doing it this way before, but I didn't. I guess I'm just foolish. Anyway, here is the leather hard clay "mold" where I carved what I wanted my chop and a few other stamps to look like.

Then I "cast" the stamps by pressing wet clay into the molds and attached handles.

Again, I have no idea why it took me this long to think of this. I have yet to try them on a pot as they still need to be bisque fired, but I think they should work.

Now, for more interesting fare than making stamps, I finally finished putting together my application for grad school. Yes, I said application in the singular. I know it is wise to apply to more than one program and I would not mind doing this, but my wife and I recently built a house in Southern Illinois so I am kind of limited in the range of schools I can go to. But that is ok. I took a summer class and attended a workshop at the school I am applying to (SIUC), so I am somewhat familiar with the program and the instructor, and I like what I have seen. Now all I have to do is get in...

Impetus

2009-02-21T16:54:00.006-06:00

I have finally gotten around to setting up a blog...not that I am excited about it. The whole idea of devoting time to using the computer irks me. But I suppose it is necessary in this day and age, damn progress. And I suppose it will serve some purpose. Lately I have been attempting to get my work in front of the public more, which for me right now means working on my website, setting up a blog and looking into Etsy.

And this will also serve as an impetus to be more consistent with working in the studio. The plan is to post on here at least once a week, which means I will have to accomplish something worth posting every week. A daunting task, I know, but we'll give it a shot.

Which leads us to my most recent accomplishment...

...a clean studio. I have always found it kind of difficult to work when the studio is a mess. And since this is really just a corner of a cluttered garage it is distracting if it is even a little messy. Hopefully one day I will have a separate studio, but for now I will have to keep my corner as tidy as possible.

These are a few mugs I was working on today while trying not to be sick (it is just a head cold, but still irritating). I have been working with some sgraffitto on my latest work. On these I carved through white porcelain slip (brown stoneware underneath), then painted the incised lines with under glaze. Probably not the easiest way to do things, but I've never been accused of doing things the easy way. The imagery is all pirate based; pieces of eight & ships & parrots & all that. Not sure why; it just kind of happened.

Any way, I guess that is enough for now. Hopefully I will have more to talk about next week. Bis spater.