Pondering the Pig Problem

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."

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.