Quiet Pots

Here are some quiet, yet strong pots coming out of the sales gallery at The Clay Studio in Philadephia, PA.  

(All images are from www.theclaystudio.org)

David Eichelberger

David Eichelberger is currently a resident at Penland. I bought one of his lunch sized plates while I was in there and use it almost everyday. Thousands of hand painted, tiny fading lines live on the the rim of the plate. It has this intangible, quiet, meditative and soulful quality to it that I absolutely adore.

Rebecca Chappell

Meredith Brickell

Ingrid Bathe

Joseph Pintz

Glaze Glaze Glaze

So I am finished with my first cycle of making and am moving on to a week of glazing before a firing or two next week. But first, I have to decorate a ton of bisque work!

Today, I'll share how I make and apply color washes on pots.

What you'll need: two mixing containers, stain of your choice, frit (I use gerstley borate), brush for mixing, mini strainer, H20

1:1 stain to frit

Add water to powder until desired consistency. I like to use a palette knife to incorporate the mixture. I  also leave the wash thick and add water to it as I paint and it behaves just like watercolors.

Sieve liquid until smooth and free of lumps. Use as is with a brush or caligraphy pen. I do both and also like to fill empty paint pens. 

To fill a felt tip pen, carefully saw open an empty chalk ink (or paint). Clean out, fill with wash and then reseal with duct tape

But do your best to get the liquid in the pen.... A funnel or steady hand might help

Just Show Up

"I feel like I don’t have to be brilliant in the studio, I just have to show up in the studio and the accumulation of that over time is what is the end result". -Ben Carter, Potter

Ben Carter (redlodgeclaycenter.com)

Daily Inspiration

Pots that inspire me to keep going...

Daniel Teran (http://www.artaxis.org)

Kevin Snipes (http://kevinsnipes.com)

Molly Hatch has made a wonderful career as a ceramic artist and is now designer working with Anthropologie (http://mollyhatch.com)

Gwendolyn Yoppolo (http://www.gwendolynyoppolo.com)

Martina Lantin (http://www.mlceramics.com)

Makoto Kagoshima (http://www.makotokagoshima.com)

Makoto Kagoshima (http://www.makotokagoshima.com)

Starting the week right with a Train Kiln Wood Firing

Fall is in the air (at least that is what people are saying up north) so St. Pete Clay is firing the train kiln! Three of my fellow A.I.Rs Sarah Holt, Brice Dyer and Jeremy Wallace, along with owners Matt Schiemann and Adam Yungbluth, all fire their work in the wood kiln. Here are some pics from today's happenings.

Lots of pots waiting their turn

8am wadding party

Lots of wood eager to start

Adam's pot got left behind

Some of Adam's finished work

Jeremy

Matt

Brice

Sarah

Obsessed with these golden dots on Sarah's pot. 

As for myself.....

I made a new baby friend in the studio today

And have A LOT of work to glaze and finish. Still making things too for next week's firing(s)

Slip Slip Slip

I just started thinking about applying dark slips on the porcelain to for a beautiful rich background and I am SUPER excited to see how these turn out. I'm also thinking about how things will look together in sets, so I am striping some of the rims so there is a bit of visual interest when stacked. 

Week #2

Started working on some smaller pitchers and jars.  When making these, I'm focused on how the lines move and relate with each part. Per Andy Shaw's suggestion, I am making the rims a bit fatter to give them that "puff" or softness that I am looking for.

I've been experimenting a lot with surface. I definitely want to keep my body of abstract work, but I'm playing with the idea of incorporate some subtle, specific imagery. I painted this with slips, and then put a white slip over top of the painting hoping the image would just barely peek through. Kind of like a hazy memory or a dream that you can barely remember. Unfortunately I put a hole in this platter!! But I will still fire it to see the results.

Another experiment. A dark brown slip on porcelain with a few pops of color. Definitely a little more of specific floral imagery. There is also a central grid hiding behind white slip.

Its handle time!! They love each other.

At Penland, I started using more clay for my mugs. So I am making much larger, comfy, fat-footed mugs with roomy handles. These guys can hardly wait to be used. 

Two bisque firings this week and probably two glaze firings the following week! Lots and lots to do between now and then. 

Happy September 1st

Happy September 1st everyone!

I spent the day unpacking and getting my life in order amongst other things. 

So no ceramics for me today, but I worked on a couple of small collage drawings that I will drop off for the FIVE by FIVE show at the Tampa Museum of Art (which I actually went to today).

Hopefully I can make a couple of these every week. They are certainly in touch with my ceramic surface work. 

Tampa Museum of Art is small, but has a great rotating collection. I spent a good amount of time in the red figure/black figure pottery trying to gain some inspiration and ideas. And I did. Man, the Greeks and Romans knew how to make pots. Would be cool to travel back in time and learn from them.