Afternoon Visitors

The girls came up to the studio after school for some earthenware fun. They both made a bunch of pots on the treadle wheel. Can you guess who did the kicking?

Even after all of the fun, Evelyn said she would rather be a jeweler, like her Mom! I guess you can't win'em all.

Ahhh Shucks

The fact that there is only about 200# of red dirt clay
may be effecting the scale of this a.m.'s pots.

It's lunch time and while I'm down at the house and near the Tower of Power, I thought I'd share with you the cozy scene in the shop this morning. Just imagine the clouds outside breaking into blue after two days of sogginess. The air is crisp and breezy. Inside the woodstove is keeping things warm . Jack has found a cozy place on the floor near the stove and breaks into a pant from time to time. The clip clop of the treadle wheel sounds as I throw these 10 oz. little pots. It's a good day to be making pots.

Just Pictures Wednesday

This Is It?

After looking all over the shop for that other bin of red dirt clay, I have come to the sudden realization that I don't have another bin of clay! This is that last one. I'd better get my shovel and commence to digging! Must have been dreaming.

Fortunately, I have a bin of sandy stoneware. And I guess there's always commercial clay at the store. Hmmm....

'better get that shovel. Time's a wastin'.

Muddy Shoes

"Did you hear about the midnight rambler?
He'll leave his footprints up and down your hall"

-The Rolling Stones

rainy muddy walk with jack.

This post started out a little whiney and pitiful. After all, today was a wash, inside the shop and outside, as it rained all day. It's still raining. That's good! It's been so dry and there have been some fires on the mountain.

But I deleted all that talk about flopped pots, about my clay being too soft, about the clay not cooperating, about too much coffee on a rainy day making me too uptight, too wound up to throw properly.........oh! [reprinted with permission from the author's subconcious]

After I figured out that the clay was, indeed, too soft for the 1 gallon jars that I was trying to get right, it was too late for any more potting. I had a bunch of pots that still needed to be handled before I hit the sack. They'll have to wait till tomorrow!

Blog Secret: When you haven't made a lot of work to show off at the end of the day, post a bunch of pictures, taken from different angles!

the midnight rambler

Running with the Ball

roosting

Just wrapping up the day with a brief post, here. I couldn't stop making the little jars and working out the handles. When you're on a roll, keep spinning. It probably doesn't get better than the moment when you're in the flow of a certain shape.


The tools are there, the clay is just right, and most importantly you've made thirty already! It's like going that extra mile, or firing that second chamber of a wood kiln. It's the gravy!

the table at the end of the workday

the first series

Another pot that I worked on today was one based on the one that Kyle gave me last spring! I had to smuggle this one out of the cupboard because Stacey has been keeping it in her car! Anyway, what is there about the desire to copy? It is an interesting process, one that we as potters do instinctively, as a way to understand pots, our own pots. I think it's a necessary part of our process. Where would any potter be without mimicking the pots that have come before her or him?

detail with impact driver and Carpenter cup

We build on the history. It's like getting passed the ball and deciding what to do with it. Run? Yes!! So the process works like this for me. I start out with calipers, er, no, just kidding, although I have used calipers to measure and put down on paper a pot's proportions, but that is rare for me. I set out to make a lot of the pot in question. I rarely throw one out, but keep them all to help figure out and compare line, weight, details...Then I make a bunch! Each one in the series is a reaction to the one that came before. I do this until I forget that I'm trying to make a replica and get to a good flow where I'm accepting the way the pot wants to be made with my hands, my thoughts. The original and it's nature are all the time in my mind. The uncountable times I've used this cup weigh in on some subconscious plane. Out of the twenty five that I made this evening, about 2 or 3 were right on. At least for now. The other part of this pottery riddle is that I'm comparing all of my attempts on a finished pot. There is information that I'm picking up from the fired weight, the texture of glaze and slip, the pattern, color. I can only speculate on the way my copies will fare by the time they are decorated, glazed, and fired. Yet I have to start somewhere. Generally features that I pick up on in the original are exaggerated. So tomorrow the riddle of the Carpenter cup will continue and I'll mull over some more thoughts about this process.

Ron Meyers, Steve Godfrey, and Red Lodge

Ron Meyers
basket, 2009
9" x 8 x 8
$325

I hate to plug a gallery that has never asked to show my work

;-)

but this month you should check out the show Ron Meyers and Red Lodge have put together. Also check out Steve Godfrey's new pots! They're some of my favorites these day.
Check this jar out! Birds and flowers!

Steve Godfrey
lidded jar w/birds, 2009
6.5" x 5.5 x 5.5
$250

Reactions

before

after

After I put those handles on the jar I snapped out of it and realized they were way too big! What do you think? I went ahead and removed them at the risk of botching the pot. But it was fine. I don't think the jar really needed handles anyway.

here is a jar with some reasonably proportioned handles.
let me know what you think.

I just came down to the house to get my knee brace. Seems like the old knee is feeling squirrelly tonight. Can't afford to fall now! Now for some more pottery and podcasts!

Reprint from the Pondering Potter and West Virginia

From the great state of West Virginia we have Renee Margocee to thank for posting this video. I thought you might like to see it if you haven't already. [but take my advice and mute the sound]

After seeing this video, it's clear why you Fiesta ware is everywhere.

Here is some more info about the origins from the HLC web site:

Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin, two brothers from East Liverpool, Ohio, formed a partnership in 1871 to sell pottery ware, which was made in the factories located in their hometown.

The pottery industry in East Liverpool had begun in the 1840’s, manufacturing yellow ware from the rich deposits of local clay and utilizing the Ohio River to transport their products throughout the region. By 1870, public preference was shifting from the relatively crude yellow ware to a more sophisticated white ware that was being imported from England. Local potters saw the need for change and the East Liverpool City Council offered $5,000 in seed money to someone who would build and operate a pottery for the production of white ware.

The Laughlin Brothers submitted a proposal which was accepted by the Council and a two-kiln plant was built on the banks of the Ohio River in 1873. The plant was built on land purchased from Benjamin Harker for $300. Mr. Harker’s pottery was located next door.

The Laughlin Brothers quickly gained a reputation for quality and, in 1876, their white granite ware won an award at the United States Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. By 1877, Shakespeare, the younger brother, was ready to move on to pursue other interests. The business was continued as an individual enterprise as the Homer Laughlin China Works. The business continued to prosper through the 1880’s and became one of the better known manufacturers of ceramic dinnerware and toilet ware in the United States.