Fired the kiln (again)!!!

John and I have been so busy preparing for the upcoming shows that we are in.  We were able to fire two glaze loads and one bisque load over the past week.  Last night I started a third glaze load and this morning I started another bisque load.  With our new kiln we are having to learn a little as we go.  There were some great pieces that came out and some not so great pieces.  Hopefully, they will get better every time.

One piece that didn't make it was one of my people pots.  I small crack opened up around the lady's neck.  I was really disappointed because this is a double people pot (very time consuming) and it was glazed with the Saturated Metallic, which I never use on my people pots.  But, they now have a happy home in my flower bed at the studio!

I know these aren't for everyone, but they are all very personal to me.  It is weird how one can become emotionally attached to the work they are doing.  But, I have been asked to have five pieces in a show at the Royal Bean in Raleigh for the month of October.  They are doing a "Dark Art" theme and I guess some would view my work as dark art, especially my funeral urns (not sure why...).

There is a positive side to these kiln firings and that is that John and I have finally mastered our favorite glaze: Pennell Strontium Matt Glaze.  I mix the glaze from the raw materials, which is kinda like baking a cake.  But it is very finicky and has to be fired to an exact temperature so that we get the effects we want, but it is not running off the pots onto the shelves.

I have also made a ton of jewelry pieces and will be posting these to my website : www.liquidambar.artfire.com a little at a time. 

The first show is this coming Sunday, October 4th, in Chapel Hill from 1-6pm.  I am just hoping for some weather like today - perfect!

And since my blog wouldn't be complete without a picture of "nature" - here is a picture from Sunday morning by the front deck. Thought it would put us in the October mood.

Actually working!

Today John and I actually went to the studio and did some work! With graduation, summer school, baseball and everything else, we have not been able to produce much work. John was able to throw a bunch of pots while I worked on two hand coiled pieces. About a 1/4 of the way on each one.


People do not understand why I would want to coil my pots rather than throw them on the wheel. The coiled pot takes many, many, many hours to make, but I can throw a pot on the wheel in a couple of minutes (of course there is the trimming and other finish work.) Plus, I can not sell my pieces for 3 or 4 times that of a thrown pot just because it takes me longer.


Probably my biggest reason for coiling is that I do take time with the piece. Each one is unique. Each one has a story. Sometimes I don't know what I am going to make until it starts to form. I may do some sketches, but the piece I begin never ends up like my sketch. It is also very therapeutic for my mind (not my hands). Often while working on a piece I kinda "space out" or go into a kinda trans. My mind wonders, not taking in what is going on around me. Most of the time I do not even listen to music, because I found that I wasn't listening and would miss the whole CD.


We also took some pictures while we were working. All of the shows want to see a picture of the artist to put with our concept statement. We didn't have any of John and the only ones of me I look like I am mad at the world (probably because John is taking pictures at 10pm after I have been working all day.)

I think he likes it.