Teapots and pitchers

Just about to finish my pot of coffee and then off to the studio. My son Chase just emailed me with pictures of my granddaughter, stating "that she has been walking on two legs for a week or two." They just grow up way too fast.

I havn't made teapots or pitchers for several years and over the pass two months I have attempted to correct. I just haven't had the right attitude or something and it shows in the work . Thick , heavy, squatty, poor shape and just uninteresting piece of clay work. The teapot showing is one of the latest with a tenmuku glaze that I feel is starting to improve. I enjoy the handle over the top, compared to a side attachment. The over handled has white and black slip underglaze Temples white in a reduction kiln, my wood kiln is down and I am working on it slowly. Drop me an email and I'll send you a copy of the recipe, if you like it.

Pitchers have been so weak that I haven't even photographed them. But, just as I was at a low point,I was finishing parts for teapots and I had about 3-4 pounds of clay left, I just hate to waste a good center, so I ended with a pitcher that was easily thrown and looked strong in form, so it might be that I've come around the bend with a better attitude and maybe something to show.

I have found a couple of new links or blogs (check out the links), that are very informative. I seem to be just discovering the potential of this blogging world . There is so many more potteries out there that never get seen in the magazines, and they are making some extremely nice work. I can now make decisions for myself, concerning interesting work, rather than have one hit wonders dominate and become the fashion of the month.

I'm adding information about how and what I use to make a piece. I would love to see other potters tell a bit about their work, so that we all can look and learn.

Well, I have to get to the shop, have a productive day.

Economic effects

The economic downturns are part of studio life. A conversation with Ken Sedberry evoked the comment that "we have gone through several of these episodes and you've just got to hold on and ride it out." This has been basically true for the previous events in my career also, but the extremely inflated cost of fuel has affected all other areas such as food, health care, and heating.
When fuel cost went up before, I was able to go to home fuel oil and fire my work, but now that cost is higher than the propane I had normally used for my reduction kiln. Kent at Fork Mountain Pottery has burners that use cooking oil or reclaimed oil to fire his work, he says it smells like bar-b-que when he fires and it makes him hungry. wood burners can be very thankful that there are a lot of sources for that fuel.
Fuel cost has over doubled the pass year, and the fact is you will not get to double your product price. In retrospect, I have had to use bartering in the sale of items in my gallery and since fewer buyers are stopping to even look at the work, exposure becomes a major hurdle for creating demand for your work. The national average for food has risen something like 18%, feels like more. A vast majority of us will not be able to attach that rise to our product, in fact I think we will be lowering our prices to attract buyers.
Some studios give a discount for coming to their studio gallery, others have grouped together and formed pottery markets, which are located in one location, so buyers only have to come to one place to look at a large selection of work. I would love to hear from folks about alternative methods.
I'm going to stop here, because of the subject matter I want to pursue: Doing road shows, wholesaling, and galleries.

garden time

Maria and I got the garden in and cleaned up this pass weekend. The deer have been eating on the potato tops, but that is about all. We had to put a fence up around the beans and corn. Raccoons are bad to get into the corn and tear the corn open and eat one or two bits, then on to another ear of corn.
Back to the pottery, I fired on this past Friday and I keep doing real dumb stuff. I get lazy about working test tiles up and working the problems out before I use the glaze on a lot of pots. The Shino I use, has aged for a month or so and it has gotten darker. I've been trying several slips to help smooth the shino out and get rid of the pitting that occurs with Shino. Well, I had put the slip on bisque, then dipped it in the glaze, lots of crawling, so, pay attention Slagle.
Its been very hot over the past couple of days. I try to do things in the garden or in the shop, today I worked a while in the garden, till the sun came up and started cooking every thing. I'll head for the shop in a little bit to get some badly needed cleaning done to the studio and my wheel area.

Kiln Down

We got it down, but it took a little more than I thought. I just knew that during a firing, at high temps, the kiln would just fold in and vaporize everything within a 10 foot radius.

My first attempt with a chain, broke the chain, then I got out my loggers cable, this is about 2" of flexible cable with hook and loop ends. I wrapped it through the feed holes on each side of the kiln and attached it to the tractor. I mounted and tightened up the slack in the cable, put the tractor in 4WD and sat there with the tires digging trenches. Well, enough of this, I backed up and changed from low range to high, putting it in 3rd. Half the kiln came down. I took a hammer up and hit it in a couple of places and it finally fell on down. I had used rebar in the insulation layer to tie the kiln together and give extra support to the shape. I will not do without rebar in any other kiln.

The fun part is the finding salvageable bricks and moving the sections of the kiln that are reinforced with rebar. I have filled several areas in the road that are mud holes.

I have done some preliminary drawings to get some ideals about the shape and size. I'm going to go up and take some measurements for the length and climb,the lowest spot in the firebox to the base of the chimney. I'll estimate the length from the back of the stack to the front of the firebox. Some other preliminaries I have been considering is the firing time of the different anagamas around the area. Talking with Shane Mickey about his week-long firing endeavor to fire his anagama, states that he feels a large firebox and throat, hole for chimney, is probably the difference in firing time. Michael Hunt & Naomi Dalglish's anagama has fired in less than 12 hours, but they perfer to extend the time to give the glazes time to mature. (Michael &Naomi's Kiln, shown).

I cannot fire a kiln for a week , with or without help. So, my search now is for information about the faster firing kiln.

Pro: 1. I really like the ideal that I can build a piece of work in the kiln, let it dry there and then fire it in place.

2. I would only have to fire once or twice a year. Maybe a third time.

3. The flexibility size in the pieces I can make.

Con: 1. Got to make sure that each firing is done right.

2. Experimentation is slower: could be a good ideal.

3. Would have to increase my volume of work.

If you have any information about the above please pass it on to me or send me a link. Thanks.

Kiln down

It seems strange now that the kiln is on the floor of where I stacked so many pots. The walls on both sides still stood after I pulled out the whole front, firebox side , out with the tractor. Maria had done such a good job of clearing out the pile of broken and salt covered brick, scattered over the area that we stood on to feed the appetite of the beast. The roof, insulation layer of the kiln was still hanging across the width of the kiln. I just hit it with my hammer once and it completely fell this time, filling the area with dust and more broken pieces, rebar, concrete and lots of fiber blanket. The dust was thick at first and took a few minutes to clear. I went back down to the lower part of the kiln and I could see well up into the woods behind the kiln, which before was blocked by the kiln.
Last evening I had sat and drew up the plans for the new kiln and try to estimate how many brick it will take to build this anagama. I have considered a Norigama, but the ideal of just a single chambered kiln makes more sense to me.

I opened and unloaded the kiln on Sunday, results are fairly predictable. A couple of new colors came out very nicely and some problems appeared with the slip under the glaze, crawling, especially with the Temple white. When I layer a second color on top of the #6 Tile slip and another color, it will crawl back, exposing the color. I haven't worked with a lot of reduction glazes since '87 and some things come back quickly and others not so well remembered.
This was my first kiln load with an amount of work from my changing the way I throw a piece of work. Basicly, I'm slowing the wheel, to imitate the motion or speed of a kick wheel, and pulling the clay as fast as I normally would throw. Using ribs rather my finger tips. The results have been delightful, with work showing a freshness and qualities that I have tried to do over the years, without much success. The process makes me focus on each step of the throw, concentrating on the foot, the wall as it is pulled and forced into place, and the lip, it's finished shape.
If you have not seen the Hamada and Cardew film on YouTube, Do a search and watch the two different approaches to throwing. These are wonderful documentations of Masters at work. I have learned so much from just watching the techniques and skill that are used with each potter.

Spring is about on us and I've brought out my shorts. Some trees are starting to bloom and the cherry blossoms will be coming on fairly soon. Chase, my oldest son, Laura, wife and Shelby (pictured) are stationed in Japan (a little south of Tokyo) and he said the blooms are in full and it is warming up nicely. I am hoping that I will get to go over there, cause there is a lot I want to see and do, especially going to Kyoto, where the big kilns are located.
It has been almost a year since my wood kiln chimney fell in, and I have cleaned up the stack area and laying out where my new kiln will be built. I have been gathering brick for the pass two years from several different spots. My wife Maria had located two large pallets of odd brick for a barrel shaped kiln that are used at the plant where she works. I will have to tear the old kiln completely down and clean up before I can pour the footers.
I am looking at a two chambered kiln with an exterior firebox, so I can reduce the ash that is deposited on the work. The Will Ruggles design (I have now) was just a bit too much ash and my drawings just disappeared under the ash. It was a very good kiln to work with and learn on, but I need a larger and cleaner firing kiln. I'm considering the first chamber as a car kiln sprung arch ( I need to think about this a bit, not much information available) and the second chamber be a salt/soda chamber. There is another potter, Bandana Pottery, that has built a single chambered anagama kiln that is as large as a small house and can be fired in less than 24 hour. Take a look at it on michael and Naomi's web site: http://www.michaelhuntpottery.com/ .
I am glazing and loading my gas kiln, it has taken me longer to load than usual, I guess that I am taking longer to design and draw the image on each piece, but I hope to finish today and fire it tomorrow. Have a good one today, make good pots.