Sandstone || Albany Slip Brown

Sandstone w/blue slip || IYFC Blue

Sandstone w/blue slip || IYFC Blue

No surprises here, just a few slides from the last firing. Thanks to all who came out to the FUMC Spring Bazaar in Pierre on Saturday. Sold enough pots to make worth my while. Taking some quiet time off from the studio for a couple of weeks - I have enough stock to hold me for my April show. Unless I completely sell out of "normal" stock, I'm looking forward to putting some time into some larger pieces and exploratory projects this spring/summer. We'll just have to see how that goes.

Unloaded the kiln just now. Overall, very pleased. Tried something new this time, experimenting with holding the firing at it's highest point for an hour to get uniform results throughout the kiln, and also hoping to push a little more depth out of some of the glazes. Generally speaking it went well, but I may have over-fired my Rust Red by just a scoche as a result - went a bit darker in some places than normal. Sandstone gave me nice results this time too, a little bit more depth out of it then normal - hints of red and blue (maybe some crystallization of sorts?) came through on some underbellies. Tonight the kiln gets loaded and fired again. Lots of bowls on the way. I may try a 30 minute soak vs. 60 to see about finding the balance between getting the rich colors without toasting the Rusts. 

Top Shelf (that glaze mark on the shelf there is from my first firing with unknown glaze properties, not the result of soaking at ^6).

Next half-shelf.

Down another tier. That smattering of orange-browns is "Albany Slip Brown," my new favorite glaze.

Mountains and IYFC Blues.

Mountains. Sandstone went a bit dark on the blues, but the browns are gorgeous.

Bitty vases.

Bowls and bowls and bowls.

And bowls and bowls and bowls.

And more bowls.

And a few mugs for good measure.

Excited to get out next weekend and see what other folks think of these pots.

Opened the bisque firing Sunday night. One cracked plate, but otherwise all clear! I just love the vibrancy of those blues, even after just the bisque firing!

"Top Shelf" pottery. At least, the "top shelf" of the kiln. 

Got just about everything into this firing - a couple larger pieces that just didn't fit. And then, Monday night I found another little vase hiding in my studio - totally would have fit in the middle of that shelf above. Oh well. 

Jungle-pup wants to help me glaze. Or she's stalking me.

Krystal's away on business for a couple days so it's just me and the pup. She tolerates my extended glazing sessions slightly better than Krystal, but still gets a little bored of it after a while. At least I'm glad we're out of the stage where she was constantly trying to go swimming in my glaze buckets.

The work. Mind the box in upper right filled to the brim with 40+ small bowls. Also, the 30 mugs still in the kiln.

I made a fair amount of headway on the glazing front last night. All the mugs, mountain vases, smaller vases, and small bowls made it into the glaze firing, plus some other pieces. I think I still have a full firing worth of bowls left to glaze. 

Also trying something new with this glaze firing, hopefully I'll have something exciting to share when I crack the kiln (Tonight? Tomorrow? Probably tomorrow.).

Loaded this up yesterday (Saturday). That's a kiln stuffed to the gills with greenware, now bisqueware. Looks like I'll be doing some glazing this week to get these pots ready for a couple of my spring shows. 

First on the calendar, I'll be showing at the Pierre First United Methodist Church Spring Bazaar on Saturday, March 24. That's just a one day deal that won't require my full setup but should be good for local name recognition.

Next up after that is the Pierre/Ft. Pierre Zonta International Craft Show on April 14-15 at the Pierre Mall. Supposed to be a good turnout for these Zonta shows, so I'm looking forward to it. I may still have time to make a few more pots between now and then. 

So if you're a local reader, or you're interested in road-tripping to central South Dakota this spring, come visit me at those events! As usual, I'll keep you updated ad nauseum as to the preparations for the shows.

Things I've Been Doing

So, what have I been up to, you ask? Here's a sampling of the things that have happened in the last week or so.

Shoveled my way out of a minor blizzard. Predawn shoveling is my favorite workout!

And then hanging out in the springy sunshine with the dog. It's just the Midwest, yo - that's how we roll!

Of course with weather like that, sometimes it's best to just stay in your basement and make pots.  So I've tried to do some of that lately. Some days are better than others. But that's the way it is.

Itty-bitty bowls! I'm thinking these will be known as "adora-bowls." Say it out loud if you don't get it.

Some more regularly sized bowls.

And more bowls.

And back into the groove with some mountain bowls.

So that's what's going on. I actually have a couple of events coming up this spring, so one of these days I need to start thinking about doing some firings. More information about those shows can be found over at my recently updated About the Artist page.

So there you have it. Oh, music? This week in the studio I've been listening to NPR Music's (mostly) downloadable suggested listening mix from SXSW 2012. It's nothing if not eclectic (folk, metal, hip-hop, alternative, latin, rock - and that's just in the first track! j/k) and chock full of artists I've never heard before. While lists like this (70 songs deep, eclectic) come with plenty of songs that I listen to once and decide that's enough, there are certainly some gems in the mix as well. So check that out if you like, and let me know if you find anything good in there!

All About Music, 2011 Edition.

Well, it only took me a month two months three months! to getting this post up. Would you believe me if I told you I started it before Christmas? But then there was more music, and life happened, and some pots, and here we are. I've not been as busy in the studio as I'd like to have been the last couple of weeks, but sometimes we just have to take what we can get. And what time I have had has not been well documented. I've got a handful of pictures from my phone that will probably make it up here, and often are shared (in real time!) on Twitter. In the meantime, I thought it best to post the following little ditty before any more time has lapsed it into irrelevance. Before you know it I'll have my own opinion about 2012 (assuming we're all still here next January).

See? Our calendar stops after 2012. I mean sure, it's Aztec, not Mayan, but it clearly doesn't cross a day into 2013!

I'm aware that this is completely self indulgent and primarily for my own enjoyment, but I hope you enjoy it, too. Please feel free to tell me what I got wrong, what I got right, and what I missed out on. What was your favorite music of 2011? Was it a new artist? An old favorite with a new release? Heck, I don't care if it was new music. If it was new to you, I'd love to hear about it. Always looking for new tunes, that's me.

If you're not at all interested in my taste in music, come back soon - I'm sure there's pottery on the horizon. If you care to indulge my fancy, stay right here.