March, 2012 Woodfiring

I'm pretty much perpetually behind, but today I did a little catching up.  I managed to get some week old pots I've had under plastic trimmed.  Now it's time to tell a little bit about my firing last weekend.


Fellow potter/blogger Rebecca Brandow (Becky) of Willow Avenue Pottery in Panora Iowa joined me for a woodfiring.  We had perfect weather and Kevin and I very much enjoyed Becky's help and company. 

Friday was glazing day.  I added several new glazes for this firing so in addition to the pots, there were a number of glaze sample tiles in this firing.

By mid-day Saturday, we pretty much had everything wadded and loaded in the kiln.  Kevin made us some delicious potato soup for lunch and we started a fire.  While putting a layer of mud and newspaper over the door bricks we couldn't resist putting this cheery cow picture front and center.  Seeing it made me smile every time I looked at it. 

We put Becky's favorite vase on the bagwall near a peep hole so she could keep a watchful eye on it through the firing.  

Sunday we finished up and Becky made her long drive home probably grateful she'd be hundreds of miles away and not tempted to peek in at the results in a slowly cooling kiln.  

All in all, it was a very enjoyable weekend, with perfect weather, hard work, and lots of conversation about pots, being a potter, life in general and a few Minnesota/Iowa jokes. 

As a matter of fact, I was so busy talking and explaining things while bricking up the door, I totally forgot to put leave the lower spy hole pulled out a little bit so it could be pulled out.  I didn't think of it until we'd already had a fire in the firebox so we had couldn't keep an eye on the lower set of cones during the firing.  Just another stupid thing I've done in a long list of stupid things.  Probably won't make that mistake again.  Thanks Becky for not including that in your blog post and you're always welcomed back.

Cupcake Stands & Textures

This past weekend I threw a dozen cupcake stands and tonight I trimmed them and added some texture to each.  After this round is glazed, I'll need to determine which texture technique I like best on them but for now, I thought I'd try a bunch of different ways.  Some have carved stripes, others have a carved leaf like pattern, slip dots and other random patterns.  

Note To Self

Even when you just think you are making a quick trip to take Mom to a friend's house (20 minute trip tops!!), don't leave just cleaned pottery on the deck railing to dry off before waxing. I should have known better - it's a little breezy here today.

On a much more positive note, got a custom plate order done recently.  Always fun to make special pieces for people who appreciate them.

Now I better get back to the studio as I've got a few recently lost pieces to replace.  

Too Wet/Too Dry

This winter has been pretty mild in Minnesota with very little snow.  While that's been great for me personally, it's made it a little difficult to dry pottery in the studio be cause the air is really dry.  It's still cold enough that I need to run the furnace out there and that tends to dry the pots faster on one side than the other making them very difficult to deal with trimming and adding handles and such.  So I cover them with plastic, but then they don't dry at all and get moldy.  Also not good.  Leaving the plastic loose still give me stuff dried more on one side.  

But now I may have found a solution so my pots dry slowly enough to not crack and warp, but still actually get dry.  I've started using biodegradable garbage bags to cover the drying boards.  Not sure of the science behind it, but they must breath enough to allow some moisture out.  Whatever it is... I'm grateful for a solution to my pottery drying problem. 

Bluff Country Studio Art Tour's blog

Repost from Bluff Country Studio Art Tour Blog

 

Artists Stop #8

Artists Stop #8 on the 2012 Bluff Country Studio Art Tour is where you will find Sue Pariseau Pottery.  Sue's functional stoneware can be  found at 40051 County Rd 12, Lanesboro, Minnesota.   Her work  features a diverse palette ranging from beautiful earthy wood fired pieces to brightly colored oxidation pieces and many shades in between.

Saturday evening (April 28th) from 5pm to 8pm Sue will be hosting a Kiln Opening party to unload her bourry box wood-fired kiln. For those who have seen or will see the kiln firing at Allamakee Wood-fired Pottery, this is a nice follow-up event to see the unloading of a kiln.  Plus, you'll have the first opportunity to buy pots fresh out of the kiln.

Don't miss this activity packed tour stop, the kiln opening party or the opportunity to grab fresh pots just out of the kiln.

Cupcake Stands

One of the things you may not know about me is that I love cupcakes.  So it seemed only natural to make some cupcake stands. This one was my trial one and I've made several more with carved pattern around the top to go in the next wood-fire.  I'm anxious to see how those turn out.  

 I even ordered a couple fake cupcakes from Etsy shop Fake Cupcake Creations to use as display props at sales.  They look great, but I think I'm gonna need to make some real cupcakes after spending this much time thinking about them.  I'm thinking Red Velvet with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese frosting.  Mmmmm...cupcakes.  

New Mugs

I've been putting it off for a while, but this morning I finally got out and put up flyers for my wood-fire workshop in May so that's getting closer to done.  Still have a few places I haven't gotten to yet, but took a giant step forward today.  

After all that running around town in the snow, I settled in to throwing a couple dozen mugs, and a couple oblong vases.  I really enjoy making the oblong vases.  And I decided to make a very different style mug that my usual cooling tower shape.  These new mugs are very narrow at the bottom and have a very round, robust shape.  I really like them and think they'll look great wood-fired with some dots or patterns on them. 

Tomorrow, I think I'll make some salt and pepper shakers... maybe.  We'll see what I feel like making then I guess.