Liberty Stoneware

Counting Posts

2012-03-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

Count von Count from Sesame Street

When we put one more post in the ground this morning I could not help the Sesame Street kid in me and thought, "Two posts, ah, ah, ah!" Just like Count von Count. One step closer to the kiln/machine shed! And in case you are wondering, the tree branches sticking out of the center two holes are for liability to keep someone from stepping in the holes!

Two posts in the ground!

True Kiln Opening - Video

2012-02-27T21:12:00.000-05:00

Here is a video I made last week after Joseph and I opened up the small wood kiln. This is a true kiln opening, not just a pottery sale! This video is also on YouTube, but for some reason I cannot upload the video into my blog at this time!

White Clay and the Kiln Shed!

2012-02-26T15:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we started leveling the ground out at the farm for the kiln/machine shed. It took a little while, but was ready enough to start putting holes in the ground!

Grading the surface

Leveled out

Last weekend we drilled holes (thank goodness we didn't have to hand dig them) about 3.5 feet in the ground. We were going to go deeper, but the drill did not go down much further and the clay was a bit of a bear.

Drilling

Now, mind you, the clay was a bear to those at the site who were NOT potters. Because the most exciting thing (to me) of the day was hitting white clay at the bottom of the holes! My brother was laughing at me I was so giddy! I do not know yet whether it is a stoneware clay, but I suspect that if the Loy potters just east of me (or southeast) had stoneware in the 19th-century, then it could be! I am hopeful and very excited!

Photo inside of a post hole with white clay in the upper-right corner of the hole

White clay!

My other half devised an attachment for the chainsaw in order to saw posts from cedar trees on our property.

Attachment

Sawing posts

Before the day was done last weekend, we put one post in the ground with three more holes dug out! It's a start!

First post in the ground!

Teapot Challenge

2012-02-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

Should you be looking for a good challenge, learn how to make a vessel in the manner by which another potter does. Same tools, same techniques, same weight of clay. Try teapots. Joseph had been making some teapots last week and I was watching him, seeing how he attached his spouts, made the lids, etc. By the end of the week I decided to make a few of my own, and as I went to make the teapot, Joseph said to make it in the same shape as his. This bellied-out base is somewhat harder to achieve than it may look. It certainly fooled me! I went through about 15 teapots before I really started getting the hang of it and stopped making the walls too thin!

Spouts thrown off the hump

Joseph also has a different way of making spouts than what I was used to, so that was a bit of a late-evening nightmare trying to get the hang of it. Nothing really major to describe, just the shape, thinness, and throwing off of the hump was a lot to control!

Lids

So I got the shape down pretty well (FINALLY), made the lids and let everything dry out a bit before assembling and putting handles on them.

Teapot bodies with spouts

Today I got to decorate the little beasts and was very pleased with the decorations. I am excited to see the results. The darker slip is a manganese slip and should be blackish-brown. The two teapots with slip trailing over most of the upper-half will be glazed entirely in a yellow/brown ash glaze. All of these are going in the salt kiln in April.

Here are my decorations in detail:

I attempted to layer the slips in order to see what the colors would do over one another

I even put a little swirl-action on the top of the knob!

Frozen Studio

2012-02-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had a cold snap here in North Carolina and the temperatures dipped into the teens and twenties (Fahrenheit) with high winds. Joseph made a fire in the wood stove on Saturday, but with the winds the fire went out and the wind whipped into the studio. When I got to Joseph's on Monday, he met me at the car (first sign there was something wrong), and told me that the studio froze over the weekend, and I bravely tried not to picture all of my pots destroyed.

Frozen clay on the side of the splash pan surrounding the wheel

Frozen clay is rather fascinating to look at. It is like looking at the ice crystals that form on windows, just that the beautiful patterns are on top of the clay, or inside of it, made by the moisture in the clay. My big bowls (pictured above) apparently were the worst off of all of my pieces (luckily). Joseph said it was "cool" (not funny!) how the pots were basically opened up where they started freezing. When I got there on Monday, the large gaps had closed back up, but the pots all needed reworking in order to smooth out the lines, make everything round again, and get the bubbles out that formed when the gaps closed up. It was a nightmare! Here are some images of the inside of the bowls. Where the fine, raised lines are, that is where the pots opened up in large gaps when they froze:

Lines where the clay froze and opened up

Lines and bubbles where the clay froze and opened up

I wondered, what did potters do historically to keep things from freezing? Did they have to keep a fire going constantly, or was a kiln going frequently enough in the vicinity of the drying room to keep everything toasty, or to dry things out quicker? I have read about potters having holes in the ground beneath the floor of their studios where they stored clay to keep it from freezing, but what about the pots? What do potters who do not have their studio near their home and do not have heating systems other than wood do? Any readers who could weigh in on this, it would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to move my studio to our farm, and don't want frozen pots next winter!

Handles

2012-02-10T07:29:00.000-05:00

My usual handle

For every potter I have ever worked with, I have learned different techniques for attaching and shaping handles. I made some mugs a few days ago and was attaching handles yesterday when Joseph demonstrated how he makes his handles. My usual handle shape is in the photo above.

Joseph's handle

The photo above is the handle Joseph demonstrated. Then I made a few handles. I think I will make some more mugs and continue trying out this style of handle. I do like that the edges of the handle are less sharp, but I have not decided whether I like the rounded juncture at the top.I have also been trying to make pieces of pottery much thinner than I have ever made them, and it is resulting in either some George Ohr sculptures or some decent looking mugs. 3/4 of a pound for a mug! Not a surprise, I know, and I know it's possible, it's just something new! Lots of learning!

My attempts at making a handle similar to Joseph's demonstration

How do you throw?

2012-02-04T20:10:00.000-05:00

My little corner of the world at Joseph's

I have thrown on the pottery wheel sitting down for nearly ten years now. I've played around a bit with a kick wheel and tried a little throwing while standing up. At Joseph's I have been throwing on the wheel standing up. For making the larger pieces I have had to stand on several large bats in order to have more height (yeah, yeah, don't laugh). It's kind of a balancing act, but I really like the setup!

Throwing Bigger Pieces

2012-02-01T21:33:00.001-05:00

In apprenticing at Joseph Sand's I am learning about some of the techniques he uses to make larger pieces. While I am not up to the size of the pieces above, I did make two smaller versions of the larger vessels. I threw four roughly 10-12 pound sections this week. The bottom half has a galley and the upper half has a thin rounded edge.The bases for Joseph's pieces above are two 20 pound sections. I am working up to that! It certainly has been a learning experience to grasp (literally) how to manage large amounts of clay!

Sections

Today I joined those pieces together to make what I am plotting as a decorated water cooler. I made the lids today and will finish them up on Friday. I will try and take some more detailed photos of the process when I join the sections I made today.

Joined vessels from the 4 sections

Making the News!

2012-01-27T19:48:00.000-05:00

An exciting thing to share! An announcement for the presentation I am doing tomorrow at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum made it as the feature photo for the weekend guide in the Washington Post! Granted, it's a photo of the kiln furniture, but check out the caption! I feel honored! And now, a little nervous...

Making kiln furniture

2012-01-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

Squatty separator. Pawley Kiln site, Baltimore, MD. Courtesy, Maryland Archaeology and Conservation Lab.

I am getting ready for a presentation on my kiln furniture research this weekend in Virginia. In doing so, I have been thinking a lot about how to visualize how the furniture was made. It helps having access to clay! One of the most fascinating pieces of kiln furniture is a separator, often called many things, but in following the most commonly used term, and Georgeanna Greer's terminology, we're going to call the shape a spool.

My hand around a separator, showing my fingers over the hand print on the separator. Webster kiln site, Fayetteville, NC. Courtesy, The Museum of the Cape Fear

This piece of kiln furniture was likely made as the kiln was being loaded as the sizes and lengths often vary, and the nature of its use would make it necessary to be made while loading. As seen in the image below, the spool separators were likely used in the context of stacking jugs (seen in yellow and red below) and were also used to separate straight-sided vessels which were stacked on top of one another.

Conjectural drawing of kiln furniture in use. Drawing by Mike Heindl.

I made a few photos of how I am pretty sure this piece of kiln furniture was made. First, a bit of clay was rolled out. This rolling is evidenced by broken examples which show the spiraled pattern of the clay on the interior.

Rolling out the clay

Rolling

Rolled clay

Then the rolled section was grasped in the palm of the hand. A fascinating aspect of this project has been to see the various finger and hand prints left behind by the workers making the kiln furniture. Some of the fingerprints have been very tiny, like children's, and some of them are very, very large.

Grasping the rolled clay

Then the ends were smashed flat. These flattened areas would then fit to the edge or side of whatever vessel this piece was applied to.

Flattening one side

Flattened end

Flattening the other side

Ta-da! Quickly made kiln furniture, with the same impressions as found on the archaeological materials.

Kiln furniture, ready for use!

If you are in the Alexandria, Virginia area, be sure to come by the Alexandria Archaeology Museum this Saturday, January 28th, at 10:00 for my presentation. Should be informal, and hopefully informative!

Necessary Evils

2012-01-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

Pile of reclaim clay ready to go through the pug mill

One of the necessary evils of making pottery, especially in a production setting, is putting clay through a pug mill. The clay is put into the mill where rotating discs push the clay to the front of the pug mill.

Clay getting ready to be pressed in to the mill

When the clay is pushed forward in the machine, it is compressed through a fine screen and then compressed again into a tube of clay.

Reclaimed clay coming out of the pug mill

I am not a huge fan of putting clay through a pug mill, however, I intend to own one someday and appreciate the utility of the machinery.

The reclaimed clay was then used to make flowerpots in the afternoon. Joseph said that my small 1 pound rounded flowerpots looked like chamber pots. I have yet to decide whether that was a good thing or not. I am just thankful that we have advanced beyond the horse or mule-drawn mills which potters used to pug clay with. I'd hate to have to buy a mule too!

Warm puppies gathered by the stove all day

Decorating Bowls

2012-01-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

I mentioned making a new form this week and I finished up a few yesterday. I have based the shape off of 19th-century American milk pans. Because I have not put a lip on the rim though, I am not going to call these milk pans, and will just refer to them as bowls. That is, unless someone has a better idea! I wanted a shape that could be versatile either as a bowl for mixing, for putting apples or other items in, or for flower arranging. I think this shape might fit the bill.
I put big handles on the sides:

And then put some decorations on:

I made sure on most of them not to cover up the stamped letters. However, historically, most potteries that stamped their wares and did cobalt decorating did not seem to let this get in their way. Is it an aesthetic faux pas to cover up your shop name? Here is one bowl I did cover up the lettering, and I kind of like it. I also this this gives more room for larger designs.

Getting back to making some videos, here is a video of me stamping the bowls:

And here is a video of me painting the bowls:

Back at It

2012-01-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

Pile of clay for throwing

I have been getting back into the swing of things since getting back from the conference and research trip. I have about two hundred pounds of clay left in my studio down in Siler City that I want to try and use up soon(pictured above). I am plotting a few new forms (new to me) which are in the works below.

I also started at Joseph Sand's as an apprentice this week. On Monday we had a work day on his new gallery space. I had some assistance from one of Joseph's dogs, Franklin, installing insulation.

Franklin, or Frank, being not-so-helpful and cuddly

On the Water and Back to the Moravians

2012-01-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

I have been on the road attending the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting and doing research in Maryland. I participated in a panel on Southeastern Pennsylvania, which I plan to put a synopsis up about because it was a great discussion panel. It was great to go back to looking at my research on the Moravian potters of Pennsylvania.

I felt very official at the Maryland Archaeology Conservation lab where I have been researching an early 19th-century Baltimore kiln site. I do not know whether the room just happens to have "Visiting Scientist" as an old office sign, or whether I get to consider myself a "scientist" and have my own room! I'm going to go for the latter! When I get the permissions, I will put some photos up of very exciting pieces from this kiln site!

The Maryland Archaeology Conservation lab is located on the water, where I saw this beautiful vision as I left the lab on Wednesday.

Retired archaeologist and ceramics scholar George Miller was awarded the J.C Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology at the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting. Congrats, George! This is a photo from a panel about George's work and his influence in the work of other archaeologists and scholars. I feel honored to know George and gotten to spend time with him while at Winterthur.

George was the discussant for his own panel!

Collar or Jug Stacker?

2011-12-27T14:40:00.001-05:00

Jug stacker or collar fused to the top of a jug. Courtesy, Alexandria Archaeology Museum.

I have a technical quandary I would like some input on. In working on my kiln furniture project, I have been struggling with whether to call the pieces placed on top of jugs for stacking in the kiln "collars" or "jug stackers." My hesitation to use the term "collar" would be because the term “collaring” is used in referring to the pottery technique used to make the neck of a bottle. However, because of that too, I would option to use collar because the piece in question is placed on the jug where collaring begins at the shoulder of the jug. The collar goes on the collar of the jug.
And my hesitation to use the term “jug stacker,” as did Georgeanna Greer, is because it seems like a misleading term that does not fit its function. It does assist in the stacking of the jugs, but it by itself is not a "stacker" and is not stacked without being a part of another piece of pottery. Does that make sense, or am I looking too far into this?

Drawing made by Mike Heindl -- incomplete, not with all of the furniture! But just showing how the collars sat on top of the jugs and the jugs then stacked on one another.

This is the hole where the stacker/collar sits over the handle. This unfortunate piece was a bit overfired, or had too much weight on it, and it slumped making the collar/stacker stick to it. Courtesy, Alexandria Archaeology Museum.

For those of you still wondering what in the world I am talking about:
A jug stacker or collar was placed on the top of a jug in order to allow for an easier stacking method. Small bits of kiln furniture were placed on he bottom of the piece between the jug and the stacker/collar. I have also seen these pieces dipped in a white, sandy slip where the piece would come in contact with the pottery, assuming that the sand would keep the piece from sticking to the vessel. A hole was cut into the side in order to go over the handle. As opposed to saggars which are completely enclosed a jug stacker has a hole that goes above the bottle neck. Stackers/collars are also much shorter and smaller than saggars and tend to have angled sides or rounded edges (keeps the contact points to a minimal).

Collar/Jug Stacker from Rockbridge Baths Pottery Site, Virginia. Courtesy, Washington and Lee University Anthropology Department.

Do let me know whether you think it should be referred to as a "jug stacker" or a "collar"!

Festive Ceramics

2011-12-25T12:22:00.000-05:00

Courtesy, Ceramics in America

How do ceramics celebrate the holidays? Festively, of course!

Courtesy, The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and Hal Pugh

And what do nerdy potters get for Christmas? Old pots! I was very excited to find this under our little tree this morning! I have a particular affection for ovoid, salt-glazed bottles, and this little guy (well, he's actually pretty big) adds to my Southern pieces!

I hope your holidays are all going well, it has only started cooling off here in North Carolina, so no exciting snow to report!

Bottle Stacking

2011-12-21T21:31:00.000-05:00