Kiln Firing Results and Show

 Last week was one of those nightmare weeks when everything seems to happen at once and it all becomes a big blur. We had some nasty weather again, and cleaning the pots took longer than I had hoped. Although delayed, here are some photos of pots from the recent kiln firing:

I am pleased with the results overall and very excited to see the newer forms I have been playing with coming to fruition.

All of these vessels went with me to the Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival this past weekend and some of them found new homes. Thanks to everyone who came out for the show! I am not going to fire in April so that we can work a lot on the new barn/studio at the farm.

Post-Show Blues

 For the past few months I have been busily prepping for the Catawba Valley Pottery Show. Firing the big kiln beast every month has been a bear!

This most recent firing was one of my best. The photo above is what the kiln looked like when I loaded it.

The photo above is what it looked like when I opened it up. At first I thought it was a little heavy on the salting, but I am pleased with the results.

Getting ready for a show is like riding a roller coaster. There's the buildup of exhausting excitement and nervousness for not knowing whether the kilns are going to turn out. There might be a few great turns that put butterflies in your stomach, and then the final show you have been prepping for is like the end of the roller coaster, that final decline, with an abrupt stop at the end. You watch your pieces go home like the people leaving the roller coaster carts, and then it is completely over.

It was all worth it to see my pots all sitting together and going to good homes. Most of my highly decorated blue dishes, mugs, and flowerpots disappeared at the show! So I suppose I don't have the blues after all, I'm just left with my brown wares.Thank you to everyone who has given me moral support in all my crazy endeavors, to those who came to the show, and to the potters who kept me company and gave me breaks! I am looking forward to next year and another big roller coaster ride!

Busy Week

Pottery display at Catawba

It has been a busy week (or so) since returning from Catawba Valley! It was a good show and was nice to see a mix of curators and collectors attending, as well as potters and antiques people. I think my goal for next year will be to have a few big eye-catching pieces to lure people in!

Display at Catawba Valley

Brenda in her booth at Catawba

We just wrapped up a really great work weekend on the farm getting the kiln/machine shed built. It is really amazing to see things coming together and being one step closer to building my kiln!

Almost all of the headers up, rafters sorted

We got our recently purchased blueberry plants in the ground over the weekend as well. Sixteen! They are two years old, so next year we will be able to eat them!

Things at Joseph's are starting to wind down as we started making smaller items to fill the kiln. We'll be loading the big beast in a few weeks and firing the weekend of the 21st. I made a few more low, wide platters last week just for practice and good measure. 

Fresh Pots for Catawba Valley!

I just unloaded the small kiln on Wednesday and have had a day or so of rampant packing and pricing! Took some photographs of a few pieces that are heading with me to the Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival this weekend!

This piece with the blue decoration is one of those pots you really wish you could just hoard, but I like for my pots to find good homes, so it is going. It just means I have to make more of them like this!

The ash glaze did decently in the hotter parts of the small gas kiln. The jar above has a little dry spot on one side, but I'm not too worried about it. I like how the white slip came through!

And the teapots and slip trailed dishes that were fired in Joseph's small wood kiln turned out well. It is nice to have some fresh new pieces to take to a show!

Decorating Frenzy!

Slip-trailed design on the interior of a dish

 It has been a wild and woolly time over the last few weeks, so I apologize for my absence! I have been making a lot of pots, working at Joseph Sand's, and working on the kiln/machine shed! A lot of my time has been spent decorating and glazing pots. I both love and dislike single-firing. It is awesome and convenient to be able to glaze a piece once it is set up, but that means it has to be decorated before you glaze it, then that sets up, and THEN you glaze it! I guess I have been spoiled by bisque-firing my pottery for so long and not having to glaze until after the bisque firing!

Since the necessity to glaze the piece requires the pot to be slipped and decorated first, there has been quite a decorating frenzy going on!

Decorated dishes

  I've also been making and decorating vases, which is not something I have been particularly fond of.

Decorated vases. Some of these will have an ash glaze over the decorations.

Decorated vases. The piece on the right was a happy accident, and I think I am going to intentionally try to make a few more of them. I like the neck and shoulder of that vase.

I say "not fond of" because I have not really been satisfied with a good vase shape. Joseph showed me how he makes vases in two sections -- the body and then throw the neck off of the body -- and I kind of like it. They seem to have better movement and curve, and I am getting better at bringing the foot in.

Kiln loaded up for firing

 This weekend I am firing a kiln in order to get a few more pieces done before the Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival next weekend!

Check out the "Liberty, NC" stamp on the side of a pot behind the cone back!