home again, home again

Always great to be home again--but that does not diminish what a treasure the trip was. As I look through my photos I get to be in touch again what a wonderful experience it all was. And it brings me to realize how impossible it will be to describe the experience.

The trip was initiated by my sister (right) and hosted by her daughter, Emily (left). It would not have happened or been the incredible experience it was without their generosity. Each morning Emily came to our room with croissants and delicious coffee! Not so indulgent but most significant to the success of our brief stay was her role as guide and itinerary planner!
Each of our 14 day trip offered some very special treat. Our very first day, still in Boston, we visited the Pucker Gallery. Bernie Pucker, owner of the gallery, is a major promoter of ceramic art. He first promoted the work of Brother Thomas and has expanded to display and offer for sale work by many of my favorite potters: Phil Rogers, Randy Johnston, the Hamada potters, Ken Matsuzaki, Tatsuzo Shimaoka, among many others. The current show is The Ceramics of Onda--Japanese folk pottery. The exciting thing about the Pucker Gallery is their four floors of works by the artists they represent which they graciously and generously take their visitors through. We were ushered through all 4 floors and allowed to handle any of the work and take photos of any of the work. It was a fantastic experience that I have long wished for.

on my way

to Madrid! I will be out of touch for a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to my visit there with my sister and her daughter--one of my lovely and beloved nieces!

Expect to come home eager to be in the studio and on the blog.

Till then, adios!

not getting there

I am having trouble getting into the studio these days. Good thing I'm not trying to support myself off my pottery production. I have just a few pieces of earthenware that I am eager to fire--but not enough for a kiln load. I am distracted by the upcoming big events here: Kenny is having surgery--to implant a little baclofen pump which we hope help calm the tremors he is having in his legs and arms that really interferes with his functioning; and 3 days later I leave for a 2 week trip to Madrid, Spain with my sister to visit her daughter who lives there. Kenny will be in the rehab hospital while I'm gone--good planning, I hope!
A blogging friend, Linda Starr, is passing through San Antonio soon and we may load the kiln with her work and mine for the bisque firing. Her mobile studio adventure is quite impressive--and a bit scary, too.
If you have suggestions for my Madrid (and perhaps Lisbon) visit do let me know!

new year, new projects

Finally back in the studio this week. It has warmed up here--not just in the studio--it is in the 70's all week with mostly sunny sky and some rain. We must never turn our noses up at rain!
After spending so much of the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Years) in the kitchen I am thinking terms of ovenware--for slow cooking, a new enthusiasm! I made a butternut squash last week that had you roast the squash, onions and apples for an hour in the oven. The soup was fabulous and I think it was the roasting in the oven that brought out the flavors so well.
I had a nice chat with Tracey Broome over the holidays and she got me fired up about jumping in and trying out some ovenware. I am going to experiment with earthenware--that seems to be the classic body--and glaze a few pieces but leave some unglazed and see what fits best (me esthetically and the pots functionally).
Here are the first of the experiments--still drying under wraps:
An oval baker--perhaps a bit too big. I always have trouble judging shrinkage. It is 15.5 inches long and 11 inches wide at the widest point and 3 1/2 inches tall. I threw a bottomless pot and then moved the ring onto a slab. Probably i should have added handles. I guess I'll know more once I've fired the piece and tried cooking in it.

Then a baking bowl that I squared a bit and added handles to. It measures about 8 1/2 inches across the rim and is 3 1/4 inches tall. The base has a 7" diameter. The picture makes the bowl seem a little out of kilter but I think the piece is squared well.


Then I have 2 round baking dishes--like pie plates, I guess. One is 10 1/2 " across rim and 1 1/2 " high. The other is 9 1/2 " across and 2 1/4" high. Maybe one is for pies and one for quiches!

I'd love suggestions from my readers' experiences in this area. I am very uncertain about the glaze--to glaze or not to glaze. In looking through the web I see many pieces that are glazed with a clear glaze only on the inside (for ease of cleaning perhaps) but I worry about the stress of having only one side glazed. Any thoughts out there?

what to do

when it is too cold to work in the studio? (Disclaimer: I know that other potters, more ambitious than I, would be out there cold or not, sick or not. But not I!)
I've gone through my collection of test tiles--tossing a bunch out and organizing others so they are more workable as a tool for me. But that is about all I could figure out to bring inside to do.
So I've decided to try to develop a sourdough starter. I've read tens of recipes/directions from the web. Amazing how many variations there can be to one project! I think I've finally gotten it started--not ready for making a loaf yet but it is bubbling up and expanding--not quite doubling itself yet. Jim asks eagerly each morning if it is ready to make bread! It does seem like an endless but that is nice now since it seems like the cold weather is hanging on endlessly! And the great thing about this endless project is that it only requires about 5 minutes of involvement each day!
Being in the kitchen more these days I've become interested in making pots for slow cooking in the oven. I know that we say our stoneware pots are oven safe provided proper care. But I think I want to have earthenware, unglazed pots for my slow cooking. If anyone out there has suggestions, guidance, experience to offer I'd love to hear from you.
Warm days are ahead, I believe, to be followed by another round of this atypical weather here. But spring will follow eventually!

too much celebration

The holidays, Thanksgiving to January 2, wore me out. My niece married January 2 and is moving to Georgia. So all the holidays were 'big deals' since they would be her last here....too much! But the wedding was lovely and everything is settling down. I've slept in late the last couple mornings and am beginning to get myself back together.

I had the strangest thing happen in my last firing--before the celebrations began! I mentioned making some dinner plates as a test to see if I could make a set that was at least similar. Well, they looked similar when I put them into the kiln--but not when they came out! There were 3 that were very much alike and one that was more bowl-like. I glazed all 4 with the same glaze and in the same manner. But, of course, they were in different spots in the kiln: one on the very bottom shelf, two on the shelf above that and one on the next to the top shelf. Each shelf produced a different product. The photos don't show the differences as well as the eye--but you can see what I got, this is the piece that was the lowest in the kiln.


I don't have a good photo of the two what were in the middle of the kiln but they were the darkest--and were almost identical.

This plate was the highest in the kiln (though not on the top shelf).


The cone packs show the variation in the heat-work. The top shelf is on the left and the bottom pack is on the right. I've been using this glaze for a long time. I never realized how heat-work sensitive it is. I had seen variations in the fired pieces but attributed it to glaze application (or thickness) but that is not the explanation this time!



I am not so confident about making 'sets' now!

holiday party

We had family members--Jim's brothers with mates, his parents and my boys with mates--over yesterday afternoon. I did a bit of cooking--just hors d'oeuvres--for the party and we were inspired to do a bit of holiday decorating outside as well as inside. We have not put up a tree for several years but do have some other decorations to pull out of storage. And we use lots of candles, too.

As I was putting out food yesterday in various of my ceramic wares I thought of taking some pictures--but got busy and forgot to do so once the food was in the 'pots'. It really was fun seeing the tables set with my own work--food and pots! That really is what drives me: making it myself. Just like a two-year old! I never out grew my "I want to do it myself" stage!

Happy Holidays!

in working condition

The last couple firings have not gone so well. One clearly my fault as I made a mistake as I programed the kiln. But still not firing well. I discussed the problem with a guy at Armadillo Clay in Austin last week. As I described the history--I had only fired the new elements 32 times--he suggested that it might be a faulty relay instead of bad elements. I called a repair person I had not used before--Tony, our trusted and capable repair person had retired--and she came over and checked the kiln and agreed that it probably was the relays. We ordered relays from Austin--none available in San Antonio--and she replaced the relays on Friday evening. Today I loaded a bisque firing and it is climbing right on up the scale!

I watched over Linda's shoulder as she replaced the relays and I think I could do it next time. Of course the secret is knowing what the problem is--more than knowing how to replace parts! So far I have participated in replacing the elements and now overseen replacing the relays. Sometime back Jim and I replaced the thermocouple. Maybe I am on my way to a new career. NOT. I'd rather make pots than fix kilns!

Yesterday Jim brought in an old kitchen cabinet to install the used extruder I bought sometime back. The extruder came on a nice metal stand--but it needed to be attached to the floor as it wanted to topple over whenever I pulled down on the extruder level. Now it is happily installed on the cabinet and very secure when I pull the lever down to extrude from a big pug of clay.

PS The bisque firing has completed without a flaw. So now I face a day--or more--of glazing--my least favorite part of potting!

Hey, Tracey...

I think these candlesticks, made by Suze Lindsay, look like they came right off the stage of "Lion King"! Can't imagine getting any closer to recreating the spirit of LK in clay. In a way, it is a shame that I have them and can see the relation to the stage production because now my mind is locked on these pieces as best shot.



They live on the dining room table next to the wonderful Chupicuaro (circa 100 BC) my father-in-law gave us which he collected years ago in Mexico--when it was still legal to bring this work into the US. I love the pairing of these pieces--separated by 2000 years in age yet with the same spirit. Or so it seems to me.



Unfortunately, not the best picture.

what a day this has been...

Up at 5 am to get Kenny to the clinic by 6:00. He was having a 'test run' of the effectiveness of baclofen injections into his spinal column to relieve his extreme spasticity. This has become so bad that he suffers muscular convulsions whenever he tires to use his legs (standing and walking) and lately even in his hands. So that is a long story but hopefully there is some help on the horizon. That was the beginning of the day.

Then I had a long-ago-established date with my 5 years old grandson, Reed, to attend the local stage performance of Disney's 'Lion King'. I looked forward to it because I knew that Reed was very fond of the 'Lion King' DVD and it would be fun to take him to that. I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed the program. It is so attractive! I wanted all my loved ones to get to see it, too!

As I sat with Kenny at the clinic this morning I was reading a ceramic book I had just purchased: "Ceramic Design Course" by AnthonyQuinn. An interesting book--pushing me to take a broader look at my 'creations'. He talks about collecting pictures and text that appeal and creating 'mood scenes' from those collections and, from that, developing an idea(s) for ceramic creations. He also pushes sketching your ideas for new projects--which I am trying to due currently. (Of course, I've left out way too much of the book to be fair to it.) BUT, here is the connecting link, during "LIon King" I kept thinking how I might incorporate or take inspiration from the performance for a piece from the scenes I was was watching! It was so beautiful and so incredibly creative! Hats off to Disney!

a good day in the studio

Yesterday was a good day in the studio--except for the backache I went to bed with! Probably too good a day after a while out of the studio! But it felt really good to get some work done.

I started off working on a dinner plate that I have been asked to make a set of for a friend. I want to make one (or some) to show her before I get too far into the project. And I want to see if I can really make a set (~16) that are similar in size, design, weight, etc! The first one I made I added slip on the rim to make it into a sort of test tile. I painted slip onto the rim--two different colored slips--and left a section unslipped. Then I will apply the glaze that she thinks she wants and see the effect of the slip.



I made 4 more of the same plate--and will do that again today--to see how similar I can make them, After that, when I was tired of throwing plates, I made a vase that I like a lot.

what a difference a day makes

Today Kenny got up on his own and into the shower. That is great news! I was afraid he had taken a big backward step--but it looks like I was just trying to go too fast! A great feeling of relief--you may feel it all the way over there!

Yesterday it was still colder in the studio than I wanted it to be. So I gathered up my brush collection and a sketch pad and played with brushes for a while. I want to be able to 'make marks' on some of my work but need a lot of practice first. I've collected some brushes--some made for me by a friend, some I bought for a majolica class, some I just bought with this project in mind.



I just played around with the brushes, making marks on coarse paper. I took a brush and 'doodled' with it making different kinds of strokes then made a note of which brush produced those marks. I went through my whole collection--now I have a reference for which brush does the best job of which kind of marks.



Then I tried copying a painting from a China painting book I have. Lots of fun. Maybe even helpful in moving me along the path of 'making marks'!

that's the way it is

Kenny has been sick since the night before Thanksgiving. He is feeling better now but his poor body is not functioning very well. He is very stiff--hard to raise his head, stretch out his arms, or take even a step or two. Very rigid spasticity has always been a problem for him (from his cerebral palsy) but this is so much worse. Next week he will undergo a test to see if injections into his spinal cord might help reduce the spasticity. If not, his life and ours are in for a big change. He is in his wheel-chair all the time now, not able to walk at all even with help.

On Thursday, a couple friends and I drove to Austin to attend a 3 hour lecture on working with ^6 glazes. We were very disappointed. It was really just a 3 hour presentation on a new line of commercial ^6 glazes--for which we paid $20 to attend, not to mention the 3 hour drive over and back.

This morning I went out early to the studio to turn on the heater. I am eager to get back to work. But when I went out again in a couple hours it was still too cold to work out there. We were told we might get snow today--crazy since most of our days lately have been in the 70's and it was not expected to freeze today. But apparently the snow missed us and hit Houston instead. I was not sorry about missing the snow--but I was sorry I could not work today. Maybe tomorrow.

Pretty gloomy post--sorry--but that is the way it is right now!

just a pointer

I was not going to post again until after the holiday but...
I just have to tell you about a wonderful blog post this morning.
I met Euan Craig when I was in Japan with a group of potters. We were invited to his home studio where we met his lovely family, watched him throwing pots for an upcoming show and admired his kiln. I have enjoyed reading his blog regularly since then. In today's post he tells a charming story about his just-turned-13-year-old daughter. I think you'll like it, too.
Again, Happy Thanksgiving.

today it begins

..the race to Thanksgiving. Wish it did not have to be such an intense push to get there. But since I am a committed member of the "don't do today what you can put off till tomorrow" group, that is the way it is and always has been! I'll be in the kitchen cooking up a feast with the help of lots of great chefs--the guests! Everyone will bring some wonderful something to offer to the feast. Just the way it all began, or so the story goes! I'll do turkey, gravy, dressing and rolls. Plus linens ironed and tables set. Today I'll make a couple desserts to add to what others are bringing. We are having our largest group this year--18 or 20 plus more just for dessert! It is my favorite holiday--our great family gathered for a day together. So much to be thankful for. Now off to the kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

education...

The visit to the museum led me to want to place my 'amphora' in the historical line. I feel a connection to a potter in the 7th century BC who made this wonderful amphora--very similar to mine except he decorated his with geometric motifs in red and black on a terracotta clay.:

While looking through the catalog (for the collection at SAMA that Roy loaned me) I found interesting differences and likenesses. I'm probably not a keen observer and this little exercise has really been an eye opener.

The book led to a serious web search of 'amphora' and turned up some wonderful pieces.


I can see now how I would like to make my next 'amphora'--with some subtle but significant changes. I don't want to copy the examples I've found but I think I will see mine differently as I am making it.

The education of Gay, the potter-in-the-making!

another rich experience

Today my friend Lani extended an invitation from her son Roy to visit the San Antonio Museum Of Art (SAMA). Roy focused on Art History in his college work and has worked at SAMA setting up some of the exhibits. At the guild sale a week and a half ago he and I were looking a the form of the large vase I had there. That prompted his invitation to look at similar forms in the Greek collection.

At her workshop last weekend, Suze Lindsay spent a lot of time taking us through slide presentations of work she admired--ancient and current. She really encouraged us to study various traditions of forms and decoration.
It is always interesting to see art through another's eyes. I enjoy visiting SAMA but always spend most of my time there in the Asian Wing--looking at Japanese and Chinese ceramics. I have ignored the Greek collection because I am not going to paint designs on my work--the Asian collection is focused more on the glazes. Both, of course, feature form. It was a very rich experience--seeing the collections through his eyes. I came home inspired with lots of new ideas! So many ideas and so little time!

what a special weekend

I took part in a workshop here at Southwest School of Art and Craft (San Antonio) given by Suze Lindsay. She was great! It was a small group--3 days, hands-on--and so very rich! Just what I needed right now: very stimulating and pushed me in new directions. I found everything she presented to be just right for me right now! She wanted us to work in 'sets'--cream & sugar, salt & pepper, candlesticks and such. And she spent a lot of time introducing us to surface design. I made a set of 'sipping cups' with a tray. After I fire them I may post a picture of them. I am very pleased with them now. Others in the class made MANY sets of things! But I got lots more out of the class than what I made!

There was a down side to the weekend. Saturday afternoon I began to feel bad, then I was feeling awful--like getting the flu. Oh my gosh, if I get the flu I might give it to everyone else AND I'll miss the rest of the workshop. I left mid-afternoon, went home and straight to bed. I kept wondering if there might be such a thing as a 12 hour flu--because that would let me return to finish the workshop. I was running fever and felt achy and all that awful flu stuff. But I was not sneezing or coughing--those germ spreading aspects of the flu. When I woke at 7:00 am I was not sure I could go to class. But 8:30 I thought I could--maybe not for the whole day. I felt better and my fever was just about gone. So I loaded up my pain killers and vitamin C and got to class. Did not have much energy but could stay all day. Did not DO much but was able to take a lot in.

Eva's photos

Thanks, Linda. When I re-read your instructions I found the step I was missing--now it works!

a nice showing

The guild's sale was very nice. There was a great collection of work--mostly ceramics but a bit of textiles and some jewelry, too. My friend, Eva, and I shared a booth. She took pictures of our booth and sent them to me but I don't know how to take the pictures from an email and get them into the blog. I took these snapshots here before I packed the pieces to take to the show. We both had 2 shelves--one tall and one short.
I enjoyed seeing potter friends that I don't get to see very often and got to see the work they are doing now--beautiful work. I met a potter, not from San Antonio, whose work I've seen on the web before. Wonderful work. You can see her work at Linda Nowell Pottery
I guess the best part was being fired up to get busy in the studio again. I was flattered that some of my work sold and honored that some of the purchasers were artists whose work I greatly admire!
As I was preparing for the show, I put in more concentrated time in the studio and realized how badly I need to do that consistently. I want to spend lots of time experimenting and exploring. Bur first I've gotta get the studio back into working order!

some of the fruits of the fire

I did not have a packed kiln. Here are a few of the pieces from the long, slow firing.
A compote--about 6+" high and 10" wide

A serving plate: about 10 1/2" wide

A gravy boat: about 4" high and 5" wide

A small pitcher: about 7" tall

well, the firing was fine

Here are the cone packs from the 3 lower shelves (the stand alone was on the top shelf that was very shallow). BTW, I had only one ^7 cone--so what you see are ^5. ^6, and only one ^7 on the middle shelf. Bottom pack on the right:

None-the-less, I will check the lower elements this afternoon. I guess this is an interesting example of 'heatwork=time and temperature'.
The pieces in this firing are fine--I am grateful and very relieved!

PS after the firing

which took 29 hours and 23 minutes, I 'reviewed' the schedule (kiln still too hot to unload). I found that I had made a slight error when I entered the firing schedule...I thought I was telling the kiln to advance from 250F to 2000F at a rate of 300F/hr at which time it would advance at the rate of 108F to 2185F. But, unfortunately, I really told it to advance to 200F at a rate of 300F and then to advance to 2185F at a rate of 108F. Get it? The kiln crawled from 200F to 2185F at a rate of 108F per hour. Well, that does make for a long, slow firing! Once the kiln is empty I will fire it up again so I can see what the bottom element is doing. Hopefully, there is no problem with the elements--which are pretty new--and the whole problem was my careless mistake. Usually I 'review' the schedule if I change it--but not this time! I peeked in and saw that on the top shelf the self-supporting ^6 cone was bent to about 2:00. So I have yet to know what the rest of the kiln achieved. Stay tuned.

if its not one thing...

...its another! A favorite saying between Jim and Kenny--they break into peals of laughter as they chant that over some new challenge. For me, today, it is the kiln. It has been firing for over 24 hours and has not reached ^6 yet. I am wondering if is because I made a mistake entering the schedule or if the kiln has developed a new problem. At ~2140 F there was a bright, glowing yellow light coming out around the rim of the lid and out of each of the peeps EXCEPT the bottom peep--it is dark.

(I did not think to take a photo until the kiln was on the way down--about 1945 F--but it still shows. There are 6 peeps--but only 5 show. And the photo shows that the top 2 peeps are not as bright as the middle two and that the next to the bottom peep is very dull. I do have element problems. Drat...)
Didn't want it to be the elements--they are so expensive. I am so sorry that I don't know enough about electric machines and their care to be able to take care of my kiln. I am totally ignorant in that area (not just that area, unfortunately!)

I had a funny thing happen in the last (bisque) firing. I always put cone packs into the kiln--usually 3, sometimes 4. I have never had the fallen cones break except if I carelessly put then on the table when emptying the kiln--I line them up on the edge of the table to take a photo of the cones to put with the record of that firing. When I was emptying the kiln, I found that the top cone pack had a broken ^5 when I picked it up from the shelf. Curious. The cone was placed near the edge of the 1/2 shelf in the middle of the kiln so the fallen cone melts down over the edge of the shelf. When I removed that shelf I found the broken piece on the shelf below. Strange. Then the next cone pack had done exactly the same thing--^5 broken and sitting on the lower shelf. Very strange. Then I got to the bottom shelf and the ^5 was also broken off--but it was not sitting on the edge of a shelf and there was no broken piece near it on the shelf. Then I saw the broken end sticking out of a element grove. Very strange--so the broken piece had flown across the shelf--inches--to land in the grove. Perhaps that burned out the lower element. But what would cause those cones to break? The ^6 cones were all flat but none were broken. The broken ends of the ^5's were not melted, they looked as if they had just been snapped in two.

Sunday is the San Antonio Potters Guild show/sale. I am participating--sharing a booth with a friend. I don't have much work to show and not enough time to make a lot. So I've been working pretty steadily since early October. (t won't be the end of the world if I don't get anything from this long, strange firing--but I'd like to have this work to add to what I do have.) As I've been working for this deadline I've been very aware of how much I need to be spending time experimenting and exploring in the studio. Maybe I feel guilty spending a lot of time there and neglecting family things--with the show coming up I could justify to myself (and family) disappearing into the studio for most of the days, most of the past month. But I see so clearly that if I want to 'be a potter' I've got to commit to it on a more regular basis. Having the show as a deadline is a great excuse/motivator to be working away. But to really grow in my work I've got to work at it more consistently--without the deadline. I loved the line in the new issue of "Pottery Making Illustrated" on the editors page: "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." That is my story, for sure!

what do you do?

It seems like each piece I fire has a lesson to teach me...that is great...but I was hoping to have something I could be really proud of. The really bad part of that is that the problems can't be attributed to the firing! They are all 'hand made' by the potter!

I like the teapot...but I messed up the foot: wax mess and too shallow a foot so the glaze touched the shelf and made an ugly mark.


A pretty little sauce boat...but I think the glaze was too thin and I mended a crack with paper clay and it left an ugly scar that the glaze accentuated. I'm going to remake this one because I do like the idea.


Three compotes that work alone or stacked up. Nice. But I learned why it is not a great idea to get the stoneware pots too thin. Two of the three sagged a bit in the firing so they do not have a nice bowl shape. The largest one did well--probably not so thin.


I am not happy with the cane handle. I can cut it off and remake it. I have not mastered the skill yet! So the answer is to make lots of cane handles till I have mastered the skill--and might as well take advantage of this opportunity make another cane handle! And maybe redo the one on the teapot which I'm not so happy with either!