I've got pots!

Anything not bone dry was thrown today.

I had a fantastic day today!! I started throwing at 6:30 this morning after I got Lindsay and Genevieve off to their schools, and threw pots until 2:45 only stopping for lunch.


Speaking of lunch--I got one of my favorite meals--Kyoto Express Hibachi Chicken (minus veggies). Awesome!

The pots in the first picture are all the ones that made the cut to continue drying. I started working on a new mug form (the ones on the bottom shelf). I wanted something more simple than my current mugs. I'm going to keep making both, but I think that the new one will be more appealing to a broader customer base. It's anything but original, but I hope that I can make it my own over time. No new forms, right? Hopefully tomorrow stuff will be ready to be trimmed and handled.

All for now! Happy Halloween!!

A Whole Day!

Genevieve now knows how to read. Does your 6-month-old know how to read? ;)

I actually took a day off from work tomorrow to work the entire time in the studio!!! I can't tell you how excited I am! I also bought a bag of pottery plaster and some fresh clay so I'm ready to get going. I've never made a mold before, but I've seen it done once, so that should be enough, right?? I'm making a mold of a wooden serving tray to use as a slump mold. I can't remember if I'm supposed to coat the tray with anything to help it release from the plaster. I'm thinking I should. I'll go look it up in a min, but if y'all out there have any tricks, all help is welcome :) I've got so many ideas, I can't even decide what to make tomorrow. I've got like 200 lbs of clay that I want to get through.

I haven't been able to get into the studio in a little while because my father/boss took last week and the weekends on both sides to go on a much deserved cruise. That meant that I got to stay at work until 5 every day increasing my commute time by about 20-30 min on top of leaving an hour later. So, I was pretty beat in the evenings and didn't get out to work. Not to mention, Genevieve still thinks that sleeping through the night is just entirely not necessary. I know it's probably our fault for not doing something different before, but now we're really having a hard time getting her to sleep for more that about 4-5 hours without waking up to be fed. She wakes up between 11:30 to 2:30 and gets fed, then many nights she wakes up again at 3:30 to 4:00. We usually fight her to go back to sleep for about an hour, then end up feeding her so we can get back to sleep for what little bit is left. (We get up to get ready for work at 5) We would love to break her of this wonderful habit, but have been unsuccessful thus far. But, she totally makes up for it by being a totally wonderful and happy baby in all other aspects. She can now sit up for some time by herself before rolling around and making us catch her, and tonight she rolled from tummy to back for the first time! And, I was there to see it this time!! Being a parent really is the most fulfilling thing in the world!

Rolling over

Just wanted to put up a quick little post to let everyone know that Genevieve rolled over for the first time yesterday. Unfortunately, I was out of town at the time, but she was kind enough to oblige today--twice! Anyway, it was pretty exciting, well, for me and Lindsay anyways :) My little girl is already growing up!

Kiln unloaded

I unloaded the kiln as soon as I got home today--well, I had to say hi to Genevieve and Lindsay first, but right after that, I went out to get her unloaded. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Just before I stopped making new work, I made a big batch of a new glaze (I know, blue is like sacrilege or something) and I had only tried it out on a couple of pieces that didn't tell me a whole lot.

I put it with the rest of my glazes to see how they interacted together, and it worked pretty well with all of them, but really well with one (the first pic).

I also tried using melted glass for the first time and liked the results from that as well. I just used brown glass from a beer bottle, but I'd really like to try some better colors. It gives nice variation, and I've always loved some good crazing. Now that I'm getting back into a groove, I'm going to start throwing some more volume and more regular pieces like mugs, cereal bowls and such. I want to start experimenting with some slab built plates, platters and such. I've never made much off of the wheel, but I really hate throwing plates and would like to be able to have something as far as plates go. I want to get some pottery plaster and try some press molds as well. So much to do, and so very little time. The more I make, the more new ideas come to my head. Now, if I could just find a clone to do my day job so that I could make pots all day. Maybe I should start playing the lottery and I could win and build a huge studio and build a half dozen different kilns, and i could get a PUGMILL! Wait, I could just pay someone to wedge clay for me if I won the lottery--yeah--that's better.

Quick update

I've got the kiln cookin' again for the second day in a row. I fired a small bisque last night and glazed the pots this evening and loaded 'em right back up and got the kiln going again. Normally I would wait to have a full kiln to fire, but my wonderful sister (who reads this blog ;) reminded me last week, or maybe the week before, that I had promised to donate a few pieces to her church's silent auction. Needless to say--I forgot. Like a looong time ago.

So I got to work making easy stuff--bowls, vases, bottles. Then I pushed them through super fast. I only had one piece not dry enough to load in the bisque, and I probably could have gotten it through, but I was worried about the lugs cracking off. I've got my first raw glazed piece in the kiln tonight--he got missed in the bisque load, so I figured I'd give it a go. If it works, I think that I'll do much more of it--at least for my smaller pots.

Genevieve is doing much, much better. She is back to her happy self now and remains the sweetest baby on the planet. We all had a great weekend watching football with friends (Gamecocks now 5-1!!!), and Sunday, we went to Magnolia Gardens and had a fantastic time. Genevieve LOVED riding in her stroller and taking it all in. She has to be the most observant baby in the world--a sure sign of high intelligence I am told ;)

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow I should have some pictures of finished pots to put up. Fingers crossed that my glazes didn't magically change after sitting up for six months. Hmmm, I probably should have sieved those instead of just mixing them up with the drill...

Feeling good!

I got my first chance tonight to really get back to throwing--well, I threw about 15 lbs or so. It was all that I had time to get to, but that's ok, it felt great! I'm used to having trouble after taking a break, but tonight, it all came back easily. I've got two bowls, a pitcher, a bottle and a vase to finish up later. I had already put the plastic on before I remembered to get a picture, so their appearance is a secret for now. Now, I just hope that I get to get back to them before they dry out.

In other news, Genevieve has ANOTHER ear infection--and a cold--and thrush from the last ear infection--and she's teething. All at the same time! The doctor put her on a different antibiotic that I hope works a little better this time. I don't think that her last ear infection totally healed.

Lindsay and I aren't getting a whole lot of sleep (not that we got a whole lot before anyway). Lindsay has missed two days of work this week, and I may have to take off tomorrow to take care of her if her cough and fever haven't gone away by tomorrow morning. She still tries so hard to be sweet, but she just can't keep herself happy all the time. We don't want to be the parents that send their sick kid to daycare to get all the other babies sick, so we really want to wait until she feels better before going back.

Well, that's all for now. With some luck, I'll have some pictures of finished pots tomorrow (or in the next couple days anyway).

Here are a few pics of the remodeled studio. I'm not quite done yet--I still need to make my new wedging table and clean up some more, but it's getting closer to what I want. I added a bunch more shelving, got a bunch of crap out of the way, and, I hope I made it a little bit easier to work in. I do wish that I would have painted first, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Here is the only pic I could find of the old setup. Not much changed as far as basic equipment layout, but my small space doesn't leave a whole lot of options. Especially since they thought it would be nice to only put ONE outlet in my garage. I have a heavy duty extension cord running to a ten outlet power strip on the other side of the garage. Hooking up more outlets--a job for another day!

Now to find the time to throw some pots! I did add some water to a couple of bags of clay that had become a bit hard. That way, I will be ready to go as soon as the moment arrives!

This weekend my long time friend Trevor is coming into town to pick up a bass boat that my dad and I are giving him. It is really in pretty good shape except for the fact that it has been sitting up for ten years! Dad and I decided that we didn't have the time (and I had no money) to fix it up which made me slightly sad because it was to be my boat, but it just wasn't in the cards either. Hopefully Trevor will have better luck--he will also have more time to use it as well.

We've got a fun day planned tomorrow--a cookout at Charlestowne Landing for my mom's birthday. And Sunday we are going out in my mom's boat to do one last day of skiing for the summer. Hope it's not too cold ;)

Maybe there will be enough time at some point this weekend to squeeze in a few pots :) Have a great weekend everybody!!