Earthenware Experiments

Hi from Windy Ridge!

We are inching closer to our first firing of 2012, which is scheduled for late April, just in time to have fresh work for Clay in May. Joe will fill the first two chambers with stoneware, and I am going to use the third chamber for a load of earthenware. We are looking forward to some new surfaces coming out of this firing!

stoking wood in the lil' test kiln

I deemed my all-local earthenware blend waaaay to unpredictable for an entire load of pots, so I ordered dry, minimally-processed brick clay from Nebraska that I learned about during a workshop a few years ago with Joe Pintz at Arrowmont for our spring firing. The clay doesn't have the richness and intense color that I love in our Darlington clay, but it is predictable and fully functional! I have a number of "house blends" of local red clay to try in the wood kiln.

I have also been working on glaze and terra sigilata "house blends," and have come up with some really interesting, rich, and unique textured surfaces that I will show you in a later post. It is fun to learn low-fire glaze theory through my experiments, and to push the envelope for using raw, hand-processed local materials. Unfortunately, I am not confident that most are watertight. Fortunately, I am having fun making decorative work. Here are a few pieces I have made recently:

Bird Votive Candle Holder decorated with Ivey Red and What Cheer Sig

Flower Wall Box Set decorated with various sig blends

Heart Box glazed with some crazy "House Blend"

Ms. Damaso of Driftless Appetite fame has requested a cake stand.
Here is the prototype in "cupcake" size!

Joe has spent quite a bit of time this winter working on re-modeling and "embiggening" our small house by removing lots of walls! Although we are in need of a large beam to finish things up next winter, we love our wide open kitchen and living space:

Joe did an amazing job on the kitchen island, too!

**c

It's Show Season!

We're kicking off the Art and Craft Fair Season this weekend!

Join us for the

Madison Weavers Guild Fine Art and Craft Sale
Hilldale Mall in Madison
Saturday, March 3 from 10 AM -9 PM
Sunday, March 4 from 11AM - 6 PM


a peek inside of the wood stove

Into 2012

It's a New Year!

Still no snow to play in, though.

Joe and I had a glass of wine and brainstormed our plans for 2012 earlier this week. Be prepared for more craft fairs, a revived Etsy site, new glazes, a new direction in materials and shapes for me, and more local materials experimentation from both of us! Although Joe didn't have any specific non-pottery 2012 plans, I am going to run (or shuffle, if you are a stickler for the truth) three marathons this year.

Joe putting the finishing touches on the chimney=warm studio!
He will share stove building stories with you soon.

It turns out that I am too wimpy to make pots outside of a narrow, extremely comfortable temperature range. Probably because I like to don cotton dresses (I never really got over my childhood "Little House in the Prairie" obsession) which are not exactly Wisconsin Winter Wear, in spite of what you may have read in the fictionalized tales of a particular(ly awesome) pioneer woman. But now that Joe has finished our wood stove, I am getting back to work in the studio!

earthenware candleholder still life with safety glasses

I mixed lots of earthenware test glazes and a few clay tests this weekend. Because I'm still struggling to get a reliable local earthenware clay body--I have watched pots break neatly in half while they are drying!--and because it is a challenge to process/mix/dry local materials when it is 10 degrees with 50 mph winds outside (while wearing a poplin dress), I have ordered brick clay from Nebraska to use over the winter. I feel like I am making real progress on my earthenware clay project, though. I hope to have enough tests to do a firing in our test kiln in early February.

Happy 2012!

**c

Winter Warmth

Joe spent lots of time this autumn at land north of Dodgeville cutting wood where our friends had cleared massive trees from a hillside to improve their view. After Joe, Aaron, and Alex at Red Beard Woodworks finished milling the largest pieces for lumber, we took truckloads back to the pottery for the kiln and house. We are rich in wood right now!
Unfortunately, we are not rich in SPLIT wood. We rented a splitter yesterday and got to work remedying that problem, but not before 5 inches of snow fell. Better late than never!

**c

Fall Art Tour Photos

Our friend Eli from Capture Media took some great photos for us during the Fall Art Tour.

Joe

Pots in the Windy Ridge Gallery

I was a little slow getting the garlic inside this year. It was swinging in the wind all weekend!

Yours truly chatting it up with visitors.

The view south of the kiln shed.

Joe giving a kiln tour

My earthenware experiments were on display.

My dad Ray, who is a wood turner, was our guest artist.

Dad giving a demonstration.

Wooden bowls

Thanks to my mom, Patti, for bringing flowers and lots of food!

**christy

The Earthen Bag Walkway

A big thanks for everyone who came out and visited us during the 'Fall Art Tour'. A quick update on our walkway for those of you did have a chance to visit us you may have noticed that our walkway was not entirely complete, looking something like this:

our partially completed walkway as seen from the gallery

While not being entirely pottery related, I thought many of you might be interested in the process. We stacked up the earthen bags to extend the parking lot, placing barbed wire between each bag to act as mortar.

After the wall was built we covered the wall with metal lathe. The lathe was attached to the wall with wire which was wrapped around barbed wire as the wall was stacked.


On the top bag, we stapled the lathe down using landscaping staples. We also drove re-bar through the wall to help hold it all together.



Here you can see the wall 'post' stuccoing, back filled with gravel .



And a view of the completed walkways as seen from our parking lot.


We'll see how this holds up. None of the walls have anything resembling a foundation, so I'm sure we will experience some cracking of the stucco due to heaving over the winter. I'm assuming the cracks won't be too big and will be easily patched.... time will tell.

Joe

Fall Art Tour Weekend!

We are looking forward to a wonderful Fall Art Tour weekend.
Come out and visit if you can.
As always, there will be juice cups for the early birds each day!