Thursday, September 17, 2009

Getting back into the swing of things

Sorry everyone I've fallen out of the habit of blogging... I'll try to get back into the habit again, especially now that I'm back making pots. The house work is on hold until after the Fall Art Tour. Four those of you who are not familiar with the 'Fall Art Tour' it's quite a big deal in these parts, and we were luck enough to be accepted to take part in it this year. So best course of action? Wait until the last minute to start making pots of course, nothing like the last minute to get started in preperation. On the bright side, the house is looking great, most of my work in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom is done. We just need to get the countertops finished and put the plumbing in and those rooms are all ready. The dining room and living room should not take long either, just a little patching of drywall, a tiny bit of electrical work, paint, and they will be all ready as well.
For now though, it's time to focus on the pottery. I've been potting now for about a week, and we'll be firing the first weekend of October, about three weeks of making.

Last cycle I made quite a few smaller items: mugs, tea bowls, soup bowls, ect... thinking this is what people would be purchasing the most..... Boy was I wrong. Most people stopping by seemed to be much more interested in vases, pitchers, and covered jars. Who knew?
So I started this cycle of with vases:

small and large


I've now moved on to pitchers, covered pitchers, and jars.
Sorry not the most incredible pictures. I'll get back into the habit of blogging and start posting better pictures soon. The potting seems to be going smoothly. I felt a little rusty the first day or two, and had to throw a couple vases out due to some chronic ugliness, now though things are moving along smoothly.
I'm adopting a different strategy this cycle. I'm leaving the dehumidifier off, and letting the humidity creep on up (80% humidity right now). I feel this way I can throw pots for three or four days straight with out sweating having to decorate, handle or trim pots. Then after a good session of throwing I've been trying to finsh everything in one day. This involves a bit of hauling boards of pots out into the sun to quick dry between layers of glaze/slip, but it seems to be fairly effecient use of my time, breaking it down into small making cycles followed by small finishing cycles. Wow, I know all of you are impressed. What will they think of next at Windy Ridge pottery? Time will tell.....
I'm sure it will be equally exciting though, no worries.
Joe

6 comments:

kriips said...

Cranking it out Joe! Good to see you making so much work (compared to what I manage:) we miss you guys!

cookingwithgas said...

who says production is a dirty word?
looking good!

ang design said...

ah brilliant but you know this time they'll be looking for mugs.. ha.. hope not, your little pitcher on the right is just lovely..

deanandmartinpottery said...

hi joe and christy everything looks great. We hope that you have a great fall tour. The pics of your place are great it is really pretty there. Hope you get into your house soon we know that has been a big project that will soon pay off. The ming pots are amazing wish we had a place like that around here. Tell aaron we said hey and give charlie a big hug. The grove isn't the same without you guys, we miss you two. We wish you both all the best that life can offer.
love and peace
jeff and steph

Tim Ayers said...

looking good!

Michael Mahan said...

Hope the different strategy works well for you. That's some humid weather. We keep hoping for rain, but it seems to rain everywhere but here.

Good luck with your firing. I've got akiln opening that first weekend, and I'm hoping to fire my "Manabigama" before.

Gotta go lay some more brick.

Michael