Open Studio 2013 - Rain or Shine!


It's that time of year again. The Kings Creek Pottery Open Studio Show and Sale is happening this Saturday- June 8th from 10-4pm.  We will be there RAIN or SHINE...and sadly it looks like we might get a little rain. (boo)  But it is supposed to clear as the day goes on.


Like last year, I've invited some friends to join me, so in addition to pottery there will be folk art, paintings, jewelery, hand sewn items, photography, stained glass and wood crafts.



 I'd love to have you visit, check out the studio and meet my friends. Easy to get to, just google map 877 Route 443, Schoharie, NY.


It's a great time to connect with old friends and new. This is a photo of me with my best high school friend, who came to visit last year! Who knows what surprises await me this year... but I hear there may be a visitor from Maryland :)



The dogs are pumped and ready to welcome you. Asticou (pictured here) is the love bug and Jesse will demand that you play fetch- so if you join in, be warned...he does not let up!

We have four pigs this year, if you like to say hi to a pig...and the sheep are on the solar panel hill in easy view.

Hopefully we will end up with a lovely early summer day, but if not bring your umbrella. We all have tents for you to shop under!

The "Do Over"

It was a great day for a firing. I loaded the kiln on Saturday, planning for a Sunday firing. As I loaded the kiln I had a faint sense that maybe I was loading the kiln to heavily on the bottom. There were a lot of mugs to get in for a custom order, consequently I put them in first filling the bottom half of the kiln...but I shoved that worry aside and closed the door.
A few weeks ago I ran into a potter and shared that I was finally feeling more comfortable with firing up Lucille. The person's response sounded incredulous in tone as he said, "Well, I should hope so! You've had it for two years now!"... my insecurity button fired off big time.

His comment rolled in my head for, oh- about a month before this firing. I didn't tell anyone about it (shame does that to a gal) trying instead to stuff it away in the deep recesses of my brain.

Before firing I re-read the kiln manual for security and noticed a comment about how far back the target brick should be, 17" for my kiln. I went out and moved my target brick. I did this in spite of learning over the past 10 firings that my target brick did better if it was a bit farther back.The target brick might be a bit wide for a bit of flame to get through, which was a concern I had...but I left it alone...
Talk about a bad case of self-doubt, I move one thing that was fine and did not do another thing that I knew needed changing ~ I just shut myself down.

A challenge with firing a kiln is that you don't know if things are going well or not until it investing about 3-4 hours in the firing process when you get to see the first cones bending.

Can you see where I am headed here?!

I check the bottom peep hole and all the guard cones are standing up perky as can be.....look in the top peep hole and two cones are down while the other two are bending. The kiln was completely out of balance.


Enter- panic, anger, & humiliation (self imposed). I shut the kiln down, staving off tears. Why do I doubt myself so much???

After taking the rest of the day to cool my and Lucille's jets, I realize how much shame I've been carrying  around since that off handed comment that I am not master of Lucille's universe (yet).

Shaming myself about it almost ruined a kiln load. The other options is to just admit it...so I admit it.
I am still learning how to fire my kiln and expect to keep on learning for another two years at least.


The next day I took out a new brick and trimmed it properly, put it back in the kiln where I knew it should go for my Lucille.  Started the kiln up again and had a 'do over'

What did I learn this time? Well, the kiln still struggled to get to temperature on the bottom....and that would be due to over loading it. I decided to risk it and continue the firing. What I discovered is that with time the kiln balanced out. It wasn't perfect, but totally acceptable.

Another lesson learned- BALANCE the kiln load!!!!


This does not come easy to me, this balance you speak of.

Grateful to have very good results from this firing- except my old (from last summer mixed) Malcolm shino that freaked out...time to make a fresh batch.

All else went well, even got some copper reds! This was an important do over for me on many levels.

Maybe now that I've outted myself I'll be more open when I am clueless, or overwhlemed or whatever...maybe...I'll keep practicing anyway!




Thanks for listening~ Have a great week!

Cycles

It was a busy weekend filled with glazing and organizing for a kiln firing next weekend. This will be the last firing before my June 8th Open Studio event...the pressure is on!

I have a huge order of Timberlock mugs in this batch. I love doing this order because it means summer is close!

Little by little I am figuring out the new cycle of creating and firing. This firing will bring me down to zero pots. At this point in the calendar, it will probably take me three to four months to have another firing. That's what a full time job will do~ get in the way of me making pots ;)

On the other hand, the job also gives me health ins. and a pension...something clay cannot do, unfortunately. So, full time job until the end of June, then two days a week in summer school, a visit to Pops in May- maybe June too, a two week stay in Acadia in July...and whatever else comes along. Life. That's what it is!

It's hard to believe that I will start thinking about the holiday season in May, but that is the way it goes. No doubt many of you are doing the same thing.



I organize the bisque ware by glaze color, cards to remind me - this strategy helps the process move along more quickly.


Look how nice an organized it all looks on the shelves and table! Ha!! On the end of that table is another lot for the electric kiln~ oh yea, that's right, the electric kiln will run this week too, I am a maniac!

I have a couple new glazes in this batch- Jeff's Red with Strontium and Pete's Cranberry- both from John Britt's Cone 10 Glazes book. Hopefully they will look as nice as the test tiles did... AND no blow outs in this firing (fingers crossed)!

My reward for all this hard work will be the chance to calm down a bit and enjoy this spring we've been waiting so long for!


Our property borders a beautiful, old cemetery, we had a nice walk on Sunday and ended it with a walk around in tribute to the old souls there.

Seeing the gold finch birds visit again after such a loooong winter is such a delight. I love hearing the birds sing again- and seeing GREEN lawns, buds on the trees~ ahhhh!

Have a great week~


Studio Hound





Sometimes ya just need a hug!



Pots in the bisque kiln, pots waxed waiting for glaze, kiln shelves calling my name ~ I'll get to it later ;)



Lucille #10






So nice to see Lucille again after a looooong winter...
She looks good and I was excited to fire her up again. It's nice to be losing some of the fear and develop more confidence as I spend time firing her up.













I did some strong reduction in this firing because I had a lot of Shino in the kiln.  Is it weird to get excited about the flames?!

















The finished results were mixed. I had 6 newly mixed glazes on pots in the kiln- a risk, but necessary.


In an ideal world I'd have enough firings where I could test fire a piece first to be sure the glaze was stable. No ideal world here.  The Val Cushing Blue-Green was thick~ and it ran on a few pots...making a mess. Did I use my hydrometer to check, no....because I 'fly by the seat of my pants' as a method of work, which leads me to mistakes.

I. Must. Slow. Down.

On the upside I had some great glaze tests in the kiln and finally got some reds. I will be back to the respirator soon to make larger batches...hopefully they will be stable in a larger batch.  


On the down side- I had a plate blow up....well, shatter (?). I placed a test pot on a plate in case the test pot ran: smart thinking. What wasn't so smart is the I used plate was a previously fired & glazed plate (a second) and I think the tension of the test pot on the re-firing glazed pot created a problem....what do you think? 

Anyway, it shattered sending shards to ruin a few things- though it could have been worse, for sure. Still, another casualty of my "seat of the pants" style. 

Really, I need new pants.


                                                                                 


Some highlights: 

Sun Valley Rutile

Malcolm Shino

Rust Fat



Val Cushing Blue-Green