Three Days in the Studio

 Yesterday, today, & tomorrow

• Yesterday: was not a big day, work-wise! I addressed & sent out postcards for the Pottery Tour*, answered a few emails, & taught a class. What can I say? I had a new book. 
• Today: will be a bigger day! I need to mow the lawn (only a studio activity because I need the yard to look nice for the tour,) finish scraping kiln shelves, start sorting & pricing pots for the tour, create some social media posts about it, & make mugs upcoming orders. 
• Tomorrow: finish those mugs, create a post for my Patreon page, mix glazes, more pottery tour posts. 

*If you think you might do the pottery tour, visit the site! You can choose which studios you want to visit & the Plan My Tour app will build a map for you. Just click the red "add to trip" button on the right, for the studio you'd like to see. 

Embedded Contrasting Clay: A Slab Built Serving Dish

Made this loose checkerboard pattern dish with my Thursday night class! If you try this in your studio, make sure the shrinkage rates of the claybodies are compatible. 

If you enjoy this content, consider joining my Patreon page! 

 

Finishing The 6-Pound Pasta Bowls

 I've got a new video on my Patreon on page for Pottery Patrons: Trimming & decorating the 6-pound pasta bowls I threw last weekend. Check it out here: 

New video for Pottery Patrons: trimming & decorating the 6-pound pasta bowl

New Video: Throwing a 6-Pound Pasta Bowl

There's a new video available for Pottery Patrons on my Patreon page! It's a wheel throwing demo on larger pieces, in this case a 6-pound pasta bowl. There's info on centering, opening, and pulling up larger pieces. Check it out here!

One Month to the Tour!

The month of April is busier for me than the month of November. It wasn't always like this! About 12 years ago - or 13, depending on how you count - I started an event called the Maine Pottery Tour, intended to showcase the incredible well of talent of Maine's community of ceramic artists. 

This year we have 71 participating studios, over 100 artists - the largest tour so far. It's been a long road, getting from there to here. I'm proud & excited about the success of the tour, and also exhausted, if I'm honest. The bigger it gets, the more work it is. I have a lot more help than I did those first few years - Ellen McCarthy of Peeper Pond Studio has been amazing, as has Milly Welsh of Zwellyn Pottery, whose secret identity is a wed developer - Milly built the Maine Pottery Tour website, and this year has made for use an incredible app to help visitor plan their pottery tour weekend. They are donating their time -as am I - so if you feel like showing them some love on their Facebook pages, you'd be doing me a solid. 

• Peeper Pond Studio
• Zwellyn Pottery
• Zebralove Web Solutions 

As often happens in April, I am a little stressed. I've got to complete two firings between now & then - one that I am loading today - and schedule social media posts on all fronts, and do a number of ad buys both online & in print newspapers. As usual - maybe more than usual - I feel like I am falling down on the job. I keep reminding myself: there are ONE HUNDRED artists on the tour. All of them are (or should be!) promoting, too. It's not all down to me. 

Actually pretty good message to carry into the rest of my life: it's not all down to me. There are other people pulling their oars, too; if I need to stop & catch my breath, nothing terrible will happen. In fact, that's what I've been doing, as I write this: taking a break from loading the kiln. It's chilly out today, although pretty seasonal, & after our two big spring storms, it's a mudpocalypse out by the kiln. Gotta hope for a dry stretch, coming up to the tour. 

Back to it! I expect to unload Tuesday - Patreon subscribers at the Medici level (& up) get first access. Oh & speaking of! Subscribers at the Pottery Patron level get 10% off in-person purchases during the Maine Pottery Tour. Click the link to learn more.  

Another Spring Snow!

After a virtually snow-free winter, we've gotten clobbered by TWO big early-spring snow storms, but honestly? I don't mind. I feel for the folks who have lost power, of course, and that's about 20% of the state of Maine. But for me? There's something about a snow day. All your errands & obligations will just have to wait. It's enforced downtime, which is the only downtime some of us feel entirely comfortable taking. 

The charm wears thin, & those put-off tasks start to pile up if it happens too often, but two per winter spring is an acceptable number - especially when I know warm weather will make it all go away within a few days.

So, what will I do with my snow day? Make spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, & go into the studio to glaze. Still hoping to fire this weekend!

One month until the Maine Pottery Tour! If you haven't checked out the new Plan My Tour app on the website, you should! Just choose the studio you want to visit, and Plan My Tour will make a map for you. 

Anyway! Off to glaze. I hope you still have power, that you are warm & safe & dry wherever you are. 

Last Things before the Bisque!

Just before the bisque firing is when all the little stuff gets made: refrigerator magnets, button, ornaments, stuff like that, while I am waiting for the bigger items to dry enough to fire. Today it was soap dishes. These are fun & easy to make, and fit between big bowls to prevent wasted space in the kiln. 

I start with an oval ball of clay, like an oversized potato, then cut it in half with a curly wire - you know the kind, they are shaped like a stretched spring, and actually you can make one yourself by stretching a spring! But I got mine from Mudtools.  The wire leaves an undulating texture on the surface of the clay,'

I then stretch each half of the ball until it's about 3/8" thick, and pat in the sides to make them curve upward, giving it a bit of dish. 

You can see a video of this process (free!) at my Patreon page. Check it out! 

Let's Talk About Slip!

Sgraffito tile with decals

The word "slip," in a clay context can be kind of confusing, in that it can be applied to so many different things that are similar in form but vastly different in function. Slip refers to any mixture of clay and water, so, the lumpy slurry that we use to attach handles is slip; the smooth, deflocculated mixture that one would pour into a plaster mold to make ware is slip; the yogurt-thick material used for decorative trailing is slip, and so on. These each require different proportions of clay to water, different clay material ingredients, different additives.

A key thing to know about your slip: what clay condition is it meant to be applied to! key thing to know about your slip: what clay condition is it meant to be applied to! Leather hard (or wetter) is pretty common, but by no means universal, so make sure you know before you mix or use a slip: is it for wet/leatherhard clay? Greenware? There are even slips intended to go on bisqueware....Read more

Meet the Potters of the 2024 Maine Pottery Tour!

Got My Handles Done!

 

I mean, at least I got that done. 

I also won an epic battle with MS Word to force it to comply with my Mail Merge request, & Doug & I have been plugging away at getting the snow shoveled away. There's a lot! Like 13 inches ,and it's heavy as hell - I broke a shovel on it! 
There's more to do, too, so I better get on it. 

Mail Merge & Handles & Snow, Oh My!

 That's basically my to-do list for today. 

The mail merge is for the Maine Pottery Tour postcards that need to get out to the studio early next week, so they can get them out to their mailing lists. It seems like a long time since I've had an office job - and in fact, it has been a long time! - but I still sometimes use skills gained during that era. Excel is one of them. 

I hope I have the right mailing labels in, though, because I am not going out in this snowy mess today. After a mild, dry winter, Maine is gifting us with one big storm now that it's spring. I find I don't mind! (Ask me later, after I've shoveled, or if the power goes out! You might get a different answer.) The whole of next week will be above freezing, so it won't last. 

And last but certainly not least, I have to get handles on some mugs I threw on Thursday. I am planning to do a short handle-pulling video to post to my new Patreon. If you are interested in demos, tutorials, glaze recipes, tips, & techniques, follow me there! I have several videos available at the free subscriber level, and a $5 membership tier that will give you access to more videos, first access to shop updates, and the occasional coupon code for discounts on Fine Mess Pottery. If you like what I do & hope I can keep doing it, becoming a patron will help ensure that. You can check out my Patreon at this link. Thanks in advance!! 

New! A Patreon Page

 

So, I got a wild hair this morning & decided to create a Patreon page. I hope to share videos, tips, & tricks gleaned from my 30+ years as a pottery & ceramic educator. You can join the page for free - eventually I hope to have paid subscribers but I haven't figured that bit out yet. (This is another opportunity to LOL ALL DAY at the folks who think I'm soooo tech-savvy! I am whatever the opposite of that is.) 

I've posted an instructional video this morning, on throwing a mug. Check it out! 

*Actually I just realized: it would do my page a world of good in terms of visibility if you would join, even at the free level! More popular pages rise in the search. Thanks in advance!  😘

A Few Pots Out of the Soda Kiln

 

Maine Pottery Tour, May 4th & 5th

 

Regular readers know that I annually organize the Maine Pottery Tour. I'm in the thick of it right now, ordering postcards, making ad buys, gathering up longitude & latitude for each studio on the tour. My favorite part is always creating the postcard. I'm especially pleased with this year's version. These postcards have become collectible! Shoot us an email at info@mainepotterytour.org if you'd like to receive one in the mail. 

We expect to have more than 70 studios on this year's tour - the largest ever. We have somewhat less funding than in previous years, so we're having to skip the spendy magazine advertising, & will need to double up on free and low-cost social media & small newspaper ads. 

As I have for the past few years, I will be doing a kiln opening Saturday morning of the tour. There will also be wheel demos, plates for visitors to paint, a drawing to win a piece, and - new this year! - bonuses for folks who rack up visits to 5 or 10 studio on our new applet, launching next week. I'll announce that here when it's ready to go. 

I'm hoping to see you at the 2024 Maine Pottery Tour! 

Reeves Green Glaze recipe

 REEVES GREEN 

cone 10 reduction

CUSTER 75.0
WHITING 15.0
FLINT 5.0
KAOLIN 5.0
CHROME OXIDE 4.0

So Long, Solenoid!

This winter, man. I don't even dare to ask what more could happen. 

We've had car trouble, dental trouble, veterinary trouble - one of my elderly cats passed away in February. A dog I loved like family died last month also. Losing the pets was devastating, of course - the rest is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and sometimes expensive. 

Add one more to the list: I was supposed to fire a couple of weeks ago - my annual load of student work - but a solenoid on one of the burners died. I don't actually know why it did - it looked like it melted from the inside out. Burners are not my area of expertise (to say the least! LOL) but I had watched Tyler Gulden - who does know a lot about burners - replace this very solenoid two years ago. That time I knew what had gone wrong - it was, let's say, operator error. I left the power burner out in the rain! 

Anyway, I had a pretty clear memory of that process, and I emailed Tyler to refresh that memory, just in case. Replacing the solenoid is a 3-step, 3-step process: remove the plug - held on by one screw; remove the metal clip holding it in place; slide the solenoid off the spindle. That last was the hardest part, as it did not want to come off, maybe because there were melted bits on the inside holding it in place. Then do it all in reverse.

See that weird melty blob? 

Took the plug & the little metal clip off...

...and pulled the solenoid off the spindle

Easy peasy! 

So, with that out of the way the firing could finally proceed. It was blessedly uneventful! Cooling now. I won't be able to unload Monday, because I've got classes all day, so Tuesday it is. Again, this is mostly student work, so there won't be a web store update. I plan to fire again the last week in March. 

If you had any plans to buy a t-shirt, though, or a tank or an apron, now would be a great time to do that - help get some of these car repairs & dental bills paid. ("Buy my product, I need the money!" Some pitch, huh? I suck at marketing.) More colors & styles here. 

Here's hoping spring is a luckier season. 

Major Arcana: The Potter

 

I was supposed to fire yesterday, but it was too windy. I could have worked at the wheel but for some reason it's hard for me to start a new making cycle before the end of the last one. 

I mean, who am I kidding? There are lots of things I could have been doing, from cleaning the studio to working on the pottery tour. I didn't do any of those things! Instead I finished a tee shirt design that's been in my mind for quite a while. I want to do a series of them, all tarot-inspired, but creating major arcana that feel more relevant to me. The first was "Caffeine"  - you can see it here - and now, The Potter! Because it seemed appropriate, I made that one available as an apron, too; not to mention a poster, a shower curtain, and a sticker. 

Can't wait to wear my new shirt to NCECA! Maybe I'll see you there in a matching one. 

Kiln Wash Continents

If I ever write a fantasy series that requires world-building, I'm gonna get my inspiration for the continents from the patches of kiln wash that are left after grinding.
If George RR Martin had been a potter, Westeros might not have looked so much like the British Isles upside down.  

 

Rough Week

 Some weeks are harder than others, ya know? I can go long stretches with nothing more serious going wrong than a bad thermocouple, and then I hit a week when ALL the crap happens. That was last week. 

My husband Doug has a lot of difficulty with his teeth at the best of times, but he broke a tooth and lost a filling on Tuesday. One of my elderly cats (I have 3 who are 17) got an abscessed tooth & stopped eating - and he can ill afford a day of no food - necessitating an urgent vet visit Thursday. Friday night, halfway home from class, one of the tires blew out on my car. I couldn't get the lugs loose on the tire so Doug had to drive down at 10 pm to change the tire. Saturday morning was spent driving around to every tire dealer in Augusta looking for someone who carries this apparently unusual size. (Answer: Sam's Club. I had to buy a membership, & they wouldn't let me make an appointment for later, so my only option was to rattle around the warehouse for an hour and a half - I feel certain this is a deliberate strategy to get folks to spend money there - but still, after the tedious wait, I did have a new tire.)

On weeks like this I like to remind myself that some people have real problems! Chronic pain or serious illness, lack of housing, living in war zones. A little flat tire is nothing. It's awful when a pet is ill, of course, but Happy Jack is recovering. Doug has access to good dental care. I have absolutely nothing to complain about. When I am feeling hard beset by these minor misfortunes, it's time for a little gratitude practice.

I'm grateful for my health, & the health of my loved ones - including the pets! 

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to love my elderly cats for as long as I have. 

I'm grateful for my husband, who came out in the middle of a cold winter night to get me home safely. 

I'm grateful that although these things are all unexpected expenses, we were able to handle them with only a little discomfort. 

And I'm grateful for you, readers! No reason you should care about some random lady from Augusta, Maine, but you do, and I thank you for that. 

Shop Update: Pottery!

At long last the pots from the January firing are online! 

 

Shop Update: Chubby Cats!

Remember that story I told you, about losing the wand in the burner channel during the firing? I was lucky the copper & zinc in the brass didn't do more harm. One thing it did do, though, was interact with the items in the kiln that were wearing Bauer Orange Flashing Slip. The white clay pieces turned blue (luckily just a few seashells intended to be refrigerator magnets) which they brown clay pieces achieved almost a wood-fired look. Several of the pinch-cats fell in this category. (LOL CATegory, get it?)

I've been putting a few of these critters in every firing lately. They amuse me to make, and it is not secret that I am a cat lover. I like thinking up their names & personalities, which are loosely based on the many cats I have known. As usual, most of these sold the day I listed them! I do have two left: Gaia and Woody. 

Today is packing & shipping, putting away the photography equipment (can't wait til I have a dedicated space for this. Such a pain in hte ass to put up & tear down the whole thing), posting the functional ware in the shop, and working on the Maine Pottery Tour! 

So, Funny Story...

 

You can recognize the copper blue in 
the burner channel

It's time for our favorite game, that we play after every firing, called How Did Lori Fuck Up This Time? 

I'm kidding, sort of! But I am serious about sharing my goofs, large & small, because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels like a screwup most of the time - & I want you all to know: you can screw up, even big-time, and still do okay. I do! All the time. 

So, what happened this time? Well, it was kind of funny...or rather, it is now, now that I know it didn't cause any serious mayhem. Before the firing I took apart the sprayer & cleaned out any clumps of crystals of soda ash that might cause it not to work properly when I needed it. I was actually pretty proud of myself for doing this! Like, look at me, all preventative & stuff! I am one competent human! 

~*~LOL~*~

That crusty black material is what remains 
of the spray wand.

Apparently when I put it back together, I failed to screw on a little collar that keeps the brass wand attached to the sprayer hose. How did I discover this, you may ask? Well, my first clue was when, while spraying soda through the port, the pressure from the tank blew the rod right off the hose...and right into the port. 
There was nothing to be done about this in the moment, of course, except replace the wand (YAY EXTRA PARTS), continue spraying, and hope for the best. Brass is about 2/3s copper and 1/3 zinc - both will volatize well before ^10. I feared the fugitive copper might cause some flashing, and I really had (have, lol) no idea what fugitive zinc might do. 

I saw little evidence, actually, that the copper did much. It seemed only to affect pieces that had a specific flashing slip - Bauer Orange. The BMix pieces wearing Bauer turned blue - not the teal blue I would expect of copper, but what looked like a watery cobalt blue. Those are quite nice. There were only a couple items in brown stoneware wearing flashing slip, and good thing, too, because those were less nice; a dull mud-brown color with little shine. 

These shells had only Bauer Orange 
Flashing Slip applied.

So, weird but could have been worse! Overall a very successful firing; I will photograph some pieces on Wednesday & update the online shop on Thursday. Thanks for reading! 

Glaze Goals 2024

On New Years Eve, a friend & I took a hike on the Cliff Walk in Scarborough. (Maine, of course.) It was a grey and overcast day, cold but not too - a day that I once would have stayed home & wished for spring. 
I hike in winter now, with the persuasion of a good friend, and I highly recommend it! I don't hate winter anymore, & I've found that if I dress right (layers!) I don't get cold, thanks to the exertion. 

Anyway! The Cliff Walk has a lot of low cliffs (duh) and also a few stone beaches, where we found oyster shells. They have the most amazing color, and a surface like a frosty-matte glaze. I didn't keep this one (leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories) but I did snap this photo...I want to see if I can do something like this with glaze. 

More for the fun of solving the puzzle than for my studio work, although who knows? My clay journey has surprised me more than once. I'm thinking RIO & copper carb, brushed on a textured white stoneware under Rhodes 32. 

I hope 2024 brings you joy & the world peace. Happy New Year to all!