$1 Shipping Sale

Finally, I listed new pots on my website! I have been needing to repopulate that pages since December. I thouhgt I was going to be very very clever and offer a promo code to FB fans and blog friends. but that...was an unmitigated disaster.

O_o

Okay, maybe not unmitigated...but who ever heard of a mitigated disaster?

The html I found for making your own paypal promo codes, just made up its own shipping rates. And then charged handling, also seemingly randomly. I'm sure there's a way to alter it to make it work right but if I knew how to do that I wouldn't have to borrow someone else's code in the first place!

Anyway! The promo code thing is out (and why don't you get on that, Paypal?) but I can still have a $1 shipping sale! All stoneware items ship for $1 anywhere in the continental US. Here are the new items:

See them all here.

Psssst!

Anybody wanna buy pots?

The light was perfect for my living room to become my ad hoc photography studio, so I shot some pics and posted new items on my website this afternoon. It was a brilliant sunny day, very warm for mid-Ocotber, and I can think of ways I would rather have spent it than all the fiddly tapping and clicking that is website work, but I keep remi
nding myself that if I had a straight job, I'd go to work rain or shine, no matter how shiny. Discipline!

Here are the new items. Click the photos to see more:

Pop quiz: can you tell which of these items are ^6, and which ^10? Oh, speaking of: several of the ^6 glaze tests came very nice out of the recent firing, including Tenmoku, Amber Celadon, and Magic White. Soda Cobalt was a little puny, and my ^6 version of Shino Sauce was...well, it was different, as they say in Minnesota. I've lost my light, so photos will have to wait until tomorrow. (Aside: is it weird that Blogger does not recognize the word celadon? Tenmuko I can understand; oribe, shino, sure. But celadon? That's just the name of a color. You'll find it in, like, the J. Crew catalog. Huh.)

Put That Coffee Down!

Coffee's for closers only.



I love this scene from Glengarry Glen Ross, in part because the Alec Baldwin character gets it so wrong. "You got the prospects comin' in; you think they came in to get out of the rain? Guy doesn't walk on the lot unless he wants to buy." But nobody is coming into the real estate office at all.
Just as nobody knocks on my door and asks, "Does a good potter live here? I'd like to place an order." This is a lesson I have to learn over and over again: making the ask is key. There may be better or worse ways to do it, but the worse possible way is not to ask at all.

But I am learning. For once I thought to save out the best pots from Sunday's firing to be my samples, instead of immediately placing them out on consignment, or selling them online. And, lo!, I got an order, right off the bat, despite bad timing: it's Memorial Day weekend, and stores already have their inventory for summer. Lesson: there's always a reason not to ask. Ask anyway.
Here are the pots in my sample selection:

Sell Your Best Stuff

A couple of months ago, I got a mug out of the kiln (Portland Pottery's kiln, actually) that I really really loved. I've made a lot of pots that pleased me in that time, but this one was compelling. And not just to me; I consistently got "wow"s in response to it. I decided to keep it around, until I had duplicated it.

This was in direct conflict with my standing policy to sell my best pieces. I spent 2 months making that shape over and over, and creating that glazing scheme over and over, only to get a lot of mugs that were nice -- very nice, in fact -- but just not the same. At one point I glared at the Amazing Smoky Heart Mug, as I have come to call it, and cried, "I wish I never met you!" as one might to a heartbreaking lover. I would have been delighted with all those other mugs, if only I hadn't had the Amazing Smokey Heart Mug for comparison. And, perversely, though I just built a soda kiln, it's a straight stoneware look. Which only proves that I was right in the first place. The Amazing Smokey Heart Mug is holding me back. As I should have in the first place, I am setting it free; also known as selling it.

Sell your best stuff. You can make more best stuff, but you can never truly make the same best stuff, and it's better not to try. 

First or Second?

Here's my most favoritest pot from last weekend's firing. Unfortunately it's a second...or is it? You be the judge. The glaze ran, as a result of a whole boatload of soda and salt, and stuck the pot to the shelf, creating a big, crusty goober on the bottom. (For the technorati, "goober" is the term for a blob of glaze or soda marring the pot; "woogie" is the name for a bit of kilnwash or a shard stuck to the glaze.) I inherited my father's trusty bench grinder, however, and between that and a Kemper stick, the bottom is smooth, although the goober is still visible. So, technically it's a second, but when is a flaw not a flaw? When it doesn't compromise the function in any way, and when the pot is more beautiful for it. 

You can sort of see which way I'm leaning. 

Blizzard Babies

It will be entirely consistent with my history with automobiles, if the hearse breaks down on the way to my funeral. I have dreadful car-karma, and it has been manifesting itself with a vengeance this winter. Two major blizzards, two concurrent breakdowns, plus a bum alternator and a minor accident to keep things interesting.

Lemons became lemonade during my most recent misfortune, however: my fuel pump quit in the midst of a terriific storm, but fortunately it did so just a couple blocks from Portland Pottery, where I am on the faculty, and where, also, I could not only use the phone to call a tow, and have a warm place to wait, but I could also get clay and use a wheel. And what else was there to do? So I made mugs, to fill a recent order from Phil at Bay View Company.

In related news, I've been noticing a used Ford Ranger for sale, that I drive by often in my travels. I asked after the cost and found that I almost afford it...and it might be worth to have automotive back up, given my history. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Refires

...and a handful of Wows. I'm not greedy; a handful of wows is all it takes to make me happy.

Hoping for the best while expecting the worst has become my secret default posture when it comes to the never-ending story of this kiln; so I was pleasantly surprised when I cracked the door around noon, and peering in, was greeted by a pot that didn't suck. Right there! In my kiln! How did that happen?

My hopes dipped when I removed the first big block; things were looking pretty dry in there. But wait! There's another non-sucking pot! And while there were a couple on that first layer that had cracked or crawled, even the unsatisfactory pots mostly didn't suck out loud; they were just dry, due, I suppose, to this being the first firing. I nearly doubled what would be a standard application of soda, but it looks like maybe I should have tripled it. Some pots, too, would have benefited from a solid cone 10, instead of the barely-nodding version we reached, but most on that first layer were just a little dry.

Now cautiously optimistic, I took a break to allow more cooling (mixed up some pizza dough in the bread maker -- Doug is a cham-PEEN pizza chef.) The first layer out, I removed another brick to reveal the next. Still some dry refires, but not as dry, not as many. ..and some really nice pots! Onward, next layer.

Bingo. This layer clearly didn't fail to reach temperature. In fact, when I get to the bottom, these pots look more like Cone 11+ than 9 or 10. I wish I had put cone packs in the lower part of the kiln -- didn't think of it until too late. This is useful information, though: I am dealing with a different problem than I thought. My troubles are not twofold -- slow firing and failure to reach -- but only one: uneven firing. The bottom probably reached temp hours before I shut it off. judging by the running on the few pieces glazed on the outside. Top cool, bottom hot...what do ya make of that? 

I'd love to take more photos, but it is going on 4 pm -- "dark o'clock" here in Maine. More tomorrow. 

Pots from Sunday's Firing

I took these rather hurriedly yesterday, as it was nearly 4 pm and I was losing my light. Overall I was pleased with the firing, especially the reds. My rutile blues were a little puny -- the glaze had frozen and thawed, and I should have added a little vinegar before use. In fact I did add a little vinegar halfway through glazing, and I can definitely see which pots were glazed before, and which after! Vinegar is a flocculent, which means it causes particles to stay in suspension longer, and will have the effect of making glaze seem thicker, although there is there same proportion of material to water.

Some of these pots are destined for Attrezzi; some for KRA and other consignment; and one I owe to my sister, since last summer. But some will find their way to my new 1000 Markets online shop! (I just never give up -- moron that later.)

Mighty Cold in Central Maine!

Seems like a good day to take one of these mugs for a test drive. Hot cocoa, anyone?

Best Hot Cocoa Recipe

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until boiling. Continue stirring. Allow to boil for 1 minute.

Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla; blend well. Serve immediately.
I like mine with a little sprinkle of cinnamon. 
Makes 4 servings.

Pick of the Litter

Sometimes the kiln gods really do me a favor.
I rarely keep my own pieces. I want to sell them, of course, and I get satisfaction out of knowing they are out in the world, nudging the quality of someone's life ever-so-slightly in the positive direction. Also, I think there is a danger in falling in love with your best pieces, that the potter may get sort of stuck in one mode. I'm not a fanatic, however, and I have to drink my coffee out of something, so if a piece emerges from the kiln flawed but not fatally so, I often keep it.

Upon unloading the soda kiln, I immediately noticed this mug. I had been conservative with the Owen Oribe, as it had come out rather pebbly in a couple of firings (still don't know what's up with that, but I think it is related to bisque temperature.) I had no trouble with that glaze in this firing, however, and in fact it came out exactly as I always hope it will - matte green-to-black where it is out of the direct path of the soda, glassy turquoise where it is in - and this mug was the only all-over Oribe piece in the kiln. I was so pleased...and then I turned it over, and saw a big star crack on the bottom. Actually a few mugs cracked like that this time. Bottoms too thin? I don't know. (Weigh in if you do, or if you have thoughts on the matter.) 

The good news is, the crack doesn't go through, and it doesn't leak. I can't sell it - it's a really big crack, and I suspect a couple of turns in the microwave will do it in - so I guess I'll have to keep it!

Forgive the crap photo (no, the mug is not that blurry in real life!) When I shoot the other pots from the firing, I will set up the tripod and do it up right, but it's too dark today to get really good shots anyway, so I made it optional. 

Update: I replaced the blurry photo with a better one. Sun on snow makes perfect light!

Pulling Handles

A small platoon of mugs with their handle blanks attached, waiting to be pulled. I like to attach first, then go back and pull them (maybe with a blog post in between!), because even the few minutes it takes to finish the board of pots and go back to the first one allows for a stronger attachment and fewer handles pulling free while I am making them.
One take-away from the 100 Mugs project: some of my favorite pieces were the simpler, less busy mugs. To that end I tried to minimize the stamped decoration on these, to leave room for the sig and soda to work their magic without distraction. Not that I am giving up stamping any time soon; I am just too enamoured of the tension between the mechanical qualities the wheel imparts and the soft squishiness of clay, as recorded and made evident by stamping. This group of mugs was preceded by another bunch that sport what I call "outies:" the stamps are concave, so I have to push outward on the wall of the pot to make the clay bulge out to take the impression.

Mugs 85, 86, 87,88, & 89

I haven't a clue what those mason stains (in a b-mix slip) will do at Cone 10, or how they will react to soda. They were just some that I'd had around the studio for years. Guess I am going to find out!

Some Mugs Out of the BIsque

I once heard a quote attributed to Toshiko Takaezu saying something to the effect that she feels pots are alive when they go into the bisque, and dead when they come out; and it's her job to bring them back to life with glaze and fire. I understand how she feels. I've always hated the bisque stage. I hate the horrid pinky color (even the slight pink of white claybodies) and the feeling of it is like a tactile version of fingernails on a chalkboard.
Nevertheless, these are the first of the 100 mugs, out of the bisque, dead and awaiting reincarnation. I am surprisingly hesitant about glazing these pieces; I feel like my beginning students, whose pots are still so precious to them that they can barely stand to consign them to the glaze and fire, with its uncertain results. Of course, half the issue for them is unfamiliarity with glazes and application; you wouldn't think I'd have that problem. No, in this case, it's that I so want these mugs to be something special. that my standard palette of glazes seems...I don't know...insufficient, somehow. Between the flu and the IPTOG, I haven't had time to test new glazes, and now the firing is upon me. In addition, I have a friend's 40th birthday to attend tomorrow, and in-laws coming to visit on Saturday, the same day I am loading the soda...Arrrgh! My head is going to explode. Better go glaze before that happens.

Something New

The little smiley stickers have a shiny, plasticized surface, which makes them work better as resist than, say, yard-sale price stickers. I'm also working on using stickers as reverse-resist: brushing cold wax over the, on bisqueware, and then peeling off the stickers before glazing. I'll post those when I get back into the glazing/firing part of the making cycle.

New Handles

Here are some of my efforts to change up the mug handles a bit. These, I think are working pretty well - lots of the others seemed a little contrived. Maybe it's natural that things seem forced at first, since I am pushing past my comfort zone. I am reminded, however, that my standard handle became my standard for a reason: because it works well. Not that no other form could work well, but there are many more handle shapes that work poorly than well, and I seem to be trying all of them.

...And Here are Some of the Mugs!

I sent off the proposal for "100 Mugs in 100 days" to three galleries via email this morning, fully expecting to recieve no response at all...and by noon I had two yesses! Which of course inspired me to get cracking.

More Pots

It's Martin Luther King Day, so I get an extra studio day this week. I have to use it to unload the bisque; Unfortunately it is only about 2 degrees outside. Fun City.