Monday, March 18, 2024

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! 


Thursday, March 14, 2024

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

Sunday, March 3, 2024

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. 


Thursday, February 15, 2024

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. 

Saturday, February 10, 2024

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.  



 

Sunday, February 4, 2024

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. 

Sunday, January 28, 2024

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! 

Sunday, January 21, 2024

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! 



Tuesday, January 2, 2024

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!
 

Monday, December 18, 2023

Bowls for the New Year


 Making bowls for the New Year's Eve firing! (At the rate I am going to New Year's Eve firing might be a bisque!)

Because I can never *quite* take my teacher hat off, I want to point out a technique in the video. This is only 4 pounds of clay, but it's really useful for larger pieces: centering in sections. I weigh out my clay, then cut the ball in half (or more! There's no limit on how many pieces you can center on), put the first piece on the wheel & center that; then scrape it all dry with my rib and slap the next half on. See how easily the 2nd piece comes on round!
I've also opened the way I would a larger ball - using my right pinkie knuckle & the strength of both hands. Again, very useful for when you are throwing a larger ball.

Monday, December 11, 2023

This Year's Cookies!

 My compulsion to make stuff - & make it fancy - does not end with pots! I also make soap, & in December, I make Christmas cookies. The fun for me is the decorating, & I'm happiest when I am learning new things. This year I tried out an airbrushed design. Check it out here: