Working...working...

tankards!

With the big holiday weekend over and some time(not much, but some) to keep throwing, I am busy working and working to have enough of a load for the wood kiln in a couple weeks. I will be firing with Nancy Smeltzer at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery...my old stomping grounds. These days this requires an extended effort on my part as I must travel almost two hours...and come early and stay late. Currently I have no electric kiln so I need to get my pieces bisqued prior to the firing...glazed and wadded so that I am ready to help load. AND of course I want to put my time into the firing as well. This means 2 - 3 days of being away from home and family...but just think of the pots that I will get out of the firing!

I have been mostly making mugs to start and as I have been to a couple picnics and a large family reunion lately, my mind drifted back to...BEER. Beer is a great thing. I enjoy craft beers...micro brews...brown, brown ales. So while I was making mugs, I thought I would make some bigger mugs, tankards if you will...tankards complete with that thumb rest thing...seen in the pictures here...what the hell is the name of it?! I have always shied away from that thumb thing, thinking that it seems dated or so passe...it just didn't seem to fit into the style of rustic-contemporary-Japanese -American Pop culture thing that I was doing with my wood fired work. BUT, never say never I guess. Here are a couple of shots of the tankards(above and below) and their "thumb thingys".

mmmmm, beer mug.

 As I throw new pieces to be fired I am also working on a couple slabs that I wood fired...here is the one I recently fired the laser decals on. I still want to add another layer by firing some commercial decals on the surface along with a little gold luster. I will be mounting this 13x13 inch slab in a nice wooden frame to finish it off. The frame will be something new to me...I guess we will see. I love creating the images...the clean crisp graphics always look great in contrast to the more abstract backgrounds of glaze and random stuff from the firings. I think I could be content just creating images...screw the throwing and firing...that's a lot of work...and pretty dirty work at that. I need a somebody that doesn't want to finish their work, a somebody who only wants to throw and fire...heck, I would even do the glazing. Any takers out there? ...as always click on the pics to see bigger....

In the mean time, have a beer for me...cheers!