Its Upon Us.

There is no denying it, the Holidays are upon us now, no matter how much you wish you could have just another 3 weeks.

I hope to see you somewhere, or hear from you sometime.

Here is where we can meet up:

The Highland Park Pottery Tour in Pittsburgh!. This will take place the weekend of December 13/14. I will be a guest at Jenna Vanden Brink's house. Check out the links for their snazzy website!

AND...you can always check out my Etsy Shop. I have been stocking up.

Follow me on Instagram for lots of work in progress pics and more... @khouser922

Enjoy the finished work pics here...stay warm out there.

It Does Feel Good...

Wunderbar in historic Harmony, PA

Another few steps into Autumn now and I thought I would post some new pieces and some info about where you can find me this Fall.


Earlier on this blustery Fall morning I ventured over to the very quaint historic town of Harmony, PA to drop off some new work. My friends there at Wunderbar Coffee Shop are expanding into the next storefront and doubling their space. The new space will serve home made specialty crepes and also serve as a gallery/ boutique space. The place looks awesome as it is located in the ground floor of an old opera house complete with exposed brick interiors and old wooden floors., click the link to see more. ...and look into making a trip over for one of the many holiday festivals.

I have a couple shows lined up as well as the Potters Tour that I will post about next time but for now, if you are in the Pittsburgh area, make sure to stop by Ton Pottery because I will have new pieces there too. And speaking of new pieces...check these out...

Pre-Autumn Update

Its the end of the Summer and I feel like I am just "fall"ing into a groove making new work for the Fall season...work intended to be shown and sold(hopefully) during the various events that lead up to the grand finale...Christmas.

So , let me explain the last picture heavy post...With my gig as the Ceramic Studio Coordinator for Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, I get to dabble with a number of different firing styles. Lately there, we fired the soda kiln. Luke Doyle, the person who has been helping me out all summer as a studio assistant, strategically loaded it up and fired it off. It was a really good firing and everybody ended up with good looking work. Here's another couple sweet little cups I ended up with...

I have been firing a good number of high fire pieces still but I have settled back comfortably into the land of cone six. I am up to my old tricks again and feeling pretty good about it...have a gander at some new mugs...

As I am busy making work...I am also welcoming the end to a long summer...happy to see Autumn coming, even if its still a ways off. To put the cherry on top of our busy summer at work, we are hosting a five day workshop with Adero Willard. I am thrilled to have her there with us at PCA for the week. I am a big fan of her work and look forward to facilitating the workshop. If you don't know her work yet, you will soon...she's on the cover of September's Pottery Making Illustrated...check her out!

Lets chat again real soon. Think Fall.

So much work....

...so little time for the blog! Have a gander and we will put two and two together later...soda firing, electric cone 6, high fire reduction firing...and random Raku...I'm just gearing up for the Fall...more soon and explanations too, I promise...

Yes, more skeletons...

Follow me on Instagram for WAY more up to the moment stuff....@khouser922

I'm All Clay and Bones

Happy Memorial Day!

I like this piece so much, I thought I would blast out a quick post about it! As the result of the class I've been teaching at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, I ended up with a pretty nice piece...actually this piece is the by- product of two classes. The form, I made in an intermediate class when teaching about  making a stacked form and the surface came as I was demo-ing decals in my surface design class...first the laser transfer at 04 and then the bling at 018. It was originally fired to a cone 10 reduction in a big, car kiln and I wasn't super thrilled about the glazes and how they turned out but now...man, I'm glad I pushed on with that one.

front

back

I also have some nice new high fire porcelain and stoneware mugs in my Etsy shop too...check them out here and go there if you feel compelled to take this to the next level.

Thanks for looking.

May Flowers

April showers are bringing ...more May showers, along with all the flowers...

We have been getting a lot of wet weather but not nearly as bad as my family down in Florida, they are practically floating away from all the rain storms. So in keeping with the Spring time theme here check out some new pieces that are being distributed around.

I will have new pieces available at Ton Pottery for the big Mother's Day Sale and Blossom Tour that is happening in that oh, so hip Lawrenceville area of Pittsburgh. I have new pieces in the kiosk at Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea Co. as well as new pieces in ye' ol' Etsy shop...so what are you waiting for? Your Mama called and she said she wanted some new handmade pottery for Mothers Day...don't disappoint Mama!

BTW if your keeping up with all the gossip, my porcelain affair is still going hot and heavy.

Spring Affair...

I have something to confess, I am having a new love affair. Its a little unusual but I think you might understand when you take a peek. I have her number...257...and shes white and pure as the driven snow, but strong too...and I love having my hands all over her body. I like it when she gets really hot and its great seeing her with a true blue friend...kinky huh? Not really...I am talking about Standard Ceramic's high fire porcelain #257.

In the last few posts I mentioned firing the car kiln at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and how much I have become interested in the results. I have been playing with some new glazes and slips and have become blown away by how crisp and bright all the glazes look on the porcelain compared to stoneware. I mean BIG difference. So I decided to start throwing way more porcelain and gear a good portion of my work toward the gas kiln right now. I am still firing a good bit of cone 6 in the electric but I figured why not take advantage of having the car kiln at my disposal. The results are so sexy that I am going to keep on making more...AND, I'm not even sure how many decals I will be using...if any on some of these babies. Can it be I am just satisfied with the look of the blue celadon on the porcelain body...who knows...maybe. So I am just going to play it cool, take it easy and let this affair continue...let's see where it goes.

Check out the pics...Happy Spring and I hope you had a relaxing Easter...

AND, my Etsy shop is full of these new goodies and more decal mid range pieces too...click here to check out the shop!