Filling the ol' shopping cart...

Howdy readers! This is my post studio tour post, and I am here to report that Nancy and I did pretty well ...despite a very chilly and constant drizzle on Saturday. I have talked with a couple other people that were on the tour and they also said good things. Its good to see that in our very sluggish economy, with all our current issues and problems, people will still come out and enjoy the natural beauty of the season in the foothills of PA and spend a little money buying quality hand made art work...like my pottery.

This week I have been hard at work in every moment of my spare time, snapping off pictures of my work and getting them all put on my Etsy site. If you do not know etsy...you should. This is an awesome global network for hand made art and vintage items. There is something like 150,000 stores on the site and its in 50 countries. I am loading up my "homefry::eclectic ceramics" shop with a good deal of work that I had left from the tour...heck, I already sold 3 pieces this week by doing this. I will be giving discounted shipping rates and deals on some fine wood fired, salt fired and other misc. funky and wonderful utilitarian pottery.

In all Honestly, this post is yet another shameless advertisement for my online shop. That's right, the only redeeming shred of content in this post is the images of the work that I am posting as a preview for what is selling in my shop....geeeezzzz what a pottery selling commercial whore. I feel cheap, naughty and a little dirty too...man, I like this! I should get myself drunk and maybe keep some of this sexy wood fired work to myself...hubba, hubba. Quick somebody stop me, I have no self control.

OK,Ok,ok, I take it back, I am posting a some images from the studio tour to help regain my dignity...what little I have left.

Hope to see you in the shop!

A little preview...

If you are in the Indiana County area of PA this weekend (17&18)...about an hour or so north of Pittsburgh , c'mon out to the Annual Potters' Studio Tour...there are 8 studios on the tour with with each one hosting an extra squatter potter like myself. Check the website for further directions and details...http://www.potterstour.com/

Here is a little preview of some of my new work fresh out of the train...

mmmmm, mmmmm, good.

Hope to see you out on the tour!

Gettin' ready...

That's right, Nancy and I are getting ready to fire the train kiln ...loading on Friday and starting bright and early Saturday morning. We have a lot of work to fire! This will be the last wood firing before the big Potters' Studio Tour coming up on the weekend of October 17 and 18. Nothing subtle about that bit of advertisement, so if you are around the area please stop on by and say hello. This will be my third year on the tour with Nancy at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery and each year I am amazed and thrilled with all the good pottery loving folk who come up to visit, buy some fine wood fired work, and witness the colorful change of seasons in the greater metropolitan area of Smicksburg, PA and the even more remote outer lying areas nearby.

While I was watching my pots dry, and they were drying awful slow due to our current weather, I snapped off a few pictures of the mounting work. I have a bunch of pieces on the top shelf, some waiting to go in the bisque kiln and some waiting to be glazed. Nancy also has an army of tall mugs and cups waiting in line for the same. On the table behind the rack I have serving dishes, cups and mugs that are in need of some slip and a little sexy shino. When I wasn't out admiring the trees and their impressive show of Fall color, we necked in the back chamber and added another foot to the chimney of the train kiln in order to improve the draw. I will be scraping down shelves tomorrow evening and turning up the bisque...get those pots fired so that I can get to glazing on Friday morning....I'm looking forward to firing and looking forward to seeing you on the Potters' Tour too.

Helping hands...

As I am gearing up for the annual Potters' Studio Tour here in Indiana County I am reminded of how fortunate I am to be involved in an active arts community. It may be pretty loose knit with its own little factions but hey, for the most part people are usually willing to lend a hand or get involved. Which leads me to my little Chautauqua reunion I had over the weekend with Dan Kuhn who worked with me all summer as the studio tech and visiting faculty member and face jug maker extraordinaire Jim McDowell. Dan fired the Phoenix Fast Fire Kiln at IUP(Indiana University of Pennsylvania) where I work and where he is finishing up his MFA . He and Jim pretty much filled it full leaving a little room for squatter potters like me and whomever else was standing around to throw a few pieces in too. Well, unfortunately it was a miserable weekend for firing a kiln, especially one that is not under any sort of roof. I stayed around a short while...brought them my old E-Z Up tent to help provide shelter and drank a few beers. The bad new was that getting to temperature was not in the cards due to several factors. Dan and I talked on Monday morning before I left for the studio and decided that while the kiln was still hot, why not just give it another try. The kiln was dry, hot, and loaded still(like me when Im on vacation in Florida!)...it made good sense. I stopped over around 4 and stayed until almost 11:00...cone 9 was soft and I went home. Dan fired it up right... we blocked up the firebox some to restrict the air intake and put the torch to it for periods of time in between heavy stoking and vigorous raking. Dan said they salted and finished off around midnight. I was happy I could put my two cents in and lend a hand...there is nothing more disappointing than spending a whole lot of time working a kiln only for it not to get to temperature. I'm happy for Dan, Jim and all 5 of my little pieces that were in the firing. Results on Thursday!

Oh, and that Potters' Tour I mentioned...October 17&18...it is around this whole area and has 7-8 studios with at least double the amount of clay folk involved. Its a great tour with a lot of great work at peak time around here for autumn color.

I leave you gentle reader with a final gratuitous Autumn image...heading up to the studio.

Autumnal...

September 22nd officially ushered in Fall and it certainly is starting to look like it around here. The trees have already started to turn and as Nancy and I get more work ready for our upcoming wood firing, she hired friend, neighbor, potter, and carpenter, John Jacobson to put in the new ceiling in the studio. Man, does it look good!

Fall is my favorite time of the year...I'm an Autumn child. Not only is the 22nd of September the first day of Fall but it is also my birthday. So I would like to wish all the other Virgo/Libras out there a Happy Birthday and a cozy Autumn. Bring on the warm color, pick out your pumpkins, and get the rake ready... Fall is here.

Bling bling...

All that glitters...is bling. Which reminds me, I thought I would post some images of a small group of work I just finished up. A friend whom I worked with at Chautauqua this summer, Maria Mangano, will be getting married this coming weekend and she had asked me a while back to make mugs or something or other as gifts for her bridal party. I changed our plan a little and came up the idea for these small, sort of dainty but funky sophisticated cups. Well, there is nothing like dragging it out to the last minute...and boy, I'm good at that. But I am pleased with how they all came out...cone 10, reduction fired, celedon with an accent glaze down at the foot. Maria then provided me with the image of the tandem bike, the same image that appears on her invitations. Both she and her soon to be husband are avid cyclists. So, I turned that into a page full of tandem bike decals and fired 8 cups back to 04 with them on one side and finally finishing them off in another firing for the gold luster...BLING. Pretty fancy for a couple fingers of good whiskey, maybe they are better for the vino. Anyways, I wish she and Dave the best in their marriage and hope their brides/grooms peoples enjoy drinking from them.

Here are a couple other pieces I have finished off...the cups are from our recent soda firing and the other piece is from the wood kiln...all are smooth and satin-y. I have re-fired all these pieces to cone 018 in order to integrate the gold luster. Click on them to enlarge the image. I am in the process of making more and off to pick up some Jack Troy Stoneware down in Pittsburgh on Friday. I think we will be doing another big wood firing coming up soon...Studio tour in mid October!

Some cool mugs from some cool people...

This morning I was reminded of a phrase that I have kept in my head for a long time..."its not the places you go, its the people that you meet". This is a phrase that is so true for me. After I have left the place where I was either working, enjoying myself, or through travels, its often the memory of those people whom I have met at those places that brings back the smiles. This is why I am posting today. I am a lucky enough fellow to have met some really cool people in my life time and I would like to share one of my favorite ways of recalling that person and that particular memory...mugs and cups. Now, not all the really cool people I have met make mugs and cups, but at least the most recent people.
Being the kilnmaster and studio manager at Chautauqua does have its perks and meeting lots of good people is one of the biggest. Receiving a mug or cup from one of the many firings I do up there for people is also a close second! I did meet many cool painters and one cool print maker and did receive nice trade items from them too...but that's for another post, clay first baby!
My collection of my mugs and cups has grown...I drink from a different mug each morning and as I savor my favorite El Salvador beans I am reminded of the person that made that mug and where or how I happened to acquire the mug. I love making mugs and cups.I believe they are the most direct way to connect with another person through the work that I do. They are affordable for most all...they make intimate contact through use, and they are for sharing with friends either through gifting, trading, or having some coffee together. They have many of the same traits that bigger more expensive pieces exhibit such as:juicy glazes, great ash runs, fortunate flashes, and expressive imagery or graphics. They are carriers of expression as well as carriers of libations.
So here is the booty that I came away with from my summer and also a pair of beauties that I received when I came home...

The Mug to the far left is by Justin Lambert, fired in our salt kiln at Chautauqua...the tumbler is from Alec Karros...beautiful blue celedon fired in a cone10 reduction in the Blaauw kiln.

Below: Polly Anne Martin, cone 6 tumbler (perfect for a beer!). Bobby Tso, cone 6 with his own decal fired on at cone 04...a talented young student that I hope to see again in the future.
And below those: Dan Kuhn, my super studio tech at Chautauqua

...both mug and cup are porcelain and fired in the salt kiln. Then I got these in (future)trade from Nancy Smeltzer with whom I am the squatter potter firing with her and throwing in the studio. They are a couple of drippy beauties from the train kiln. The blue herons are all but obscured from the ash runs with only their heads peeking out from behind the atmospheric goodness...I love these pieces.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new treasures and I hope you also enjoy the simple pleasures of the handmade drinking vessel...I will be working in the studio quite a bit in the next few weeks as Nancy and I plan to do 2 more wood firings before the upcoming studio tour in October... until next time gentle reader...cheers.