Post-Glazing

I unloaded my kilns this morning and was fairly happy with what came out. Of the 10 mugs I made, 4 handles pulled away and can't be sold, but the rest held up ok. I was happy with almost all of my glazes. There were a few things that I had greater vision for that didn't quite get there. But my plates all came out great, as did the Neti pots. Once again I must admit that I am no photographer, so please do not judge the quality of the work based off of the quality of the photos!


These netis along with the mugs glazed like them are a little disappointing. I did not go heavy enough with the top coat so they didn't reach that toasty marshmallow look I was going for and the wheat carving underneath disappeared almost entirely. A shame, but at least they didn't crack.
This glaze looks like boring black but in person there is a hint of deep blue around the neck.


The color in these two photos doesn't show the blue glaze very well. I bent my rules a little bit and made 3 or 4 pots in blue. They actually look kind of pretty in person. You'll just have to trust me.
I have 4 plates with these interesting leaves that I found on our camping trip last week. The backs of them were really deep with veins so they made for a fantastic texture and they were huge, the biggest one being 10 inches across.

This is an urn for a dear family friend who lost a little dog that was close to my heart. I don't feel that the carving does her justice, but she was a slick-coated black dog which made her one of my most challenging carvings yet.
We're heading up to Cottonwood on Saturday for Sunday's Raspberry Festival. I made a mock-up of my display in our living room and my two tables are packed! It's going to be a great display. I hope my sales improve this year.

Pre-Glazing

Here's the fruit of my summer labor. I just finished glazing them all today and actually had enough to fill up two kilns so I guess that isn't bad.


Compared to what I produced last summer for the festival:

I made my focus on functional wares (neti pots, mugs, plates) this year because most of the folks weren't interested in art pieces so much as stuff that they could use. I struggled with the issue of whether or not to use blue glazes this time around. I know that people are really drawn to blue and would probably be more likely to buy something blue, but I just don't like using it. I felt that I would compromise too much of my art by just making what sells easier. I'd almost rather not sell a nice piece that isn't blue than sell a blue piece that I'm not really wild about. I'll know how everything turned out on Thursday, so be watching for updates.

Pots pots and more pots

I've ended production on the work I'm taking for the Raspberry Festival and I'm just finishing up some of the last carvings. My hope is to drag all this work in to school to fire this weekend, a task I've been worried about all summer. With all the trouble I've had with my handles it would just be my luck that they would all get bumped and break off somewhere in transport (they are so fragile). All told, I have 12 mugs, 12 neti pots, 10 plates (7 with leaves), a smattering of tree pots, and about 20 or 25 minis. I don't know how it matches up to last year's product. It's scattered all over my studio at the moment, so I'll have a better idea when I get it all out on the table for photos. I'll hopefully be bisque firing this weekend and glazing the first part of next week. We're off to the festival next Saturday.

On another note, my new website should be up and running next week. It will be a more professional display of my work, primarily to get it out there and hopefully make more sales. I will still be blogging here about all matter of life, never you worry. I'll let you know what it is when it is. But it's definitely exciting.

With all this pottering, I haven't done anything else for weeks. My house is in a state, my yard is overgrown with weeds (although thanks to a little unexpected help from my mother-in-law while we were camping this last weekend, it's a little bit less-- Thanks Maria!!) I have closet doors that I've been wanting to finish painting this summer, a couple of paintings for our hallway to finish, curriculum to plan and Master's homework to start. It's piling up and my summer is dwindling away! It's enough to bring on full-fledged panic. I'll post about our latest camping trip a little later.

Clematis

This clematis astounds me every day. We planted the three plants in late April 2008, when we bought our house. This summer you could literally watch it grow inches a day. Last year all we saw were the red blooms on the middle plant. This summer, finally, I've got one of the white ones blooming. It brings me a lot of joy so I thought I would share.

Then:
Now:

Coast Trip

Adrian and I returned from our coast trip on Tuesday evening. We had a great time and I was relieved that it went as smoothly as it did. Nacho was a little bit of a pill in the car, a lot of whining, but there were actually periods where he would sleep quietly. By the time we were nearly home he was a champ at it, which I appreciated. This was Nacho's first trip to the coast and he really loved it.
On Friday we set out early and drove through Bend to our campground (Beachside) just south of Newport. We made it there in about 10 and a half hours, which I thought was pretty decent with stops. The campsite we had this year was a lot bigger and much more secluded than last year. It had plenty of sun, plenty of shade and plenty of wind cover, all good things. The weather was beautiful and stayed that way all weekend (aside from the wind, of course).

Nacho had his first taste of the ocean Friday night and surprised us both by running right out in it. This dog will do anything to avoid a sprinkler and he's tromping right out into the frigid north Pacific! While he's not to be trusted off of his leash, I firmly believe he'd have kept going and probably have gotten himself into trouble. The beach was really windy that night, blowing drifts of sand all the way down the coast. We visited the tree on which we carved our names on last year only to find it almost entirely buried by sand. Disappointing as we weren't able to see the spot where our initials were. (Below is how we saw it last year)

It was pretty cold so we kept it short with a shivering little dog who decided he'd had enough.

On Saturday we woke up plenty early (thanks Nacho) and walked on the beach. We found a seal pup basking in the sun. There are signs all over saying to leave these guys alone as they come to the beach to rest so I didn't want to get too close. But it was pretty cool to see him. Nacho did not get the opportunity. :)

We spent some time in the sun, reading and napping before heading in to Lincoln City to hit the outlet mall. Didn't get much, just a long sleeve shirt for Mr. I-forgot-my-coat-for-the-second-year-in-a-row. We could practically hear Nacho yowling in the car from the parking garage so we did not stay long.

Then a little more time playing in the water.And after all that, a dog with practically no hair gets chilly, so Nacho spent most of the rest of the afternoon/evening curled up in his blanket.

Every time we camp we like to do the old stand-by foil pack meal over the fire. It's always the same. Potatoes, carrots, onions and chicken plus a little magic and voila! Gourmet.
Someone managed to put up these logs on the beach near our campsite. Not sure how it was done but it was interesting all the same.
We saved the Newport Bayfront trip for Monday hoping the crowds would be minimal, and they were, but apparently the harbor sea lions were on vacation as well. Their normal hangout was completely deserted and a huge disappointment. But again, beautiful weather.
When we got back we did some kite flying. The wind was perfect and the kites were fast. Nacho goes nuts for kites and spent his time barking and running back and forth after them.
We finished off our trip with a very cold but beautiful sunset on the beach.
With weather as nice as we had, we stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home. I've never been there when the sun was shining and it was downright warm out. It was very cool and I was wishing we could have taken the rare opportunity to hike the mile up to the very top but decided that was best saved for a trip without the dog. I can't imagine we'll ever see weather like that there again though.
Nacho did much better on the way home and was happy enough to stay put in the back with his head between the seats, in case anything interesting happened.

Another great trip. No mishaps or accidents, so that was a huge relief. It is good to be home though now the pressure is really on for the pottery production. Only a couple of weeks left! I'll post my progress, such as it is, soon.