Oh Yeah!

Need I say more?

Dinner is served...

by candlelight no less! What a pretty eating nook; it's no wonder my customer picked the two glazes she did. The colors are perfect. Everything is so nicely coordinated-- even the food! I just had to show off how nice the dinner and salad plates look, even with meatloaf!

Tomorrow I take the b and b plates out of the kiln. If all goes according to plan, I will take pictures and pack them up to be delivered to the Thanksgiving table. :)

Up early

Here it is a Saturday morning, mid November and I'm up early having started the kiln at 5 am. Loaded with stuff. Custom orders mostly and "getting ready for Christmas" pots. But the big things are my babies: the last of the bread and butter plates and alas, the end of this big order. Next post will show all 12, ready to ship for the Thanksgiving table...

49,50,51,52

I'm up and early this morning; could hardly wait to open my kiln! I just took out the first four bread and butter plates. I will be firing more this week...

Dried up, Stacked up and Firing away!

My kiln is loaded with greenware (completely dried pots) from bottom to top. The bread and butter plates are all nestled inside. Glazing begins next week, provided all goes well. I never take that for granted!! Have a great weekend. :)

All trimmed up!

The plates dried and came off the bats at just the right time. I was able to tend to other necessary things in my studio last week while they dried. All have now been trimmed-- along with a couple of extras "just in case"-- and are currently sitting on shelves, waiting to dry fully. I'm really tickled with them! They stack nicely and are a cute size. :)

The first picture shows me roughly trimming the bottom of a plate; by now you know what that means: removing excess clay off the bottom and creating a "foot" to stand on which gives it a nice finished look. When I do this I have to be sure that it will fit into the inside of the plate (right side up), for good stacking.

The second pic shows the plates all stacked up. When they are fully dry into the kiln they will go for their bisquing! I should have a full load ready to go next week. Progress, progress!

The final stretch...

It's been almost a month since I worked on this project and I really do appreciate my understanding customer. I needed to set this aside for a bit to work on other projects but today I was back at it! I promised said customer that I would have her 60 pieces done by Thanksgiving and I plan to stick to my word.

The Bread and Butter plates are now in the works-- the last 12 pieces of this 60 piece place setting. All 12 (plus some extras) are now drying on the masonite bats they were thrown on today. I have them in my damp room rather than out in the studio as I like them to dry slowly to minimize potential cracking and because I have a lot of other pieces that need to be trimmed first, before they get too dry. I also have some glazing to do tomorrow so I won't be getting these plates off to trim 'til the end of the week.

I took several pictures to show a couple of different stages of the plates. The best is pictured here which shows me using my fingers to form the lip of the plate by simply squeezing the clay 'til it's the width and thickness I want. I also use my right hand in this process but sorry, I only have 2 hands and I had to hold the camera. With my right hand I simply hold a sponge to keep it smooth and clean up some of the excess water.

I'm excited to be in the final stretch now. I'm anxious for my customer to have her complete set. This has been such a great project! Check back in 5 or 6 days to see about the trimming of these plates. All for now! Thanks for stopping by...

...and 6 make 48!

All dinner plates, salad plates, bowls and mugs accounted for!

An early Christmas for some...

The pieces keep arriving at their new home. I have just received pictures of their unwrapping so I thought I'd share with you. It's exciting to me to see that they are in the right hands; speaking of which-- nice nails!! Mine sure don't look like that with the abuse they take!

As I write this post, my last package of the "first 48" is enroute to my customer's home. I thought I would surprise her this time. Before I go back to packing up pots for a big show this weekend, I've got to tell you that I'm drooling over all that nice bubblewrap and peanuts! Have a great weekend everybody. :)

I'm on the prowl...

Business has been good. I'm very low on good packing materials. I've got my eyes and ears open for anyone in my vicinity throwing clean bubblewrap and peanuts into the landfill...

I have a feeling some comments are forthcoming from my customer, as I suggested in my last post. "C" tells me she doesn't find it intuitive so she hasn't been able to get it done. I have confidence in her though, don't you?

On the pottery front, lots of throwing, trimming, bisquing, glazing going on here. I've had lots of custom orders to manage. All I have left in this primo order is to glaze two more salad plates and then 48 pieces will be done. My fine, smart customer and I discussed getting the first 48 done and when I have time later this month after a big show in Rochester, I'll get started on the 12 bread and butters plates.

All for now. I'm glazing, loading and then setting off on the lookout for you-know-what. :)

A little request for the customer...

I've been postless for too long-- sorry gang. I'm mending my evil ways.

For some reason I have become an insomniac this summer. At least tonight I'll have something fun to do while I'm roaming the house: opening the kiln and seeing all my glazed goodies! That thrill never dies.

I have a whole bunch of stuff in there, orders from lots of different folks so of course I have my fingers crossed. Included are the last dinner plates and several salad plates and I think the last bowl. With a shipment in the near future, we should be coming up on 48 pieces completed! Perhaps we may even be able to get a remark or two from that very best of customers who hired me to do all this!

It's stacking up!

Here's what I've got to ship out this week: 6 tan salad plates and 3 green bowls and 3 green dinnerplates. My customer has been oh-so patient, so I'm not going to hold out on her 'til I have all the bowls and dinnerplates done. I'll fit some more in when I fire up the kiln with a glaze load on Thursday (I've got bisque going now)-- so maybe there will be a surprise or two. This picture has a bit of a pinkish cast, so not the best representation of the colors, but I need to press on with other matters. The count is now 36 DONE!

As promised...

I've been firing like mad! Waiting for the kiln to cool right now (must confess I did peek)-- and I'll be sending a shipment off to my customer later this week! I'll post a pic before I do.

New kiln elements installed...

On a sunny and beautiful Saturday in July, I was successful in getting my CH into my studio to replace all the kiln elements. Sometimes he'll just replace one (of 6) but this was a total redo. As you can see from the picture at left, some of the elements were sagging and coming out of their grooves. The most frequent element replaced is the top one, as shown. You know how hard it is for me not to peek, just a little bit, when I'm waiting for the load to cool after a glaze firing. Well, that particular practice wreaks havoc on the elements over time and sagging is the result. A total redo was necessary this time, however, as the coils weren't heating efficiently and then "hot" and "cold" spots develop in the kiln. When that happens it's necessary to get the kiln back into balance for even firing.

In the picture at right, you can see how CH has to pull all the coils out of their grooves in order to replace with the new ones. It took a good chunk of time and then after they were in we encountered a problem with the kiln sitter, which holds the cone, and allows the kiln to shut off when it's reached the desired temperature. Even though CH suggested I ought to get pictures at the beginning of the process while he was still cheerful, he maintained a sunny disposition throughout the entire process for which I'm very grateful. It's the one part of this whole darn business that I don't care to learn anything about. :)

So I'm running a test firing now to make sure we're cooking on all cylinders, and if all's well I'll be firing like mad this week!

Ace is the place!

Just made a HUGE bubblewrap haul at one of my friendly local merchants. Thank you Ace Hardware!

Just flying through to say...

ye old kiln was loaded last night with glazed pieces and I began the firing process at 5:00 am this morn. The load contains, among other things, some green bowls and some more plates, both dinner and salad. I like to squeeze pieces in where I can among other custom orders and just stuff so that I maximize space and electricity usage. When I have another group of pieces to send to my customer, off it will go.

This weekend I think it's time to lasso my Cheerful Helper and haul him down to my studio to replace some kiln elements. Some are really beginning to sag and are less efficient. I'll post more on that.

The result!

The mugs are done and ready for packing. Because of the holiday they will be shipped out via UPS on Tuesday morning. On to glazing the bowls!

Down to cool off and glaze!

Sorry to be so incommunicado the last few weeks. Been working but "life" has gotten between me and my blog...

It is blistering hot here in central New York state!!! We do not have central air conditioning, and could not if we wanted it. Our house was built in 1840 and it just won't have it. So once again I realize how "green" my business is as I will be heading down to my basement studio as soon as I sign off here to happily glaze in a much cooler area. If you remember, glazing is not my favorite part of the process, but today I can't wait!

I have tested the green glaze in a couple of loads and today I'm making the plunge to apply it to the mugs. It's been turning out beautifully. The picture shows one of the dinner plates as well as a cup from another order that is a preview of coming attractions. On this hot summer day I also have a bisque load going (which includes the salad plates) but it does not heat up the basement, in case you were wondering. I have lots of orders and of course this big project to finish off so I will be loading and glaze firing later this week. Stay tuned!

The long awaited glaze...

is finally in! It was on backorder for over a month, but I will drive into the "big city" later this week to pick it up along with some cones necessary while firing the kiln. I am anxious to get it applied to some testing bisqueware, hopefully this weekend. The glaze comes in dry form so I have to add water and I need to run tests to be sure it is the right consistency before I use any on my customer's bisqueware. I certainly don't want the glaze to run like crazy down my pots and onto the kiln shelves, which makes a huge mess.

Right now I have a full bisque fire about to turn off. It is loaded to the top with miscellaneous pieces but I also squeezed in a few dry salad plates. All of them are thrown now but I have a few to trim in the morning and the rest are drying. It will be fun to start glazing those.

As soon as I get the green glaze mixed I'll let you know how it applied. Thanks for checking in!

So far, so good!

I have gratefully received the news that after using their new pieces for a week, my buyer and spouse are delighted with their new pottery! PHEW!! I always get nervous with custom orders since they are buying "sight-unseen." Can't wait to get the next batch done and sent their way...

As I continue to throw and trim the smaller plates, I think about what I have left out in this blog information. I realized I assumed you knew what wedging clay is all about. Now that I am throwing the smaller plates, it seems appropriate to tell you that wedging clay is like kneading bread. It is done to get the clay ready to throw: to align the clay molecules and to remove air bubbles which could cause major problems in throwing, as well as cause a blowup when the pot is fired. When the clay comes from the manufacturer, as the 500# I show in my first post, the clay only needs a touch of wedging to get it ready for centering on the wheel. That's the easy-to-use clay.

The picture shows buckets of "reclaimed" clay. All those bits and pieces that are trimmed off the leather hard pots and all the wet, messy stuff that's in the water bucket and any other clay that needs to get rewedged, all get thrown into large buckets with water and mixed together. From time to time I poke my hand in there to make sure it is all becoming evenly consistent. When that is the case, I allow it to slowly dry 'til it becomes workable and can be wedged again and thrown. I always have several buckets going in various stages of wetness. Many potters have a wonderful machine called a pugger that wedges reclaimed clay and is much faster and easier on the hands. I consider this a necessary tool for serious production potters, but for me, I can get by without it and besides, without one I'm even "greener."

Sometimes it's a waiting game...

Now I have to be patient:

I am waiting to hear how my customer likes the first finished pieces. Keeping my fingers crossed that they are a success and that UPS treated them kindly enroute.

I am waiting for my kiln to cool from a glaze fire which has several pieces from other orders. I am trying so very hard not to peek.

And I am STILL waiting for that darn glaze to arrive. Don't the shippers know it really is summer in central NY now and I can almost promise there will be no snow?

So I'll hop back on my tractor seat and start throwing salad plates... 12 wedged lumps of clay await.

Time to begin shipping!!

Yippee! It's time to start packing and shipping the first installment of finished pieces! These pictures show 6 tan mugs, 6 tan bowls and 7 tan dinner plates (an extra for my buyer.) This weekend I'll start packing them up, very carefully, to send on to their new home. Hopefully they will be well received.

A very important part of this entire process, and one you probably would not consider, is securing good packing materials. I have never bought bubblewrap to ship anything which means I scamper all about my little town collecting from businesses. This isn't merely because I am frugal-- which certainly is a huge consideration when you have a small business like mine-- but also because I am THE GREEN THROWER! Remember?! I try my darndest to keep bubblewrap, packing peanuts and boxes out of the landfill. So that means I have quite a nice working relationship with area businesses and my friendly UPS driver, who is always on the lookout for good "stuff." Yesterday I was elated to receive a call from a gift shop that had good materials and boy, did I make a superior haul. The only problem is that my basement makes me look like a hoarder...

So while I am very excited about this part of the project being completed, I continue to wait for my other glaze which is coming from California and here I am in NY state. When that finally arrives, I'll be able to crank out the other half of what you see here. Moving forward next week, I will begin to throw all of the 24 smaller plates. My studio space is a bit limited (though not because of my packing materials) so I did not want to get started on these plates 'til I had moved inventory out. The count is now 18 done, 42 more to go... off to the studio I march to adjust my kiln which has a load bisquing and then I will plunk down on the old tractor seat to contemplate my good fortune to be a potter.

Thanks for continuing to read my blog!

Moving along...

I DID throw the next day! I finished making all the large dinner plates and bowls that I need for my wonderful order. That was a week ago and since then they have dried to "leather hard" and were trimmed. They now sit on a shelf continuing to dry and will go into the next bisque.

In the meantime, my kiln has been going... previously thrown and dried pieces have been bisqued. Today my first order of business is to glaze those pieces which include the bowls and some more plates and start loading up my kiln for a glaze fire later this week.

I also snuck a glaze fire in while you weren't watching and all 6 of the tan mugs are completed! I'm very anxious to get the green glaze (which I had to order) needed for the other half of this project. The next post will show quite a bit of finished product-- stay tuned! And now, to the studio I go...

A new name for me?

Today wasn't quite the day I envisioned when I got up this morning, but that often happens... I had high hopes for throwing the extra plates and bowls I still need, but it wasn't meant to be. Too much other work: taking care of other orders, photographing pots, driving into the "big"city (Syracuse, NY) for more glaze, a replacement tool for an overworked one, and another kiln shelf. After many, many firings, the shelves can develop cracks and the last thing you want is to use a cracked shelf one too many times and lose everything and create a mess.

~~~~~~shuddering

What I DID do today was first, take this picture of the bowls as greenware (simply dried and very fragile) as I promised. Secondly, I started my kiln early for another glaze fire. In addition to some other pieces I needed to get done, I have some of the mugs and a couple of plates in there. As I mentioned before, it will be firing for approximately 14 hours. A few words about kilns: there are several types used in the making of pottery and they can create very different looks. I would love to have a walk-in gas reduction kiln in my backyard but I know the village inspector would frown on it. Another type of firing method is raku firing which produces very cool and unpredictable results. But practicality entered into the equation in order that I could work independently and so I have my own electric oxidation kiln. Now you might think 14 hour firing cycles must be awfully expensive, but for me it is very, very affordable. I live in a small village at the north end of the deepest of the beautiful NY Fingerlakes and Skaneateles Lake is one of the 6 cleanest lakes in the country. The city of Syracuse draws the drinking water directly out of the lake for the entire metropolitan area. (Until last year the only chemical added was flouride.) So as a "gift" to Skaneateles residents, our electricity is very inexpensive, which makes my electric kiln a no brainer.

Another "electrical" fact: I use an old kickwheel, rather than a compact electric wheel, that my dad found for $200 one summer during the college years. He bought it to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit in me and for several summers I used it to make and sell pots. My dad was quite a guy and it makes me feel good to think of him when I hop on the tractor seat to throw. I know he's looking down with a grin on his face. I'm grinning too because it just occurred to me today that since I only use leg power (and I wear a knee brace to show for it), perhaps I could promote myself as the "Green" Thrower!

Tomorrow: I throw...

Bowls are in process...

I've been a busy potter this week with all facets of this process. I love it when a project gets to the point where I have many different stages happening simultaneously and that's where we are now: thrown pots on bats, greenware (dried pieces) and bisqueware on the shelves, half glazed and (2!) finished pieces are all evident in my studio. We're definitely moving along.

While my kiln was firing away on Monday I threw most of the bowls. In the next couple of days I was able to get them trimmed. This means that when the bowl was "leather hard" I took it off the bat, turned it over and centered it back on the bat. Then I use some tools to make a "foot" which gives the bowl a nice, finished look and it also removes some of the clay which makes the piece heavier than necessary. In addition, I use a trimming tool to remove excess clay toward the bottom and gently shape the exterior. I like pieces that are not too heavy and clunky. You could certainly go crazy trimming to death, but if a piece is thrown well to start with, it isn't necessary to do too much. Mostly I like to trim in order to take the prehistoric look out of pottery and create graceful lines.

It is now Friday, almost 5 o'clock, and I feel good about quitting for the week. Almost all the bowls are thrown, trimmed and drying in my studio. I am going to make a few more because I didn't like the way some of them stacked when they were finished. That is a big consideration when doing placesettings because they all have to fit in the cupboard. I'll get those done next week and post a picture. For now I am showing two pictures of the trimming step. Have a great spring weekend!

The first two finished pieces!

Only 58 to go!!!

As I had hoped, with the shrinkage, the mug measures 4" tall and holds 1 1/2 cups of strong coffee. The plate is a little more than 10 3/4." It isn't very heavy, a criterion for the project, and fits into my dishwasher and cupboard very easily.

And it's a darn good thing I didn't go ahead and use the other glaze before it was tested. It definitely misbehaved. I will have to do some tweeking before I use it on this custom order. While I'm working on that, I'll go ahead with some more plates and mugs using these glazes.

OOOOHHHH!!! I so want to peek!

So this is truly the hardest part-- ask any potter: waiting for the kiln to cool so you can lift the lid and see if everything turned out A-OK. It's all just sitting there, you know it's done and it's just such a temptation to take a peek!

But alas, I will not cave into temptation-- this time, anyway. However, you can be sure I will have no problem jumping out of bed in the morning and before I even grab my coffee, I will scamper into the studio to look! I'll keep you posted!

Glaze fire starts tomorrow!

Sorry, I was a little off on my glazing schedule... but my kiln is "loaded to the gills" now. (I'm thinking this is probably not the proper usage of that phrase.) The kiln, pronounced both "kil-nnn" and "kil," will be started early in the morning. It will fire for about 14 hours to reach cone 5 temperature, which is almost 2200 degrees. When I load the pieces, I have to be sure that they are not touching each other, or disaster will strike. Therefore a glaze firing typically does not have nearly as many pieces in it.

Most of the pieces that will be a-cookin' tomorrow are not from this order. That's because, as I mentioned in the last post, I am cautious and today I decided I needed to do some testing on one of the glazes as it is a new batch and I want to make sure it is of the right consistency, etc. before I apply it to the order. So if all goes according to plan, when I open the kiln up Wednesday morning after a day and a half of cooling, I will be able to show you a finished mug and dinner plate. Hold the right thought!

So the plan for tomorrow, while I am tending to this firing, is to trim a few extra plates, start throwing some bowls, and catch up on some other orders. Thanks for following my blog!

Behind the blog scenes...

While you haven't seen a lot of progress, things are happening behind the scenes, slowly. I have been waxing all the mugs as well as some plates and lots of other pieces that I have to fire. And so, the slow process of glazing has begun, with interference from my other jobs. I am hoping that the kiln will be loaded to the gills by this weekend so that I can start a glaze fire on Sunday.

Now I don't want my customer to get too excited that she is going to see all the mugs and plates finished by next week-- oh no. I fire cautiously. Nothing makes me more nervous than customer orders and if I put everything in one firing and something went wrong, I'd lose it all; so I am cautious. I have plenty of other stuff that also needs to be finished so I will be putting part of the order in the kiln this weekend. When all goes well (thinking positively), I'll load up for another firing, and on it goes til this project is complete. I believe the trick will be to have pieces in every stage of the process, so next week I will be starting on the bowls, I think.

Getting ready to glaze...

Everything came out of the bisque fire beautifully-- each piece a smidge smaller than when they went in. The next step is to wax the bottoms of all the pieces I want to glaze. I use a brush to "paint" the wax on. This is done so that I can put the pieces directly on the kiln shelves, as wherever the wax is applied, glaze will not stick. If I omitted this step, nothing would come off the shelves! Now you may wonder why you have seen glaze on the bottom of some things before: well, that can be done with "stilting," whereby you use a three-pronged pointy stilt to set the piece on. It's usually done for other things...

Too me, glazing is the most tedious part of the process and takes the longest. Everybody gets their kicks different ways, this isn't mine. However, one of my favorite parts is lowering the lid of the kiln on a fully loaded glaze fire, turning it on and waiting for the results. But I'm definitely getting ahead of myself... I've got lots of glazing to do before I can think about that and unfortunately, time I need to spend on other jobs this week. So please be patient!

PS I know I promised a picture on "pulling handles." I've got to remember to ask my CH ( you know, "Cheerful Helper") to take a picture.

Firing Away!

When I submerged into my studio this morning I found everything "dry as a bone." Just how I wanted it... so I loaded up the kiln for a bisque fire. This first fire goes to cone 08. Cones are how we potters measure the temperature in the kiln. But for useful information, cone 08 is 1733 degrees fahrenheit. When I bisque fire, pieces can be touching so as you can see, I even have a couple of plates stacked here and there. Generally, I like to have every bit of shelf covered with pots, but to tell the truth, I didn't have small enough pieces for the top shelf and my mentality to keep the project going was "just fire away!"

Plates and Mugs drying

I haven't been able to be in my studio for a few days, but while I was missing-in-action, my dinner plates and mugs have been busy drying. I think tomorrow I will be loading my kiln with these pieces as well as other work that I need to fire. This low temperature firing is called a bisque and when I take the pieces out of the kiln, I can handle them carefully without breakage. They will be porous at that point, but they will hold their shape and glaze. If I simply stuck the dried pieces that I have now in the glaze, they would just disintegrate.

Just got the news!

My customer wants to add a bread and butter plate to the order so now I will be making 5 pieces per place setting. This is very exciting for me!

I just came up from my studio where I was putting handles on the mugs I threw Monday. That completed, I am submerging once again to finish trimming the large plates. When my cheerful helper comes home I'll have him take some pictures of me "pulling" mug handles.

Back to the studio...

Today I was able to get a few plates off the bat, so I trimmed them, which means taking off extra clay and finishing them with a "foot" on the bottom of the piece. They are currently drying on a worktable. While the rest are still in the drying room, I decided the thing to do was to get going on the mugs. So I weighed and wedged a bunch of clay and sat down to throw. Size is determined by liquid capacity and I decided that for a nice placesetting the mugs shouldn't be too big and clunky. Hopefully when these are all done they will hold about 1 1/2+ cups of one's favorite beverage. The handles are "pulled" and applied when the mug is leather hard so that will happen in a day or two. The mugs sans handles are in the drying room right now. Tomorrow I expect to be able to trim the other plates and throw more if need be.

Newly thrown plate on a bat

Throwing commences!

I just emerged from my basement studio... it's a glorious day, the birds are chirping, the windows are open and the dinner plates have been thrown! It all begins with a lump of wedged clay-- or 12 to be exact. Each lump is weighed to ensure the plates are as uniform as possible. There is a 12% shrinkage factor to consider with the clay, so I have to make everything larger than what I want the end result to be. I measure as I'm going along to see that the bases are a certain distance, the height and openings are the same, etc. Then they will all shrink uniformly as they dry. I take the bats off the wheelhead with the thrown piece and put them on a shelf in my drying room so that they don't dry too quickly and crack. I always like to throw extras cuz you just never know... but I've used all my large bats so I'll have to wait 'til some plates are dry enough to lift off without distorting before I can throw any more. So now we have to be patient and let them dry. Good timing though... it's Good Friday and I've got plans all weekend to enjoy being outside and eating good chocolate for Easter.

A Facsimile

This is basically what we're going for, times 12! Dinner plate, salad plate, bowl and mug. The glazes used will be different. It will be fun because the customer wanted to mix and match colors so I will be using green, brown, and tan glazes. I think it will look really neat.

Cheerful Helper

And I also needed a cheerful helper to haul all the clay into my basement studio. That's the hardest part of the process-- hauling heavy clay up and down stairs and making sure my helper stays cheerful. I couldn't do it without him.

500#

So I needed some clay to do the job... this is 500 pounds. My customer doesn't need to worry, however, that I will be using it all on her place settings, because if I did her cupboards would come crashing down! That doesn't make for a happy customer.

Does BLOG mean BRAG in internet speak?

If so, I've finally got something business-related to blog about! I've been a basement potter for years, and I've done numerous place settings before, but last week I received an order for twelve 4 piece place settings. This is the biggest project I've ever had so I thought it might be fun to brag-- I mean BLOG-- about it and let you in on the whole process.