Goals for 2024

I made an initial list of BIG goals I would like to accomplish regarding my pottery hobby for the coming year. I'm not sure how do-able they are, though. Maybe they should be a "wish list" instead.

• Convert part of the garage into a studio
• Buy a small kiln to salve my impatience
• Convince my son-in-law to "store" the wheel and kiln he doesn't use in my new studio

I'm a little ADD, something I was able to label only recently; I used to think I was just weird. Over the years, I've developed strategies for dealing with this "character trait". A recent strategy is to assign certain tasks to certain days of the week. So now Wednesdays have become clay days. This allows me to make a mess on the breakfast bar and dining room table, then clean it up for the rest of the week. I'd like to stick to that plan, at least until that studio magically appears.

Even though I hand-build my pottery pieces, they seem to accumulate quickly. It's difficult to keep track of what I'm working on, what stage it is at, and where it is. I've created a spreadsheet to assist me, but that is only helpful if I keep it up to date. Ditto this blog.

How many vessels does one person need? Most pottery seems to concentrate on bowls, mugs, plates, pots, etc. It gets a little boring. I'd like to venture further afield and try my hand at other, non-vessel objects. Like koi?

That's three goals that are doable, although not very measurable. We'll see how they work out in 2024

1. Reserve Wednesdays for pottery
2. Document, document, document!
3. Shift focus away from vessels

My granddaughter is on xmas vacation. She came over last Wednesday to play with tissue transfers. I had pictured us working side-by-side, but found that I could not concentrate on any of my projects while also helping her. And that's okay.

The past six or seven years have been tough - politics, the pandemic, wars, climate change, etc. I sense that 2024 is not going to be an improvement, but one can always hope for something good to happen. Happy New Year!

This is not sustainable

Last Wednesday I hit the clay. In no time at all, both the breakfast bar and dining room table were covered with works in progress.

Breakfast bar

I have a list of pros and cons for creating a workshop in the garage - the only con is the expense - and keep adding to the list everyday. Even if I don't continue with pottery, the workshop will be an asset to the house. (Around here, few people actually park their cars in their garages, as the garages are usually full of junk.)

Dining room table

I'll have to discuss with my daughter, as she is the home designer in the family.

Meanwhile, more tools! And glazes!

Wooden forms

Hole makers

Paddle

Glazes

I learned something new this week regarding glazes, or at least some of the glazes I have on hand. Most are for cone 6, but several are for lower cone values. This might explain why some of the pieces they fired at the maker space did not turn out very well, as I was putting them on the mid-range shelf, not the low-range shelf. My pea brain was thinking of how hot I wanted the stoneware clay to get in order to vitrify, not taking into consideration the limitations of the glazes I had chosen. Live and learn!

Deja vu all over again

We stopped at FW Clay this past Thursday afternoon, to drop off my latest bowl and the fluted dish. Alas, the only one of my pieces that had reached the kiln was a pinched pumpkin I made in class a couple of weeks ago. The whole setup needs some organization, and the staff needs some training, as they seemed rather flustered with my requests. Also, they didn't want me adding anything to the to-be-fired shelves, as that is now apparently against the rules?

It's easy for me to get upset about these delays, especially since I was hoping for a better experience than I had at the maker space. As I see it, here are my options:

• Find a new place to fire
• Buy my own kiln
• Chill out

For now, I'm going to chill out. I'm also going to create a spreadsheet so I can keep track of which pieces are at what stage in the process.

As promised, here is a rundown of my latest purchases at FW Clay:

I've already used this trimming tool, and it is the berries. It is also a much better tool for kurinuki.

Trimming tool

Some underglaze transfers:

Elan underglaze transfer - Flamingos

Elan underglaze transfer - cats

More glazes. I am building quite a glaze stash.

Mayco glazes in Stoned Denim and Green Tea

An anvil is used to quickly form small bowls. I'll show you how at a later date.

Anvil - assembled

Anvil - disassembled

Of course, some pottery tools may be made with whatever you have on hand. In this case, I used a paper towel tube and a bamboo skewer to make a tool for marking an even edge on a bowl.

Homemade marking tool

More stuff arrived yesterday from the Ceramic Shop. I'll "unwrap" those items at a later date.

Class six

Our final hand-building class was this past week. The emphasis (for me) was on glazing. The brushes and glazes at the studio were not impressive, so I worked on a couple of pieces, then brought the others home.

Sushi boat

These went on the dipping dish

Dipping dish

Between the store owner's need to fire LOTS of pieces for upcoming shows and all the pending holiday gifts, the to-be-fired shelves were rather packed and some of my stuff did not get fired. But these two platters were done. I'm medium pleased with them.

And then I went shopping in the store which I'll detail later.

On the homefront, I did make some "cookies" for putting under objects with drippy glazes and some stars for ornaments (or whatever). The cookies don't need to be perfect, just flat. The plastic wrap under the star-shaped cookie cutter keeps the metal from sticking to the clay and makes a tidier edge.

I also carved some stamps, one with my initials, the other with a dog paw print. They need some more cleaning up, which isn't easy to do on such small items.

This piece was supposed to be a dog bowl, but the wall wasn't working for me, so now it is a random dish of some sort. After marring the surface with my fingers, I decided to go all the way and added the fluting and impressions to give it some interest and texture. (I don't have a decent banding wheel, so placing a piece on newsprint makes for an easy way to turn it.)

I "slumped" some clay over a bowl. (The nylon keeps the clay from sticking to the bowl as it shrinks.) This will be another popcorn bowl, but slab-built. I'm leaving its surface plain. I think. Until it is bisque-fired, I can change my mind.

Soon it will be a new year, which is the perfect time to make some changes. I think I will alter the format of my pottery posts so that I can show the steps of creating a piece all in one go. A separate document with all the little tips and tricks I pick up along the way might be helpful as well. And by "helpful", I mean helpful to me, so I don't have to search for information in the blog. Stay tuned!

Interim week

No class last week because of Thanksgiving. Instead, I got brave enough to try some more glazing, but only after consulting the combination examples on the Mayco site.

What I have is the Mayco Stoneware 2023 Glaze Kit, with samples of a dozen glazes. I wanted to try Amaryllis (SW-192) on the fish I made a while ago (and which I apparently never blogged about), but I didn't want it to be *all* Amaryllis. So I applied two coats of Sand Dollar (SW-196) on the head and fins, then two coats of the Amaryllis all over. Theoretically, the head and fins should turn out different from the body. We'll see! (The dark spots are crystals that should produce an interesting result.)

This piece is one of my watering devices. I plan to set it an inch or so into the soil of a potted plant. When I water the planter by pouring water into the fish mouth, the water should flow out the buried holes at the base. Ideally.

After watching a video provided by Amaco on layering PC-31 Oatmeal over PC-33 Iron Lustre, I glazed a couple of heavy mugs that I also never blogged about. The one on the left has three coats of Oatmeal over three coats of Iron Lustre, with the Oatmeal restricted to the top third of both the inside and outside of the mug. The one on the right is the opposite: three coats of Iron Lustre over three coats of Oatmeal, with the Iron Lustre on just the top third of the inside and outside, plus the heart.

I frequently fall down a rabbit hole of glaze combination posts on FB, where everyone seems to apply three coats of each glaze. Yet I'm a little worried about how much these glazes will run, so my next task is to make "cookies" or "biscuits" - disks of bisqueware to go under the pieces when they are glaze fired. The cookies will protect the kiln shelf from running glazes... I hope.

Class five

We were supposed to make butter dishes at the fifth hand-building pottery class, but I kind of steered us toward finishing techniques. My popcorn bowl from last week wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but I wanted to make it better. One method is using a rather large rasp to trim away excess clay and make the walls more consistent. Once again, no pix.

When I was satisfied with my popcorn bowl, I decided to pinch a little pumpkin. The instructor showed me how to make the ridges using a shaping tool, the same one I used to make the toes on my turtle pieces. It's one thing to *have* pottery tools, but it is another thing to know how to use them.

Then I laid awake that night, thinking of different ways to make pumpkins, both large and small, most of the methods horribly inefficient.

At home, I glazed another platter I had made a while ago. This one is similar to the previous one, but this time I decided to use both Celadon glazes over the underglaze. Fingers crossed it turns out okay.

Dark green underglaze, applied to leaf

Dark green underglaze, wiped

I've taken several pottery classes, but I don't recall being encouraged to "rib" in any of them. Ribbing a slab after rolling it out not only smooths the surface, but aligns the clay cells. I obviously did not rib this platter, nor the previous one.

Using a "magic eraser" gave cleaner results removing excess underglaze, but the small imperfections on the platter's surface held onto the color.

Jade celadon, applied to leaf

Wasabi celadon, applied all over

Both of the leaf platters are at FW Clay, waiting to be fired. The store charges by the weight; the two platters weighed 3 pounds altogether. Since I used my own glazes, the total was $5.25. (Bisque firing is free if one purchases the clay from the store.) I could see where someone doing mass production for an art festival might find this method expensive, but I don't really have anything to compare it to besides the maker space I was at, and they recently changed their pricing policy for kiln use, probably because they were getting so many big producers in there.

We do not have class this week, due to Thanksgiving. Hopefully, all my pieces from class will be bisque fired by next week, and the platters glaze fired as well.

Class four

The fourth hand-building class was to be on coil-building. I was pretty excited because I have struggled with this. And the instructor promised to teach us an "easy" method. Again, I neglected to take photos.

Her method was more of a hybrid between coil-building, pinching, and wheel-throwing. My first impression was, I don't like this. It took me two tries to come up with a quart-size popcorn bowl that would stand up. I've seen videos where the coils are more like long slabs, where the coils are thick as hawser rope, where the coils are very thin, so I'm aware that there is more than one way to make a coil-built bowl. But I was disappointed that what we learned was not more traditional.

Or maybe I was a bit disgruntled because the instructor pooh-poohed the container of slip I brought for constructing the wall vases. I was hoping for a bit of help with them, especially the cutting part, but was mostly left on my own. Consequently, they are not quite even. The instructor seemed alarmed that I was not going to carve them. Frankly, I cannot draw, let alone carve, so I brought them home and "carved" them using different pasta shapes.

After watching several YT videos on glazing with Amaco Celadon, I decided to work on a platter I made a while ago. Initially, I was going to use dark green underglaze (Amaco Decorating Colors) on the leaves, then top them with Celadon 'Jade', then cover the whole thing with Celadon 'Wasabi'. But after wiping off the underglaze, I decided to skip the Jade and just use the Wasabi. We'll see how it turns out.

Underglaze applied

Underglaze wiped off (mostly)

Glazed (but still a bit damp)

I admit that I get a bit disgruntled with myself because I am not a very good potter. But I remind myself that I have not been doing it long, and I like to experiment, so results are usually unexpected. I'm still itchy to get a small kiln of my own, so I can make my ugly pottery away from the public eye, as I do enjoy the process.

Class three

I neglected to take any photos of what I worked on during the third class of the hand-building workshop. We were scheduled to make platters of some sort, but the instructor also said we could deviate from the lesson plan. So I started making a wall vase. Well, actually two wall vases, as the trick is to make a container, then cut it in half vertically and attach a back to each half. I created a round container and the slabs for the backs.

Our first class was about creating stamps and rollers. The two latecomers are *still* working on theirs. I tried working on them at home, but it hasn't gone well. I'm beginning to think I prefer to *buy* stamps and rollers rather than make them.

In the past couple of months, I have tried to set aside Wednesdays as "block" days, when I don't schedule anything so that I am free to work on artsy craftsy stuff. I think today is the first blocked Wednesday without an interruption. So I started a slab container for holding chop sticks. Instead of using a stamp or roller for the design, I snipped some tips off an arborvitae in my yard.

Each side is about 3"x6". I left the sprigs on the clay while I assembled the container, to prevent smudging of the design. That's something one can't do with rollers and stamps.

One problem I have in class is rushing. Even though each session is three hours long, I find myself trying to cram as much experience into that time slot as I can. At home, I have to remind myself to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. Things go much better when one doesn't hurry.

I'm also trying to get as much out of each class as I can. My goal was to improve my techniques so that anything I make in the future will turn out better than in the past. The tips and tricks are what make the difference.

Class two

Since a sushi-making class I had signed up for conflicted with the second week of pottery class, we went on a Tuesday night instead of Thursday. And so did a couple who missed the first class. While they play catch-up, I have been working on kurinuki at home.

This is a sushi boat, with a place for some wasabi.

I don't know what this is. A canoe? A Post-It Note pad holder? Any suggestions?

This little dish goes with the sushi boat, to hold soy sauce.

I also want to make a squarish container for chopsticks.

Kurinuki is time-consuming, a lot of carving with smaller and smaller tools, but it is also very meditative. The instructor suggested working on the outside shape first, then the inside. This surprised me... until I did the opposite with the soy sauce dish and found (almost too late) that the general shape of the piece was wonky.

So, where did my interest in Japanese food come from? My granddaughter is interesting in Japanese culture (mostly anime, manga, and Hello Kitty), which got me interested in the food. I've also been watching "Midnight Diner" on Netflix, which features a different dish each week, foods you would find in a home but not at your local Asakusa restaurant.

My only problem is I'm not very enamored with fish or seaweed, but maybe I'll get over that with more exposure. Plus, I'll want to use my sushi boat.

Class one

Well, *that* was different. In a good way.

Most beginning pottery classes go through making pinch pots, coil pots, and slab pots. In our first class at FW Clay, we started forming clay for rollers and stamps and prepping clay for kurinuki. I've tried kurinuki before, with some success. I'm eager to learn how to do better (especially not carve so deep there is a hole in the bottom.)

Yes, that pot is a bit wonky

The price of the class includes 25 pounds of clay and our choice of a book on hand-building. I chose Pinch Your Pot: The Art and Craft of Making Pinch Pots, by Jacqui Atkin. I have learned something new about pinching pots just by glancing through the early pages. My SO chose a different book, Hand Built: A Potter's Guide, by Melissa Weiss. We can share.

I'm stoked.

Enrolled

My SO and I enrolled in a six-week hand-building pottery class at FW Clay, which starts this week. The goal is to improve our technical skills. I'm excited... and nervous, probably because I plan to bring in some of my own work to fire. That judgment thing. Time to get over that.

Here are some test tiles I've worked up. The plain hearts are made with stoneware stained with mason stain, light olive and dark olive (12% for both, I think). The crosshatch ones are for testing some Mayco Stoneware sample glazes. The holes in all of them are for hanging. (Note to self: include something in these photos, like a quarter, for size comparison.)

In preparation for leaving the maker space and transferring my business to FW Clay, I've been collecting my stuff from the former, fired or not (mostly not). I'm hoping the turn around time at FW Clay will be better, especially now that they have started offering classes. Fingers crossed!

There's a new pottery place in town

Yesterday my SO and I went to the "grand opening" of Fort Wayne Clay. Nicole Capriglione is the proprieter. Since it wasn't busy (yet), she gave us a tour (during which I picked out over $90 worth of merchandise). I wish we could have stayed longer, as they were doing raku firing in the parking lot, but I had committed to being elsewhere. I am signing up for the hand-building class, though, to improve my technique.

The shop is still getting started - awaiting a big, beautiful new kiln - but I'm going to start taking my pieces there to fire. The maker space just doesn't get to my stuff in a timely manner. Besides the kilns not working well, I think production potters are filling them up with their mugs and sellable objects, leaving my measly two or three pieces alone on the shelf, neglected. Like my money doesn't matter.

So, what did I buy? Some tools...

...and a book.

I want this place to succeed, so my pottery dollars will be going here as much as possible. Nicole is *so* excited and personable and I think I will learn a lot from her and her assistants.

Road trip

Yesterday my SO and I took a (LONG) drive in the Michiana area, to hit up the Michiana Pottery Tour, or at least part of it. We have gone on this tour before, sticking to the area around Goshen, so this time we decided to venture farther afield. The first stop was in Constantine, MI. Then we visited a studio in Bristol, IN, and two more in South Bend. We were going to go to Shipshewana, too, but pooped out and had to stop and eat.

Each stop featured a host and between four and seven guest potters. So there was a LOT of pottery in a LOT of forms in a LARGE range of prices. I bought three pieces.

This jug is about 6" tall. The funny thing is we had seen a bunch of these at the maker space where I fire my pottery, and I was surprised that there would be two potters with the same idea. Turned out it was the same potters - Briggan and Jeff Mueller - from Fort Wayne. Briggan was generous enough to explain how they were made - she created a plaster slip casting mold, then used a combination of Mayco and Spectrum glazes on them.

This mixing bowl is about the right size for scrambling eggs or mixing up a small batch of pancakes. The whisk came with it, too. Made by Mark Goertzen of Goshen.

Cristal Sabbagh, who describes herself as an "interdisciplinary artist" and is from Chicago, creates lovely cups with original artwork, but I opted for one of her necklaces.

It's so inspiring to meet all these potters and see their studios. There are a LOT of mugs at these events, which has gotten me thinking that maybe I should upgrade my coffee mugs. The mugs I make are more like bricks, while the ones at these fairs are usually porcelain, light-weight and thin. Per usual, our jaunt has left me with lots to think about.