Mad Hatter

A simple enough guy.

Then there're the details...of course.

Just wanted to give you a sneak peak.

Dried out but pleased

Sunshine and low humidity made a fabulous day today.  My friends and I stood and sat in the full sun for 4 hours.  I drank coffee (at least 3 cups worth).  Not really good when you're baking, right?  It probably wasn't even 60 out, but I bet the driest day we've had in months!

Michael (Pat's husband) at the end (behind his wood turnings) then Marsha, and Pat in a sweater to match my display green. (these are my wares in the foreground.)

We had a good sales day...all in all.  It was more work to set out  more pottery, but it did help having double-size space for display.  And it was nice having a wood-turner as well.  His work is beautiful.

I came home at 1:30 and collapsed.  Still haven't absorbed enough liquids. Well, I usually take a water bottle, but it was so darn cold at 8:45 when I left home, all I could think of was hot coffee in a thermos.

Elise was describing something extraordinary to Bette.  Wonder what?

This was our last market for Mud Buddies for the year.  All in all, we have had a good Tail Gate season.

Who knows what next year will bring.

Oh, here are some pics of my pieces that sold today.  I also enjoyed a bit of trading with others.

Two men were interested in this, one left and said if it was still there, he'd buy it when he came back, it wasn't.  I didn't think to tell him I could make another one.  DUH!

There are still more of these, and I've finally reduced the price (see Etsy shop)

These $25 mugs went for $18. It was a Tail Gate sale after all.

Another vendor bought this bowl, and I love thinking of her mixing things to serve her family with it.  (it was reduced and she traded for part of the price also!)

A medium size mixing bowl, which went to a patron of my endeavors, at a lowered price. I even gave her one of the extra plates that goes with the set she purchased a year ago. She then gave me a CD of her flute playing.

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And this was the most fun adventure in trading for me today.  I really wanted this cornucopia to go to a new home where it could be enjoyed for the holidays.  A woman was quite interested, and I told her the price was reduced in half.  She still smiled, so I said, of course we could maybe trade something.  She said she could only offer jams and pies.  I smiled, and said we could certainly work out a trade.  So I've got a great deal, and she walked around the market without having it wrapped, she was so pleased with her side of the trade!

Hiding them away

I have 2 other new pots, which I'm hiding away for now.

I hope they may make it into the gallery exhibit that opens in 2 weeks at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, of student and teacher's clay work.  The theme is public knowledge...A Tea Party.

One of my pots is a Mad Hatter.  I have offered some pictures of him for press releases by BMCA.  (I think you already saw him before he was glazed, or even bisque fired.)  Anyway, I promise to let you see him as soon as the gallery exhibit opens.

I already showed you the Dormouse Teapot a couple of days ago, who does meet qualifications for the Tea Party..

I have another piece which I think looks like a small marble sculpture, though it's just a figure modeled and glazed with Satin White glaze.  She isn't part of a Tea Party theme, so may not make it in this gallery exhibit.   I think she's the best sculpted figure I've made yet.  I want to consider her art and wait till she can be in a gallery, rather than having her on a sales table with functional pieces.

So she's hidden away until she has an appropriate opportunity.  That doesn't mean I won't let you see her sooner or later!

Today I worked on buttons again, and snowflakes.  I got a bit flaky and made a Yin/Yang symbol, and a rose, just playing around with the silhouettes that cutting flat shapes provided.

New neighbor, another potter

A talented old neighbor moved on, and a new talented neighbor moved in...well, is in the process.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Sarah Vekasi!

I happened to be taking my pictures of pots yesterday with the porch/studio door open, because it was warmer outside, and the natural sunlight helped the colors.  So not much traffic comes by here, being a dead-end street.  There went Sarah in her car...to her new home.  I walked up to welcome her, with my camera still strapped around me.  So I was able to catch her first time looking in HER mailbox.

She walked down the hill to get my welcome hug.  I'll go visit her new house soon, but she was doing her first house walk-through (and smudge) by herself.

Anyone who doesn't do a smudge cleansing of their environment with white sage, well, where have you been?  House blessings are just done that way by most of my buddies.  I even do it in my home whenever I've been sick.  Get's the environment balanced again.

Sarah has over a couple hundred friends on FaceBook.  I don't know how many will be beating a path to her door...but I know they'll all be welcome.  You see, besides being a potter, she's an eco-chaplin.  She's also an activist for stopping Mountain Top Removal by mining in West Virginia.  This is a busy young woman!

Dormouse Teapot

Here's a teapot which holds 4-1/2 cups of liquid, and a mouse on top who is very sleepy.  Check out his effort to keep one eye open.

I actually pulled this handle, and did all the traditional things for a lid which is seated well inside the top so the little mouse won't fall when you're pouring your tea.

It has imperfections.  I've decided to like them.

Glaze is white satin inside, and Mexico outside.

I've added the link to Mud Colony Blog so go see what others have been posting too!

Last chance Tailgate

If you happen to visit Black Mountain, or live in this area...please stop by next Sat. Nov 17, between 10-1, for our final Tailgate Market with the MudBuddies selling pottery.

 

So this is our poster, and I'm sending the news out to you and your friends, asking that maybe you'll come by our booth.  We will be in the parking area of the First Baptist Church on Montreat Rd.

The MudBuddies have 2 tents for this final sale opportunity, and we will have some really good bargains.  All 6 of the potters will have a great display.  Some of us are students, retired,  undiscovered artists,  hobbiests or new professionals...so there is a good spread of talents.  

I hope to see you Saturday!

Moon Dancers

Moon Dancer number two

This is the figure that I made when I started back to clay making in 2007.  And she graces my business cards, which reminds me that sculpture in clay is what I most love.  But nobody ever sees her back side, with the slit dress.  Just thought I'd let you see what the Moon Dancer looks like on reverse.

Moon dancer number two

Yes, she does have a front side.  And an older sister, since she is the second in the series.  Of two, so far.

Moon Dancer number one

I just made another dancer, who will be the white woman.  Last year's blue woman didn't measure up, and will eventually meet Mr. Hammer.  I love looking through old photos (which are taken soon after the pieces cool off from the kiln.)  Several of them were embarrassing, and have now been relegated to scrap.  It's only interesting to me to see what I thought and felt at the time, but failed to express at a level that I expect of myself.  I want to work more on movement and balance that's barely there in a figure.  I want to stretch beyond a "pose" and get more of the "caught in motion" sense in my work.  I've got a long way to go!

But now I need to get back to work on the Mad Hatter.

Green Monday

 I want to focus on one of my favorite colors.  Green.  (Thanks Gary for the idea, since you've just put in 20 years getting  to the glaze combo that you were searching for...here)

I liked this combination (on a bowl that now belongs to someone else out there)  It's eggshell inside, and in the accents on the outside, with matt bronze green outside and on the rim.  I didn't do anything to make the great drips, either.

 Looking at this small bottle, all I can say is it didn't behave the way these glazes usually did, and I don't remember which ones it has on it.  Perhaps matt bronze green above, then celedon over the whole thing.  Usually our celedon is not blue however, so I'm not sure.\

This is the second one, same treatment...whatever it was.

This is one of my favorite glazes, which comes out in variations that don't always look the same.  Here moving toward antique green.  It's Matt bronze green sponged with amber.

 

Unfortunately our bucket of amber hasn't been used in a while and has settled into a solid several inches below the liquid.  I wonder if it will work at all again.

And this is my green moving to turquoise color...a dip into Mexico, then a dip into celedon. 

When used on a different clay, the matt bronze green will have the clay showing through, here either a raku clay  or perhaps dessert buff stoneware.  The orange spots are from wiping the glaze to a thin coat while still wet.

Still no videos

Dillsboro Pottery Festival, 2012.
I'll try this video clip...if it loads.  It's not edited.  Why do the people who design editing programs (at least the ones available free) make them so obtuse?

Oh, they want to make money, eh?

OK, it didn't work...oh well.

Here's Ron Philbeck putting his lovely bowl down on the table...without the aid of a bat!

The collage below is hopefully so you don't have to scroll through so many pictures today.  From left to right...one of the corners entering Dillsboro, me and Phil Morgan (a potter who does lovely crystal glazes), the The Dogwood Crafters Co-op sign, and the Jarrett House Restaurant flying banners for it's local teams.  The Dogwood Crafters had lovely benches upon which to rest in the sun and stretch our legs.

Lower pictures: My friend Pat and her husband Michael come to Dillsboro for the Jarrett House meals, then to look at the pottery.  Next the front of the Dogwood Co-op. The lovely Victorian parlour (middle right pic) was the setting for a lot of people sitting around watching...wait for it...a football game on a wide screen TV.  What a hoot! Then The Jarrett Baptist Church.  Notice a repetition of a family name?

The Jarrett House was definitely the best place to eat in town, and they gave wonderful service!  Out of the choices of chicken, fish or ham for meat we all received the same sides.  Nobody has ever provided so many side dishes anywhere I've eaten, and most were homemade.  Rolls, coleslaw, apple sauce, pickled beets, and corn which weren't on the main plate.  Then a big serving of boiled buttered potatoes and green beans with the meats.  And I had a slice of pie for desert too.

The top row of this collage just shows some of the interesting people walking around the Western Carolina Pottery Festival.

Lower row shows an old gas pump which sits outside another restaurant which was closed.  Next is me with a grin of satisfaction at the Jarrett House food.  And then the empty plates.  Finally...of course, the caboose of the Smokey Mountains Railroad.

I hope you enjoy looking at my pictures, and maybe will make a comment.  Thanks.

Dillsboro Pottery Festival

Who is this potter giving a demonstration?  (seriously, I'd like to know)

Or can you name THIS potter giving a demonstration?

Ha, I actually know the name of this potter giving a demo.  This is Ron Philbeck.  I have enjoyed his blogs, and introduced myself earlier in the day. Don't miss his very unique work which may be seen here.

And he made a great bowl with decorations suggested by the granddaughters of a friend of mine.  I took movies too.  But I haven't got a movie editing program so I can post it (yet) here.  However, I haven't given up yet.  I will spend some time later in the week trying to get this figured out. 

For now, here are some more fun pics from the great day at the festival.  I saw lots of friends, as well as some interesting people I didn't know.  I saw LOTS of pottery too.

A man looking for a woman, eh?

Fellow potter, Pat.

Yes, they got together.

Bette and Cathy (and I) are resting by the restaurant which was closed.  This ended up being really fortuitous (wait till later!)

I couldn't miss Cathy's ponytail whenever she disappeared in the crowds.

As many of these 5 hour trips have happen, the pictures need to be divided into different blog postings.

So this post will focus upon my friends.

Samantha, Marsha and Bette share some smiles.

Tomorrow, more about lunch, and a craft store, and the Smokey Mountains Railroad!

Fabulous weather, I felt like I probably got a sunburn, 68 degrees out there!

Studio sculptures

Here's where I'm working most days.  This is part of the Mud Colony studio sharing

 I was working on a new sculpture this week.

But she wasn't finished yesterday when I took these pics.  I added a dress, and some design work on the bottom later.

But this was the stage when I had clean enough hands to handle the camera.

And here are some of the other folks who also work at the Black Mountain clay studio.

Sarah is assembling something that will be perhaps a teapot or a table or a shrine...I'll wait till she's finished.

Blair's bears are cavorting around one of her huge pots.

Here's Matilda doing some glazing (I know she spells her name somehow differently, sorry).

Thanks for reading and for all your comments!