Jugs Completed

Gone Postal
Check him out on Ebay

Sleeps With Fishes
See him on Ebay

Faucet Frog

Tree Frog on the garden faucet. The garden has become a haven for frogs and birds in this terrible drought year. He bathes under the drip when I turn the faucet on.

The Cuteanator, Terminally Cute

I dropped a small jug while it was wet but decided to make something of it anyway. It was a cute shape so I decided to make the ultimate cute jug. He is a cute monster with angel wings (made in a shell press mold), a cute kitten and an Oreo cookie. he even has a belly button (how cute is that?) It's so sweet that if you look at it too long you'll get Diabetes of the eyeballs.

Gone Postal

In Progress:
"Gone Postal"

I have been thinking about doing a "Going Postal" jug for sometime.
The news this week finds our postal service is in deep financial trouble. It will be closing many post offices around the country. Up to 120, 000 jobs could be lost. Soon, the postal service, we have enjoyed in this country, will be changed drastically.

This guy is not at all happy about the turn of events. He is irate and out of control. He's chewing his way through the morning mail. His red flag is up (It's probably been up for a while).

Sleeps With The Fishes

In Progress

I didn't know what this was "about" when I made it. I now believe it has to do with our severe drought and  record hot summer. The dying fish, killed by lack of oxygen and shrinking water levels and the suffocating blue-green algae that has made lakes and rivers death traps. I think a times like these must have been very hard on the ancestors.

Clay Dig Update

A few weeks back I posted three videos (see them below) showing how I process and test hand dug local clay. Here is an update of the results.

Here is a pint sized mug that was thrown from clay that I dug from a trench just a mile from my house. This was straight dug clay without any additives. It threw well (see video) and fired pretty well too. I fired it to cone 04 (earthenware temps) first.  At that temp. it was underfired and quite porous. I believe that was because of the abundant fine silica  sand in the clay. I fired it again to cone 6 with good results. It fired to a dark red-brown with 3% absorption and 10% shrinkage. It is glazed with  a slip and ash glaze that consists of 50% local slip clay and 50% wood ash from the woodstove. The inside has a pebbly, almost salt glazed look. I think this is because the soils around the Red River are high in salts and are quite alkaline. I think the salts in the clay interacted with the ash glaze.

 I have been using the mug in the shop daily for the past two months. It has been through the dishwasher many times with no ill effect and has been used for everything from rootbeer to cider. This clay should work well with a bit of flux (PV clay), a little ball clay and some grog.

 

The test bar was 5" long when we started and is now 4 1/2" . That is a 10% shrinkage. It was fired with  each end resting on a piece of broken kiln shelf. It did not sag at all. After firing it was weighed then soaked in water overnight then weighed again. It had absorbed 3% water. This is acceptable to me as a mid-fired pot. With a a bit of flux this absorption will be even less.

Clay Processing Videos

#1

#2

#3

Life Is Unpredictable

Have dessert for dinner sometimes.

Pineapple Upside-Down-Cake baked in the solar oven.

A Brilliant? Idea

Another Stroke Of Genius?
‎105f. in the shade. Perfect day for drying my scrap clay. Brilliant idea!



105f. in the shade. Now someone needs to wedge 300# of dried clay.
I guess that would be me. Not so "brilliant" idea.







Clay drying on a sheet of tile backer board.




A rare sight. the 20gal. scrap clay bin empty!

Cleaning Shop.

Studio is shaping up. I can actually see the floor. I had forgotten that the wheel table was yellow.

First pot on the newly cleaned wheel. A classic shape, kinda boring but the raku firing should liven it up a bit.

Test glazes, underglazes and some of the more costly glaze ingredients. The bulk glaze and clay ingredients are in the kiln shop out back.

Princess was upset when I told her that I was going to skin the work table.

Princess is happy now with the newly reskinned table.

Old table skin ready to become the ground for a painting.

M. Dauber, Flighty Sculptor.

Here is a sculpture by a local ceramic sculptor. She shares my studio without my permission, uses the clay in my scrap bucket and  never pays a cent for rent or materials. I should say something to her but she's rather flighty and buzzes around the studio all day. Oh well, she doesn't use much material and builds beautiful architectural works and leaves them in out of the way places around the studio.

Actually, this is the nest of the Mud Dauber or Dirt Dauber Wasp. In times of drought, like we are having now, they come into the studio and land on my throwing water bucket and gather clay from my recycle bins. I don't mind. They are docile and they build some great clay works.

40 Years Of Pottery Tools

Cleaning the studio the last few days. I only do this about every five years. Here is a 40 year accumulation of hand tools. Strange thing is that I have only selected and purchased about 10 of them. The rest have been "donated" by other potters who gave up, left by past students or were included when I purchased a used kiln or bought out someones glaze materials. I only use about 9 of them and most of those are improvised tools or other repurposed objects

I have sorted them (again). 1. There are tools for throwing  2. Tools for throwing I actually use.  3. tools for shaping sculpting and finishing. 4. tools for texturing. 5. back up tools in case I can't find the tool I need at the time. 6. Tools that I have no idea what they would be used for, but they are cool to look at.

It seems weird to me that so many things that are intended for other purposes can be used for pottery but pottery tools are pretty much limited to making pottery. Some tools made for pottery don't even seem to be very well suited for that purpose either :)

Saga Of A Meatloaf

2:00 PM.: Meatloaf catching a few rays in the solar oven. He's slathered in homemade Catsup. Surely this will protect him from the Sun.

3:30 PM. : Meatloaf fell asleep in the Sun. Now he's cooked. Looks a lot like George Hamilton.

4:00 PM.: Meatloaf invited to dinner."What are we having?", he asks."Meatloaf", the host answers."OH NOOOO!", cries Meatloaf.

4:15 PM.: Turns out Meatloaf was a most agreeable dinner guest. "Burrrp!". "Pardon me."

So good that we will invite his "Better Half" for sandwiches tomorrow.

Betcha' Didn't Know I Used To Be A Jeweler

Here's a ring I made in 1971. It is cast Sterling silver with a piece of Iron Pyrite
 and a cabachon of Lace Agate.

It's for sale on my wife's Etsy store.

Peach Cobbler In The Sun

Fresh peaches made into a cobbler.

 Cobbler in the solar oven

Cobbler out of the solar oven.

Cobbler with homemade ice cream......priceless!