jmlpottery

Christmas Rush

2010-11-08T21:47:00.000Z

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't posted since April. To have that big of a lapse means I better have something to show for it...

You'll be pleased to know that I haven't fared too badly...as you can see below.

In looking at the photo, I guess it doesn't look like 6 months worth of stock. But trust me, when you are turning out this stuff in a 5 x 7 shed, I was definitely maxing out my space!

All that is left now is marketing and getting to those shows! My first big show year and I am super excited about my new wares - I just hope the public likes them too.

After 8 years of potting, some things still get the better of me....

2010-04-04T10:00:00.001+01:00

Like kneading hard, freakin' cold clay early in the morning.

Or making up a 5 kilo batch of tried and tested glaze, only to find the kiln load you just slapped the stuff on came out a completely different colour than you expected.

How about the lower back pain after a long day at the wheel?

And why does semi-porcelain have to be so darned difficult to throw with?

Or sitting at a show for 2 days and knowing you aren't even going to break-even?

On the flip side, there are some things about pottery that just make me all warm and fuzzy....other than the expected heat of the kiln...

How about that nervous feeling when cracking open that kiln? Man, nothing beats that rush of anticipation - it's like Christmas morning and wondering if I got lucky the Barbie camper set I wanted or if I got stuck ith a handmade knitted sweater with a big teddy bear on the front.....

The reaction of people when you send or hand over their custom-made pot. The "wow, you made that?" reaction - how cool is that?

What people say when you tell them you are a potter. There are the inevitable "Ghost" references roughly 80% of the time, followed by childhood memories in art class. My favorite reactions are the disbelieving ones who cannot contemplate that it is an actual profession. Nothing like surprising people to make my day!

Conquering a new form on the wheel. Transforming an idea from paper to reality and it actually working out - WOW - the sense of accomplishment is fantastic!

I always thought that because pottery was my passion, that I would easily overcome any adversity and never experience times when I would just not be interested in being out in the pottery making. But I have realised that like any profession or any path one embarks upon, there will always be highs and lows; moments of intense activity and development; times of barren creativity or action. That's the way it goes. Accepting these ups and downs as part of the process rather than using them as proof of my lack of drive or ability is helping me to be less critical and more optomistic. Not easy, but I'm giving it a go!

You win some, you lose some...

2010-04-01T21:23:00.001+01:00

January and February seem to be the big application months in pottery land. As Christmas time is typically the biggest earning period of the year for most potters, the November and December shows are highly sought after, requiring a selection process well in advance of the event. Deadlines for Christmas loom around Feb or March for the bigger shows, and May-June for the smaller affairs.
In all, I have applied to 9 shows thus far, with 4 others not having posted their apps online just yet. So far, I've had 2 rejections and 3 acceptances...
For my first year at this, I'm happy.
The oddest thing for me is thinking about Christmas in March! From this moment forward I will be making Christmas specific items and building up stock in readiness for the winter madness (yeah, I'm assuming that if "I make it, they will come").
So, Merry Christmas all and enjoy the spring weather!

Trading overalls for full body lycra

2010-03-30T21:12:00.000+01:00

I feel I must explain my absence from the blogging scene these past few months. A madness has taken over those close to me, including my husband....we have taken on the London Marathon.
I really thought I could manage potting and training, but alas muscle soarness in netherregions I never knew existied and incredible fatigue post runs have rendered me useless in the land of pottery.
Conversations have reduced to the never-ending use of running terminology - with phrases like "stress reaction, interval training, negative splits, calcaneo cuboid joint instability, hip abductor strain, carb loading" worming their way into any discussion being had. Sadly, we've even taken to sharing and analyzing toilet rituals pre and post runs.

Even more frightening is my comfort level when donning full body lycra. I've taken to wearing it to bed, to make the morning fight to get out of the house at 5.30 a much easier process - slip on my shoes and go....

I am getting too comfortable in this stuff, even having visions that the "me" who is in the tight black running gear is some form of alter-ego super-hardass who would fit very rituously alongside the Marvel greats. I haven't thought of a name for this "super me", so any suggestions are welcome.

Gym sessions keep me away from home on average 4 hours each go, three times a week, inclusive of travel. The long runs can last up to 3.3 hours, once a week. But if I had to rate my usefulness after these bad boys, my score wouldn't even hit the radar. A big meal and commute home ends in me plonking on the couch with my feet elevated for the rest of the day. Hubby knows not to dare ask for ANYTHING on those days....

Add a work schedule to the fun and you have the makings for a very exhausted little potter.

I'm nursing a foot injury at the moment which isn't what I had imagined for my training experience. But, with only 4 weeks to go, the light at the end of the tunnel is certainly getting brighter.

Never you worry though, you'll be happy to know I had a very successful February from pre-made stock on sale in folksy and some custom orders too!

So, keep your fingers crossed and thanks for being patient. I'll be back on form (hopefully) after 26 April, allowing for a week post marathon of doing nothing of course!

They like me, They really like me!!!

2010-01-24T17:52:00.001Z

WOOHOO!!
I just got my acceptance letter for my very first ceramics only show!

Ceramics South East is set in the private gardens of the Aylesford Pottery, which was established by David Leach - the son of Bernard Leach (who, coincidentally was a buddy with Lucie Rie who in turn taught Ray Silverman, my instructor at Rosetta Studios!).
I had been there once before two summers ago, helping out a potter buddy of mine, Jeremy Nichols, and really found the venue very nice.
I'm really looking forward to the show. What's really great is it is very close to a mate's house down in Ashford so I'm gonna beg for boarding that weekend!
I have another 8-10 shows I have and will be applying to for this year....so wish me luck!

Updated Etsy Shop Sorted!

2010-01-23T19:59:00.004Z

Now Etsy has my whole new range for view.
Given that, I have to say that I am not relying on etsy very much at all for bringing in sales.
The fact that my wares are ceramic and therefore heavy, shipping rates from UK to the states are astronomical. (This is one of the few times of recent years I have yearned to be in the states so I could take advantage of national postal rates!).
With such high shipping costs, I'd imagine most people are put off. I guess posting my wares on there is more of a way of being seen. I don't imagine it will amount to much and that's why I am pushing Folksy more. If I was a jeweller or a textiles person, the Etsy world would be open to me, but for now I am just going to have to use it as a showcase.
So, here it is!

www.etsy.com/shop/jmlpottery

The woes of working with a homemade lightbox

2010-01-20T13:52:00.001Z

As promised (okay, 4 months later - sorry!), I am here to report that finding lamps to fit those darned bulbs, which wouldn't cost the earth, was a painful process!

In the end, I settled on 3 of these beauties!

and one of these:

Ordered from The Lightworks (from one of the only suppliers I could find that confirmed the lamps were suitable for ES bulbs)at the lowest price I could find for £10.97each for the black and £19.97 for the white.

Note: The taller white lamp was ordered for behind the photobox to hover over the top for downlighting.

I gave up on finding the clip-on desk lamps because none seemed to have a big enough shade diameter or none would/could confirm.

Got 3 in total and ended up with this setup (insert picture here).

As for the pictures that resulted from the light box, they left much to be desired!!! No amount of hue/saturation editing in photoshop could get these babies light enough.

So, back to the drawing board. I figured there wasn't enough light. So, I ended up ordering two more lamps to increase the brightness. Results as follows:

As you can see, they are an improvement, but when I photograph lighter coloured and white objects I still have some serious issues. You can see that the white and light pink suffer the most.

I'm not sure if I am drowning too much light now?
Would a coloured background paper be better to bring out the object more?
Where else can I put lamps to backlight the object? I have such a small photobox, I fear needing to make a larger one!

All the blue, green and yellow items look pretty good for beginner's standards. I am just not happy with the pink and white. Looks like I'll be posting updates on this matter in the future!

For the time being, they will suffice.

Making up time

2010-01-19T16:12:00.000Z

A new product in my range is clocks!!!

I have decided that my swirly slip patterns would look pretty slick on a round clock face and provide a really nice textural effect behind the clock hands - kind of like functional art!

The thing I love about making these, is that they are dead simple to make and fun! The hardest part is finding the appropriate movements to turn it into a clock! More on that later.

So, how do I make these things, eh?

First, I throw a wide shallow cylinder:

Then I wait for it to go leather hard and turn it into shape, cleaning off all the nasty bumpy bits.

Next I apply my slip texture, wait for that to firm up and add the central hole then fire! Vioila! Done!

Making it a real clock....

What movements do you need?

Well, from what I can gather from my research and some trial and error, you need to be certain of the spindle length of the clock movement. It's depth is super important.

My clock faces are about 3/8" thick (roughly 9.7mm) and the spindles (the shaft that goes through your clock face and connects the dails to the mechanism) come in 11, 13.8, 16.2 ,20.1, 26.2 mm lengths. You need to measure the thickness of your clock face and allow for a little length of spindle to stick out in the front of the clock face so you can screw the hands and finishing nuts on the spindle to finish off the clock.

With my clock face thickness, I chose the 13.8 length. Don't worry if none of the lengths seem to suit your needs, as the mechanisms come with rubber washers of various thicknesses to adjust the spindle's length accordingly.

Shop around because a lot of the hour and second hand movements I have been finding on the internet are quite old fashioned. After many hours, I finally found some suppliers who stock a bit more contemporary hands, so they are out there. I ended up choosing the B series hands from:

bude time enterprises ltd.

You need to choose hands that are the appropriate length to fit onto your clock face, and that decision is completely yours, as you may want to make an off-centred clock face or so forth.

What I can say, is you should be aware that the larger the face, the more powerful a motor you will need- more kick to get it around over time. This motor is called Model High Torque Euroshaft Movement, well it is called that in the UK, on this site, not sure about other sites! For the average sized clock, all you need is the Euroshaft Standard Movement.

Once fitted into the central hole and secured, one battery in and you have a working clock! You've just created time! Magic!

Resolution Number One - Sort out my folksy home page!

2010-01-10T08:24:00.004Z

After taking most of last year to develop my new range of work, I was finally able to photograph the work in late November in my makeshift light box.
All in all, I have managed to document 80% of my range, with a few hiccups preventing completion of the remaining wares. I still have to load all my mirrors online and photographing them has become a real issue (more on that later....).
I know I need to improve the light quality on some of the photos, but for now, I am happy with a cohesive brand. Finally!!!
Let the sales begin!!! Please!!!
http://www.folksy.com/shops/jmlpottery

Dulwich Craft Fair

2010-01-04T14:16:00.005Z

Okay, my first official Craft Fair was on 14 November at St. Barnabas Hall in Dulwich!

I was very excited, but after a Friday night drive into south London, after leaving central london to go home in the east, I was pooped by the time we got everything set up and got home at 11.30pm!

And, guess what, I forgot to take pictures of my stand!!! So, my photos of my setup the night before in my dining room will have to suffice.

For a first show, I managed to get a bit more than breakeven! But, that darned sandwich I bought brought me right down to zero profit! Learned my lesson on that one....

All in all, crappy weather but great organisers and fellow stall buddies. Fabric Nation and her fabulous set-up (with mince pies thank you very much) were an inspiration on how to fit a table full of kit into an amazingly reduced travel set (without a car!!!)!

Light up my life

2009-09-02T22:26:00.011+01:00

Last time I tried to take photos of my work, it took me 4 hours to photograph 10 items.

The sun moved too much that the position I setup in was useless midway into the "shoot" due to shadows from hanging branches.

Those little damned green flies kept sitting on my background paper and wouldn't go away when I blew at them (whilst kneeling on one knee with one hand on camera reaching awkwardly over to rid the scene of them!).

The background paper I had taped into position to some lawn chairs had seperated from the wind howling and bending and tearing the paper.

I nearly lost all feeling in my legs while kneeling on the concrete bending over and peering into the camera.

I had enough! Time to get myself a professional photography studio and leave all that drama behind....

you know how much that would cost? Forget it. I needed to figure out a much cheaper alternative....a light box. Not just any light bow, but a homemade one!

After scouring the internet, I found several amazing sites with instructions on how to build a variation of light boxes with plumbing tubes, boxes, lamp shades and ikea products....to name a few.

I settled on the Ikea option with instructions from PlanetJune, as seen here:

http://www.planetjune.com/blog/light-tent-for-better-product-photography/

I thought I'd send along my step by step progress of assembling my photo box to show you how I achieved it!!

1. Get the Antonius Hamper Frame from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10103804. Only £5 - what a bargain.

2. Get some type of white fabric. I chose a cotton sheet from Ikea because I was there and it was cheap. You could get white fabric just about anywhere, but in the UK, no Joanne's Fabric or Michaels to hop to in craft emergencies - so Ikea it had to be...

3. Cut 3 large rectangular pieces from the fabric, using the frame as a guide, cutting 1.5 inches or so bigger than the actual frame size. Do the same for the two ends, cutting smaller more square pieces. Start pinning them together on the frame to get a good snug fit.

4. After pinning, start sewing your pieces together. Put it on the frame to check the fit and adjust where necessary.

5. Start figuring out the lighting!

This is something I haven't had much luck finding! Many thanks to all the Etsians and countless blogs that I have reviewed for some more insight into the appropriate bulbs to use for this light box.

Being in the UK reading US blogs means I cannot take advantage of the great product suggestions available at all those great US hardware shops. In London, B&Q and Homebase without the Lowe's, Home Depots and Walmarts, don't seem to even have a small portion of the selection of bulbs I would have available to me!

I have resorted to online ordering which isn't so bad for ordering the bulbs. However, finding the appropriate light fixtures has proven to be much more difficult!!! Can I ask all of you out there, where did those clunky old clamp-on desk lights go? That is a blog entry for another day...

However, for the bulbs, I can gladly report my decision based on the advice of loads of Etsians:

I am ordering the trumpet low energy compact fluorescent daylight photo bulbs.
They are a bit wider than the usual bulbs, but it seems loads of people have had a lot of luck with them. They have a kelvin temp of around 6000, close to daylight as possible.

The width of them makes finding a lamp more difficult, but I am determined. More on that next time.

I'll post photos of some test shoots as soon as I sort out the lighting!

Does training for a 1/2 marathon and potting mix?

2009-07-20T15:34:00.005+01:00

Hmmmn, that would be a big fat NO!!!!
Every morning that I train, I cannot help but be extremely exhausted and useless the remainder of the day! Sadly, with my impending race next weekend, more training sessions means more useless days.
I did have one to two really productive days this past week.
First, I managed to clear 118 test batches of glaze. Yes, you read correctly, 118 batches of 100g glaze pots, built up over 2 years in my endeavour to find that perfect glaze and slip. Can you believe it took over 3 hours to scrape clean into plaster batt (to dry for easy dumping into toxic section of my local recycling/waste centre) and scrub the pots clean. Man, that was a workout in itself! However, what a great feeling it was. Not only did it open up space in my already cramped pottery, but it was a realisation that I had reached the end of my journey of researching, developing and testing.
Once thought of as the unreachable goal, I find myself emerging on the other side of that excrutiating long dark tunnel I have been crawling through for years. I feel like I can finally start enjoying the creative process again, now that I have some decisive conclusions about the clay, additives, slips and glazes I will be using going forward. No more juggling between 22 strains of stain concentrations tested amongst 6 different types of slips which lie under the choice of 15 different glazes, all of which can be applied on top of 11 various white clays. You get the point. The variables have narrowed to a manageable amount.
I have my chosen materials and batches of slip/glaze.
I know how my kiln fires - knowing the hot and cold spots and how best to fire my chosen materials.
I know the forms I want to make and sell.
I have even managed to simplify what it is that I am making - reducing the types of forms on offer, streamlining the making process to a more suitable level of ease.

This leads to the second productive day of my week: I actually started making my new forms and it felt so good just to create, knowing exactly what decoration I was going to apply rather than settling with some undeveloped glaze cover for the sake of finishing the form off. How great did it feel!!! Now I just have to fire and assemble the goods to see how they look!

So, from now on it is time to keep moving with my prototypes and emerge from my long retreat and show everyone what it is that I can offer the world.
A very exciting time! Perhaps all these years of slogging it behind the scenes with scores and scores of okay ideas always seemingly resulting in bad outcomes will actually start paying off!

So, after next weekend's big race, I can only imagine what more energy from reduced running will bring to the potter's wheel! I cannot wait!

Just how specific is this darned specific gravity?

2009-07-09T16:23:00.003+01:00

So, there I was remeasuring the specific gravity of my orange glaze, making sure it read as it should from a month ago. Good news, it read the same. Bad news, it looked so damn lumpy and so different from a month ago, I really couldn't believe what I was seeing.

To appreciate the amount of frustration I was feeling at that juncture, I must go back 2-3 months ago when I undertook the painful process of understanding my glazes more. With every kiln firing producing various results, I had undergone the necessary cone fire testings to ensure the right controls were in place and that I was firing evenly and consistantly. After cracking that issue (mind you, that took about 4 months....), I started reading up on how to get my glaze consistancy constant (say that over and over again really fast- I dare you).

I started with hyrdrometers and after reading bucket loads of info on potters.org, decided against persuing that angle. However, the good people on potters.org recommended using SPECIFIC GRAVITY as a reliable method for measuring the amount of water (the consistancy) in a batch of glaze so you can replicate it every time you make up a new batch.

So I eagerly and dutifully tested all my glazes at a thick, medium and thin consistancies to better decide which one was best for the glaze. Once confirmed, I made sure the batches were well mixed and measured the specific gravity accordingly. In fact, I did this three times to ensure little to no room for error.

This is why after re-measuring the batch recently and recording a same specific gravity as before, I was dumbfounded to see a thick muddy pool of glaze. Help!!! Does this mean I cannot even rely on this measurement either? I don't want to go back to sticking my finger in the batch and measuring thickness by just how much of my skin texture can be seen through the glaze film - too much room for error!

Anway, I will proceed. I am ready to dump these glazes once and for all and streamline to one reliable glaze - is there such a thing!?!

2009-07-09T16:06:00.003+01:00

WOW - I have been such a bad blogger the past few months! I have been too busy going away like a little jetsetter on holiday to Tobago with my hubby! It was the first holiday with just the two of us that we have had in so many years!
I was hoping to find inspiration where we were, with the flora and fauna of the beautiful island providing me with a feast of ideas to explore in clay. Instead, I found that my initiative melted away in the 30degrees plus Celcius sun and I couldn't really get beyond rubbing my sunscreen on every 15 minutes. Man, that was a lot of work anyway!
What I did discover was an incredible sense of calm and centredness. No time constraints, no plans, no dressing up, no make-up, no brush (!), no noise, no pollution, no rushing, no one to answer to, no diet, no mirrors (that IS the best way to start chilling out ladies!).... just plain and simple R & R.
It is really so true what they say about the positive impact the sun has on us. Those rays and a quiet connectedness with nature really brought my mind back to the basics: eat, sleep, and be merry. How nice life could be if we could always have it in our minds to seek no more than what we need and to enjoy what is around us.
I was so very hard to get my mind back into gear after getting home - a good week. And now when I begin to stress, I close my eyes and remember all those moments sitting on the beach when I told myself to just listen to the waves rolling in, because it is that sound that I can hear now when I need to escape.
So, rambling over. I'm off to fire my kiln tonight.

My new project!

2009-05-20T16:53:00.002+01:00

I finally worked on something that has been in my sketchbook for a good 2 years or so now!
It was so very relaxing and I am so pleased with the outcome!

Picture three of these next to each other in a wall hanging, or a massive singular flower plaque on its own! The options are endless!

I'm a little worried I might get swine flu

2009-05-20T16:44:00.004+01:00

with all these pigs around!

Coloured clay! Results are in!

2009-04-27T22:08:00.003+01:00

I must confess, I've had these results for some time now, but just hadn't gotten around to posting them!

As you may recall from previous posts, I went ahead and added three concentrations (2, 5 and 10%) of stain to my semi-porcelain body to see what results I would get...

Here is the lilac, which I don't think really looks lilac at all...

The green which I thought was best from the two I tested:

I thought this green was a bit too mint gum looking!

Here is the blue. Oh, the different finishes on each bowl were two differnt glazes on either side with coloured clay exposed in the middle, which honestly is my favourite part on all of them! No glaze, no hassle!

Shame that I like the mandarin so much, as 100grams is THREE TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE than the other stains. Damn!

Out of all the tests, I settled on these particular shades for each colour to make up my pastel pallet.

Now that I have tried adding stain to this clay, I am very intrigued and excited to explore this further. However, looking at the price of the stains, I now realise my my instructor never wanted us to go near them!

Round Two: Piggy Banks with stained clay and glazes

2009-04-21T23:27:00.014+01:00

Well - my first go at using coloured clay in an actual item finally came and went . It was so exciting getting the coloured piggy banks out of the kiln! As I made them, the percentages of stain in each clay body didn't really look like much but once fired with a clear glaze over them - they looked fab!

What was really upsetting about the entire exercise was the costing of the pigs with stains inclusive! After punching through my numbers, pigs with NO stain cost 3/4 less to make than those with stains!

As Joe and I had already agreed a per pig price prior to use of stains, my profit margin shrunk by a third when I added them in! No good for me!

Luckily, the results of some glaze tests with stains in them also came out of the kiln at the same time as the pigs! I had tested 2, 5, and 10% stain additions in two white base glazes. One didn't take the stains at all, but the other really reacted!

I tested green, a pink, blue and yellow - here are the results! I LIKE!

When examining the costs of adding these to the glaze instead of the clay, it worked out to be a far cheaper alternative! Joe ended up liking the results as well, so to save costs we decided to go forward with the coloured glazes.

The only thing left to do now is see how my new ceramic transfers with Joe's company's logo that I ordered from Ceramic Digital will look on top of coloured backgrounds!

Visit to Lacock Village and Pottery

2009-04-14T12:24:00.009+01:00

Over Easter Weekend, Joe and I planned a trip to Bristol, hitting various National Trust sites (click here to see my blog about the cool properties we have visited) along the way.

We rolled up in one village arguing that it sounded vaguely familiar but not sure why.

Lacock, voted the prettiest village in England at some point (or so Joe told me!).

Then it dawned on us - we had been here before with my Grandparents when they were visiting around Easter last year! Before, our visit was on a very unforgiving day weather-wise and we had collapsed into a fabulously warm, welcoming pub all toasted up with roaring fire and drool inducing homemade dishes. It was dark and rainy that day, but I remember seeing a pottery sign which upon further inspection, revealed a quite gallery space closed for that day.

So, little did we realise that the National Trust's Lacock Abbey was indeed in the same place as that fab pub and village we stumbled upon before.

This time, full daylight with cloud greeted us as we drove in, but the village was buzzing with littl-in's and parents on an early Easter Egg hunt through the streets and businesses in the village. And guess what, that pottery was open!

Take a look at this grand and beautiful property! Believe it or not, it is David McDowell's pottery, gallery cum bed and breakfast all in one!

As we stepped into the gallery space, David was walking up the back steps from his pottery to greet us visitors. After introducing myself, he graciously offered to show us around!

David was so busy, but spent over an hour showing us around and making us feel so welcome. We found out that over 20 years ago, he had to apply to the National Trust to live in this building, taking it over from the previous dweller, Robert Fournier (yeah, the man who wrote that awesome Pottery Dictionary that I love)!!!! Most of it was is in shambles and he restored it during every bit of limited free time that he had while running pottery classes to make the dosh! (Forgive me if I got this wrong David!!)

The location is superb, across from this amazing church, just at the end of the village road.

His kiln building out back was derelict when he moved in and it now houses a handmade massive gas kiln and quite an impressively organized wall system of props and shelves (the envy of any potter really!).

The icing on the cake for me was his big ole pottery in the lower ground of the house (under the gallery which the steps lead up to in the photo below) and all the fab pottery scattered around his B&B. He has Wally Keeler, John Maltby, and many others all just hanging out together on shelves - cool, eh?!

Here's Joe, David and the rhubarb!

He showed us around the house and then asked if we wanted to come to his allotment to pick up fresh rubarb and rocket for dinner that night. Well, if the set-up wasn't making me drool already, come on - how much more idyllic can this get!

It can! The allotment happened to be at the end of a path winding around the church beyond a lovely stone wall and locked wooden door. And check out that rubarb! My Aunt Rose would be so envious!

Needless to say, I had effectively died and gone to heaven in that afternoon. I had found my utopia....Joe was a little giddy too, although not convinced about my sudden desire to be a B&B owner...

I just cannot thank David enough for being so great to us! His pots, rhubarb and B&B are all fab!

Anyone interested in staying, here is his website. Well worth the visit! Lacock itself is pretty much smack between Bristol and London, close to Bath and very lovely countryside.

Did we even make it to the Abbey - nah, but who cares! What an afternoon!

Pigs coming out of my ears!

2009-03-28T00:12:00.000Z

Hubby Joe was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to submit a quote (is this how you say that?) for an order of hand-made piggy banks he could use for his business, MyEggNest.com.

Now, I personally think I've won the contract (even without submitting a quote), but he was quick to clarify that my status as "wife" had no bearing on this process at all.

Hmmmn, I guess I will be taking this seriously after all, considering I need the money and I need the experience learning how to cost for purposes of winning contracts in the future.

So, after looking back at some earlier research I had done on this subject from a few years ago, in addition to some training I recieved at a CockPit Arts session AND recent reading - I figure I will need to do the following:

make a prototype of the item, making sure to calculate clay and other materials used per unit

once prototype reviewed and accepted by hubby "aka...client" make a few more units, taking care to quanitify time required per unit, and reconfirmation of clay and glaze materials (and any other additional items needed) used per unit

determine cost of firing items. THIS IS DATA I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO GET FOR A YEAR NOW but haven't gotten around to it. Get the kilowatt/hour charges from the electricity supplier and work out the rates....

consider my wage and profit margin

add all costs together for each unit, use this to determine total cost for total order

figure out time frame required to complete order

submit quote and keep my fingers crossed!

I guess this is a process much in keeping with the design brief concept I used to touch upon with my students in the City and Guilds 7922 Ceramics course. Sadly, I never had that much experience with this process so my students kindof lost out on this front.

I am wondering what other potters do to win contracts or orders?

About two years ago, I did go through an intensive exercise similar to this in preparation for an open house in which I was going to be selling my wares. Although I didn't have a client as it were, I did work to a very strict record keeping procedure, logging every minute and ounce of materials used for each item I made. This real data was then used to calculate a final price for each item, taking into account margins, wages, etc. What was shocking to me at the time was just how much everything was going to cost if I paid myself a decent wage!!! In many instances, the forms were coming out at double what I knew was reasonable to charge.

I wonder with a bit more making experience under my belt this time around that my making time will have decreased, thus reducing the total wages i would have to charge.

Who actually works these quantities out? Are potters actually, on the whole, charging a total price which accounts for a wage to be earned? I would love to hear from someone who does!

Well, to end on a happy note, here is a photo play by play of my journey making piggie banks!

These little vases had no idea they were turning into little piggies!

After a little bit of work, they emerge as very happy pigs! I wonder which one you like best - I need some help on this one!

With cute bottoms!

Colouring clay

2009-03-19T18:52:00.001Z

Last month, I decided to join etsy. After spending a long time looking at other potter's shops and their policies, I realised that shipping was going to be a big issue for me. I noticed the shipping charges for US sellers to US customers was expensive which had me worried about what I'd have to charge to sell to this US market from the UK.

I "mock" packed various items in bubble wrap, peanuts and a box to get some sample shipping weights. I then went onto Royal Mail to to check out the rates for regular first class international vs insured international. Can you believe the rate to send one mug insured was roughly $30?!! I nearly fell over! The cost to send regular post was $16 which is the cheapest I could get it.

So, out of the two items I managed to load onto etsy, one (the set of bowls) has the $16Us/$6UK regular international delivery charges for an item that costs $40 for set of 2 AND the other (the mug) has the $30US/$10UK delivery charges for an item that costs only $18! Obviously, I decided I was gonna have to sort this out!

In my efforts to get items loaded onto etsy, this whole delivery issue really threw me, so I decided to stop until I figured out an alternative to sending bulky pots over the ocean.

My first option is to look at making smaller, lighter objects. The other would be to go with folksy, a UK alternative to etsy!

I haven't gotten around to getting loaded onto folksy just yet, but had a look around. The great thing is it looks like less than 10 potters are on there right now, so it isn't saturated just yet!

In the meantime, I have been doing some tests to formulate some of my ideas for lighter, marketable items to crack the US market with! I'm gonna keep them a secret for now, but I thought I'd show you the testing side of the delevopment of these items because it is really exciting for me!

Okay, what I am really going for here is coloured clay. I started by weighing out same size balls of clay (all kneaded) and three different percentages of a stain for each colour I wanted to try.

So, 3 balls. 1 ball with 2% stain added; 2nd ball with 5% added and 3rd ball with 10% added. I was testing 6 colours, so that made a total of 18 tests!

A lot of potters on potters.org recommend when mizing clay to wear gloves and protect your surfaces with a barrier like plastic. Well, I didn't have anything slightly pourous that I could use other than the table and well, you can see that the gloves didn't work very well either!

These were the first set of gloves I worked with and had to stop. See that texture there, NOT good for mixing clay! You are better off with plain smooth gloves.

This set of gloves were less flimsy but still somewhat textured. They didn't work either! In the end, I used my hands....

Here are the finished balls ready for throwing

Taadaah!!! Cannot wait until they are fired!

Myetsy shop

2009-03-18T22:14:00.001Z

Well, it took two hours yesterday and esty online help, but I managed to create my banner on etsy!

I worked with gimp, a free piece of software alternative to photoshop and let me tell you - it ain't easy for graphic illiterates like me!

But, anywho, here is one photo I started with:

On gimp, I managed to reduce it to 760 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall and came up with the following banner. Oh yeah, and the coolest thing was the insertion of groovy text (free from dafont!) for my company name!

Another photo I used was:

And, again, with my amazing gimp abilities, I transformed it into this:

I decided to use the latter of the two, as seen here on my etsy page!

To get great advice on how to do this yourself, click here for etsy tutorial!

Come visit my etsy site! Okay, it is a work in progress, but I promise it will be updated soon!

Testing Testing 1 2 3...

2009-03-17T14:12:00.001Z

This is a quick one to test if my RSS feed to my email account is working!

Slide Silde Slippedy Slide...

2009-03-10T20:54:00.007Z

Last week I worked my heart out making pots to fill up a test kiln firing. I thought I would apply some of my newly formulated coloured slips to see how they turn out once fired and glazed.

As promised, here is one set of mugs that I resolved the whole "how do you handle a slipped mug" thing. While I was pulling the handles, I was thinking about all the horror stories I have read on potters.org about semi-porcelain cracking issus with all sorts of appendages. Man, I was dreaming that that would be the only issue! This clay is a right pain trying to attach to itself. My Lord! After the trauma of attaching the stump to the mug, pulling the handle wasn't too difficult - the clay wasn't short like I thought it would be - Thank God!

Here are two examples of top handle attachments... I think the green one is much more stable and nicer looking! The pink one looks a bit weak.

However, attaching the bottom onto the slipped surface turned into a real problem. Again, I keep approaching things like my old stoneware so I didn't bother scoring the surface of the mug to get the handle securely attached. Well, that didn't work too well, it kept sliding off. And, me being the usual slow Jami, it didn't dawn on me to score! Doah! I just kept doing it the same way with the same bad result! It wasn't until I walked into the pottery a few days later when the wares were completely dried did I see a few of the bottom of the handles popped completely off!

Mugs before they dried and handles popped!

I never had this problem before! Goes to show how important it is to be aware and willing to adapt your tried and tested ways to new materials. Harsh lesson to learn.

Overall, the whole idea of pulling a handle off a partially slipped pot seemed to work. I think it really limits the form of the mug, a design consideration that is born entirely out of ease of handling rather than ease of use once finished. And this is somewhat backward thinking that I am not too certain about right now.

I did another set of mugs that I thought I would apply slip to the entire surface. As a result, I wouldn't be able to pull any handles off the pot, as the slip would be destroyed. I plan to research and make my own plaster mould for a handle that can be cast and attached quickly and mess free onto the slipped pot. I think it will be some time before I can get that sorted and tested.

In any case, here are the prototypes ready and wrapped now, awaiting that elusive cast handle:

Other items I slipped were a big shallow bowl which I threw to test the throwing, turning and drying behaviour of the new clay. I sure do love those chunky swirls. I DO hope they come through nicely under the clear glaze once fired.

Let me hear a shout out to all those potters who like their pots better leatherhard than fired!!!

A final exercise for the day was attaching my spout to my cylindrical body to make a big ole bottle. I had taken photos of that work in progress but wouldn't you know it, I managed to delete the darn things.

Anyway, this is the finished form before slip applied and after; it's a height of about 17 inches min:

Okay - off to get some more pots made!

To everything, turn, turn, turn....

2009-03-09T15:19:00.007Z

There is a reason, turn, turn, turn....

Was that the Byrds who sang that tune? How appropriate! Saturday in the pottery was full of turning out both stoneware and semi-porcelain pots.

I found that all the semi-porc pots with the added molochite made for nice and easy turning, with an attractive tooth when scraped. The non-grog samples did well too, making a nice plain smooth finish which will be very useful for slip application. However, with that said, I am wondering if a little tooth wouldn't be better for the slip layer to adhere a bit better (I'm thinking about the DIY system of scratching gloss surfaces to allow better adhesion of paint, filler, etc...)

Will have to apply slip to both clay compositions and see!

Wow - this semi-porcelain can be tempermental in the turning stages as well! You really need to catch it at just the right leather-hard stage. A bit too soft and it really seems to "melt" and expand out of the solid mass it has become. A bit too hard and it chatters.

As I have read loads about the pitfalls of porcelain, one thing I am super worried about is application of handles, as these appendages seem to give loads of potters sticking issues when applied to porcelain bodies. Many potters recommend working with the clay as soft as possible. Others say SLOW DRY once handles are attached. Frankly speaking, I am not going to be working with pulling handles when the clay is leather soft - too difficult!!! I am just going to have to apply when firm, slowly dry and pray.

One interesting characteristic of this semi-porc clay that I have noticed is it's dislike of handcarving. Whenever I try to hand trim certain bits of the clay, it wants to crumble and break off into frayed segments, much akin to a fired pot shivering. How odd?! However, when I using turning tools with pressure on a fast turning wheel, no such problem occurs. Hmmn - anyone know why this happens? Anyone?

With all my mugs turned, I began to think about slip application and immediately stumbled upon a dilemma. Ultimately, I am going for a fluid, textured application of coloured slip all over the piece. Dipping of slip is not an option and I would imagine applying it after adhering a handle would only make for one messy outcome as the handle would only get in the way of the nice horizontal brush strokes I am trying to achieve over the entire piece.

The only solutions I can come up with are:

apply slip prior to "handling", but only in between the two points where the handle would stick to the pot

apply slip just below the top join of the handle (as lots of touching to get handle adhered here would mess the slip up completely). The bottom join is easy to attach to the pot without ruining the slip decor so that won't be an issue. This would result in all vessels having the upper 1/4 or 1/3 without slip. A design consideration not taken likely, because it would bear influence on all other forms in my repertiore when trying to keep the "look" cohesive.

apply slip all over and get a plaster cast handle to attach cleanly and precisely to the body without messing the slip decor

I'm leaning toward the cast handle even if I am apprehensive to do so. Apprehension is born out of worry that all those who have taught me to pull a good handle (and other professionals) would view my use of moulded handles as a way to overcome a lack of basic skills in handle making. Should I care? Probably not, but it does come into it a bit.

I'll be attaching handles tonight to some without slip, as I am also developing coloured glazes which I want to test out. Others I will go for the 1/4 not slipped look with a pulled handle and a final selection will be put aside for use with a plaster moulded handle...I'm thinking you nor I will see that outcome for some time! I'll post photos of all as they progress!

Another interesting development on Saturday was just how exciting it felt to make items that would test the strength and adaptability of this new-fangled clay when cut and joined into new shapes and forms. I found it very nice to alter and add bits to each other. I guess the proof will be in the pudding - once fired, confirming that no unsightly tension cracks appear.

Here is my "bubble" wall-hanging in the making, step one:

I'll be sure to post photos once glazed and fired.

What other P words can I congure up when thinking about porcelain?

2009-03-05T13:02:00.009Z

Painful

Problematic

Punishing

Wow - I wanted to introduce semi-porcelain into my repertoire, so I started with a series of tests back in October to test it's plasticity over a wide range of forms (wide and low serving dish shape; bottle form, tall cylinder, small and large plate, etc...). Lots of warpage and hairline fractures in the gloss firing.

So, first go, not too great.

I decided to see what the experts had to say on potters.org about clay body additions and molochite seemed to be a popular choice so I went ahead and tried two grade additions in two two different quantities. After some testing, I decided 30s grade too bulky (see below) and 80s grade much better. Went with 5% addition in the end, as 10% seemed to really open the body too much and cause way too much tooth when turning.

Since I had settled on the molochite addition, I needed to see if I could get the clay up to 12 inches on the wheel, quite an achievement for porcelain in what would ordinarily be quite straightforward with stoneware. Tuesday was a painful day for me. All morning Iwas trying to throw tall cylinders. I would get them around 10 inches and then they would just start warping on me. When I tried to work out the twist, they would shrink down in size by almost 2 inches.

I'm gonna have to post some photos of this weird phenomena next time it happens! (well, I'm hoping it won't happen again and in that case, you are out of luck seeing photo documentation).

So, I did what any decent potter worth her wait would do. I walked out of the pottery and proceeded to cry for an hour, managing to question my whole pottery existance asking all the while "what the heck am I doing trying to switch to a more difficult clay after all these years of getting stoneware where I want it?". I redeemed myself by then researching all the tips and pitfalls for throwing with porcelain and this is what I found out:

limit water usage to almost nil. use slip instead

go very slow when knuckling up to avoid warpage (this seems to be a big problem)

use a blowtorch to stiffen things as you work

Well, two hours of crying/researching seemed to do the trick, because when I went back out to the pottery for a second "go", it seemed to go well!! I managed to do 10 inches, but beggers can't be chosers!

Yesterday I went at the clay again. This time with smaller items in mind. I decided to test the clay with molochite and without. To prepare myself, I had a bowl of slip, a bowl of water, blowtorch and batts ready to go:

Although I feel great about the day's throwing achievements, feeling like I may just figured this darned clay out, I'm finding the whole process tedious!!! With stoneware I can just be fluid, quick and in control without much effort at all anymore. With semi-porcelain, the whole process is more disjointed and lengthy:

1. prep batt on wheel. batt essential as I find clay very unforgiving once thrown

2. get clay wet with slurry NOT water!

3. throw clay slowly over 4-5 pulls. more than the ideal 3, but hey, what can I say? tenderness is key. fight the slump! everytime I shape inward, clay seems to get shorter. fighting this results in that 4th to 5th pull! this really slows me down!

4. clean all slurry from pot to ease in drying

5. blowtorch 30 seconds for small piece, 45 seconds for medium, etc...

6. list off gently with batt in tow

As a result of following these steps, I managed to throw the following:

Unfortunately, following these steps tends to take the immediacy and excitement out of throwing that I grew accustomed to with stoneware!? Wow - whiteness does come at a price!

They say that this semi-porcelain is actually much better to work with that normal porcelian. Damn, I wouldn't want to experience that nightmare.

I do have to say that to get this stuff working how I want it to, I really think my experience with throwing is the only thing getting me through this stage. I cannot even imagine what the poor souls who use this stuff as their first experience on the wheel must think about their abilities with clay? I hope they don't blame themselves.

I will fight on darn-it. I have invested too many hours with clay testing, slip and glaze development to throw in the towel now. In fact, the ironic thing about this whole experience is how much I now appreciate my stoneware clay. The whole reason I went into this process was to replace stoneware with a more exciting fresh look. Now I feel it is the stoneware that is more exciting to work with and the porcelain more exciting to look at.

What is a girl to do?

Can you sue yourself for poor working conditions?

2009-02-19T21:35:00.009Z

Kiln is firing right now and I can't get into the pottery (read on, you'll understand why!)...so I thought I'd write on the blog!

I often find myself saying that I produce my pots in "my pottery at the end of the garden".
Perhaps I am romaticising it a bit, trying to perhaps make it sound better than what it really is!

Don't get me wrong, I love my pottery. It just sometimes staggers me just how I manage to work in such a tight space.

Here is where the magic happens!

To the left side of the shed is my workspace:

This is to the right of my work space:

Smack in the middle of the pottery is the kiln!

And to the right of the kiln on the back wall are more shelves, followed by more shelves and my wheel on the right side of the pottery:

However, when the time came for me to set-up my own place, I had some very specific limitations in deciding where I could have a pottery. Namely funding of course. Ideally, I wanted to be free of monthly rent; keep the set-up costs to a minimum; and have a space I could retreat to any time of day, any day of the week. I also had to recognise my building and diy prowess didn't go far beyond patch plastering and making interior spaces look pretty. This coupled with the fact I had no family (okay, dad) around to help construct a space from stratch.

A flat pack shed was the answer to all my prayers...instant erected space right in my back garden accessable any time I wanted. The major constraints to this choice besides price was the specific space I had between my fence line and the edge of existing pavement in which to squeeze the shed into.

In the end, I settled on a 10 x 5 foot shed which just fit into the spare garden space.
In the beginning, pre-kiln, it seemed very spacious. I knew all along that this wasn't going to be permanent. That once I proved to myself that I could make a "go" of this whole pottery business and actually bring in some dosh, I could "graduate" into a bigger premises at a later date, ideally on the dream property Joe and I would move to outside London with our 2.1 kids...I digress...

What I didn't appreciate was how quickly the kiln swallowed up the space ( I knew it would be a sizeable chunk, but nothing like putting it in situ to make that a big reality!). AND, trying to store experimental pieces, work in progress, clay, raw materials, reclaim batts, glaze making equipment, files and the essential mini radio (to name a few) really packed this baby up tight!

More surprising to me is just how much this lack of space really impacts of what I am able to make and how much of it I can realistically produce. I don't think it is such a big deal at the moment considering I am starting out and not selling much at all, but I already have ruled out production ware as an option simply because I wouldn't be able to manage it in the space I have.

Another notable impact of my "intimate" space is the sense of isolation it can bring to the whole potting experience. On any given day, I am actually very content out there working on my own listening to the radio and doodling along. I think the idea of isolation comes to the fore when I am actually at events suddenly realising that opening up to and meeting others is harder for me than it ever was before. I can predominantly attribute this to this solitary existance for a bulk of my day; a life experience that is very different to the bustling social schedule I used to manage easily in younger years.

I try to counter-balance this alone time with nights out with other potters/friends, being really good about keeping in touch with others and attending training events and shows. It is only now that I have had plenty of time to reflect on my set-up that my once fervent belief that it is okay to be one with your art is now being challenged. In fact, I now consider that shared spaces, whether rented or owned can be very inspirational and helpful to the creative process, networking and building relationships.

Ironically, I began my journey in clay believing that becoming a successful potter was born primarily from one's ability to master the wheel, develop own glazes, and be the best at making what you make - essentially, a skill based scale. Now, (and yeah, it is so obvious to most!) I am realising that being a successful potter is just as much about who you surround yourself and involve yourself with - assisting and sharing information and ideas - than just your own personal development with clay.

Every day my challenge is making the best out of my current situation. Lemons out of lemonaid as it were. Going with the flow and working within my constraints, all the while pushing boundaires and making plans for how to proceed when I have the chance to expand and include others in my set-up. Staying involved and keeping in touch, sharing my (albiet very limited) knowledge with others and learning something in return.

Ahhh, nothing like a night forced away from the pottery to gain some perspective!!!

Can I declare myself to be a potter?

2009-02-19T15:58:00.006Z

When people ask me what I do for a living, I am aways in a quandry for how to reply.
Immediately in my mind, I think "yeah, I'm a potter", but I always hesitate saying it. In thinking about why I do this, several answers come to mind:

I haven't sold anything of serious value or made any real income from it yet
I'm not full time potting
I feel that declaring I am a potter makes me vulnurable because I don't have the answers to the very basic and expected questions people then ask me in response: "Where do you sell?", "Do you have a website?", "What do you make?" (answers being in order, "No where", "Not yet, but I have a blog" and "still testing and working out whether functional or nonfunctional is the direction to go")
Without answers to these questions which could establish to the person asking that I am "succeeding" (in the monetary sense of the meaning) an an artistic entrepenuer, I am left feeling very inadequate knowing I have worked so hard for 7 years of training only to have very little to show for it by way of sales or recognition amongst peers.

So, what do I do instead? I proceed something like this...."Well, I want to be a potter, but currently I work 3 days a week for by bread and butter and then focus my energies in my free time to pursue my passion with clay"... I go on rambling like a doofus coming up with what can only be described as a painful descent into making up reasons and excuses for my inability to make this "pottery dream" of mine a reality after 7 long years.

As soon as I recognise I am plummeting into BAD conversation zone (which is sadly often much later than I should have seen it coming), I end up making both myself and my poor innocent conversation buddy feeling awkward.

Lovely, eh?

So, next time someone asks me what I do, maybe I should just say:

"I'm a potter"

Do you think I'll have the guts to say it?

What is your specific gravity?

2009-02-18T09:52:00.003Z

All day yesterday, I embarked on a journey of better understanding of my glazes. For so long now, three of my long-time glazes have managed to confuse me with their "random" outcomes from many a gloss firing.
As many potters know, variations in fired glaze outcome could be one of numerous factors:

firing schedule - speed of climb, soak time, temp range, cooling ramp time
consistancy of glazes
raw materials in glaze - variations in where certain materials were mined, etc...
clay you are using
the pack of the kiln
how lucky you are feeling on the day, and many more....

I'm working off the assumption (for the moment and living dangerously here!) that my raw materials are pretty consistant; my clay has been constant for 3 years; I have been aware of the kiln pack issue so have been and continue to try and pack in a very similar fashion (density and arrangement of pots/shelves) every time I fire; and I'm feeling lucky.

So, that leaves firing schedule and glaze consistancy for me to work with and sort out.

This week, I'm tackling glaze consistancy.

After reading hundreds of posts on my favorite potter's resource website regarding hydrometers and the overwhelming lack of confidence in being able to obtain accurate figures to determine the specific gravity of a glaze, I went with what many a potter seem to feel is a good, tried and tested easy method of getting that figure in a more accurate way.

I took each glaze I wanted specific gravities for and did the following steps:

took a standard measuring cup and placed it on a digital scale, tared it to zero.
I filled it with water until the scale read 100g. I marked on the cup where this point was. t
I then took my glaze batch and syphoned off all the excess water and measured in oz/ml
took half the total excess water, added it back into the glaze batch and mixed well. once well mixed, I poured it into my standard cup to the marked level and weighed it. the total, divided by 100 gave me my specific gravity of my glaze. By adding only 1/2 the water into my glaze batch, I labelled this test as my THICK version of the glaze.
I then proceeded to brush the glaze on in three progressive layers onto one bowl; then dipped in 3 progressive layers on another bowl
To obtain a MEDIUM thickness test, I then added the remaining half of the excess water to the glaze batch, mixed well and measured it again. This became my specific gravity for the MEDIUM version of the glaze. I proceeded with the same application tests as the THICK glaze.
Finally, to obtain a THIN version of the glaze, I added additional water to the batch, equal to half the original excess water amount (ie, if total excess water in the beginning was 56oz, I added 28oz for THICK test, additional 28 oz for MEDIUM and another 28oz for THIN). I mixed well, weighed it again to the marked line in the standard measuring cup and got my specific gravity for THIN. I proceeded with same application tests as other consistancies.

So, for each glaze, I got 6 different tests : THICK, MEDIUM and THIN consistancies all applied with brush or dip.

I'm hoping my increments with the water were of significant difference to the specific gravities of the glaze to see a real difference between the three consistancies. If not, I'm gonna have to do it all over with a different approach to the water amounts! Seeing that I'm making this up as I go along, based on various bits I have been reading, I won't be suprised if all this testing won't bring all the results I am hoping for. But, it is a learning curve, right?

At the end of the day, I tested 7 glazes this way and was able to view the fruits of my labour, even though they don't look that impressive!!!

I'm loading the kiln as soon as I am done posting this! Boy, I hope this produces something worthwhile to see!

They make it look so easy!

2009-02-17T09:01:00.005Z

HA! I just found this Sesame Street clip showing kids how to throw....

Man, I didn't know it could be that easy? You start with a lump and as if by magic, a finished pot whirls around on the wheel! I knew I didn't have this whole throwing thing mastered yet!

Will next fiscal year be the ONE year I make more than I spend?

2009-02-16T19:33:00.002Z

Man alive, I just tallied up my spending since April 08 and although the outgoings were significantly reduced from the year before (the year I bought my kiln, wheel and shed), I still managed to spend so much!!!

When I think back to all the experimentation and testing I worked through these past 12 months, I can see that a whole load of the cost went into raw materials. However, with these being relatively cheap, I can only think that clay for testing along with their extortionate delivery charges contributed to the cost. Add a few tools, a pottery materials shopping spree back home, a few magazine subs and organisation membership fees, I can see the value getting significantly higher.

The thing is, I haven't even been including the "rates" for firing the kiln and keeping that little shed of mine running with lights, electrical sockets and little heater. God knows how much that will add to!

Luckily, I have done all the research on how to calculate kilowatt per hour charges, I just need to do it. And seeing that it is very important to work out all my overheads, I'm gonna be doing that this month!

Without my teaching income from the past four years, earning a profit (hell, even breaking even) is a must this coming year. I feel confident that these past 12 months of exploration and development of ideas, glazes, decor, etc...has gotten me to a place where I can now start to bring these puppies "to the market", as it were.

So, off I go to begin taking over the world!!!!

I'm left confused by a GIMP!

2009-02-16T19:08:00.005Z

I was playing with a GIMP last week, as one does, to find a way to create a banner for my etsy account. Two hours later and several failed attempts at producing anything looking remotely like a banner, I gave in to GIMP!

For those of you who don't know, GIMP is an open source FREE alternative to Photoshop. And seeing how that program costs a load a moola, I decided to give GIMP a try.

I don't blame GIMP for my failings, I blame my ignorance of all things remotely photoshop-like.

I'm not sure why I find it so confusing, but that and Illustrator bring me right out of my comfort zone.

So, here is the banner I created....

NOT a good start. I worked with a photo I had of my nestled casserole dishes.

It is fuzzy, lacking in interest or excitement. I tried to transform a portrait photo into a long narrow banner and it just didn't work. I think I'm gonna have to wait until I take some more photos to get a better source for the artwork. Back to the drawing board!

The good and lucky thing is that I know two fab people at Oscar and Dehn (you know who you are!!) how I can ask instructions and tips from regarding web graphics!

So, two weeks after my start with Etsy, I still have a dodgy banner and only one item on to sell!

I'm working on my shop policies and the whole shipping internationally thing at the moment. Once I have sorted out those, I will retype my profile and add more pots...until then, I'm afraid dodgy is all I got!

The great news is that one item got 15 views!!! So, that is a start.

Finally, I just found a groovy icon for my blog to link back to Etsy!

Prepping clay can knacker you out!

2009-02-11T18:04:00.007Z

Saturday morning, I managed to spend 3 hours reclaiming the only bag of my existing clay I had left (a great little surprise when I found it under some stuff in the garden!) and getting this new clay to a workable consistancy. I cannot express how draining that was. It made we want to just go back into the house and forget about going any further for the day!

I don't know what it is about this new semi-porcelain clay that makes it so unattractive and uninviting when taken out of the bag. At first glance, the wet sheen on the surface of the clay lump makes it look adequately soft. However, the minute you start to try and knead it, the whole of the lump (bar the skin) is quite firm and doesn't kindly "give". So unworkable is it that I go through the "pancake" process (slabbing slip between layers of clay to increase moisture content of clay) with the whole lot of it.

Even then, when it has been kneaded into a solidified cohesive mass again, it's as if the movement of the clay caused layers of it to seperate away from the rest, causing loads of air bubbles. I would question my method of kneading, but I have never had this problem with the other clays I have used and I have been kneading for up to 7 years now. I'm blaming the clay, damnit.

I persist and end up bringing it to the wheel as prepared as I can get it, yet not fully satisfied with it's workability. I guess it does have a hard act to follow, insomuch that my existing clay and I have had 5 years together of hard work and understanding always making it an extreme joy to throw with! Too bad I can't get the darn clay to turn white and lose it's speckle.

It isn't that easy, is it?

Anyone know why this clay misbehaves so much? Is this what people who work with porcelain mean when they say porcelain clay is "difficult" to work with?

Well, onto bigger and better things! I was commissioned!!

Okay, in all fairness, it was a request from a nice guy at work who asked me to make him a potpourri holder. He wanted to be able to shake the potpourri to release the smell and asked for a container that had holes in it....so I came up with this shape....

I threw some lids too and managed to turn both pots:

Now, all I need to do is pierce each of these with holes all over and see how it looks in the end!

Bisque Fire Success!

Round One of bisque fire returned some promising results! I had thrown some tall bottles about 4 months ago, but due to their height, I never had enough to make it worthwhile to fire them without losing valuable space in the kiln.

On each of them, I used the slips I had developed, with additions of stains and the bisque outcome looks good! In fact, I am really liking the chalky effect of the unglazed bisqueware so much that it may just influence me not glazing the finished product in the gloss firing!

Decisions Decisions!

My clay finally arrived!

2009-02-06T15:00:00.003Z

I spent most of Monday and Tuesday on the laptop, figuring out blogging and creating a profile for myself in etsy!
Not sure about other UK artists who have gotton on etsy to sell, but I think that ceramics and international shipping rates won't be doing me any favours in getting sales. I noticed some potters in the UK send insured and others don't. Man, I checked out Royal Mail costs for various weights to get insured post to the states, and we are talking big money. The sad thing is that the postage will cost more than some of the pots! I wonder if other UK potters are finding this an issue?
Another issue I am debating is using etsy for products I have already produced so once an order comes through, I can despatch immediately OR use etsy to show standard products that can only be made to order, which pushes the delivery of finished product back by possibly 1 month. This would limit potential problems with built up stock, but what customer would want to wait up to 4 weeks for a pot?
I noticed different strokes for different folks on this one and am not yet sure how I should proceed. Need to figure out soon though, as I loaded ONE item on etsy and want to get my policies straight before I do any more posting. It is exciting, but I am wondering if the sale of heavy items to another country is really cost effective or profitable? But, seeing that my new year's resolution is "to try things I have been meaning to do for a long while, but couldn't be bothered", I'm going with it. What is the worst that can happen - losing the 20 or so pence it cost to post the item?

On Wednesday, I had a surprise delivery - my new clay!!! Ordered only 50 kg, as I still have lots of testing to do on the clay body itself, and application of slips and glazes at different application methods, thicknesses, and colour concetrations. I worked out I need 3 different bisques to have adequate testing for the following:
glaze application/thickness testing
colour concentration in slips
cooling ramp experiments

In each bisque, I want a good decent size pack. To spare boring you with the minute details, I worked out I need 60 test bowls of my new clay alongside 50 of my existing clay. The existing clay and glazes are the ones I know best, and will be used to judge deviation in results from the norm I usually get. The new clay is being used to see how best to proceed when glazing, making up coloured slips, and firing.

With that said, I quickly threw 60 test bowls Wednesday night. What was interesting is that the clay isn't the most plastic to work with and it is very tempermental - I only really felt I got a groove going with optimal approach to throwing each bowl after bowl number 50 or so! It is funny how it can take so long to get into that zone when throwing and know just the right way to work that stuff into exactly what you want it to do!

Here is a photo of all of them turned. The turning process with this clay is much nicer than the throwing. I was only going to use the molochite for larger wares, but I may need to incorporate it into all the pots I make with this clay.

Snow stopped everything!

2009-02-03T11:07:00.004Z

Well almost everything......
A crazy blizzard hit London and we got dumped on. Buses, trains, work, tubes (well everything really) shut down and everyone stayed home yesterday!

It was a London I have never seen before, kids en masse outside having fun with snowball fights, families out laughing and playing in the snow, and Joe snowboarding! Brought back great memories from growing up in the Midwest.
Seeing that I have years of snow experience under my belt - I lit loads of candles and cuddled on the couch with the laptop and my Life in UK notes for my big test next week!
What a fab day!
What the snow did probably effect was my clay shipment - ugh. Will keep busy with other work though. Need to get together an outline for my website, prep my plaster moulds, load the kiln and work on an idea I have for a wall hanging..should keep me busy!
Hopefully clay will be here tomorrow.

Beginning of a new era

2009-02-02T17:08:00.003Z

Okay, I realised my last post was April 08. I'm writing off 2008, mainly because my three ventful visits to the emergency room made the year pretty bad. I'm all mended now and ready to make that resolution to get back on the blogger wagon, and stay on it.

As a summary of some of the major moments in 2008:

I finally managed to polish off the 250 kilos of specked stoneware that I bought back in 2006!

Back in August, I embarked on a mission to find a white firing clay which fired around 1220-1260 and could not only handle big thrown items but various handbuilding and attaching.
I ordered 17 different clays from various suppliers and made small thrown bowls to assess firing colour. Once the colours were narrowed down (and I tell you, lots of suppliers selling bodies as "white" are not really marketing their clays as the right colour!!!), I managed to get 3 bodies that seemed possible.
Next were the throwing tests: small and large plates, large cylinders, small and large bowls, bellied vessel with small neck. Handbuilding test included thrown and assembled cylinders.
Fortunately, I found a clay that I prefered! Unfortunately, it was thirsty as hell and didn't want to go very high on the wheel.
So, off I went to the pottery supplier for some molochite and further tests adding varying percentages to the clay body.

Another huge set of tests I embarked on were the development of glazes and slips for the 1220C range, as I had always fired to 1260/80. And, frankly, because I hadn't really bothered to get a real grasp of my kiln firings, I couldn't verfiy that temperature.

Another achievement for me was conquering the concept and use of pyrometric cones. Still working on the analysis part though, especially trying to get the damn kiln to fire evenly. I am just now starting a series of firings which will include cooling ramps - a concept that many of the fab potters on potters.org recommend!

I started using stains for my slips and continue to test the percetages required for the effect I am going for.

Finally, I managed to explore other ways of making that incorporates throwing and handbuilding; a process that has produced lots of bad pots and fired ideas - but all of which incrimentally assisted in the development of the ideas.

So, what about 2009?

Figure out what percentage of molochite I need to add to my new clay body. As I have only tested out on medium tall pieces, I'm awaiting more clay to be shipped to go bigger and see the results.

Once these additions are tried, its off to firing to see what (if any) negative implications this will have on glaze/slip addition and firing strength.

Finalise tests and confirm my staple slip and glaze bodies

Get a website sorted

Um, actually sell some pots this year.

Wish me luck!

Not the TV debut I was hoping for

2008-04-25T15:12:00.002+01:00

Well, a week came and went and the show aired without the segment on me potting. Perhaps my days in the limelight are meant to come later in life.
Lately, I have been very buzzed about a new experimental form I have been working on. I'm tyring to expand beyond my comfort zone of functional ware, attempting to create some forms which aren't as ordinary as my functional work. Part of me wonders if this search is in vain and that perhaps what I actually need to do is find a more interesting decoration/glaze/style for my work rather than attempt to create whole new forms. Maybe branching into non-functional is a way to avoid the inevitable shake up of my functional work that I really think needs to happen in order to step my work to a more identifiable and improved level. I'm worried that I'll go through all the trouble of creating new forms and be faced with the same problem I have now - how to glaze the darn thing.
So, I've decided to explore both issues: develop the non-functional and sort out the decor in general. Have loads of sample clays to work through this weekend making shrinkage tests and thrown samples to fire. I've decided after much deliberation I would go ahead and buy some stains for slip coloration. After years of doing all of my own glaze development it just dawned on me one day that I didn't need to be breaking my break to create an "original" glaze. It would be nice, but just because the color isn't derived from more "authentic" oxides and a good working knowledge of glaze chemistry doesn't mean the finished product will have to suffer. Plus, frankly, I need some more time to develop ideas in clay rather than spend it with further glaze chem.
On that note, I'm off to test and experiment!

Here I go....

2008-04-09T15:02:00.005+01:00

Well, it's about time that I get onto the web and make some noise!
After thinking about it for some time, I decided to go ahead and learn how to create this blog (yes, I am very behind most people!).

It is Wednesday afternoon and rather than teaching today, I have a two week break and am trying to catch up on my "to do list". Now I can tick this blog off as mission accomplished!

My pots are sitting in the kiln and I am avoiding them like the plague. I am at a crossroads with my decoration - tired of my current glazes but unsure about what to do instead. If I'm honest with myself, I get so overwhelmed by the choices available for me to explore. I just keep having to tell myself that it is a process that I need to go through - of testing and exploring - to come to some decisions and be content with my designs.

So, enough blogging and avoiding that kiln - I'm off!

Oh, to end on a good note, Channel Five's The Wright Stuff came to Rosetta Arts Centre to film a shot of me throwing and teaching a guy how to throw a pot! It was completely surreal; I'm not sure how it will look, as it was all very rushed and I really didn't have a chance to actually show the guy all the steps properly.

The good thing is that the sketch is supposed to be a spoof - with the intention for the guy to mess up terribly and get clay all over him. He wanted the clay to fly everywhere, but when I thought about it, the clay slop doesn't really ever spray the upper body or the face that much. So I ended up having to chuck slop at his face outside the camera range to make it look messier. Besides getting some of it in his eye, he didn't look too upset!

Anyway, I hope the little video will promote Rosetta Arts Centre more as it is a great studio environment for adults to learn all sorts of art mediums. I hope to post the clip from the show next time!

The video will air on tomorrow's show which starts at 9am - hope some of you will catch it and tell me how it was (as I'll be at work and not able to watch it :( !!

That's it for now!