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Spring 2014 Tye River Pottery Firing

7/15/2014

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I'm much delayed in posting pots from the Spring 2014 firing at Tye River Pottery - heading across the globe to Hong Kong for two months just days after unloading the kiln put me behind schedule. Photos are below.

Speaking of Hong Kong, you can follow my travels there at my travel blog: asianrambles.weebly.com

To see posts specifically about the pots and potters I see during my travels in Hong Kong and Japan, click on the Pottery tag in the right hand navigation.

Without further ado...
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Preparing for Fire

10/21/2013

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I've just wrapped up a six-week workshop with Kevin Crowe, which happened to coincide with my throwing cycle for the fall wood-firing at his kiln in Nelson County, VA. This was my third workshop with Kevin, and it was an incredibly productive one. None of the forms we focused on were new to me -- we'd thrown all of them in his previous workshops. My intent going into the workshop was to work on refining the forms and focus on throwing larger pieces than I've successfully thrown before. In the process, Kevin was able to point out a few bad habits I'd picked up over the last year or so, and help me correct them. Some things just clicked, others were a bit of a struggle, but after 6 weeks, I can honestly say that I feel like I'm throwing the best pots I ever have, and am excited to see how they fire in a few weeks.
This afternoon, I'll be heading down to Tye River Pottery to glaze and wad pots for the kiln. This will be my third full-firing experience, and the fourth time I'll have pots in the kiln. Again, I'm using clay I'm unfamiliar with, but this time, it's primarily a clay that has experienced great results in the kiln - a mixture of one-third Soldate 60 and two-thirds B-Mix Wood that Kevin himself uses for many of his pots. We're also doing a longer firing than past years, which will hopefully lay good ash down on the pots.
Traveling with leather-hard greenware is always one of the most stressful parts of the woodfiring experience for me. The pots are wrapped, packed, and padded, filling up the small trunk and back seat of my car. I'm carrying about 30 of my own pieces (mugs, teabowls, honey pots, cruets and graters, plates (see right),  lidded jars (see above), and a teapot I'm particularly excited about) as wells as a few pieces from the other potters in my workshop: Precious Cargo. Once the pots are down there, glazed, and wadded, I don't worry as much. It's in the control of the kiln and the amazing group of potters who help to fire it. But during the hour or so drive down to Nelson, it's all on me, and it's not just my work that I'm responsible for.
I have no doubts that all will be well, even if something is damaged in transit. It will be a nice reprieve to spend the afternoon at Kevin's, as it always is, and a tantalizing taste of the way of life that waits for me during the firing. Good conversations, thoughtful work, and a warm bowl or two of tea will carry me through this day.
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Throwing in Series

1/21/2013

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I've recently been experimenting more with throwing in series. For a long time I was antagonistic toward this kind of a process. I didn't want to be a production potter. I didn't want every form to be the same - and really, I still don't. Working with Kevin Crowe over the last year has taught me otherwise. There is good that comes out of striving toward some sort of regularity. It lends kind of coherence to a set of pots that is incredibly hard to achieve in other ways. For me, this regularity comes in the base pot, right before the final alterations that I make to give the piece organic movement.

Several other students and members at the studio have commented on how productive I've been in the last few weeks, and my shelf certainly feels that way - I'm constantly cramped for space. It's a necessary outcome of this process. When I sit down at the wheel anymore, I'm rarely throwing different forms or different weights of clay. Instead, it's 4 to 6 balls or cones of approximately the same size and I'm, like Kevin, using the measurements of my hands to make sure the end products are very similar, at least until I alter them.
Picture
1 1/4 # mugs (before the handles)
Picture
1 1/3 # bowls
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