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...

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.

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.

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.