Last week we unloaded a series of Moka Glazed pots from the gas kiln. We sure have had a busy time here at Bulldog Pottery. We are happy with the results and always enjoy unloading this soft and buttery smooth glaze. The silkiness of this satin matte is so inviting to the touch. The variety of glazes we as potters can acheive amazes Bruce and I. We can formulate a glaze to be rough, shiny, bumpy, sparkly, transparent, and on and on. We are so excited to have Val Cushing our teacher from Alfred coming to join us this year for "Cousins in Clay". I sat in on his clay and glaze calculation class three times when I went to school in Alfred. Once for the credit, and the other two times just to sit back and take it all in. Val is a master of glaze and clay knowledge, and so good at presenting the material in a clear and comprehensive manner. He has also prepared an excelent manual/workbook that is incredibly helpful in understanding the materials and how to use them for clay and glazes.No matter how we try to schedule our time we end up getting into a wicked crunch deadline when loading this kiln for some reason, and this recent one was no different. The last couple of days and nights I glazed and decorated most of the pots, hence all of the dots while Bruce washed and waxed and loaded the pots into the kiln--reminding us that we need to exercise.
We have been focused on organizing Cousins in Clay this year. Gloria and Ed have been designing a website for the event and they also have designed an ad that we placed in the Carolina Arts for the next two months. They are becoming the Bulldog Graphic Design team. If you pick up a Carolina Arts newspaper and see the ad in it for the month of April we wanted to let you know that the dates are a bit off. We printed the dates from last year 6 & 7 and not this years which are 5 & 6. It is funny, but no matter the amount of proofreading we did, something as important as the dates got by us. We will continue to work on the website and add other links soon. It is an exciting work in progress.
Here is Ed and Gloria polishing the feet of fresh pots that we unloaded out of the kiln. Maxwell is trying to entice them into a little ball play.
7 comments:
Beautiful glazed pieces, that mocha is so warm looking and I especially like the dot and striped effect on them.
I am really looking forward to coming to the Cousin's Sale.
beautiful pots... wish i could've sat in on val's classes, what fun
These pots look wonderful. Hope you both have a great and productive weekend. Thanks for the well wishes. Have a great day!
Hello Linda Sometimes the glaze looks like a really soft wood grain surface
Hi Ron, It would be great to see you here! Sorry I deleted your other comment I did not mean too. I was deleting one of the sex spam's and messed up and did not realize that i clicked on the trashcan by your comment.
Hi Jim, Vals glaze class was fantastic and I feel very lucky to have been there before he retired. His throwing classes were also grand.
Hi Jeffrey and Stephanie, I am hoping for a great weekend full of throwing vases! We hope you feel better really soon.
Hi Lydia,
Thanks for the website hint!
Ed and Gloria your pots are just beautiful. I know beautiful pottery because I was a Gray Feather Artist and etched and painted green ware Indian pots. I found your site by accident. Though I don't paint pots anymore, sometimes it's fun to go on the web and see what other potters are doing. The web is a great place tobuy art . Your pots are so artistic, they are like individual sculptures. Your glazes are amazing; I love the rich earth tones. They really could easily be part of a person's decor, because the colors go great with coffee bean and espresso colored furniture which is all the rage today. I'll bet that your pots truly are a labor of love. There’s something about handling raw clay and pouring a mold. Pot making is a very personal statement. I think this is true because once your hands touch raw clay, that clay becomes a creation and you become the creator. It makes no difference if you use clay coils, throw on a wheel or you pour, the power of creation is the same.
I am loving these pots, by the way. The glazing is so beautiful and the dots, i just love 'em.
Post a Comment