Okeewemee

Last night we dropped by STARworks Ceramics in Star for their open house celebration of their new cone 10 clays made from local materials. Okeewemee and Grogwemee both clays go to cone 10. We picked up a couple of samples to try out in our studio.

There were potters around catching up on the latest happenings, enjoying the warm evening, and someone mentioned the possibility of some rain too. All were pleased to hear this.

Below is Mark Heywood of Whynot Pottery talking with Brad Tucker of Brad Tucker Pottery. Brad and Tim Turner came through from Creedmoor - Cedar Creek Gallery to pick up some Okeewemee and Highwater clays.

Jeff Dean From Dean&Martin Pottery talking with Tim Ayers who will be around for the next 6 weeks here working over at Johnston and Gentithes Art Pottery while they are in China. Benjamin Burns of Great White Oak Pottery is nearby snacking on a sandwhich that was provided by the crew there at STARworks.

Gloria of Bulldog Pottery is very very happy to be purchasing some of her first and very own Mudtool ribs of Micheal Sherrill's design. She will have to keep close tabs on these because they could easily migrate to our wheels if she is not careful.
Bruce is talking with Tim Ayers of Tim Ayers pottery and Chad Brown of Chad Brown Pottery. I believe they were talking about getting together to go fishing.

Samantha, David Stumeplfle of Stuempfle pottery , and Tim Turner of Tim Turner pottery (he works over at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor. Cedar Creek Gallery is having their annual Pottery and Glass Festival on the weekend of Oct.1 and weekend of Oct. 9. On Oct. 1 Cedar Creek Gallery will be opening an exhibition of around 40 Carolina Designer Craftsmen.

Stephanie Martin of Dean and Martin and Mary Holmes of From the Ground Up Pottery.

Bonnie Burns of the Great White Oak Pottery talking with Anne' Partne of Blue Hen Pottery.

As we were leaving Sid Luck of Lucks Ware came in. Sid mentioned that he really liked how well the new Okeewemee clay turns/throws. He also had high praise for the cone 6 Star clays as well.

There sure are a lot of potteries around here.

Mint Museum Potters Market

Well it is a week and a couple of days after the "Potters Market" at the Mint (2010) and I am not sure if it feels like just yesterday or last month. We have been working on a few organizing/clean up projects. Not sure if anyone can tell or not but I do know that a few more boxes have been packed and moved, and furniture moved and waiting to be placed. Our main project in the next month is to get our hand building area set up, but we also would like to get moved out of our old throwing slash glazing area so we can begin to expand our gallery space. Oh yeah, did I mention our pottery making and glazing goals too? Smile.

We had a great time at the Mint Museum's "Potters Market". Talked with some old friends and met new ones too. We had a wide selection of pots that we took and Harriet Spleth helped us tremendously, from the unloading of the kiln (lots of grinding), and packing; and at the Mint, unpacking, setting up, making sales, packing, and then unpacking again when we got back home. The weekend had many stages and we appreciated her help in every way.

Harriet took this image of us as we put finishing touches on our booth

Here is a selection of our Moka glaze pottery

Bruce has begun to work with his Shino glazing again. We are excited about bringing some of our new techiniques and glaze developments into the future of his old friend Shino.

We love exploring shades of green.

Another image that Harriet took of me putting price tags on some vases.

This Thursday evening, the 23rd, Mark Hewitt will be giving a talk at FRANK , in Chapel Hill. We are planning to attend.

Moka Glaze and Molybdenum Crystalline Vases

We unloaded our Moka glaze kiln yesterday and a grouping of molybdenum crystalline vases. We thought we would show you some of the pieces that came out. This morning we pack the pottery into boxes, load the van, and head to Charlotte for the "Potters Market"Mint Museum show this weekend. We have more vases that we will be firing in the next couple of weeks. We are looking forward to working on our spotted crystalline mattes and a new glaze test or two.

Cheers.

A grouping of our Moka Glaze Pottery

Bruce is working with his Shino again. We are excited to bring this glaze back.

Moka Glaze mug by Bruce

Iron red molybdenum crystalline

Here is one of our crystalline mattes.

Thanks for the help Gloria and Harriet and Ed.

Just call me dotty Sam.

Bulldog Pottery gets ready the Potters Market

Lining the inside of vases with glaze before gluing on pedestal rings.

Our Moka glaze kiln is cooling, and we have some of these vases in the kiln firing as we write this. We have our fingers crossed that we are blessed with a successful firing, and unload some great pots. As always with a potter's kiln, no matter how many times one has fired, something can and usually does come up. Why? Well not sure. Materials change, touch changes, life changes...... moods change. But you know that is what is so beautiful about hand made pottery. Each piece is individually made on a particular day, depending on the artists feelings and environment. Bruce and I started buying pots a handful of years ago. We enjoy having other peoples pots around us. We have a lot of our own too, but it is special to see a Cynthia Bringle on our table, Micheal Kline at our entrance way, or our Mark Shapiro flask with handles on a counter top. We bought a Matt Kelleher basket form at last years Potters' Market...Love it. It sits in our kitchen. I bought a plate as well from Matt, and a plate from Kyle Carpenter. We collect plates from different artists and when we have company, we bring them out and everyone eats off of a different plate. Fun! We collect plates of various sizes and acquired a nice sandwich size from Sam Taylor this past May, and one from Shawn Ireland during this years Toe River Arts Tour.

Well for all of you that love pottery, the Mint Museum's "Potters Market" is this weekend at the Mint Museum on Randolph road in Charlotte. This one day show features 40 potters from across North Carolina. The proceeds go to the Delhoum Pottery Collection where they purchase new pieces of pottery for the Mint's collection. You can see their 2010-2011 itinerary and the list of potters at the Mint Museum's website.

We were able to get three of these vases in last night. They have incredible swelling bellies and take up a lot of space in the kiln. More will be fired next week.

Here is our Moka glaze pots before we stacked up the door. We will be unloading this tomorrow afternoon. It usually takes the gas kiln a solid day and a half (with help from us) to cool down enough to unload.

Gloria and Ed will be holding down the fort here at Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove.

Bruce and Samantha - NC Clay Invitational at FRANK

Red Dung Beetle, porcelain glaze painting for the wall - Samantha Henneke

We were both asked to be apart of the Clay Invitational at FRANK, a new gallery in Chapel Hill. The "A" in Frank is supposed to be upside down but I am not sure how to get or if my computer could do this. There is an interesting line up of events happening at FRANK while the show is on exhibit. The itinerary is as follows:

Sept. 9, 4pm Kidzo Kids event/project on NC Clay Invitational; sign up at KIDZU

Sept.9, 6pm Daniel Johnston--making large pots, using traditions from North Carolina to Thailand

Sept. 10, 7-9 opening NC clay Invitational

Sept. 16, 6pm Starworks -- where and what is clay? The process of making the material....

Sept. 18, 1-5 Daniel Johnston demonstrated his unique style of making pots

Sept. 23, 6pm Mark Hewitt -- studio potter and renowned artist, Mark talks about his favorite North Carolina pots.

Sept. 30, 6pm Terry Zug -- author of "Turners and Burners" speaks on the traditions of clay in North Carolina

There are around 30 NC potters participating, and the exhibition is up until October 24.

Molybdenum Crystalline vase by Bruce Gholson

Molybdenum Crystalline vase by Samantha Henneke

Molybdenum Crystalline vase by Bruce Gholson

detail of a cup by Samantha Henneke

Red Beetle Covered Jar by Samantha Henneke

Star cups by Bruce Gholson

Skulls cup by Bruce Gholson