Glazing porcelain pots for the NCPC Conference

In the image above Bruce is glazing a covered ginger jar shape. So close the glaze came to spilling out over the rim of the gray bucket.

We glazed and loaded a kiln full of porcelain pieces for the Chinese overglaze painter that will be here this coming weekend in Asheboro. The annual North Carolina Potters Conference takes place at the Randolph Arts Guild the first weekend of March. Dwight had asked us to make several pieces for the visiting Chinese artist. The pieces will be out of the kiln soon. We are hoping for the best. Glazing our work without color i.e. clear glaze is something that we do not have experince with, so this is a first timer.

There is still room to sign up for this weekend's conference. What are you waiting for? It will be loads of fun! Five Jingdezhen Porcelain Masters will be here demonstrating, throwing, trimming, handbuilding, overglaze painting, and underglaze painting.

Luckily the glaze did not spill over.

A sigh of relief

Co-op of Seagrove Potters opening soon

Jeff Brown and Phil Pollet are securing the shelves.

We have joined in on a new adventure with 9 other potteries from Seagrove. Opening soon in downtown Seagrove, 10 potteries will be filling this space with their pots. The ten potteries that will be part of the new store called "Co-op of Seagrove Potters" are (and in no particular order):

Tom Gray Pottery

Phil Pollet Pottery

Nelda French Pottery

Latham's Pottery

Lufkin Pottery

Seagrove Stoneware

Michele Hastings and Jeff Brown Pottery

Dover Pottery

Ole Fish House Pottery

and Bulldog Pottery

We are looking forward to working at the Co-op three days a month, and greeting the people that come through the door.

Everyone will take turns in the front window, and we each get a shelving unit like the one that Jeff is working on below.

Each pottery also gets one glass unit that stand in the middle of the building.

The shelves in the back will be a mix of people's pots. A bit of pottery for everyone.

Alexa Modderno sits where there will soon be a table for checkout.

The pots start flowing into place tomorrow.

Crazy Ant Song

A friend of ours sent us a link to Boing Boing letting us know about this you tube video of ant anatomy. He shares different insect images with us from time to time. We enjoy that he thinks of us when seeing insects on the internet. Thanks Dave! Keep them coming.

Vases

We are both throwing a variety of vase forms to be vehicles for flowers. We are getting ready for Daffie Days, celebrating the blooming of spring. This series of vases I threw a couple of days ago, have a wide opening to suit a group of flowers. Bruce said these look similar to Italian apothecary jars. Sure enough I just looked it up and these are apothecary forms. This is my first time throwing this particular form. It was definitely fun, and I am looking forward to throwing more. My tendency lately had been to throw bud vase forms with a small opening and longer waisted torso, somewhat like a wasp. These new forms should handle a good sized bundle of blooms.

Our First Daffodil

We have our first daffodil! Very cool. When we moved onto our property back in 2000 we had daffodils blooming all over. Since then they have multiplied in clumped bunches to a point where they just don't bloom as much anymore. Bruce and I have been wanting to divide the clumps for a few years now. We started yesterday, digging up the clumps of daffodils and spreading them around. We have our work cut out for us and I am sure it won't all get done this year, but one has to start somewhere. Not sure if this will set them back from blooming this year, but this is an investment into next years bloom.

There is a touching story in the Weeders Digest which comes free with a subscription to Green Prints called "Love and Daffodils Forever, A husband's final gift". I won't spoil the tale or even hint at what it is. If you subscribe to Green Prints it comes as part of a bonus gift. Green Prints is a gardening magazine that shares stories about the humanside of gardening: the joy, humor, frustrations, and heart of gardening in fine prose and fine art.

Daffie Days- March 25-27, 2011

The UPS man delivered our Daffie Days postcards yesterday. We will be mailing these out soon. Would you like one? If so send us an e-mail with your address to bulldog @ bulldogpottery dot com. Would you like to receive our e-newsletter ? There is a form right next to this blog post where you can fill out the form. The information goes to our account on Mad Mimi. This is the service that we use to send out our newsletters. They will send you an e-mail for you to confirm that it was you that sent it.

We have a busy and exciting schedule this year. We will be attending the American Art Pottery Association Convention in Langhorne, PA on April 27-May 1. On April 30 and May 1 we will be setting up along with 44 other vendors at the hotel. Cousins in Clay is coming up at the end of May, and we are looking forward to Jack Troy, Peter Lenzo, and Michael Kline coming here to Bulldog with their awesome pottery. Of course there is the Celebration of Spring in Seagrove on April 16-17.

And at the end of the year? We have been invited back to the Potters Market on September 10! At the end of August we will be headed over to Michael Kline's place in Bakersville for the first Mountain Cousins in Clay we will have more details about that soon!!! Our Nature Art Gallery Show will open on October 7th and off to D.C. for Pot Hop and Jam with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. We have listed where we will be and when under Bulldog Events in this blog's sidebar. We also have a list of events on our Bulldog Pottery website.

Follow along with us as we venture into the new year......

Porcelain for Chinese Master Over-glaze painter

We received a phone call the other day from Dwight Holland asking Bruce if he would throw several porcelains pots for the upcoming North Carolina Potters Conference. The 2011 NC Potters Conference will be a once in a life time experience for us local potters. Five master Chinese artists will be traveling to Asheboro (only 15 min away from us) from Jingdezhen, China. These pieces will be glazed with a clear glaze for the Chinese master over-glaze painter. There will be a Master Trimmer, Master Thrower, Master Slab Maker, Master Over-Glaze Painter, and a Master Under-glaze Painter. There will be lectures by three other scholars, but hey why don't you go on over to the Randolph Arts Guild and read all about it, sign up and come and enjoy the fabulous weekend! We will be there!

Dwight Holland is a long time resident of Asheboro and has been a veritable rock for the NC Potters Conference for the past 24 years, and a pottery champion throughout the world. The Randolph Arts Guild is a treasure to the community and has hosted this annual North Carolina Potters' Conference for 24 years. They have brought in famous potters from all over the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and now China! This annual conference is truly a great experience for potters of all levels.

Bruce is throwing a couple of platters and smaller plate size forms, along with a few vases. I will try my hand at some vases too.

This table of vases are finished and waiting to dry. We are getting ready for Daffie Days here at Bulldog Pottery on March 25-27.