Seagrove Potters Kiln Openings this Weekend

"Seagrove Potteries" book by Steve Compton and Seagrove Potters map produced be the Seagrove Area Pottery Association

We are here to debunk a Seagrove Pottery myth. The myth is that the Seagrove Potters are sold out after the "Celebration of Seagrove Potters", and no longer have pottery left to sell in their shops. There are many of us that continue to be hard at work, making more pots in our studios. A large group of potters have "One more Hurrah" and hold special Holiday Kiln Openings in December. 

Below are some of the potters that are busy and hustling in their studios to make more pottery to fill the shelves of their pottery shops for this season.

This weekend on December 13, 2014 around 15 Seagrove Potteries will have special kiln openings.

Here are the Seagrove Potteries that we are aware of having a holiday kiln opening this weekend.  And without a doubt if you don't see a pottery that you know listed below stop by there shop. We are sure they will be glad to see you.

December 13 -- Join us for One More Hurrah in 2014!

Johnston and Gentithes Art Pottery

Eck McCanless Pottery

Dean and Martin Pottery

Latham's Pottery

Studio Touya Pottery

From the Ground Up Pottery 

Windsong Pottery

Hickory Hill Pottery

Lufkin Pottery

Michele Hastings and Jeff Brown Pottery

Westmoore Pottery

Ben Owen Pottery

Chris Luther Pottery

Blue Hen Pottery

and Bulldog Pottery

Bruce Gholson & Samantha Henneke - Bulldog Pottery, Dec. 13, 2014, Holiday Kiln Opening, Seagrove, North Carolina

This is the Front and Back of the recent Holiday Kiln Opening Postcard we mailed across the United States.

Bruce Gholson & Samantha Henneke - Bulldog Pottery, Dec. 13, 2014, Holiday Kiln Opening, Seagrove, North Carolina

Bulldog Pottery Holiday Weekend

Bruce and Max peaking into the kiln

 Maxwell and Bruce are peaking into the kiln. At this stage the kiln is hot and slowly taking the bricks off the door helps cool it down so we can unload. If we didn't do this, the kiln would probably not be ready to unload for another day, on top of the 40 hour wait to this point.  We posted this image on our facebook page, and Mountain Cousin Michael Kline wrote some funny ha ha's. We want to share a little pottery humor with you.

Michael Kline writes:

 "We (Mark Shapiro and I) always had this battery of tests: (he is referring to; when is the kiln too hot

if the kiln....

•  burns paper/too hot.
• cuticles burn? too hot
• spit on finger, touch pot:sizzle/too hot
• now we have the "red ball/melt=too hot" test!

Bruce writes 

• Red Ball to Black Cinder would be a reasonable too hot indicator?

Michael writes 

• Check. Rubber ball cinder test has been added as an indicator to impatient potter standing next to kiln battery of tests.

Unloading a kiln can be full of mixed feelings. There are subtle nuances and expectations for the glaze surfaces that we look for.  Just the right melt, just the right color, hue, and texture. To us as potters there is our favorite way the glaze turns out, but most of the time it may only happen on a handful of pieces. For example, This particular kiln load was a bit on the cool side. We wish we had waited at least 20 more minutes before we turned off the kiln, we like a little bit more of a melt in the glaze surface, but we also realize we did not lose any of Bruce's bowls due to glaze running, and only a couple of jar lids, and hey, it still came out really good overall! 

We usually start pulling pots from the bottom of the kiln since it is always cooler than the top.

Samantha unloading the front part of the kiln

Our kiln has two layers, the front and the back.

Bruce is getting closer the the second layer of pottery in our kiln

Bruce added a turquoise glaze onto his lustre shino this cycle

We wanted to show you a sample of the variation that occurs with Bruce's shino glazing.  The two cups below are the same glaze. The one on the left did not get any carbon trapping, and the one on the right did. Maybe some time we can write a separate blog post about shino specifically, or if you are in our shop and are interested let us know.  One reason we like this glaze is because of the variety in surface color depending on where it is at in the kiln.

An assortment of Samantha's covered jars

Samantha kept this cup. She added another glaze onto it and wants to keep it as a reference.

This is a cup of Bruce's that we kept. 

Saturday morning started early. We scheduled the kiln opening to start at 9:00 and people were on time! Wonderful. We were not quite ready. We were still walking pots up from our studio. Everyone was patient with us and enjoyed looking through the new work as we unpacked the pottery from the boxes.

People visited us throughout the day. We are very happy with the turnout, and appreciated everyone coming out to our Bulldog Pottery event. We have begun to clear out more of our old studio space for pottery display. 

Eventually, we will turn these two rooms into our shop as soon as we can move all of our stuff out. We sure can collect it, stuff.

Ed took a picture of Bruce and me at the end of the day. We want to thank everyone for coming out this past weekend, and thank you to everyone that thought of us.  

We have had a blast this year! Here is to an awesome 2012!

Can you Come Out to Play Today

Bruce preparing a bit of glaze with Maxwell

The kiln is full and firing as I write this.  We are a bit ahead of our usual firing schedule which is a good thing because it means (cross your fingers) that we will be able to turn it off at a decent hour this evening. We have been steadily glazing our pottery since we last checked in. We are relieved, happy, restfully tired, excited, and filled with anticipation for what will come out and thrilled that we have completed this cycle.
Bruce added a new color combo to his pots, he is working off of a test tile so we are hoping that this doesn't cause any trouble for us. Stay Tuned.
The Moka glaze was behaving a little different in application this time. So there is a tad bit of wondering if the pots will be affected.  When getting ready for a kiln opening like we are doing now, there is a certain level of anxiety that happens.  We have specially invited people to come out and we are hoping that we have a kiln load of successful pots for them to see. It is all part of the territory of being a studio potter.

Maxwell likes to remind us that we still need to play, if only for a few minutes.

In the image above Max was wondering if now is a good time for Bruce to take a break to play a little. Alas, Bruce had to tell Max to go find Gloria and see if she had anything to help entertain him for a spell.

Maxwell with Gloria while she cooks, one of Maxwell's favorite places to be

Max went with me up to the studio. How can you say no to those baby brown eyes? 

Maxwell proposes a trade with Samantha for her shiney new Grinch pants.
She threw it instead.

We tossed the ball together. One of Max's sole purposes in life is running with and after his red ball. His friends Joan and Paul recently sent him a new red ball, he wants to give them a big thank you for his new shiny ball.  

Maxwell with his shiney new ball

Afer a little ball toss we went to find out how Ed was doing with his pottery job. We found Ed half way through the recent grouping of pots that came out of the bisque kiln. Ed is our official pottery washer, removing the dust that would cause problems in glazing.  

Ed and Maxwell

Maxwell knows he can always get Ed to play

Ed tossing Maxwell's ball

Maxwell in his element

Maxwell

I know it can be cliche to say enjoy everyday, be in the moment, and never take for granted our happiness with the ones we love. But cliche or not it is the truth, and we should always remember how valuable every living moment is, hug one another often, and take presious moments in time to smell the roses. 

Samantha carrying a board up pots to the kiln

Our kiln is in the old hog parlor

A before image of the kiln

This is our kiln before we have bricked up the door.

We want to thank the Studio Potter Archive blog and Carolina Arts Unleashed blog for helping to spread the word about our upcoming kiln opening this weekend on Saturday December 17.

Also we want to thank Randolph Arts Guild and Central Park NC for including us in there weekly e-mail.

Also the Heart Of North Carolina, Randolph County TDA.

If I missed anyone let me know, I will add you on! Thanks!!

Also I posted some images on Three Corners Clay of the other Seagrove potteries having kiln openings this weekend.

We are back at it in the studio this past week. We have planned one last hurrah for the year 2011. We will have a kiln opening on December 17 with as many pieces as we can make during this past week and the next four days. We have covered jars, mugs, pitchers, and mushroom jars in the works right now and we will see what can be thrown in the next couple of days.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We relaxed a bit, played a little Wii which was very fun, ate turkey and oyster stuffing, drank vanilla chai tea, and threw some pots.  I have not taken the time to sit back and play our Wii for who knows how long, and after playing a little I think I will try not to have so much time elapse. Wii fitness is fun and challenging and after 1/2 hour I was a bit tired and played Boom Blox Bash designed by Stephen Spielberg.  The game is relaxing and something you can do from a sitting position.  I am on the look out for a few more games for this Xmas.

For special occasions we set the table with plates that we have collected from other potters. Whenever we are out and about at a show or visiting, we sometimes buy a special plate. It is enjoyable to set the table with plates made by different potters. Below the table is set with plates by Ken Sedberry, Kyle Carpenter, Mark Shapiro, Sarah Jaeger, Matt Jones, compote by Micheal Hunt/Naomi Dalglish, and of course a Bulldog Pottery plate.

Thanksgiving dinner table

At the Celebration of Seagrove Potters, Tom Starland dropped by the booth. He drove up from South Carolina where he and his wife Linda publish an online arts newspaper called the Carolina Arts.  They include all kinds of Arts information for South and North Carolina. If you want to know what is going on in the Arts, this is a great place to check on a frequent basis.