Cotton in the Carolinas

We just came back from NC Central Park in Star. A great talk was given by the men below and the man above. They make t-shirts here in NC.

Cotton in the Carolinas is a collaboration of farmers and manufacturers across the Carolinas dedicated to growing, making, and selling its t-shirts in the Carolinas.

There will be a Farm tour on Oct. 30th, this Saturday at Thurman Burleson & Sons Farm in New London. If you are interested in attending it starts at 10 and ends around 3pm. Contact Eric Henry eric at tsdesigns dot com

Would like to buy a t-shirt that was grown - made - sold - here in North Carolina? Dirt to Shirt in 750 miles.

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.

Surrounded by containers of yogurt

Yogurt? Not actually. We do like yogurt, but no the containers have been recycled to hold our glazes.

We are planning to glaze a few more pieces today. Then we will be setting up our tents and looking forward to this weekend with our "Cousins in Clay".

There are two other kiln openings happening here in Seagrove this weekend. Donna Craven and Chris Luther are holding special events at their places. If you are interested in researching other Seagrove Potters to visit you can do so at Discover Seagrove and Visit Seagrove websites. Also 5 miles down the street from here, Star is holding their Star Heritage Days. STARglass will be giving hot glass demos all day long on Saturday.

You can pick up information about Star Heritage Days at our place.

Wow this weekend has become quite a happening time!

The Next Generation - Seagrove Potters under 40

This exhibition is on display at the North Carolina Pottery Center. The reception is this coming Friday, Feb. 12th at 5:30pm. I will post tomorrow the images of my pieces that are part of the show. The receptions at the Pottery Center are fun and it is great to check out what is new, and what is old. We always like to take a stroll through the North Carolina Pottery Center's Museum. Hope to see you there.

Also of Note there is a STARworks Glass open house the night before on February 11. For only $25 you as an individual or you and a partner can make your own glass heart or flower! If you just want to come and watch and enjoy the fun I know they would love for you to join in. Sounds like a fun Thursday night to me. So if you live near here I hope to see you there too.

NCPC Fundraiser Party in Seagrove

To see more images of the Wednesday night fundraiser for the NC Pottery Center that we had in Seagrove, go to Jennie's JLK Jewelry blog.

Jennie sent me this picture she took of me with David and Nancy. David is a potter and neighbor, and Nancy is the director of Central Park NC. I am wearing a wonderful hand made skirt, top, and scarf that I acquired last year at the Carolina Designer Craftsman Show. Jen Swearington from Asheville made it. Meredith reported that we raised $1500 dollars for the North Carolina Pottery Center Wednesday night during the Craft in America viewing at Jennie's, but Meredith of Whynot Pottery will give a final amount when she gets back from the Crozet Art Fair.

The 1/2 hour before the PBS Craft in America special began there was a re-showing of the interview with Nancy and the STARworks staff, as well as, Kenneth from Comfort South and Eddie from WetDog Glass. Back to back with the Central Park Program was an interview with Vernon, Pam and Travis Owens of Jugtown Pottery. The STARworks blog provides you with two different links to see the video that UNC TV did on Central Park NC.


ON ANOTHER NOTE: Central Park NC is having their annual open house on October 29 at Starworks in Star, NC. This event is open to the public, but an RSVP is needed. The keynote speaker is Michael Schuman, there will also be a workshop on Saturday. To find all of the details for signing up for the workshop and the meeting, go to their website here. Last years open house was a lot of fun. The STARWorks Glass folk gave demos, informational presentations were given, good food, and there was a jazz band. Lots of happy people to talk too. Come out to hear about what Central Park NC is all about!!

A Trip to Starworks in Star

We drove today to Star to pick up clay from Takuro at Starworks Ceramics.  Starworks has donated their new local clay body to the upcoming Seagrove potters' community wood firing in Seagrove, at the North Carolina Pottery Center on April 4.   This wood firing is open to the public to come and ask questions about the uniqueness of this labor intensive firing process.   There will also be a closing reception for the Owen/Owens 175 Years of Family Business exhibition with music all afternoon and a catalog signing.  Both are open to the public with free admission.   

We drove into the parking area and saw our friends Eddie and Angela from Wet Dog Glass, having a lunch break in the StarGardens and being protected by Starwork's notorious, head of security, "Wheezy".

The building pictured here is where you go to find Starworks ceramic clay supply.

Takuro Shibata toured Bruce and I around the clay making facilities.  He has been working on this local clay project for several years now.   Much time was spent researching local clays and consulting with geologists, potters, and others, to locate regional sources of raw materials suitable for making distinctive clay bodies found only here in our area.  His first clay body, available now, is a blend of a raw local kaolin with a raw local ball clay, and other ingredients.  It is primarily designed for wood firing at cone 10 and higher, and should be suitable for cone 10 salt and glaze firings as well. 

Here is the hammer mill where he puts in the local clays that he has gathered from various locations.  One clay is from Cameron and another from the town of Candor.  The clay body is blunged together with collected rain water in the tank below the mill, and pumped to the magnetic separator and   

 screened through  a 30 mesh sieve to extract any metal and larger particles from the clay.  The clay is pumped through the green hoses that you can see going to and from this contraption.
Takuro is explaining the water pumping system that he and Santiago have devised to move needed rain water into the system, as well as reclaiming excess water squeezed out of the filter press.    

The tall green tank is pressurized to send the slip into the filter press bags and the excess water is squeezed out into the trough underneath the press on the right.  This system can process approximately 2500 lbs. of clay in three hours press time.  When the cakes of clay (round discs) are ready they are

 run through this deairing pug mill, extruding out as a rectangular pug, cut of into 25 lb blocks, and bagged ready for the wheel or hand building techniques.

Bruce and Takaru are looking at the 2000 gallon storage tank that supplies the water for the clay.  This water tank is located on the other side of the wall where Takaru and Santiago was showing Eddie, Angela, and Bruce the system they figured out.  This water was collected from the roof of the building from the recent rains.

We bought ourselves a few new tools from Takuro and Hitomi before we left with our clay.  We also gathered information to pass out to the potters at next weeks Catawba Valley Pottery Festival. 

What are you going to do with your log?

This is dedicated to all of the Stargardens shiitake workshop participants that went home with their log full of spores.  Hopefully in 5-6 months there will be  alot of stir frying going on.

Flower Pot fundraiser for StarworksGardens

Anne, Evan, Hitomi and kids

Bruce and Gloria went down to Star to help make planters for StarworksGardens fundraiser.  Here are some action pictures of the staff and friends in action making different shaped flower pots to help fund the spring garden planting.

Santiago at the wheel

Takuro

Group in Action: Anne, Hitomi, and Casey

Group in Action

Help Starworks Garden with Spring Planter Fund Raising Event

Angela, Eddie and Phil of Wet Dog Glass helping Adam put up the greenhouse

Where: Starworks, Star, North Carolina

When: February 20th and 27th 4:30pm-7:00pm

Dear everyone,

Central Park NC is planning to have a fund raising for Starworks Garden in this spring, and it's going to be "planter/ flower pot sale" event.

In order to have enough planters, STARworks Ceramics want you all to come join Planter/Flower Pot Workshop in our clay studio and make pots together. We offer studio space, lots of cone 6 clay (Brownstone by Highwater Clays), bisque&cone 6 firings by electric kiln. You can do hand building and wheel throwing. Let's make pots as many as possible. If you don't have much/any experience for making pots, we give you instruction and demonstration. Children will welcome.

Workshop date will be on Feb 20(Fri) and 27(Fri), 4:30pm to 7pm. Drinks and snack will be prepared, but it would be great if you bring food for friends. We will let you know glazing day later on. Firing will be scheduled sometime in March. Pots will be sold at the event in this spring and all profit will be used for Central Park NC program fund. Pot sale event details will be announced soon.

We hope you to join it and thank you for supporting Central park NC fund raising.

Thank you,

Hitomi Shibata

STARworks Ceramics

Anne in the new StarGarden Greenhouse

Layered Icicle Fountain Cake at Gary Spivey's Star Hotel Bed and Breakfast

We worked down in Star yesterday.  Bruce spotted Gary Spivey's water fountain lavishly iced in a white crystalline glaze.  I grabbed the camera when I went home to bring back lunch.  I wanted to document this unique sighting.  We don't usually see sights like this here in Star, the geographic center of North Carolina.  Gary erected this fountain last year with a rose garden surrounding it.  It stands in the yard on the side of his Star Hotel Bed and Breakfast.  

As Gary always says "More is More".  His fountain has now turned into a layered Icicle Fountain Cake.  Maybe he could do this for the next wedding that takes place at the Star Hotel Bed and Breakfast?

The side view of the Star Hotel Bed and Breakfast in Star, North Carolina

The front of Star Hotel Bed and Breakfast

Wet Dog Glass

This is our local newspaper for Montgomery County. We get it once a week on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon we sat down to catch up on what is happening around here, low and behold an article about our new friends in Star. They moved into Star Works : Center for Creative Enterprises. Cool!
Eddie and Angela moved here recently from their home town New Orleans. They relocated their Wet Dog Glass furnace business. How did we get so lucky? They now have 5 employees. All from different parts of the U.S. Pretty exciting, if we do say so ourselves. We can't wait for those lessons in casting glass. Bruce and I have ideas stirring already.

To Read the complete article : Montgomery Herald.