Nothing Like.....

David Stuempfle took this picture of us at the Mints Potters Market Invitational. He had a booth across from us.

There is nothing like an event such as the Potters Market to totally exhaust ourselves. We have been catching up on sleep, watching BattleStar (we are in the middle of Season Three and we don't know who the Final Five are yet, but have fun guessing), and some quality time with Maxwell, Ed and Gloria.

I have images that I am working on that we both took on Saturday to show you. Better late than never, but I will post them soon. There was a Celebration of Seagrove Potters meeting the other night where we all drew numbers for our booth placement out of a bowl. That post to come soon too. Bruce and I have been running, well actually we have been walking around, trying to catch up on this and that. We have a teapot and cups to ship to an auction in DC for Art of Tea at VisArts, an exhibition in Columbia, South Carolina that we needed to get info and images of work too, and a couple of pieces to deliver to Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoore for the upcoming "box" exhibition.

Ed and Gloria went to the Zoo to Doo (auction at the North Carolina Zoo) this past Saturday night, bid and won some awesome sculptures that Mike Durham (artist from Asheboro) made. I will post images of these too. We just have to share them with you. They make us smile every time we walk out our door.

Pottery life is very busy.

New Work Fresh from Bulldog Pottery Studios

We are busy, busy and more busy. We were up until 2:30 am last night. I was glazing for one more La La kiln load. Crazy but we get into this roll where we want as much to choose from to take to the Potters Market Invitational and to have here in our shop in Seagrove.

Here are a few pieces that I have been documenting today and wanted to share with you before I go back to packing. I have found that it is worth the extra hours onto getting ready for an event like this to document some of the work that comes out. I wish I had time to take more images but I figure some our better than none.

The Invitational Potters Market starts at 10:00 am Saturday morning and ends around 4:00 pm. It will be on the lawn of the Mint Museum of Art on Randolph Rd in Charlotte, NC. For the list of potters that will be there and more info follow this link.

Results from recent kiln firing

Here are the pieces that I unloaded today. We call them our La La colors. My niece was into the Telatubbies when she was a baby and she had a yellow one named La La. At the time I was working out some of these colors and came up with the yellow green glaze that I called La La Green after her yellow Telatubbie. The colors remind me of that show. They also remind me of jelly beans or Easter. I had a multi color pinkish Easter Basket that my folks would put pink, chartreuse or yellow crinkly stuff inside and lay candy in there. These colors bring back fond memories for me. Have you ever watched a Telatubbie show? Pretty strange. What is up with those giant rabbits? Pretty wild stuff.

Glazing Away... and Away

We are working night and day to get ready for this weekend in Charlotte. We will have our shop open here as well. Ed and Gloria will stay back home to manage the fort and take care of Maxwell. Between target practice and dove season Maxwell has been a mess this past weekend. He put himself in his kennel all day yesterday shaking and miserable.
Last night we loaded a kiln with four of Bruce's red clay pitchers and vases. He also glazed up two fossil fish wall glazed paintings. My la la kiln is still hot so I will unload that this afternoon. Pictures to come soon.

Some Glazed Ceramic Results

Here are some pieces that Samantha finished. These wall glaze paintings still need to be fitted with wood on the back so they are ready to hang.
Here are some vases that are waiting upside down to have their pedestals cut off, and then a final grinding and polishing.
This is one of Bruce's agate mugs with a fossil fish drawn on.

Glazing Away

Bruce is working on glazing his agate mugs and cups. Some of these have his fossil fish drawn on. We will be unloading this kiln tomorrow. It took as a couple days longer to get our kiln loaded. We will start working on another today. Ed is helping wash the pottery. We can have a lot of dust on it after the bisque and we like to have them clean before we glaze. Right now he is working on my pieces that will get the La La colors. These are our transparent greens, pinks, and yellows. It has been awhile since I have glazed this way. I warmed up when I glazed the tea bowls for the Three Cups of Tea fundraiser.

Below, Samantha's glazing area. Somehow I will need to make room here to glaze today. I will push back as much as I can and stack. The crystalline glazes are mixed in small batches and we brush all of those glazes on. My La La happy colors I have mixed up in a larger quantity. Which you would think would be a bit faster and I guess in some ways it is, but this particular glaze drips in application, and can be fussy. I also like to glaze the inside of the cup and foot with different colors as well. I am excited to see a grouping of this work again. I will load our Paragon on the days that we are not loading our Skutt kiln. I sure comes in handy to have two electric kilns. I think we will be getting one more kiln with vases in before September 12th. We are excitedly looking forward to going to the Mint for this years Potters Market.

Silent Auction to benefit the Mint Museum

Potters Market Invitational Kicks Off with Silent Auction

Delhom Service League sponsors annual fundraiser to benefit The Mint Museum

Charlotte, N. C. (August 27, 2009) The Delhom Service League, an affiliate group of The Mint Museum, will hold a sealed bid auction of a unique luxury lamp during the two weeks leading up its annual Potters Market Invitational. The auction, which opens August 28 and runs through September 12 at the Mint Museum of Art, will allow buyers to bid on a beautiful addition for their home and also support the Delhom Service League.

Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke, owners of Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove, N.C., designed the lamp’s base. The lamp was generously donated by Scott Cornelius Design Studio Ltd. of New York City and the lamp shade was donated by Neal Johnson Ltd. of Charlotte. Bidding on the lamp will end at 3:00 p.m. on September 12, 2009.

The 5^th Annual Potters Market Invitational will be held Saturday, September 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the lawn of the Mint Museum of Art. Widely regarded as one of the most popular pottery sales in the region, the event benefits the Mintís decorative arts collection. Tickets are $10 for adults ($8 after 2:00 p.m.). Ticket sales begin on the day of the event at 9:30 a.m. and include admission to the Mint.

Exemplifying the region’s rich craft heritage, the Potters Market features 40 of North Carolinas best potters from the state’s most important pottery-producing areas: Seagrove, Piedmont, Catawba Valley and the mountains, including Penland and Asheville. For many potters who do not sell outside of galleries and kiln openings, the Potters Market is a rare event. For more information, visit www.mintmuseum.org or call (704) 337-2000.

Vases with glaze and Vases without glaze

We unloaded an assortment yesterday of our vases with a variety of crystalline and flowing glaze colors.

In the images below Bruce is working on another grouping of vases. The rings need to be fitted and glued on the bottom and then put in a dish to catch the excess glaze that comes off. Bruce will be cutting of the rings from the vases soon and polishing the bottoms. We were happy with the most of what came out of the kiln yesterday and look forward to glazing the next round of vases. I am working on my glaze paintings and Bruce will be glazing his agate mugs and cups. The plan is to get a kiln load in tomorrow but probably the day after tomorrow is more realistic.

Finishing Touches on the Teapots

We are putting the finishing touches on our teapots. Hopefully these will be dry and glazed by next Saturday. Bruce has been throwing agate clay these past few weeks.


These are my (Samantha) teapots. I am planning on glazing these with my la la colors.

Back to the Glazing Cycle : Vases today

We are in our glazing cycle now and working on the pieces we have thrown for the upcoming Potter's Market in Charlotte on September 12. I was finishing up glazing some other vases and loading our first kiln while Bruce was glazing the inside if the vases and finding the pedestals that fit onto the bottoms.

The Beginnings : Collaborative for the Celebration's Gala

We are working on lots of different activities in the pottery lately. We are busily getting ready for the Potters Market Invitational at the Mint Museum in Charlotte on September 12th. At the same time we are also working on our collaborative for this years Friday night Celebration of Seagrove Potters Gala auction at the Historic Lucks Cannery in Seagrove. Samantha threw these 4 tall vase forms and patterned them with red slip. After they are fired Bruce will draw his fossil fish and or serpent and then glaze them with a combination of our crystalline glazes. We will choose one to be auctioned off at the Celebration's Gala. The Gala begins at 6:00 pm on Friday evening, November 20th. For more information about buying tickets to the Gala and the Celebration of Seagrove Potters weekend, visit the Celebration's website. Hope to see all of you there. It will surely be a fun weekend for the family and holiday shopping.