From PA to MT!

Here we are! In Beautiful Montana! This is as far west as I've been and I can't explain how incredible these Mountains are! For those of you who don't know, I was invited to come to
Red Lodge Clay Center by Donn and Betty Hedman. We will be here until April 15th making work, and will have an exhibit of our work opening April 9th.
Don't worry, you won't have to come to Montana! The show will be available online!
We left PA loaded down with pots, pottery making tools, and all kind of other things on Saturday March 13th and arrived unscathed 3 days later.
Badlands National Park, South Dakota, day 3 of the drive.
We saw three National Parks/Monuments that day, and arrived in Red Lodge around
1:30 am Tuesday March 16th .
Devils Tower!
South West view of the Beartooth National Forest from the Red Lodge Clay Center studio,
6 miles out of town.
Lidded Coffee Pitcher with matching Melita!
I have always wanted to make these, and now I have 6 of them in the works. We'll load our first bisque this week and fire the soda kiln early next week!
Until next post, cheers!

Moving right along...


This bottle was fired with my friend Scott Cornish, in his 2 chambered train/bourry box/cantenary arch wood/soda kiln west of Slippery Rock near New Galilea, PA.

These bottles were gas/salt fired back in 2008. They are the reason I keep returning to the
flask form.

fresh thrown bowls, drying on the ware cart.
Bisqued bottles await firing. Wood, Gas Salt or Reduction. So many choices.
I have been returning to a couple of successful forms. This time last year I was in the same space and things feel familiar. This time of year I end up making pots that relate to what's happening, like beer tankards, whiskey bottles, jugs, big soup bowls and bread plates. Aint much to do round here when the weather turns sour, except eat, drink and make pots...I think I'll stay.
The white slip on the bowl forms are a version of
Val Cushings S O T:
30 Grolleg
20 XX Sagger (the original called for EPK)
20 T-6
30 Custer
I wanted to see what ball clay would do to this slip. I've used it in/on all kinds of pots and firings. Though it tends to peal away from pots when you brush it on a leather hard pot, I have had success with dipping and pouring it on leather hard or brushing/wiping it on wet pots on the wheel. It has worked quite well on plates with shell flashing. The substitution of ball clay in the recipe may affect the flashing affects. The flashing comes from the high alumina content of the 70 percent kaolin slip(and the atmosphere of the kiln), but I'm thinking the changes will be minimal. I'm hoping the ball clay will aid in leather hard application. Time will tell, as we'll be firing soon. I've been using SOT on half of the work, including some pots I'll fire with a celadon or tenomoku glaze in reduction. The slip will fire white under a clear or glossy glaze.
The flasks(5 of the 12 I made) have been bisqued and are ready for a fire. They were made with a light firing stoneware and then dipped in a slip made from Laguna's B-mix for cone 10. My friend Donn uses B-mix, and orders it dry in 50 lb bags, so I'm trying it as a slip. All in due time.
I will most likely gas/salt fire this work here in Smicksburg. I hope to keep a few for other firings, as I've posted before.
Well, that's enough for now, I hope. Stay warm!





Jugs







Here are a few new pots in process. I've been working in the downstairs studio of Donn Hedmans pottery near Smicksburg. Donn has graciously offered me space in his super nice studio with a beautiful view. I'm making plenty and bisquing work for future firings. Out at Brush Valley, I don't bisque, so I thought I would store away a few dozen pieces that I can take to other folks firings in the coming months.
As for this recent work, I've been trying to hold back on my urges to use the colored slips and linear decoration that I usually include in my work. I struggle to not over decorate forms such as these jugs. The shapes, hopefully, will stand alone.
I have return to this form over and over through the years. I have always been intereste in historic jugs and the change in their shapes that trace the development of the industrialization of clay manufacturing. The closer you get to the 1900's, the flatter and straighter the jug shapes become. The more graceful forms of previous centuries leave wasted space in a kiln where the bellies meet and can be difficult forms to make. The early American jug shapes reference their German and English counterparts, with full bellies, long graceful necks and and a narrow foot.
I am also searching for relevance in these forms in today's day and age. How do these jugs fit in to contemporary life? Well, maybe they don't and maybe that's EXACTLY why we need them. These simple containers echo a time of simplicity. Not necessarily an easier life, just different and simpler. I hope I'm not stuck in the past but I think those folks made some nice jugs.
Wishing everyone Happy Holidays over the coming months...