Perfect Timing

Yesterday I caught this shadow as it laid perfectly across this pot. The letters came from the sun at just the right angle for the painted words "Tin Barn Pottery" to cast a perfect shadow in the Manassas Clay storefront.

Real Estate

(Brian Everett)

I have been quite busy this week with my day job.  I've had little time with the computer, and even less being creative.  Boo.   It looks like the next few weeks will be about the same.  Which is really too bad, because I am really charged up about some of the vintage finds I've made in the last few weeks, and the ideas for handmade items I've had recently.

(SweetThaiThai)

I have been so busy I haven't even had time to call the electrician about wiring my house for the new kiln, which is probably just as well, because I don't have time to stay home with him to get it done.  I've been out of the office for a few days doing training, and I can't very well take off the other days.

(McBeth)

The other sadness I have is that when I am home, I am too tired to work on things, and there is no light to take pictures of things that are ready to go into the shop.  Bad winter lighting combined with working a day job isn't a very good formula for listing new items.

(pirattrev)

I did want to relay some very important news however.  Last Sunday at Manassas Clay, my pottery teacher asked me if I wanted to take over a new shelf.  The new shelf is easily 4 or 5 times bigger than my old shelf.  I was so very pleased.  This is no small gesture - Fran doesn't just give away good real estate!  Other veteran potters even congratulated me.  My old shelf could barely accommodate my tools, a bag of clay, and 4 or 5 pots.  Every week I struggled with how to fit everything, and sometimes had to take my tool caddy home or borrow space on other shelves.  I don't think I will ever have that problem again, and indeed, my first day with the new shelf, I loaned space to two other students.  I suppose this makes up for the deluge of day job activities.

Black Walnut

A classmate of mine and I have been working on a project at Manassas Clay, and today we got to reap the benefits. One week we threw probably around 50 "spouts" with a clay called Black Walnut. It's a beautiful clay that throws really nicely, but it produces such different glaze results than the other clays that we have been almost afraid to use it for fear of winding up with bad results. To rectify this problem, we tested each glaze on the spouts. Each spout was assigned a letter or number that was carved into it for tracking purposes. We dipped each spot twice so we can see how the glaze looks with a single dip and a second layer. We had also carved into the spouts so we would be able to see how each glaze "breaks" over horizontal and vertical crevices. After we had each glaze done, we tried combining glazes. We kept careful track of each spout so that we could replicate the results later. Since all of these steps require time in between, today was the first day we could sit down a see the end result, and even better, use that information to make glazing decisions. These are pictures of all the spouts. Some of the glazes are horrible on the clay - which we already knew based on our haphazard glazing. But some of them were amazing on the Black Walnut.

I have another glaze test in the works for the very dark clay I've been using lately. It's not quite as black as the Black Walnut, but it is still producing surprising results compared to the "dark" clay sample tiles in the glaze kitchen. I'm working on a different for for those tiles, and I'll share the results when I finish those.

In completely unrelated news, the painting in the den and the foyer is done, and we only have one more coat of paint left to get done in the master bedroom. I'll take pictures when we finish putting the rooms back together, and if it is ever light again in this very dark, dreary winter.

Filling The Bowls

I bought three bowls at this year's Empty Bowls event. It can be hard to choose, but you don't feel too bad about buying a few, since the cause is so worthy. I liked the layering of the glazes on the bowl below. I also liked these two bowls below. They're glazed similarly - but they certainly aren't exactly the same. I think they're even different clays, and the foot is trimmed differently on each. But they clearly belonged together, and I couldn't separate them. I wanted to show you how we signed the bottom of each bowl. This one is a good example - we would sign them "Empty Bowls," or "EB," and some would add "Manassas Clay." When they come out of the bisque firing, we're able to differentiate them from all the student and studio potter pieces. And as a purchaser, the signature will remind you of all the literal and figurative empty bowls that you helped to fill.

Full Bowls

Friday evening's Empty Bowls event to benefit SERVE, Inc. was a fantastic success. The potters of Manassas Clay donated over 700 bowls. Attendees walked up and down the hallway, gazing at all of the bowls, carefully choosing which one(s) they would bring home. Almost every bowl found a home. We also sold T-shirts with the Empty Bowls logo on it. I had a black one from last year, but of course I had to buy a white one this year. Looking down the hallway of bowls. Each bowl is unique.

Folks would ask me which ones I threw. It's really hard to know, since you might throw it, but someone else probably trims it, and a third person probably glazes it.

I know I touched every single bowl, however, because I wiped out each bowl after we unpacked them onto the tables. They were basically clean, but some of them had a bit of clay dust in them, and I wanted them to look their best for the crowds.

Some of the bowls had a card in them explaining the concept of Empty Bowls.

Sometimes the folks who were glazing would create sets of similar bowls.

I believe I helped to glaze this set of blue and brown bowls.

I think my mom brought home the square handbuilt bowl below.

I liked the green over the golden luster glaze. It's not a combination I would have thought of.

Some attendees did buy several matching bowls.

So many bowls to choose from.

It can't be said enough how great it is of Manassas Clay to sponsor this event by contributing the clay, the potter hours, the firings, and the glazes. I haven't heard yet how much money we raised, but when I hear, I'll post it. The event was a lot of fun, and the volunteers were incredible - generating publicity, soliciting restaurant donors, setting up the event, checking in attendees, serving the food, and cleaning up. Thanks so much to everyone who came out - your contribution to SERVE will make a real difference for families in our community. I will post pictures of the bowls I chose in my next post.

Empty Bowls

Friday, October 23rd, Open House from 4:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. Manassas Baptist Church, The Rock Annex 8730 Sudley Road Manassas, Virginia

*** Sponsored by Manassas Clay

*** to benefit SERVE, Inc. ***

• Pick a handmade bowl to take home
• Dinner donated from numerous local restaurants
• Adults $15, children $10

***

In 1990 a high school art teacher in Michigan helped his students solve a problem. They were searching for a way to raise funds to support a food drive. What evolved was a class project to make ceramic bowls for a fund raising meal. Guests were served a simple meal of soup and bread, and were invited to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world. By the following year the originators had developed this concept into Empty Bowls, a project to provide support for food banks, soup kitchens, and other organizations that fight hunger. The Imagine/RENDER Group, a 501(c)(3) organization, was created to promote the project. Since then Empty Bowls events have been held throughout the world, and millions of dollars have been raised to combat hunger. After launching Manassas Clay in 1996, Fran Newquist and Jane Cullum wanted to give back to the community and approached SERVE about sponsoring an Empty Bowls benefit. They envisioned an evening where the community would select a hand thrown bowl and have dinner together. SERVE and Manassas Clay have been working together since early 2000 to sponsor this annual event.

Proceeds from this event will be used to provide: Food, Financial Assistance, Educational & Job Training Opportunities, Temporary Shelter, and Transitional Housing to local disadvantaged families who are experiencing economic hardships. If you are local, try to stop by. It's a wonderful event to raise funds for the needy in our community. Be sure to look for me and come say hello!

Weekend Update

I had a fun weekend, with lots of goodies to share on the blog. I hadn't been antiquing in quite a while, and I was able to sneak off on Sunday to visit three shops in the area. Iron Horse Antiques in Manassas was first on my list. They always have a great selection, and a few of the booths upstairs are so well curated that I almost always find something I need. And they have a giant iron horse on the first floor, plus a running choo choo train that runs a track around the ceiling. Next up was the Bull Run Antiques Mall. As with all antique shops, it's hit or miss for me, since you never know what they'll have. Sometimes I walk out with a car-ful, other times (like yesterday) I walk out thinking how glad my husband will be that I didn't buy the giant carved piano legs at $75 each. Then I stopped by Old Town Manassas Antiques, which for some reason, I am not as familiar with. This is soon to change, though, because I discovered most of my finds there. So without further blathering, here are my treasures:

Galvanized tray with handy drain spout, which will be perfect for storage in the studio. Three Audobon Society postcards.

Black and white enameled bowls with measurements printed on the side. These will also be helpful for storage in the studio.

Milk crate from Birmingham Dairy in Manassas, Virginia, and long galvanized garden tote. Again, very useful for storage and display. My not-so-secret weakness is "things to put things in."

Large wooden chopping bowl. Apples on the kitchen table, anyone? I made one other large purchase - the wooden bench that these are all photographed on. I will make a separate blog post about it - it's cool enough to deserve its own. Next I want to share with you the stunningly gorgeous raku vase that I bought at Manassas Clay. It was made by my friend, Karen Lachow, a studio potter there. She has an area at the shop where you can buy her work, and every time I go in I gaze at her shelves. Finally it was too much for me and I had to buy her large raku vase. If you live in the area, I strongly encourage you to stop in at Manassas Clay - it's not just studio and classroom space, it's a shop with the most amazing pieces for sale by the most wonderful people you've ever met. Thanks again, Karen, your vase will live in a place of honor in my home, as an inspiration to me!

It seems silly to post pictures of my work now, but since I took pictures of some green- and bisque-ware, here they are. These are two bisque fired pieces I made using silicate with iron oxide painted on during the throwing process. You let the silicate dry on the pot, and then you belly out the sides, creating the crackle finish. I took these pictures prior to glazing them, which I did with soda ash. On the darker pot, I added some black lapis glaze to the rim.

You can see that I squeezed the sides of the white pot to create more of an oval shape.

Crackle detail.

These are some greenware pieces that I put handles on last week.

Mug and pitcher.

Another pitcher.

Stamped handle.

Another stamp.

Pointy spout. Thanks for wading through! Today, for the third and hopefully last time, I am waiting for the electrician to put my pendant lights in the studio. So be sure to check back for (*crossing my fingers*) pictures of the studio lights.