Face the facts...

People like face jugs!  I have never understood the fascination with these pieces, but there are so many potters and so many collectors that really go crazy over these jugs?  So in the spirit of Catawba Valley potters and the obsession with face jugs dad turned a pitcher and we put 3 faces on it.  One by B.R. Hilton, one by Robert Hilton, and one by me...probably the only thing like this you will ever see with all three of us, but it was really fun! 

left: Robert Hilton  center: B.R. Hilton  right: Heather Hilton

I think it's only appropriate that the face jug was a Christmas gift for my aunt Linda...the biggest fan any of Hilton pottery any of us could have!

family works for free right?

I'm sure hoping so! ha!  I put my brother (Robert) to work on creating a logo for Heather Hilton pottery.  I mean, if I'm going to keep making it I might as well have the full marketing to support the process right?  Ha ha!  So anyway, after spending three times the amount of time I have spent turning creating a "signature" and driving Robert absolutly bonkers with my constant "what if you moved this here..." and "oh no, I like it better over there" I think we have a logo! 


artist at work...


He created the logo from one of my earliest pieces, a little pot with rings on the side.  He is quite a talented artist and I think he really was happiest showing off his fancy tablet drawing board and computer programs.

oh glazing, how you infuriate me!

Like it's not hard enough to turn the pieces, trim the pieces, and bisque fire them...then you have to glaze them!  If you haven't had the joy of this experience yet, let me just tell you...it can all be over with one wrong dip...ha!

So, another lesson learned the hard way (or possibly the hard-headed way) is don't experiment with glazes on pieces you like, use the ones that you aren't sure about to try new things on...

My winter man, and my dogwoods are just a little off in the coloring, but that coffee mug with the floral design, it is a HOT MESS!  The glaze ran down and clumped, the color is okay but boy was it too thick! Gotta work on my glazing skills before the next time around.

In the Lion's Den

I am really starting to like this whole sprig mold experience!  I made a few bowls today and tried out a couple of new designs...one looks like what I'm going to call "Mr. Winter" and another "Mr. Fall" and I put a few rings on either side of the pots.

Mr. Fall (left) and Mr. Winter (right)

But I have to say my very favorite so far is this lion!  I turned a wide bowl and then made the lion heads.  It wasn't quite right so I added a ring between his teeth!  Now let's hope the ring survives the bisque firing, it's so smalll I'm afraid it could get broken or cracked...

the first Lion attempt...

it's a family affair!

Well, Robert (my brother for those who don't know him) came up today and joined in the fun.  I don't know that he will take up turning but he seemed to have a good time with the slab work.  He made mom a set of sunflower bowls for Christmas. 

Robert & Dad during sunflower bowl production

I turned a few things today and tried out a few new ideas...I'm exploring the world of sprig molds.  They are plaster molds that allow you to create raised designs on pottery.  Check out the leaf and acorn vase I made:

leaf and acorn vase

My First Sale...

Well, dad's annual sale at the Hilton Homeplace was this weekend, and I thought it might be cool to put out a few pieces and see if anyone liked them?  I sold almost every piece!  What an amazing feeling!  I even had one customer who asked me to sign the bottom with a sharpie! There was another customer who said she reads my blog - hello to you! So exciting, and also pretty humbling!

my first sale @ the Hilton Homeplace!

I think it's only fitting that the very first piece of pottery I ever sold was on 10/07/11 to Judy Petrie.  She has done cameo work on Hilton pottery as long as I have been alive...she painted on my grandfather's pieces and now occasionally on dad's. 

I have to say this has become a really fun hobby, and I am totally enjoying every bit of it!

Back at it!

Well, I got back at it today after over two months away.  A little bit harder to get back into today...I didn't turn anything today, but my underglaze pieces have been fired and I think we need to work on the green for the leaves a little...should be darker. Oh and the blue on the flower petal...that's from the cobalt powder that dad was making glaze with...note to self: don't paint where glaze is being mixed.

fired pieces with underglaze

It is the time of year for Jack-o-Lanterns though so I carved a few for dad's show.  Possibly at some point I can tun my own, but until then I'll just keep putting faces on these little guys...

jack-o-family

Extruding Handles

Napkin Rings!  So, that "cookie-press-meets-caulking-gun" tool that I made handles with during my pottery class looks like a toy compared to the extruder dad has...this thing takes two people to operate!  I used it to make napkin rings, a really neat way to get them to all relatively match each other! 

napkin rings

I also turned a couple of pieces and tried out my extruded handles on a bowl...you would be surprised how hard it is to get the handles lined up correctly and opposite of each other!  (only fitting the crooked little pots have crooked little handles!)

Underglaze & Slab work

New suff today!  So my leaf pieces and my dogwood stuff has been bisque fired and today I worked on painting them with underglaze...I'm not really sure what color each will turn out, but that's what these tests are for!

underglaze on bisque fired pieces

I also tried some slab work.  I haven't ever done any of this type of pottery before.  Really neat, and the possibilities are endless!  This is really cool!  I made a deviled egg plate, a few spoon rests, and a sunflower bowl. 



Pile o' Leaves

Ok...trying this new thing today with the leaves.  I'm really hoping they work out.  It's kinda hard to time everything just right...the pot has to be just dry enough, but the applications pieces have to be relatively wet still and then you have to get it all together before the leaves get too dry and crack, or the pot gets too dry and the leaves won't stick...

I also had a few things come out of the kiln...so far everything has survived!  I still can't get over how different things can turn out with the same glaze!  I really have to start testing a few things to get some ideas of what it will look like!

Wow, back at it after about 2 months away from the wheel...nice to see that I didn't forget everything!  It is a lot harder to pick it back up with so much time inbetween, but it is a little like riding a bike, you fall off a lot, skin your knees, and long for the training wheels...but eventually it really does come back to you.

I thought it would be cool to see if I could make a few dogwood pieces.  My grandfather made dogwood frequently, but dad never really did a lot of dogwood pieces.  It's a good deal more involved that just turning, but as long as it stays attached we should be in good shape!

Last Class this Session

Last class this time around.  It's nice to drive down t he street and be able to turn, but I have to say the "advancements in technology" available at the hundred year old post civil war studio, ha! 

"Dear giffin grip, I really missed you tonight when I was trying to align my bowl and trim it without cutting a hole in the side..."

"Dear centering arm & ball opener, how did I ever live without you?  You are truly the greatest thing since sliced bread..."

mom's coffee cup (finally)

Tools & Tricks

I spent some time playing with a few new tools tonight.  Pretty cool what different ribs can do.  This session is starting to wind down, and I am really looking forward to turning more with dad. 

beehive bowl

I turned this vase/sake pitcher type thing tonight.  I will say they are getting taller, even though all of my pottery is still quite small in scale...I hear there's a market for minatures, maybe that could be my specialty?  Do you know how much a pot shrinks when it dries?  Seriously...it's crazy.  You can turn this gigantic piece and it's so big you can't believe it, and then when you come back to look at it after the water has evaoprated and it's like someone zapped it with a shrink ray!  

sake - vase - type thing

I really enjoy the turning at the Hilton Homeplace...it's pretty cool to know that I am turning in the same studio as dad does, and my grandfather did.

pottery wheels in dad's shop

It's even more amazing when you are turning and need a tool...chances are if you just look around whatever you need is within arm's reach...even if you didn't know what it was until you needed it!

So in the spirit of Hilton pottery heritage, I made my first attempt at turning swirl today.  (a skill my grandfather was quite adept in) Not sure you will be able to call mine swirl...more like "whirl" ha ha!

my first attempt at swirl

back to the basics...

Ugh...back to using those multiplication tables again...although it felt a little more like counting with my fingers today...

  I couldn't get back into the swing of it after yesterday's vision of the advances in potter's tools...could I really be spoiled after only a few hours?

  I managed with a great deal of effort to end up with a few little things.  I can make the plates like dad with the well at the bottom, (although you'd have to be on a pretty strict diet to use this plate...it's really small!)

 

tiny little plate

...and I turned this little cream pitcher...but don't hold your breath waiting for a matching sugar bowl...

cream for your coffee?

So I spent the day with dad in his studio today...the first experience we've had together...HOLY COW!

It is amazing what a difference a clay makes! And the tools...who knew about ball openers, and centering arms, and giffin grips?

To put it into perspective for non-potters...remember when you were in school and the evil math teacher made you memorize all those silly multiplication tables...only to give you a calculator the next year? It was kinda like that...

I played with a few different clays (some with less sandpaper than that I have been using...much better for the manicure I must say) and turned on dad's wheel. The largest pot so far!

...of course our resident publicist, Dawn Crouse, was there for the photo op...thanks girl, you make us look so much better than we are...

All in all a great day and so very much fun! I can't wait to do it all again!

Flip your lid...

I am learning new tricks! I made a bowl today and learned how to turn a lid for it...my next trick needs to be learning how to measure the lid so you don’t have to re-make a pot to fit it...ha ha!

hmmm, lid + this pot = need new pot

I also used this cool “caulking-gun-meets-cookie-press” tool today to extrude handles.

Tomorrow I visit with dad to turn together for the first time...I can hardly wait!



So I came upon a stunning realization today...the bigger the ball of clay you start out with the less chance there s to make the walls too thin and tear it apart! (at least for me, anyway) 

my second lil pot with rings

...and the even more stunning information... the pots are bigger then too! Ha!

These are by far the two largest things I have turned so far... large, of course, being a relative term at this time...

objects in picture appear larger than actual size, ha!

Pottery 201

Okay we are “back in the saddle” so to speak...that pesky winter snow storm cancelled my 1st class in the second session, but tonight I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t forget everything in the couple of weeks off! (phew, I was nervous)

  Mom made me monogrammed aprons for Christmas which were a big hit, and it may be superstitious, but I didn’t tear up any pots while wearing them, so I may have to keep that up!

  I made this vase and a batter bowl, still nothing very big...need to work on that next week!

baby batter bowl & a vase