Lookin for some hot stuff...

  Are you all singing disco tunes yet?  I can't help but do so whenever I start to think about these trivets!  It never fails when we all get together for a Holiday the table fills with wonderful family recipes there isn't enough room for everything and Grandma's antique table inevitably needs to hold the overflow.  (insert shameless Hilton Homeplace Cookbook plug here, available at www.hiltonpottery.com)

Sure you could use a pot holder...but why not a beautiful pottery trivet?  So I set out to make some!  It was a lengthy process, but a lot of fun!  First there have to be molds...

Now we are ready...so let's mix the plaster and be ready to pour...(and I mean ready quick because it sets faster than you can imagine, which I learned the hard way...both figuratively and literally) 

Next you have to peel out the goodies and see what you're left with in the negative space!  

Next comes the fun part...add clay, smooth the backing and use those "rice bags" we made in a previous blog post to ensure they all dry flat...a crooked trivet will do no good. 

Off to the bisque kiln!  

Now for some glaze...and another firing! 

Open up the enemy's lid, and see what we have! (The kiln is the enemy) 

Not too bad!  Now let's repeat this process a few times and get ready for the October 8th Sale!  

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

Ok, actually today I have to pay attention to the man behind the curtain because one day the wizard is going to expect me to remember all these things he told me 20 years earlier...

Today started with an early Christmas gift!  Seems like I've heard somewhere you are supposed to give gifts like you'd want yourself...enter the brand new Skutt Kiln. (Thanks dad...I will love it as much as you will!) 

And as with most other visits...dad's obsession with his impending demise and morbidity created an educational visit where I learned how to make the sausages, (so to speak) 

Step #1 - run the scraps of clay through the hammer mill...(engineered for corn, but works well with clay) 

Step #2 - Put the now "powder-like" substance in the giant mixer, along with a baby formula can full of bentonite (it's been a couple of years since I drank bottles, so apparently even 37 year old formula containers are acceptable measuring devices) 

Step #3 - Add water...using an equally specific tool for measurement as step #2, a 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's filled to the middle line of the E stamped on the bucket. (Who am I to judge? If it works...) 

Step #4 - Take heaping handfuls of muddy mess and drop it in the Pug Mill (no puppies were harmed in the making of this clay) 

Step #5 - Extrude it from the pug mill, cut off stacks and bag it.  After a little settling it's ready to go!  

Whew! That's a lot of work, but really cool to be a part of the process.  I didn't get any pots turned today, but managed to also learn how to mix and apply kiln wash to a few new shelves for the new kiln!  (Now I just need a few pieces to fire!) ha!  

I know one day I'll look back on these days and cherish them...because I already enjoy them so much right now.  Love you dad! (and thanks again for the Christmas Kiln!) 

Father's Day...

  Today was Father's Day, so no better time to spend with my dad than today!  I went to play in the mud this weekend and it was really nice...not very productive, but the company was great.  

  

  I can't help but think about the history that dad's shop has seen.  For over 100 years there have been Hilton potters turning pieces on family farms, and for 50 years there's been a Hilton turning pottery in this very shop.  There's a good side and a bad side to that...

The good side:  Every tool you could ever need for any shape you could ever turn is in that building.

The bad side:  Things that haven't been used in 30+ years are sometimes harder to find...

  I know that these days and these times together will always be some of my very favorite with dad.  I'm sure he has those same memories with his dad (or to me Poppie).  On this Father's Day, I know we weren't alone, we both had a pottery angel smiling down on us and snickering every time one of those "tools" comes in handy.  

  What a great way to connect...through clay...with this generation and those who came before it.  I guess that's really what it has always been about for me...So until next time...Happy Father's Day! 

Her final escape...

  Today was a somber day in the studio.  I guess I've been feeling a little heavier than usual...the "real world" placing a few more things on my mind.  I was inspired to make a few coffee mugs that reminded me of someone who has been a big part of my "real world" for the past couple of years.  Having worked on a few coffee mugs yesterday, I came back to place handles on each of the mugs.  

  It is true that pottery can be therapeutic, as turning and creating lightened the load my mind was carrying just a little...that is until I was forced to say goodbye to a furry little friend.  

  You may have read some of the encounters previously experienced with our resident shop cat "Hairy Houdini" so named for her ability to get into (or out of) any place she wanted.  It is with a heavy heart I tell you we had to say goodbye to Hairy Houdini today.  She made her final escape and has gone on to wriggle her way past a set of pearly gates.  She will be missed...We love you Hairy! 

As the world turns...

Not that my life resembles any soap opera...you would turn the channel pretty quickly if you didn't fall asleep first.  But it is a wonderful life!  

So as the rest of the world turns pottery, I am happily hand building a few things.  I had to ease my way back into this...I haven't even been in the pottery shop since before last October's show.  

Ok, ok...I'll try to turn a few things...but not without my assistant "Hairy" who has decided she is actually a wild huntress, and keeps bringing "gifts" of various sizes and amounts of fur or beak...um, no thank you, I'm okay without those "special gifts". 

So after a few failed attempts...Eureka!  I have turned a pie plate!  Wow, I am so proud! Way to go Heather!  (Cue dramatic music) That is until dad says, "oh I think I will turn a few pie plates as well..." (and sits his real pie plate next to mine) talk about a reality check...my pie plate turned into a quiche dish, ha!  The student hath not surpassed the master...

Oh well maybe next time...or we can call this a pie plate for two! As Tam would say, "it's portion control" ha ha!  

All Hallow's Eve...

  We are down to the wire...both figuratively and literally, with only 2 weeks until the fall Hilton Homeplace show...and quite a few pieces of clay to run a wire under.  

  Apparently I underestimated how much I already made for this year's show since I spent an entire day Saturday just glazing and wiping the bottoms off of pieces...it's like they were multiplying on the drying shelves!  

  And do I stop there? No...of course not!  Crazy me, goes back for more and actually made a few more things today.  Where do I get my inspiration, you ask?  Well what else could I think of besides Halloween with a black cat assistant?  

  So with minimal help from Hairy Houdini today I made a few things for my very favorite holiday!  Keep your fingers crossed that they... A) survive the next two firings...and B) are ready in two weeks for the show! 

The monkey on my back...

  Aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh....there are less than 4 weeks until the 11th Annual Hilton Homeplace Pottery Show, and all the hoopla that surrounds it...and I have made, well...let's call it "less than enough pots" for said extravaganza.  I swear I can hear little ticking in my head, I'm not sure if it's a clock, or a time bomb...

  Now, for those of you who are closest to us you already know it has been a tough year for the Hilton Homeplace crew...but for those that don't...we've battled (and continue to battle...) cancer, illness, hospital scares, surgery, and death this year.  So when you combine that with the "real jobs" time starts to slip through your fingers quicker than the clay can. (Tick...tick...tick...)

   Nevertheless, with fewer than 4 weeks until the show the proverbial "monkey on my back" was pressuring me to get back in the shop and try to turn a few pieces. (Still ticking...are they getting faster?) 

  

  Well, I haven't turned in an embarrassingly long time, and was pleasantly surprised to see I hadn't forgotten how...exactly.  I made a few things without tearing them apart and I managed to get a few things fired and didn't hate them all.

  Seriously...I use commercial glazes for the most part, and yet every time I open the kiln it's like a mystery bag and who knows what colors you will actually get? 

  No, no, Heather...back to work, no time to ponder the great mysteries of glaze. (tick...tick...tick) 

  Well you may have read the previous saga introducing you to my "assistant" Hairy Houdini...(if not check out the previous blog post). Well Hairy decided she needed to help me today as I'm certain the ticking clock I hear in my head was loud enough for her to hear as well.  And apparently my sprig molding required supervision today since the "monkey on my back" became a literal cat on my back...

 

  Thanks Hairy...no pressure there...

But with a little work and a lot of cat hair, I finished a few more things for the show. Now if only I can keep paw prints off of them long enough for the bisque firing!  Keep your claws crossed for me! (tick...tick...tick...)