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!