Update!! Holy Moly!!

Everything is Bigger in Texas

Lost faith in me updating? I almost did! Okay... well not really. But I have been soooo lazy since I graduated! Yea, I finally finished. Who'da thunk that. I am a horrible blogger since I didn't keep my word and update my blog in regards to my thesis, pretty much the entire semester.

My thesis involved producing 254 ceramic bowls arranged in the shape of the state of Texas. Each bowl was to represent one of the 254 counties in the state. The bowls were colored with four separate glazes used to represent the over-all percentage of poverty per county. White being the lowest then green followed by turquoise and black being the highest percentage. Inside each bowl was placed an amount of rice that was used to represent the actual number of children under 18 who are in poverty, per county. Each grain of rice was to represent one child.


I ended up throwing about 360 bowls total and had about a 10% failure rate ranging from kiln wash flaking into bowls to cracks and broken bowls in transportation. I really was scared of doing that many bowls. I knew I could do it no problem but it was mighty harrowing and I ended up trying to ration myself to 10-15 bowls a day, where I'd work two days, trim one day. I ended up slacking on that and towards the end I did a few days of throwing 40-50 bowls a sitting and it was a breeze. I had this fear of doing it, and pushed it off... but once I sat down and barreled through it, I had no problem. I trimmed them all on bare wheel head without the aid of a grip, something I pride myself on. I still don't have tap-centering down but I did get use to the rings on the wheel head.

I ended up worrying endlessly over my paper when I really shouldn't have. I started out somewhat ahead of the game by turning in a rough draft early, but the rough draft had a lot of revisions. I went from a 24 page page to a 17 page paper and feel confident with what I have produced and feel accomplished with finally getting my BFA in Studio Ceramics. I did a good job on my oral defense also, had no real hiccups in the speech and didn't really have any questions.

Photo by Randy Edwards.  

Now that I graduated, I haven't been doing jack. I have taken my last two weeks as vacation and finally caught up on sleep, video games, and friends. I was interviewed for the local news paper that came out today, has a rather nice article. One correction, I should have stressed but hadn't- It was printed Oak Wind Pottery where I intend it to be two words, Oakwind Pottery. :) Oh well, not a big thing, very grateful to be in the paper and receive the honor of being part of the article. I will try and get a copy of it scanned soon and uploaded.

Oh a side note, I actually went through and cleaned everything in my studio area. I washed all my tools, bats, mopped, etc. I am completely ready to get started, just don't know what to get working on. Christmas was nice and I got a wonderful Giffin Grip from my parents which means I can throw and trim a larger variety of shapes, more easily now.

For Christmas I have participated in this Secret Santa ordeal on Reddit.com. I got the pleasure of sending a gift to someone in Europe so naturally I decided to send them some of my pottery. I sent an extra bowl from my thesis, a CD with some pictures, a copy of my paper, some local issues of The Art Studio, Inc.'s The Issue as well as a t-shirt I made a custom design on. It has officially been 20 days and the package still hasn't arrived as far as I know. USPS won't update my shipping... and he hasn't confirmed the package has arrived. But I keep hoping he likes it, because I was screwed on my end. The person who picked me got me a crappy movie that will cost me a dime more than it cost to return it, just to cover shipping. Lame.

I had been procrastinating for so long on making myself a stamp for my pots but after watching a lovely video from Brookfield Pottery on YouTube about how to make one, I finally decided to do it. I was always weary of carving into clay to make a mark because I knew if I messed up, I'd have to start all over on a new piece and I would get frustrated. Well using his technique, I cleaned off the side of an old plaster mold and carved my stamp into it, several different sized ones at that. I did so to test what I feel would be a good size, since there will be shrinkage in the stamp itself and then once again when it is applied to a pot.

I have plenty more books, videos, etc to share so I hope to be updating more. I have been pushing it off because I felt like I had too much to talk about and once I got started, I wouldn't be able to stop. Well.. this post is getting long :) But I have gotten most of what I wanted to talk about out now so I feel much better. If anyone would like to read my thesis paper, just leave me a comment somewhere and where to send it and I'll be glad to assist.

Time to wrap this thing up. I apologize for my laziness on updating, this is the part where I say I'll update more often. Lets see how well I do that... Till next time!

Already July....

I haven't really been up to writing out a long blog because I haven't been fully up to par. I have been having recursive troubles with my back, each night. I went to the doc for it, had x-rays and MRI done. There is a possibility I could have surgery and if I do... say good bye to me graduating in 2009. With that news looming over my shoulder, I've not really been in the mood to do anything. I know... I dig myself a hole...

I wasn't planning on an update but I saw this video and felt I had to share it with others. Truly amazing. If you feel you have trouble on the wheel and that it just can't be done... watch this. Beyond the major thing missing that makes this extraordinary, the form is very nice and it introduced me to a new method of pulling handles. :)

"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings." - John F. Kennedy

Update + Video

Hey Everyone,

I was just pointed to a thread on Reddit of a pottery students work and it reminded me to update my blog. They have a very good start on their work, very interesting and creative. Creativity is something that I lack a lot of. I am creative when it comes to making renaissance cloths, jewelry, etc. But ceramics... I am more focused on traditional form and more of a contemporary glaze treatment.

This is a problem for me when it comes to developing a body of work for my senior thesis. My idea was to do large regional jugs scaled around 3 feet tall. These jugs were to be modeled after different traditional forms that all helped contribute to the expansion and development of pottery in America. French, German, English, American. All of these countries, plus others, have unique preferences when it comes to pottery, specifically jugs. American pottery is a conglomeration of these different preferences and an evolution of the style as settlers moved west across the continent.

Now, producing 8, large scale (roughly 5 gallon), jugs would be a hard undertaking for me, but it is nothing I feel I cannot handle. I am more secure with my throwing and assemblage. But my committee chair has other thoughts. He feels that what I am doing is not artistic and that it does not reflect upon what I have learned in art school. He wants me to reinvent the jug. Now, when asked about ideas on how to do this, I mentioned Paul Soldner ( an example of his work is to the left) and how he would take boards with different textures and use them to compress his wheel thrown forms. This idea was struck down saying "why does it have to be texture?" and the ideas that Butch brought up involved drawing cartoushes of greek allegories.... how the hell is that reinventing something that has been done so much that it is now cliche? And his other idea... make an "NFL" jug. Yes... NFL. I told him that was rediculous and that I have a strong distaste for sports and I will not go against my judgement and do something so stupid. His responce... "Well jugs look like footballs." Whatever. I still want to do my idea because I feel it would be better than 3/4 of what has come out of my school in the past 5 years and that I can confidently accomplish this. Anything else... who knows. I got stuck doing something I didn't want to do last time... this time I am trying my damndest not to do that.

And for an update on my jug and drum.... well the jug is in our gas kiln cooling down right now, cone 10 firing. My drum on the other hand cracked and split in two. The bowl and the base are now separated but I will be glazing them back together and hoping that it works out for the best. Always learning... I feel that the weight of the bowl sitting on the stem put pressure on the joint and caused the break. I'll have to figure out another design that can work without leaving weak points.

I have a paper to write today and I really don't know who I want to write it about. Pretty bad eh? My paper is meant to be over anyone whom I have previously written about in a journal entry but my journal is with my professor... Meh.

I'll leave you with a video for a documentary about Paul Soldner. If anyone wants to buy this for me, I'll love you :)

"New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."
-Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

End of April

I feel horrible for rarely updating. Really, I do. I know I shouldn't worry about it, but I just have been having a hard time doing so lately. I haven't had much time to throw and have been working extra hard at my 8-5. We are down an artist and work just pulls a lot out of me lately.

But anywho- What has been going on? Well, I have taken the first step to making large pieces. In the past few weeks I have made two jugs, and a djembe drum. I am extremely excited about the drum; I have never headed one myself but plan on learning for the sake of this project. I have had several people already question me about making more, so I think it could be a valid practice I could learn.

First up in the pictures above is my first big jug. I did it in two pieces and learned from that go that I needed to spend more effort in throwing consistent walls on closed in forms. The top piece, when removed from the batt, had about 2.5 inches of clay at the base. Luckily most of it was just thin chunks at the batthead, but I did still have pretty thick walls. I spent a good bit of time trimming it. I also learned to spend more time on the outside detail, specifically since trimming left grog drag marks.

The second piece, middle picture, is a comparison between the bisqued and glazed jug sitting on a bucket, with my second attempt next to it. This jug I had thrown a base and top for, as I did the first, but I didn't have calipers and tried to guess the diameter... that went bad, as you could have guessed. I ended up throwing a second top, since the first one I destroyed, but this time I used twine and made sure it was damn near an exact fit. I spent a good bit of time on polishing this piece, and spent a good bit of effort making a decent handle. Bad thing is that the handle started to show cracking since I let it dry out very quick. Lesson learned.

Third piece is my drum. It is the largest item I have made, standing at a wet height of 18 inches. I used two pieces again, the base, and the bowl. I trimmed a good bit out of the base, but purposefully left it rather heavy. The bowl I did real well on throwing and kept a consistently even wall. The rim is tapered outwards with an elevated point to allow no drag for the drum head on the interior, and good supporting surface area on the exterior.

I generated a good contour for bowls on my computer. I am interested in making a good stacking bowl, where the rims, foot, and walls touch so there is maximum stability and security. I think a big seller could be these bowls and the ability for me to mass produce these is pressing.

I have started looking for property. I am looking for 1-3 acres of land that I can pour a slab and construct a simple metal frame structure to live and work in. My rationale behind this is that the quicker I get self sufficient, the quicker I can become a full time potter. Instead of wasting money renting spaces for long periods of time, why not go ahead and invest that in a future.

Thesis for me is coming up also... At least this time I am more prepared. My only concern is that I will not get much enthusiasm from my committee when I tell them I still want to do tableware that relates to production pottery and the expansion of ceramics in America. I hope to use alternative salt firings to produce some nice work, but I really don't want to venture into something I don't feel comfortable with. I am comfortable with my preconceived idea of producing large jugs, crocks, churns, and jars. Although no one around these parts does this... I still feel like I will be talked out of doing it. It just doesn't have that "wow" factor they will be looking for, I'm sure of. I really just want to do, what I want to. Is that so hard to do?

I hope to update more coming soon, I have new books and videos to review. So keep checking back. Hopefully it won't be another month before updates.

Isaac Button

March 15, 2009

IT has been way too long since I have updated. As of late, everything for me has been going good but I just can't seem to find the drive to update this blogger. I really want to at times, and wake up saying "this is it." Then I go to work, have a crap day, come home, eat and pass out. So, today is different. Today I am actually following through. I hope to do several blogs today or within the next week; There's a few things I've been waiting on posting.

First and foremost I just want to say that an actual update on my work as of this semester is overdue and it is one of the topics I wish to cover in an upcoming blog. This blog on the other hand, I want to relate to something I've told my peers about and haven't had time to post.

Isaac Button.

Probably never heard of the guy, have you? Well, don't be surprised- there isn't much information out there on this man. Who was he? One of England's most/least known country potters. What do I mean by Country Potter? Isaac and his pottery produced ceramic ware for the home, kitchen, and for production ware. Back in those times, there was no readily available glass containers, plastics, or metal containers. The cheapest to purchase, was ceramics. Because of this- many people considered them disposables and were not used past the first few times.

Isaac's Pottery was located near Halifax, near Soil Hill. The pottery, also named Soil Hill. Having been in operation since the 1700's, Isaac acquired the pottery a bit before the turn of the 20th century. It was open up until 1965 when bad health made him retire, and he ultimately passed away in 1969. He ran that pottery alone, for 18 years following WWII, which I consider amazing. He had a full staff of 13 workers and potters before the war, afterwards he was pressed to find anyone who could put in a decent days work.

And each day he would show up to work, bright and early, proceed to go dig up the topsoil, behind the shop, to reveal local clay bodies. He would then harvest the clay in wheelbarrows that would be transported to a large industrial blender. Here, the clay was blended with water to produce a thick slurry that would be sifted through a mesh screen and flow into a trench that would fill a basin adjacent to the kiln. The residual heat produced from the large kiln inside the pottery would quickly dry the clay so within a few hours he was able to harvest hundreds of pounds of fresh clay. After this step, he would pug the clay once to remove all air. The clay then would sit and "sour" for a month or two before pugging again right before being used. After a long day he would wind down by visiting the local pub, which he was rumored to have never left the day he entered.

This man was an unknown legend and thought nothing of his skill beyond being a simple craftsman. Potters like this, I want to try and feel a connection with. It burdens me that these people, quite possibly, never knew their true importance or respect they deserved. Isaac did phenominal work and has skill I've rarely seen matched.

When Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada came to England and helped start the modern ceramic studio practices, they seeked out Button to ask him how much grog he used in his clay for large forms. His simple response, "I have enough trouble gettin' t' bloody stuff out wi'out puttin' it in."

I also forgot to mention this man religiously smoked his pipe from sun up to sun down and threw with a collared buttoned up shirt and tie. How many people can do that and still feel comfortable? I'd imagine not many. :)

I hope you are all as impressed as I am. Here are the videos I've been talking about. Running time is about 41 minutes.







Sources: http://www.youtube.com/user/Flush2wice, Grits in the Gears.
Big thank you to these two for sharing this information on the internet.

February Is Here

It is officially February, not sure what significance that is to me, but it's here!

I have been fairly productive as of late and things are starting to cheer up. If you've been here before, you've noticed there is a new layout. I decided to change things up, including the music player, banner at the top, and the last.fm playlist.

Oakwind Pottery. What do you think about that? Oakwind is what people would always confuse my last name with, it has been kind of a nuisance but in the same respect it speaks of pottery and the past to me. I dig it, better than the other names I had come up with.

As for the cups I had thrown, mention in previous posts, almost all of them have been glazed so far and amazingly none of them were messed up beyond repair. I am extremely pleased with a majority of them, but the best part is that none of them disappointed me. I have become fairly hard on myself when it comes to critiquing my own work. I feel I have a certain level I should be at and when I can't do something that I know I can, it makes me frustrated. So, in this case, no frustration. I set out to make some great mugs, and I did. I took a few home so I can grind off a little running, but it was all very small so not damaging to the piece.

The brick red and white piece to the left formed small bubbles on the surface where the colors separate. I am having to polish that all smooth and make sure its comfortable to the touch, again nothing too bad. This is the tan stoneware we use at Lamar, it was a paperclay mix using insulation shredded paper. It is a bit of a pain trimming because the paper sticks to the trim tool... same if you use too much fiberglass. The last batch of clay I mixed is just using a small pinch of fiberglass, no paper. It was a bit tough pushing through the pugger, either the pugger is a bit clogged or my clay is a bit hard, which I'm pretty sure it was right where I needed it. The glaze combination is Cindy's Crawler and Brick Red. I'm hopefully going to document all the glaze formulas soon.


One glaze that I have always loved that has started working even better, copper blue green. It use to only do a coppery green but now its starting to bring out the purples and blues again. This particular piece was just the balcone cone 10 white stoneware, sprayed on copper blue green. I focused spraying the top of the hump in the center and allowing the drips to form, it worked out. I'm going to try and replicate this, I am strongly drawn to it, also I love the contrast of the orange and green drips. If I can get those drips to stop at the center and have the bottom get that burnt orange, I think the combination would be great.



This little beauty is a new glaze that we have stared using at Lamar. It is named Amanda's Green, after the student that found the recipe. It makes a beautiful jade like green. It really has started doing great things but it is so pure and solid. It doesn't really creep or run which is great. A bit thick, but it helps with a shorter dip. This also is the white stoneware.


I made a bowl using the same white clay and decided to glaze it in this jade green and it came out beautiful. It is a flower shaped bowl, based on a square inside of a circle. I have a larger bowl that has yet to be glazed that I did the same design on, I'm thinking of firing it the same green to bundle them as a set.


These jade pieces I brought home because of how nice they were, thankfully no running. Oddly enough, most of the bowls I glazed were a larger and smaller set, so I can package them as a his and her bowl set. Who knows, might work. I don't have any pictures of the other bowls that were glazed, there were none that needed fixing.



One last thing to show off before I call this blog to an end. It is a jug I made for a recycled art show that I am part of. I used some found objects as inspiration for the glazing combination and essence of this piece. I believe it hit exactly what I wanted. I was so pleased with this piece, a small minor run but nothing that is distracting. I used a combination of a freckled brown and the same copper blue green from above. This is again on the white stoneware. Originally I was just going to use this as my piece in the recycled show, but I instead decided to be creative and use the recycled items in terms of a rustic presentation for my ceramics. I'm going to use select pieces, mainly the jug and a few mugs. Hopefully it works out.

For more pictures of my recent work and some work from last semester, check out my photos on my myspace. Let me know what you think ! :)

Oakwind Pottery on MySpace.com

Overdue Update

Hello everybody, I'm terribly sorry for the long pause in updating. It's not like I have many readers, but I did say I would try and update more regularly and I let myself down on that one.

But, just because I haven't made any posts lately doesn't mean I have been slacking! I have actually been pretty busy as of late. I'll try to explain everything that's gone on.

In early November, my ceramic class and professor made a trip to Houston to check out a few galleries and to swing by The Ceramic Store Houston. We were able to stop by 18 Hands Gallery on 19th St. as well as the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts. At the HCCC there was an exhibit over Warren McKenzie (pictured above), who is an American potter who studied under Bernard Leach for three years. Bernard Leach is Simon Leach's grandfather and was a contemporary of Shoji Hamada. All of these people I highly look up to for their aesthetics and abilities. What they have accomplished in the ceramic world is amazing in my eyes and it was amazing to see so much of Warren's material in one spot. Also on this trip I was able to pick up some tools for my wheel here at the house, so the trip was great all around. I also got to see one of my best friends, Jodi, who had just gotten out of adominal surgery. It was a hoot traversing the medical district, but I was glad to see her and know she was ok.

During our stop at the 18 Hands Gallery, I met Kathy Blossom who is Volunteer Chair for Clay Houston, and was offered an opportunity to volunteer at Clay Houston's Clay Festival. My professor, Linnis Blanton, was participating in the festival as an exhibitor so I felt it would be benfitial to show up and help anyway I could. A friend of mine, Chelsy, accompanied me to Houston on the 7th where we volunteered mostly at the kids table. The festival was pretty nice, a lot of great work and very nice people. I was able to meet Lotus, a Houston clay artist, who has a great way of working. Her pieces generally are biker-esque, much like bandannas twills worked in with skulls and metallic studs. I really enjoyed the trip, working with kids has always been a joy of mine. I wouldn't want to do it for a living, but seeing them happy is great. There were a few kids who had been coming for a few years to the festival, which I thought was awesome. I had never heard of Clay Houston until this past year personally.

The next big thing to happen was our ceramic class critique that left me rather depressed. I was largely unhappy with what I had produced over this past semester. I had all intentions of working on craft and trying to graduate this upcoming spring semester. My professor and my thesis committee chair agreed that I was far from ready and that a lot of work needed to be done before I could graduate. Huge shot to my ego, but I sucked it up and believe it will be a good thing. To the right is me with some of the things I threw this past semester. The one jug I was really proud of is cut off on the right hand side, but you can get the jest. All of my mugs were way to heavy and most had extruded handles. I have been working hard on getting good forms and sizes down, as well as pulling my own handles. A lot of the items from this past semester I've already given away as gifts to family, big step for me. You can see more pictures from my classes critique at my friend Jodi's blog, All Is Truth.

After the critique, the next big thing was our class show Fire and Ice at The Ice House Museum in Silsbee, Texas. It was a very nice show, looked great. I was a little let down that out of the 5 pieces I submitted, only 4 were accepted. The one piece that was left out, I felt was one of my best items and would have easily sold. When I got there, all my name tags were out for the pieces, but that last piece wasn't there and my professor told me "Well it must not have made it in the show." To top that off, my aunt showed up and told me she'd like to purchase a piece of mine. I told her not to as in I would just give it to her after the show. She disregarded what I said and bought two of my 4 pieces in the show and THEN proceed to take them home with her, on the day of the opening. So for the duration of this show, I've had two pieces in it. The least amount of pieces of anyone now. Another shot to my ego, but this whole semester has been hectic. Dropping thesis, hurricanes, medical issues, etc. One thing after another.

As for what I have been doing lately... well... I'm going to reserve that for another post. I have pictures and a good bit to talk about. So, I swear to it- I'll get that update sooner than later. Hopefully today or tomorrow, no promises ;)

Hurricane Season is Upon Us.

Today, mandatory evacuations have been called for Jefferson County, where I live. Hurricane Gustav is scaring the city officials and they don't want anything bad to happen like what did with Rita and Katrina. I spent four hours yesterday looking for a hotel space that was animal friendly to large dogs. It is amazing how little are. I was glad to hear tho that every single Inn I called in La Grange accepted dogs of all sizes, and count. They were the nicest out of all the places I called yesterday. I figure I went through about 2-300 hotels in my search.

But, we gave up. We decided to stay. It is what I originally wanted to do anyway- This hurricane is nothing. It will dissipate by the time it hits here and will be a Cat 1 or a tropical storm, at least I hope.

This is a blog about ceramics right, and you're probably thinking... where is the talk about ceramics? Whats will all this hurricane crap???? Well- The hurricane has already affected my plans for this weekend, lol. I was up at campus on Friday, throwing, and they closed campus. I was the last person in the Art Department, minus the security guard kicking me out.

So far this semester, I have thrown 5 raw mugs. By raw, I mean they are pretty unrefined, not much thought in them at all. The first 5 have been trimmed and have handles, I started on five more Friday. This next batch will be much better, in terms of form. I ended up making pieces for two goblets, as well as a pretty nice bowl and an old fashion milk jug. I am attempting to balance out the small things and the big things. I want to have a large amount of items this semester, but I want it to be of various sizes this time. Usually I'll stick with one thing or about one general size of items. I tend to stick with between 1-4lbs of clay on the wheel.

So what I anticipate doing when I prepare for the wheel is to make my balls of clay of various sizes. I found that getting all your balls of clay ready before getting on the wheel makes throwing that much more enjoyable. If you have a mass of clay sitting, ready to be used, you don't worry to much about what you're throwing. Instead, it allows you to be more open with the piece and not so closed down on what it HAS to be. If I mess up, I just throw the clay into a pile. By the end of the session, I'll have 4-8 lbs of clay stacked up from scraps which in turn I knead and throw. I figure the more I mess up, the larger I have to try and throw something.

Class is canceled until Wednesday at least, which affects me because I was anticipating going to campus and working this weekend, and Labor Day. But oh well, I have some Raku in the garage I need to do something with.

So, it is that time of the year again.

The Fall Academic semester is slated to begin tomorrow, and I can't wait. I went up to Lamar earlier in this week and packed up all the stuff I had sitting in the Art House ( small grad studio ) and turned in my keys for the building. I had been given the right to use the building when ever I was in Thesis for Sculpture. Since I dropped out of Sculpture, I no longer have a need for it nor a want to use it. It was nice though, having a free studio space to use.

I mixed clay with a good friend of mine earlier in the week also. I don't know what it is about me and clay, but I always get covered from head to toe. I looked like a mess, and we went out to eat at an upper scale restaurant, looking like a mess. I kept expecting someone to tell me I wasn't allowed to eat there. That never happened though, and the food I ate was pretty damn good.

I can't wait to get started in the clay. I caught up with all my work at my job on Friday which means I'll be able to leave early and go get started in ceramics before class begins. I'm excited!

I have ordered about 20 towels and 15 aprons which I am going to have embroidered for my ceramics class. There are 11 advanced students, and I'm sure they're all going to love having a ceramics apron. They are vanilla/sandalwood colored so they won't stick out as much when they're covered in clay. The towels are really nice, 16x28" golf towels, grommeted and with hooks.

Anywho, I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been rather busy as of late, specifically with my job. We had so many orders this past week, the busiest I've ever seen us. But finally, we're caught up and I can start enjoying what I do again.

I'll post an update this week on the towels / aprons and hopefully get pictures up. I plan on going into production mode this week, I am aiming for 200 items in the first month. 100 mugs, hopefully. Making handles is one of my largest problems, so I'm wanting to finally knock that out. Wish me luck!

Simon Leach - Small Bud Vase

Simon Leach is a potter with a long history in ceramics, born in England but residing in Spain. His grandfather and father were both ceramic artists with well established reputations as well. The Leach Treadle wheel was first created by his lineage and is a wheel I would absolutely love to own. It is quite impressive watching him work, the way he goes about doing his videos keeps you entertained and also intrigued. He has a few little nuances that a lot of people have on the wheel and it's funny to watch them come out. He also throws in a little casual conversation in the videos, adding some humor.

"My grandfather Bernard, [...] he gave me the advice "look for beauty but also usefulness in a pot". Words I still carry with me today." -Simon Leach

Simon Leach Ceramics



P.S. - Update on me: The incense thing I'm making... the plaster is finally dry enough (damn tropical storm) but I am ready to get started. I figure I'll try and get one going on Thursday, maybe work some other things up. I have plans for a gift for my ceramic class this coming fall, a towel and apron set.

I hope you enjoy this blog and the videos, if you do, let me know!

Adam Buick's Moon Jars

From his website,

Adam Buick

"Adam Buick was born in Newport in 1978 and has spent most of his life in St.Davids, Pembrokeshire. Following his degree in Archaeology & Anthropology, Adam turned to ceramics, First studying at West Wales School of the Arts and subsequently being selected for the The Crafts Council of Ireland Pottery Design and Skills Course. In 2006 Adam returned from Ireland to set up his own studio in St.Davids. Over the past year Adam has built his own large wood kiln and had a number of successful Exhibitions in Wales."

The Potter’s Encyclopedia of Color, Form, and Decoration by Neal French

A few weeks ago when I made the decision to follow my own passions instead of what I thought I was suppose to follow, I also made the decision to start grabbing as many publications as I can dealing with Ceramics and Pottery. The book I went out and bought that day was, The Potter’s Encyclopedia of Color, Form, and Decoration by Neal French.

This book is a great reference on the form of traditional pottery, what goes into glaze recipes and what affects them. This book is easily laid out allowing for a smooth read and ease of locating specific entries. Within, the author lays out cross sections of traditional forms in ceramics showing you thickness and shape. As well, the book illustrates what goes into making certain lids and handles and what their functions are. The book also has a comprehensive glaze section where in it describes a handful of base glazes, including one raku then goes on to describe which additives affect which glaze under what conditions. The last section of the book is reserved for decoration. Instead of laying out different ideas, it shows you pictures of pre existing works and what form of decoration was used.

There is a lot of information to grab from this book and it is great for the artist looking to experiment. A lot of trial and error had to go into making this book, and a lot will come from reading it also. Last off, price. The book is rationally priced, but as you know, you can always find a better price online than at your local Barnes and Nobles or BAM.

All in all, I give the book an 8.0 in a scale out of 10.0.

What Am I Doing?

I already have more resources chosen for posts in here, but I don't want to make the blog purely about posting videos and reviews, etc. I want to actually talk about what is going on in my mind and what I am trying to accomplish.

I have a small project started using plaster. I have made this form that is close to what I want in an incense burner, and I made a plaster mold of it. The first one was kind of hap hazard and thrown together once my plaster bandages didn't work, which made me result to powder plaster. I used a plastic wrap to separate the mold and the clay, but it left the mold textured and impure. I just finished trying for a second time, this time without the plastic wrap. The form should be nice and smooth, but the plastic wrap I plan on incorporating again. A few layers of it on top of itself produces a very nice groove texture which is intriguing to me. I hope to be able to make a few of these in different clays, raku will be first.

I also having been sketching some ideas for vase forms. I have an idea of alluding to slab forms by manipulating wheel thrown vessels. I have a rather elegant vase drawn up, but will it ever see the light of day? Only time knows.

Jerry Sawitz Wheel Throwing Demo

Jerry Sawitz (JerrySawitz.com) is a ceramic artist and educator. He has been teaching high school for nearly 30 years and demonstrates in this video how to throw a large vase with a small neck. The throwing was very fluid and he has great form. This video is very much worth the near 9 minutes it takes to watch it.

"Shapes are endless and it is a source of wonder for me when I consider how limitless this whole idea of creating is." - Jerry Sawitz.

My life... as an artist.

'Ello!

This is my second blog to be created in a two month span. The first blog I have deals with my profession, what I get paid for. This blog will be about my passion, and what I hope to one day be my profession.

Ceramics. Pottery. Ceramic Arts. I want to be an Artist. I want to be recognized, I want to be awed at. I want to be remembered.

I was first introduced to ceramics at the age of 14 when I was first brought to a local ceramic studio titled the Art Studio, Inc. I have since spent 10 years in and out of the place, hanging out with friends, doing community service, band performances, art openings, etc. The one thing I never picked up though, was ceramics.

I started attending college right after graduating and knew I had to be an artist. My parents didn't quite understand it but were enthralled that I was going into computer art since I spent so much time on the computer. The department has a poor poor program dealing with graphic design and I changed over to sculpture a few years later. That was a bad choice. I took my first Ceramics class in the spring of 2007 from an amazing professor. 30 years of experience teaching ceramics to middle school students, and 5 years of college teaching at that point. He has a great method of teaching and looks at everyone with a smile and isn't afraid to share a laugh here and there with everyone.

Since I first took that class, I became obsessed with ceramics. By the time the first semester was over with, I was ready for the next to begin. To me, my passion comes when I am on the wheel. I have a strong love for symmetry which is partially why I love classical art as well as renaissance art. Getting on the wheel and learning how to produce symmetrical pottery was great to me. I could make bowls! I loved it. The moment I realized I had something going was when I spent one night and pumped out 12 bowls in a row. It was my first time to do a small production run and it felt great. Sadly this was at the end of the semester and I didn't get to do that again until after the summer was over.

My second semester I learned a lot more. I got more confident on my ability to make bowls and began to go into production mode. At this time, I was planning on opening a booth at a renaissance festival that was in production. I produced close to 100 items of substantial size plus about 200 pendants/charms. But alas, the festival fell through due to corrupt land owners and disorganization. The semester ended and voila, we have winter break. Thankfully the winter break was only a few weeks, as in I couldn't wait to get back to ceramics.

This time though, there was a glitch in my plan. Undergraduate thesis. Remember earlier how I said I switched from Graphic Design to Studio Sculpture? Have I mentioned jack shit about sculpture yet? No? That's because I didn't have the passion, I didn't have the drive nor want. Now, the kicker- I was to do a THESIS in Sculpture. What? Yea, exactly. I took on a new medium that semester, fiberglass. I got a concept rolling and quickly learned that I hated it and that I was going no where fast. I ended up getting an incomplete in the semester due to the generosity of my faculty committee and was told to finish this coming fall, the next semester.

Well, I've decided since then that it is definitely not what I want to do. I have since dropped thesis and am in the process of switching majors to Studio Ceramics. My school only offers up to Ceramics III, which I am retaking the comming semester. That makes the tally 3 ceramics, 2 sculpture. So it makes sense that I move to a degree in something I feel passionate about.

I would love to become a production pottery but more-so I would love to become a ceramic artist. There are drastic differences between the two in alot of peoples eyes. To me, the passion comes from creating something from dirt. Creating something from something so old and so forgotten and over looked. Ceramics have been a constant factor in humanity for thousands of years and has held such a prominent place in human society that it has become rather overlooked as an artform.

I have great aspirations. I have great ideas, concepts, plans. I want to make something of myself, and I want to change a few lives in the process.

As I keep going, I will post resources that help me, videos, links, etc. I will also post updates on projects I have going and look forward to possibly having people read this.

As a great man once said, but not nearly in the same context (not to do him a disjustice...) but..

I have a dream.