This is the latest I have ever been on doing an update- it has been five weeks- but I have been busy making and selling. Lately most of my selling has been on ebay. Let me show some of my recent ebay offerings.
The little gourd pieces take a ton of time even though they are small and I would say that they are not very appreciated by the buying public since they go cheap on ebay. The traditional vase shapes do better. Things sold via ebay are selling for less than I have ever sold them. (Time to buy!) Still, I intend to let this ebay experiment run the course for the year as originally intended. All sales venues are slow at the moment, so that is another upside of ebay - things are guaranteed to sell. Ebay has its ups and downs.
My plate that I was making for astronaut Charlie Duke, was fired a second time and self-destructed in the kiln.
The dusty moon surface popped of the surface of the plate. I am going to remake it. I knew I was doing something that probably should not have been done and I paid the price.
My buddy, Brad Lum of San Antonio, made me a decorating easel as a Christmas present. At first I didn't think I would use it because of the way I work. But lo and behold, I started using it immediately. It is particularly helpful when I am reglazing. When I am reglazing like so:
the glaze is literally a dust sitting on a glassy surface. The slightest touch and the glaze falls off the pot. With the easel, I don't have to touch the pot to move it in any direction I need.
You may or may not know that I am a "Roycroft" artisan. You may or may not care for that matter! Anyway, I started making a few pots with the organizations logo and lo and behold...
after a few firings, the pots turned out killer. I think most people might like to see the logo more clearly defined. Not me. I want to see all that glaze action!
I mentioned the Charlie Duke plate earlier. Well, I made another space piece that really surprised me when it came out of the kiln. I call it my "Black Hole Bowl." It is shaped and decorated like a like a black whole swallowing everything in the universe.
I'll be making more of these. I might sand blast this one to make it matt instead of high gloss.
I did have to kiss one of my Venom Pots goodbye. The pot self-destructed in the kiln because a tiny vent hole on the pot became plugged with melting glaze.
As I write this, my kiln is at 1553 degrees and cooling down. I have a number of my more elaborate pieces in it including this big Venom pot.
Hopefully there will be half a dozen pieces that will be posted on my newpots page or on Vasefinder. I'll let you know.
I took a handful of photos to show you what is going on in the various studio areas. This what the studio looks like on this given day. (When I look at the photos, I think the place looks like a tornado hit!)
And a few days later I took some quick pictures of the inside of the kiln. This is when it is at 2200 degrees
And then at 1500.
Finally, please check out my friend John Foster's blog called "Accidental Mysteries". It is the most interesting blog I have ever seen. Make sure to click on the February 1, 2009 movie about a snowmobile prototype. Killer. Absolutely killer.