Clay Blog Review – August 2011

The August Edition of the Clay Blog Review. Now with a new and slightly improved format: bullets!  This should be less of a headache to read but… get your scroll button ready.

Regarding Recent Work

•  John Bauman explains his “crooknecks“.
• Atelier Marla tells how she slab built a Sun Goddess.
• Paul Jessop shows some earthenware glazes on bowls and pitchers, is unimpressed with some slip results.
• Patricia Bridges shows how she stencils on slabs.
• Hollis Engley shares results from a collaborative salt firing.
• Michael Mahan shows some new stamps in action, shows off slipped and carved plates, more fancy stamping, pots from the wood kiln.
• Liberty Stoneware discusses recent production pottery, has photos of a salt firing.
• Samantha from Bulldog Pottery explains some recent barrel pitchers and pedestal bowls.
• Linda Starr describes her thoughts and process for a seahorse project and shares some finished bowls.
• Round Rabbit shows off a new technique.  So many colors and shapes!
• Dirty Girl tries some new glaze combinations on her staycation.
• FetishGhost turns a mishap into an opportunity to critique a recent pot.
• K. Houser shares some sexy pictures and describes results from a recent firing.
• Russell Wrankle learns to make a mold for his hare sculptures.
• Jim Gottuso talks about terra sig and has photos.
• Kitty Shepherd works on a vase so long (8 months!) that it begins to attract moths.
• Brandon Phillips is busy: works in progress.
• Urban Jeff makes himself a tea caddy.
• Yolande Clark shares a recent firing.
• Wild Iris has been working on tea sets.
• Tracey Broome reflects on some recent work, works with decals.
• Deb Thuman has a canister and boxes in progress.
• Gary Jackson pulls and attaches handles to mugs.
• Scott Cooper completes a glaze fire.
• Ann Tubbs explains how she creates tiles for a table.

Technical, Technique, Tips

•  Lori Watts answers the question, “Can you bisque in a soda kiln?” (yes) and shares her two rules for unloading the kiln. Then she tells how to pour a plaster drying block.
• Patricia Bridges shows how to check how even a kiln fires: use witness cones.
• John Britt unearths some slip recipes in pdf form, shares videos about recycling clay and fixing porcelain handles.
• Ron Philbeck shows how he slips a plate with those fancy moving pictures.
• DirtKicker Pottery likes smaller glaze buckets.
• Melissa from the Raging Bowl continues transmutating, now with slip.
• John Bauman shares a tip about visualizing glaze combinations.
• A handle tutorial (with pictures) by Dan Finnegan.
• Carter Gillies finds a video about cups.
• Ann (of Ann’s Goodies) shows how she applies glaze with some custom tools.
• Linda Starr gives the step by step process of mixing mason stain slips.

Thought Provoking

•  Tracey Broom writes about the importance of friends:

My point in all of this is that you can’t just stay stuck in your studios and work. You have to get out and see the world, hopefully with people that inspire you. For less than $10, you can get a cup of coffee or some nice chai and have a great conversation with someone that is likely to inspire or encourage you.

•  Mea Rhee shares some thoughts on where a potter should live:

…just because a potter’s income is modest and unpredictable, that doesn’t mean you have to live in the country. You can also choose to live cheaply in a big city. It pays to live within a big population center, because local selling is the backbone of a good business plan.

• Patricia Griffin briefly shares three ways that galleries are helping her become a better artist.
• Togeii shares insight into Japanese culture and making things.
• John Bauman has a conversation with his friend Greg covering art vs. craft and the value of art (and/0r craft):

When viewed from the perspective down a long timeline of art history, the confusion of art and craft that we are discussing is a rather recent — Romantic Era — re-definition of something that had been accepted as the norm for art for centuries before. Until that recently, for the most part the art world accepted that art was the concept and craft was the execution….and it didn’t matter who did the executin’.

Other

Making Money and Related Endeavors

•  Carole Epp found a great article about pricing your work.
• Josie Jurczenia shows off new cups and shares feelings about wholesale vs. retail.
• Observations about Etsy by Liberty Stoneware.
• Lorri Watts tries to make everything add up, buries the hatchet with Etsy.
• Heidi of Bella Joy Pottery gets an email from PayPal.
• Carter Gillies shares a not-so-positive experience with Etsy.

Laugh Out Loud Nominations

• Jeff Guin concerning pissed off squirrels.
• Lori Buff finally reveals the identity of Super Potter.
• Whitney Smith discovers the secret to making stacks of cash with her pottery wheel.  (After a little Googling the site with the “secret” was found here. You can take a look FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY, well, at least until I get my affiliate link set up!)

Of Interest to Potters

• Jeffrey Guin has a series of posts moving and fixing up a kiln.
• Shannon Garson breaks away from the traditional pot-on-a-plain-background photograph and adds some context.
• Marian Parkes shows off her photo rig done “on the even cheaper”.
• John Bauman comes up with a few pottery posters.
• Michael Kline reviews the children’s book “Dave the Potter“.
• Clay and Ginger highlights some reasons to cook with stoneware.
• Dan Finnegan shares the history of his stamp.
• Michael Mahan finds another use for broken pottery and shows how he recently loaded his kiln.
• How to organize a studio? Gary Jackson loves pegboard!
• Two lessons learned by FetishGhost at Visions in Clay.
• Togeii shares videos of pottery repair.
• Julie Bradley of ThePatientPotter reviews a book about the life  of Slave Potter Dave.

As always, if there is a blog post out there that you think should be on the list, let everyone know with a comment. Thanks for reading.