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Syrian Refugee Offering
My church in downtown Raleigh (http://vintagenc.com/) is taking up a two-week offering for a church plant in Edinburgh (http://www.gracechurchleith.org) that is caring for local Syrian Refugees. All profits from any Paige Puckett Pottery sales from now through the end of 9/27/15 (less sales tax, Etsy fees, and shipping) with be given to this offering and benefit Syrian families who have relocated to Edinburgh. Local friends are welcome to use the code: RDUpickup if you’d like to pick up your purchase in person. www.paigepuckettpottery.etsy.com In case you want to donate to this offering but not buy pottery, the offering link I will be using is: https://pushpay.com/pay/vintagenc/. Under the drop-down menu for “Giving…
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Fall Planning
It’s been a very slow summer in regards to making pottery. I had hoped to produce more, but happily traded productivity for pool time with my kids. Monday they will both be back full time, and I will then have some hours in the day to do something with, I figure about 30 hours a week. Here’s my estimated breakdown, which coincidentally does not add up to 30 hours: (8-10 hrs) My fall graduate course “Introduction to Land and Water Engineering” has jumped up to eight students, so that will certainly take a chunk of my week to grade assignments and help them with the problems. (6-8 hrs) Pottery at…
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Handbuilt Gardenware – Leaf Imprints in Clay
Over the past year or two, I’ve been using vintage lace doilies to make handbuilt pieces. Before this, I used some garden herbs to make spoon rests, but had not used them in a few years and had never used them with an underglaze on white clay. With the garden booming, I’ve tried different foliage to see what turns out well. Some leaves like pumpkin and okra are huge, which is why I need a slab roller or at least a day at Pullen Art Center with one. Two weeks ago, I took in a bucket of garden clippings, a bag of clay and tools, and made 6 platters and…
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Progression of a Mug
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Why Did My Bowls Bust?
Today I opened the kiln after a bisque firing and saw an exploded 12″ bowl. It was a gorgeous piece, and it was disappointing to see it shattered on the top shelf. As I unloaded the rest of the kiln, I found the other large bowl and 17″ plate also shattered. A few years ago I might have cried at such an infortuitous firing, but I just inspected each piece to try and understand what caused each one’s failure. The only thing better than getting a perfect firing is learning important lessons, as painful as those may be. Usually my lesson is PATIENCE — as in get more of it.…
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Throwing Big
Last week I drove to Durham and returned with supplies and 150 pounds of clay in three different shades. I have torn through two bags of Little Loafers and have been making large 12″ and up bowls. I’ve scrapped some of the work and have been reusing the clay for plates. I don’t have the best plate skills. It seems that maybe 30% of the ones I throw make it through the whole process. My biggest struggle is getting the thickness right so that they can be cut off the bat. The second biggest struggle is letting them dry slowly enough so that they don’t crack in the middle. There…
