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Rock & Shop Market is Today!
Official Announcement: Shop local this Holiday season. Mark your calendars for the 10th Rock & Shop Market TODAY from 1-5pm at the All Saints Chapel in Downtown Raleigh, NC. Located in a beautiful old church at 110 S East Street, 2 blocks behind Moore Square at the intersection of Hargett and East Streets. We’ve expanded to over 65 designers selling their wares, with music by Schooner, Starmount & DJ Melissa York, plus food and beer provided by Only Burger & Aviator Brewery! Admission is $3. First 50 attendees receive a free shopping tote. For directions and a list of all the designers visit www.rockandshopmarket.com. Plenty of free parking is available…
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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
The Handmade Market today was fun and exhausting. I was happy to have the company of Joe, Sarah, my sister-in-law, and a handful of friends that stopped by to look and chat. I didn’t sell as many pieces as I predicted, but I met a lot of people, gave away plenty business cards and took some cues as to what people want to buy and wish I offered more of. There were three types of customers that came through: the collectors, the gifters, and those attracted to shiny, pretty things. Collectors look for something unique, evenly distributed weight, with balanced form, and they don’t seem let price govern their choice.…
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Kiln Opening!
We were very pleased with the way the Antique Iron fired! We got the full range of brown, red, green, and even a touch of blue. The only disappointment was that several of the pieces have spots where the glaze did not take, which was likely due to me stacking waxed pots before dipping them. Lesson learned: no stacking after waxing!
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Ready, Glaze, Fire!
I have three glazes in my little garage studio: Chun Red, Heather Green (I can’t recall the exact name of the glaze, but this sounds about right), and a new one – Antique Iron. We (this includes myself and my kiln-master husband) just mixed the Antique Iron and this will be our first time firing with it. I have no idea how this glaze behaves, so I took care not to put it on too thickly and Joe used all the tiles that were available to catch any runs. The sample tile for Antique Iron is a teal color, but looking at other potters’ results online, it might break brown,…
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Duking it out with Orangestone
Almost to a fault, I am overly ambitious and a bit of a wishful thinker. Joe loads his plate up with more food than he can eat, and I loaded up the Jeep with more clay than I could throw. I’ve been throwing with Loafers Glory, a creamy white clay that is close to porcelain but still a stoneware. Last time I went to Claymakers in Durham, I purchased 100 lbs of Orangestone, a clay I have been admiring for several years. The first day of throwing, I spent several hours with nothing to show for my work. The clay holds water differently than Loafers and although I could get…
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Kiln Loaded
Joe and I loaded the kiln this afternoon for a bisque firing. Once this firing is finished, I will have forty new pieces to glaze including cereal bowls, serving bowls, a large plate, several pitchers, a variety of other small pieces and several handfuls of herb pendants. I am nervous and excited about the upcoming glazing because I have one glaze I have not yet tried and am hoping to improve my use of the other two which had mixed results last time. I used a red and green which was great for the holidays, but where the two mixed pooled in the bowls produced a bubbly texture I don’t…
