I Want Candy!

Dreamland awaits

I'll be off to bed soon, but first I'll post some pictures that I took yesterday when I went to Val-David to visit my pots at 1001 Pots Exhibition.

A few days ago, while contemplating my display, I had to oddeset feeling that I'd sort of abandoned my pots in another town far away to be fondled by strangers without me around to talk about how the pot came into being. I felt...guilty. Then the feeling passed. Pots don't have feelings! Do they?

NEW Improved! display - 1001 Pots 2008

Wall o' Mugs - This is just two sections of the wall. There's 1 more. That's a lotta mugs!

Hands down, this is the most gorgeous sculpture this year! If I had $1200.00 I would scoop it up tomorrow! Forgot to note name of artist. My apologies.


Wonderful porcelain swag lamps. This is giving me the incentive I need for an idea I had long ago to make my own wall sconces and lamp shades from the thinest porcelain to show off its translucence.

My bed is calling. More later.

Have Pots, Will Travel

The new pots fresh out of the kiln.

I have new pots! They're cooling down in the kiln. I'm pretty excited about them too! When they are cool enough to pick up without gloves, I will pack them up and take them to sell.

This load of pottery in the kiln was an effort of sheer will. After looking at my display at 1001 Pots I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to make small bowls! When the artist in me kicks in I become unpredictable even to myself. So there I was thinking, "I've got time," every time a new idea popped up through my hands and then pretty soon the date to pack up and go had arrived and I had forgotten about the small bowls (not to mention the teapots)...until I stood back and looked at my display. I looked around at others. Mine was missing....something. *sigh*

So I went home and thought about it, looked at the calendar and it seemed do-able. I kicked my butt all the way into the studio and threw 37 bowls.

They dried for a couple of days, I trimmed foot rings and then waited through the most humid weather for them to dry.

They didn't.

Last Saturday I loaded the leather hard bowls into the little kiln and force dried them and the next day they were ready to fire. The kiln shut off Sunday around 4:30 and then began the wait for the newly bisqued pots to cool enough to unload them.

Early Monday morning I cracked open the kiln and finally around 10:30 I unloaded the pots and got to work sanding, washing, applying wax resist to foot rings and as a design (spirals), letting that dry, applying glaze, waiting for glaze to dry, applying 2nd colour if needed, cleaning the foot rings and finally loading the kiln. I finished loading at 2 a.m. and set the glaze kiln to candle at 200 degrees F. I woke up around 5 a.m. today to check if the pots were dry yet by sticking a mirror inside the kiln (which is cracked open to let the steam out) and seeing if it's foggy. If there's no steam or fog on the mirror, then I can start to fire.

I closed the lid, put the spy plugs in, turned it up and went back to bed. I got up around 9:30 and things were going as planned. The weather held out the entire day. Blackouts around here happen. Brown outs are fairly common. I fire in an electric kiln, so brown outs cause me to pray that electricity comes back on and black outs cause me to swear loudly.

While the kiln fired, I planned a garden extension and a grocery list, placed a book order and a fall bulb order on line, checked my email and cooked.

Catching up

The Ladies who opened the evening's entertainment - 1001 Pots vernissage, Friday, July 11, 2008. Photo by JF Davignon.

First of all, my apologies for no posts of late. As things usually go, there just wasn't enough time to do it all. By that I mean laundry, dishes, blog and take pictures of my latest work - work that is now on display at 1001 Pots in Val-David. There was barely enough time to cook a good meal and many take out meals have been the result. That and those BBQ chickens that one can pick up in almost any grocery store these days.

This weekend I have absolutely nothing planned...well, almost nothing. There is that small matter of turning my almost empty shop into a place that still looks inviting and showcases my work before hanging my sign out at the top of the road. Seeing as it's now noon-ish, I think that will have to wait until after lunch.

Thursday's installation at 1001 Pots went well. The scene upon arrival was hectic. I was unpacked and completely set up in 4 hours thanks to Val, my stepdaughter.

I'm really happy with my pots this year. Five colours are represented - a rich glossy brown glaze that shows throwing lines well, an electric cobalt matte blue glaze that really catches the eye, a light blue glaze that I call Blue Jeans - it fires well to cone 8 so it works very well on the top shelf of my kiln which is the coolest place; an iron red called Tomato and Shiney White, which I used alone and in combination with Tomato, which turned out bloody gorgeous and is my new favorite.

The five colours are like the elements represented in the pentacle. Rich brown for earth, electric blue for water, light blue for air, iron red for fire and white for spirit.

Last night JF and I returned to the venue for the vernissage. It was quickly getting too dark for pictures, but JF managed to snap two (one featured above) and then the battery in the camera died. We'll definitely have more pictures from the show as the weeks progress. In the meantime, here's the latest from the garden.

Resting" Photo by JF Davignon

"Awakening" Photo by Valérie Davignon

"Awake!" Photo by Valérie Davignon

"Under" Photo by Valérie Davignon

"Co-mingling" Photo by Valérie Davignon