Glynnis Lessing

A Big Change

Announcement

In 1971 and I was a tween, my mother started a commune with her best friend. This was a rural “Intentional Community” in northern Wisconsin.

Instantly there were a lot of people in our lives. We were living with 2 other families with children. Suddenly I was the oldest of 7. Many college students would come and stay for the summer, other people for a year or two. We became acquainted with other people living in the area who were also trying out alternative ways of living.

Throwing in the barn at 17

As a result of these connections and my interest in pottery (which is a whole other blog entry) when I was 16, my first job was working part time for a potter. I sifted straw ash, pugged clay, sat up during wood firings, washed his dishes (I loved doing that because all his dishes were handmade pots- many by Warren MacKenzie, his teacher, mentor and friend) I also met and spent time with a few of his potter friends.

Somewhere in there, I think I assumed I would become what I now call a “country potter”.

I didn’t think about it consciously. I didn’t even realize at the time that there were “city potters” I just loved the people I knew who lived out in the country in these funky cool houses and made pots for a living (sort of – there were auxiliary sources of income like teaching and employed wives and insurance settlements).

I went off to college at the U (Minneapolis) took ceramics, met my husband there and eventually moved to Chicago. After about 5 years living here in Chicago (and not making pottery), I met a potter at an art fair who told me of Lill street. I called there that afternoon and was signed up for a class that week, teaching there within months.

That was in 1989 and I’ve been there ever since.

I met so many “city potters” and saw the great benefits of belonging to a large community of potters where we could see each other’s work every day and in process and grab anyone to discuss technical or aesthetic problems as they arose. Resources could be pooled, glazes shared, firings happened 2-3 times a week, test tiles came back immediately. I learned a huge amount.

Most of all at Lill, I learned I was a teacher. That I loved teaching, loved imparting information, loved the challenge of finding the best way to help someone understand how to do something. Teaching is an ever-changing, ongoing endeavor as you adapt toyour students and their age and the environment in which they are learning. At Lill I came to realize I truly had something to offer people.

And now, I’m choosing to leave.

It’s not that I actually want to leave Lill it’s more that I have never completely let go of my dream, my image of myself as a country potter. Of my children growing up in the country. Of open sky and forests and the freedom of space you get when you live in the country and so we are moving back to Minnesota. Most likely to Northfield where my family is from so we can be near aging mothers and other family.

I will be tackling such challenges as setting up a studio and, most worrisome for me, figuring out how to continue firing my pots to cone 10 reduction. I don’t know if I will build a kiln or buy one or share an existing kiln. I hope to connect with a small community of potters in that area and perhaps find a place to teach again. I have some friends and connections left over from my college days and also some transplants from Lill who have inspired me. I will be excited to see them again.

I look forward to sharing this whole journey with the readers of my blog.

Lastly, in between selling our house and moving to Minnesota, we will be traveling to Nepal!!! I am sure I will want to post about the potters there because I have always wanted to see in person, those potters who throw off a massive hump on a hand-turned wheel set in the ground; the fruits of their labors spread around them drying in a sunny courtyard.

Tumblers

[note! the Casserole from the previous post is done- I am adding photos to the previous post]

Tumblers- harder to make than you’d think!

I had a request for tumblers at the last Art Fair and I thought, “Yeah, those are great! No trimming, no handle, I’ll just knock some out!”

Well, I thought wrong.  The problem always with porcelain is getting it tall and keeping it narrow. Then, after that, getting the shape I wanted.

I wanted shapes that were slender but not tippy, graceful and elegant yet would still feel comfortable and balanced in one’s hand. Usually, if you make something that is right for the hand it also appeals to the eye. I thought they should look like they were meant to be tumblers, not mugs missing their handles. Lastly, I had to throw it larger to compensate for shrinkage and have it look right once it came out of the cone 10 firing.

I started with 1 pound of clay which absolutely should have been enough but I had a lot of trouble getting the base walls thin enough to get them big enough; taking Grolleg’s shrinkage rate of near 15% into a account.

But actually it really is okay to have a slightly thicker wall at the base for porcelain as it warps so darned easily.  I learned this from Xiao Xiang Bi.

I also realized after much puzzlement, that one of the reasons my mugs and tumblers were warping when I wired them off was that the bottoms were so darned thin that the wire was compressing the base- there was not enough clay to resist that compression.

So annoying until I figured it out! Now I leave enough clay down there.

I have a few tumblers that  I love and take inspiration from:

This one by Lester is just so beautifully slim and the painted on decoration is so perfectly suited to the shape.

Then I have this hand-built and stamped Tumbler by Chuck Aydlett This, amazingly, is a cone 6 glaze fired in an electric kiln. He even took the time to detail the interior.

Then I have this gorgeous piece by Ryan Greenheck; I have theories about how he got this surface- something to do with slip and a metal rib- but it’s not completely clear. 

I have a very simple shino glazed piece by Rita and it may be the one I use the most. I was feeling lousy one day long ago at Lill and she brought me tea in it and said to keep it and I think it’s just perfect the way it curves ever so slightly in at the top. 

This last tumbler was made by me and you can see how the others influenced me. I made several but I loved this one so much I couldn’t sell it.

Since then, I have made a couple more “birds on a wire” tumblers and because the wire is so hard to get straight and thin, I actually incised a line while I was throwing it and then when it was almost dry, inlaid slip into it. *  Then I added the little dabs that I touched up into birds. I thought I took photos before they sold but I did not. I will just have to make more!

*This is done by painting slip into the line and then scraping off the surface with a metal rib leaving a very clean line

Here are a few more that I did.

Re-wetting and repairing an already carved Oval Casserole

Recently, I constructed 4 oval casseroles that I was quite pleased with. I was inspired by some casseroles that Nate Pidduck had made that I  really liked.

The construction is fairly straightforward: I first threw some ridged (not rigid) discs about 3/4 of an inch thick on a plastic bat. I set those aside while I threw 4 almost vertical—they tilted inward– walls with a gallery at the top but no floor; also on plastic bats.

By this time, the discs were set up enough for me to wire them off and throw them out on the canvas covered table, stretching them into ovals.

At this point, I also threw out several slabs for what would eventually be the lids. You want all the clay involved to be about the same dryness so that it is all shrinking at about the same rate.

The timing on this altering of pots is crucial.

Too wet, the walls tend to cave in or flop around and the oval is at best, overly controlled by your hand, at worst, a total asymmetrical failure.

Too dry, and the rim cracks as you try to force it beyond what it was once willing to do. If you get it right, the clay chooses its own curve; a delicious, aesthetically pleasing curve that the clay knows so well how to do. You see this curve most often in handles.

Back to the walls which had I wired off and, making sure they slid easily on the slippery plastic surface of the bats, gently –squeezed is not quite the right word–”encouraged” them to be oval as well.

Once this oval sets up, you can set it on the (now)oval disc base and trace around the inside.  Score outside that line, then turn it over using a second bat and score the underside of the base of the wall, wet it (I used magic water) and then set that on top of the scored disc base to join wall to it, trimming off any excess on the outside and sealing it by going over it with a soft rib- you can also use the soft rib to give a curve to the edge of the base.

Once this is sufficiently set up- wet-leather hard, you can turn it upside down on top of your slab and again trace the oval (the outside this time) to cut a lid. Add handles to the sides of this casserole if you like and drape the now oval slab inside the opening of the top- separated by a piece of plastic.

Once the lid is medium leather hard- holding its curved shape, you can refine the edge so it fits precisely inside the gallery and then add a handle to it.

At this point, before it is any drier, I coat the entire thing in black slip. When the slip is also leather dry, I carve.

These had a lot of surface area and the carving took a considerable amount of time. Of the 4 I did, 2 came out beautifully, the lid of the smallest one warped in the glaze firing  but it’s the 4th casserole I want to tell you about.

The last was quite nice but as it dried (and I dry them slowly under a loose cover of dry-cleaning plastic) the walls were proportionally too thick compared to the floor and they pulled away leaving the floor cracked on the sides. I discovered this when the pot was pretty much bone dry.

There was really no way to realistically repair it- especially since the entire outside surface had been delicately carved. I certainly could not spray it down- the slip design would have run and been destroyed. I was pretty upset about this until Dave Trost, a fellow teacher at Lill, told me about his method of re-wetting.

He told me to take one of the slabs of plaster –they have many at Lill for drying slurry and clay scraps- they are about and inch and a half thick; and to soak it in water until no more bubbles rose off its surface. Then to take my pot and set it on the plaster and wrap the whole thing tightly and let it sit.

Well, I had nothing to lose –I had already invested at least 4 hours in the pot-so I did just as Dave suggested and then double wrapped it in plastic and let it sit on the shelf for at least two weeks maybe more.

When I finally got back to it, the clay was back to a pliable leather hard consistency!! I was able to push the walls back in, reinforce the bottom and repair it.

Then to slow down the drying of the floor this time- to keep it a little more pliable should the walls pull on it as they were drying- I waxed the entire bottom inside and out and then waxed all the handle joins just to be on the safe side and set the piece to dry lightly covered in plastic again. This time the piece made it to the bone-dry stage and is being bisked as I write this. I will keep you posted.

Sadly, I did not take photos during construction. If I make more (and these were popular) I will post them.

Addendum: Okay, the casserole made it safely through the bisk, I glazed it and waited on pins and needles to see if it would split apart in the glaze firing and it did NOT! It came through intact with a few cosmetic cracks but is fully functional! Here are some photos:

Verso

Interior: there are reflections that look like cracks but really, the whole thing held together perfectly! 

The Bucktown Art Fair

The Bucktown Art Fair

I will admit I was in a lousy mood for the early morning set-up on Saturday. Perhaps it was the nightmare- just before I woke- that someone stole our newly purchased (used)Mini-van loaded the night before with all the art fair stuff?

Everyone seemed a bit grumpy and “off” and I can only blame the humidity that lifted mid-afternoon. Or maybe Mercury finally moved all the way out of retro-grade- whatever that means. The artists were pretty much on their own for parking management made even more complicated because after 9 or so, stages and things began to be set up and routes became even more limited. I ended up parking on a nearby street despite free parking provided for the artists at a slightly farther away school.

I was assisted in unloading by a friendly and cheerful (and strong!) volunteer and that went a long way toward making me feel welcome and supported.

Check-in was not advertised and only the sight of other artists striding past with a plate full of muffins and bagels and a banana and a glass of OJ notified us of free food Saturday morning (only). When I checked at the info booth, I was given a small info packet and (best!!) a free little black apron with pockets. What a useful freebie! Thank you Bucktown!

At any rate, I was ready for my uneven site, having scoped it out a few days before. We brought a few bricks and boards to level things out as well as the shims that we always carry; but I was still feeling sorry for myself until I saw what other artists had to contend with and I had lots of shade! If you get a spot in the park, come prepared for very uneven spots. The guy next to us moved because his site had a lot of really bad tree roots sticking up-I think I’d be most worried about customers tripping on them!

This left us alone on our little hill and I have to say, I think the booth looked great with the galvanized tin gleaming in the sun.

The fair opened at 11 which seemed luxurious in light of the morning set-up. We had arrived about 7 :40 and were all set by 10. However, I did not make my firs sale until 1:30 so I was relieved to find that this seems to be a fair that just doesn’t get cooking until late afternoon.

This is a NOISY art fair and is also packed with kids and dogs. There are a lot of really terrific shows for the kids and also a kid’s activity tent where my son spent most of his time. When he wasn’t there, he was constructing this.There is also a great playground and a city pool- though I didn’t notice if they closed that for the fair. If you have kids, this is a terrific fair to keep them happy- it’s also very contained so they are less likely to get lost or go far.

My ponderings as I waited to sell anything and then as I waited to “break even” was: perhaps not every fair is the right fair for me even if I get in. Maybe this is too young a crowd; do they want trendy? Or are they just wandering around looking at stuff to entertain themselves. No one was carrying any purchases- this is something artists look for. If someone drags a bunch of bags into your booth, you feel optimistic!

Then, after people began to buy things I decided that my best work always sells. When I mentioned this to my husband, he asked me what percentage of my work is my best work I guessed perhaps 30% of what I create? Don’t get me wrong- and you artists know this; the work I put out is all “good”. It’s technically sound and attractive but there are always those pieces that, when you pull them out of the kiln, you say, “ah, that’s a nice one.” You might even be tempted to keep it- some, the very best, you do. You can’t quite bear to let them go. We know which pieces those are.

At any rate, my day picked up so that by the 7 o’clock closing time, I was relieved and felt I had not made a mistake in participating in what I think, is a lovely little fair.

The next day, again, I did not make a sale until well after noon and, this being my last fair, I put out everything in my bins. I wanted to just get rid of it! Surprisingly, I sold a lot of older work- one vase I was so sick of, I just gave it away with the purchase of a larger vase. It was a great day and this turned out to be a terrific fair- definitely the RIGHT fair for me!

The day ended at 7 again although sales ended about 6 pm. And  the load-out in the dark kind of  sucked. Every one was tired and there was even less space (tents and stages still up) and less traffic management. Thank goodness for the van! I cannot imagine slipping in and out of there with anything larger!

Other drawbacks to this fair was that we were positioned precisely where we could hear the kid’s shows (and taped music) at exactly the same volume as we were hearing performances on the main-stage. I went home with a sore throat from having to raise my voice to be heard by friends and customers. I also think that much noise is tiring although I did find it energizing when we were packing up!

Lastly, the hike to the porta-potties was almost painful and  time-consuming and then, at the end of the day, no TP was adding insult to injury. Clearly I’ve been spoiled in the past (most notably by Krasl).

As for artists I liked, I am loving Neil Estrick’s  skilled throwing, beautiful cone 6 glazes and graceful gourd shapes. Also a shout-out to my many Lill Street compadres who all seemed to be doing well at this show.

On the way out, I saw this incredible booth but never saw what he was selling!? In looking at the map and people’s website, I think it might be Keith Skogstrum but I can’t say for sure.

All in all I think it was a great fair- if you participate, bear in mind it could be a late-starting crowd.

The Powderhorn Park Art Fair 2011

Well, Hello and here I am blogging about yet another art fair and this one went really wonderfully!

The first thing you should know about this fair is that the load-in (and load out) for me and really, for most of the other artists, is incredibly easy.

You drive along a paved road that runs around the lake and there is just a whole lot of room to park. I had a U-Haul™ 4×8 trailer again and those are a bit unwieldy and I just pulled in, going in a big U in front of my area. For load out, I actually BACKED IN! I’m so proud of myself. Then we unloaded everything, set up and drove to our accommodations (free since we have lots of relatives here). The next day we parked up the hill from our spot- in this case on 10^th Ave. and just walked down to the tent. The weather was a bit warm the first day but sales were good.

My thing at the Powderhorn is that I have family in Minnesota; I went to high school an hour away and I went to college here so it’s a great time and place to have people stop by. I was visited by 2 high school friends , 4 old college friends (and wives or children) and lots of family. We actually set up an extra tent (and chairs) out back for shade.

My 11 year old son set up the “easy-down” (as he heard someone call them) all by himself and dubbed it the “Relative Relaxation Room”. It was good because it kept the display tent clear and available and everyone was in the shade. My only problem was paying enough attention to actual customers!

I continue to get a lot of compliments on the display. It’s no secret- Ikea.

Sunday was glorious weather and people were in a good mood. Even the wildlife is exciting and entertaining. My son caught a couple of toads (released into the pond) a butterfly hung out with us for all of Sunday morning; the ducks geese and cormorants kept the pond interesting. The only drawback to that is the ground is a little… well…

ew.

I did manage to walk around the entire fair and was impressed with a Jeweler from Tallahassee, Florida: Zee Galliano (http://zeegalliano.com/) had some really cool stuff.

This year the awards were heralded by four stilt-walkers. My friend said he couldn’t bear to watch. I reassured him that they had all trained by putting up dry-wall for years. He said there used to be twice that number in the herd.

I do have to complain about the Judging because I didn’t win- what can I say? I’m biased.

Aside from that, this is a wonderful fair, great music, for a good cause in a great area.

the volunteers were also helpful and friendly. We had one visitor who was unable to walk far and they simply brought her to the tent in one of the golf carts.

The Kohler Midsummer Festival of the Arts 2011

 
We were looking forward to the Kohler Midsummer Festival of the Arts  although I will say, after Krasl last week, it would have been hard to beat. And similar to last week, not much to tell. But for those of you resarching the Kohler I will elucidate… or is it expound?

Load-in was very easy as was check in. They have a lot of very nice and helpful volunteers. We had the same spot as last year; a shady spot in front of the school.

After set up we went to the fabulous restaurant we went to last year, Il Retrovo. YUM. Unbelievably good wood fired pizza and then, truly heavenly Sea salt caramel gelato. Wow.

Back at the hotel,we thrilled to the Tour de France.

The next day I put out all the pots and I have to say, I think the booth looked really good.

I thought the day started very auspiciously when I sold my biggest showpiece, a large Octopus platter, first; but the foot traffic was low and my sales sporadic.

We also found out that our Square™ couldn’t be used because we had no reception! Luckily I still have my credit card service until the end of this month. I will have to look into how to process the cards without reception.

I had some nice people come in and look around. They were an educated group. Most of them knew what slip is and I had some good chats about technique. My son was obsessed with a nearby booth, clever and lovely puzzles by William Waite. He spent a good part of the fair over there trying to solve all the puzzles.

Saturday night we were all fed good food and awards were given. Compatriots, Judy Zeddes (print) and Sarah Chapman (jewelry) both won awards! We sat with another couple who had a pottery booth.  I had a lovely chat with Joel Huntley and Debra Huntley who makes terrific early-American inspired work. He has been making pots for 27 years and is going to sell his Pottery (the business) in Columbus Wisconsin. Is anyone interested?

After the dinner, we all walked around the museum. This is an excellent museum. Their exhibits are really thought provoking and well, good. The museum is the big treat of the weekend. That and the bathrooms. I never got tired of the bathrooms.

We all hoped for a better day on Sunday although we knew it would be hotter.

Sadly, it was worse; even though the heat was never too bad at all- every once in a while, we got a lovely cooling breeze from the nearby lake.

Sunday was disheartening because we heard things like:

“There’s a wallet store over here.”

“Naw, I’ll just order something online.”

I wish that people understood the huge amount of work that goes into the art fair. It’s not just making the work all week; but also loading the vehicle, the drive, the unloading and set up, the selling all weekend; being cheerful and informative, the take down, the long drive home and then unloading. It seems, for most of the artists at the fair, a labor of love. A choice to do this so that they can keep on with the pleasure of making the things they love to make. Still, we do like to have the work acknowledged. Clearly, we’re not doing it for the money!

There’s just so much STUFF in the world now!  Everyone is decluttering- a concept, I’m sure, that didn’t exist until after 1975. Until then, stuff was hard to come by. Now, machine-made goods have filled our houses, perverted our aesthetics,  devalued our work and numbed the public to what it takes to handmake things.  It’s alittle soul killing to have someone walk in to the booth and whine, “I have so much stuff.”  Yes!  I know! We all do! But I am a maker of stuff. I don’t know what to do – how to resolve the pull between wanting to make stuff and knowing there is  (and having) too much stuff!

So after that rant, I want to thank those many many people who do get it. Who love the scale and imperfections of hand-made things. Who appreciate the creativity and skill and who want to live with these things every day.

Another interesting set of work was by  John Woodhouse.  Judy put it perfectly when she called his beautiful wall Barns “Fine Craft”. I could look at those all day and I don’t think he sold a one.

Now I don’t want to badmouth the Kohler art fair. They do a fantastic job- it’s a great fair but for some reason their circulation was down.

This left me crabby by take-down but it went very smoothly.

The really exciting part of this whole story is that, about 30 minutes from home, at 9 pm, our car had a blow out on the highway. After making it safely to the side, we actually changed the tire ourselves. The spare had almost no air in it so I had to leave Juan and the trailer and all our stuff sitting there on the side of the expressway and went to find a gas station where I made sure I got my 50¢ worth and inflated all the tires and went back.  And then yes, we still had to unload and I had to return the trailer. Needless to say, we were beyond tired by the time we got to bed.

Krasl on the Bluff 2011

This past weekend, (July 9 & 10) I participated in Krasl Art Center’s Art on the Bluff in beautiful St. Joseph, Michigan.

As J.R.R. Tolkien writes in the The Hobbit,

“Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to….”

And I’m afraid that’s the case with the Krasl Art Fair this year. It went so smoothly that there’s not much to tell that won’t sound like bragging.

I rented a 4×8 trailer which has the advantage of being light enough, even loaded, to maneuver by hand when you can’t back it into a small space.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about the actual fair organization. Every year they find ways to make it even better! Food, activities, notices; this is the BEST fair.

We had both kids with us so set up went quickly and smoothly- everyone had their assigned tasks. We were very happy to see our long-time neighbors returning and also to meet a few new people.

I was especially excited about the work of Teresa Wooden of Stone Forest Pottery  . Once you see her work, you will understand why I like it so much.

After we had zipped down the last flap of our tent, we all walked down to the Compass Rose Fountain and proceeded to cool off.

Back to the tent to change and then off to dinner. Here’s where we became unhappy.

We were FAMISHED and went to Schu’s, a restaurant we knew had good food- PLUS they were a sponsor of the fair. We agreed to wait the 15-20 minutes because we knew the food would be good .
After about 30 minutes I went in and got a menu and we picked out what we would order so as to be REALLY READY.

After 40 minutes I went in to check on our place in the queue and noted that on the list around our names, everyone else’s names had already been crossed off- the hostess confessed she had not written down our buzzer number and so that is why we saw many people who had arrived after us seated  already.

FINE. Five minutes later we were seated and would not let our waitress walk away from us before we’d ordered. After 45 minutes had gone by, and we noted people (who had arrived after us) eating and finishing, we flagged down our waitress and asked how’s our order? She checked and said it would be a “couple of minutes”. 15 minutes later I was asking for the manager and seething at him and then telling him I would probably not be QUITE so worked up if I weren’t SO hungry! He said he would “adjust our bill” and send over desert menus, with the implication he would comp desert. The food arrived while I was talking to him.

The food was excellent. The crème brulee was to die for BUT he only comp’ed the deserts and proceeded to charge me 22$ for a pork chop that was listed at 19$.AND I didn’t get the 10% off -artist discount they advertised.  So we won’t be returning there.

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. Everyone worked together and we got set up quickly.

Then people began walking through the fair and my Saturday morning sales were unusually good. This is the kind of fair where usually patrons walk through once or even twice and then purchase but many bought in the morning and several people returned to my tent to buy something only to find it gone. I’ve even offered to set things aside and certainly I always hold bags for pickup later. I feel terrible when this happens but of course everything I make is very one-of-a-kind.

After the fair shut down for the day, we went to the beach for a picnic and sunset. I find watching the sun set over Lake Michigan a huge luxury since we can only watch it rise over the lake here.

Sunday was predicted to be hotter so I did a bit of walking around first thing in the morning. I was very pleased to see Chris Dahlquist was in the fair this year with her luminous paintings. And she’s working even larger now. Amazing landscapes and clouds.

While I was working at the booth, my children were having a fabulous time.As much as he loves the other art fairs, Krasl is my son’s favorite. To start with there’s the fountain; then there’s a carousel*, a kid’s museum and for artists’ children, free art activities all weekend long; and let’s not forget the GIANT LOG OF FUDGE!

* The woman who checked me even gave me a token for the carousel!

My location was what saved me from the heat on Sunday. I was in the shade and there was a very cool breeze coming off the lake that blew on me the whole day. This was a real blessing because I did not wilt.

Again, boring story, take down went smoothly and we had no bad traffic coming home!

A big thank you to all the folks that bought from me and a reminder to everyone that my FaceBook Fan page (https://www.facebook.com/GlynnisCeramics

is where I post all my latest photos and Fair schedule notices. Consider becoming a fan today by “liking” my page!

The 2011 57^th St. Art Fair

I was a little nervous before my first art fair of the year.  57^th has a morning load-in too which is hard on us- unloading, setting up and then selling all day (one hopes).I had rented a cargo van for this fair as it is not far but can get very crowded and I don’t want to try to maneuver a trailer through there. As it turned out, it was much easier than last year since we were on the street.

Everything went remarkable smoothly but the humidity (it didn’t really feel very hot) was enervating.

Enervating is defined as: “Causing one to feel drained of energy or vitality.”

So that is a perfect word to describe what happened to us.

We kept thinking it was our age or that we were out of shape because the winter had gone on forever but when the humidity lifted (just before a downpour) my energy returned.

About 3:30 pm word spread and the volunteers also alerted everyone that a storm was coming- the unknown and important element was wind. Would there be wind? As a potter, wind is your worst enemy.  Rain is not really a problem. I had taken down a lot of pots in the fear that wind would shake the tent but water doesn’t hurt my product at all.

Next to me was a booth with wonderful leather bags and books. (She almost sold out!) Her tent sprang several leaks so she had to pack up and end her day there early. But although everyone zipped up and closed down, most of the artists reopened after the storm passed and people came back.  I had some more sales.

Sunday was as perfect a day as you can get for an art fair. No humidity, no heat, no rain.

I had a great day on Sunday and an easy pack up and load out too.  Many customers from last year came back to buy again this year and it was great to see them.

All in all a very satisfying fair.

Double Pinch Pots

First Time Hand Building

Class 1 Double Pinch Pots

I may have written about double pinch pots in the past- but this is for a first time hand-building class.

I did not know what level students would be at so I decided to start with the most basic skill.  Yet double pinch pots can take you just about anywhere as evinced by the work my wonderful class made that day.

It is a pretty straight forward process; you start with two balls of clay of roughly equal size and make them both into pinch pots.

A really good tip here is to keep the rim thick by not squeezing it directly. It works quite well to squeeze below it.

After the pots are as evenly thin as you are able to make them,  try them  out “mouth to mouth” and see if they are the shape and size you need.

You can add a coil or two to one or both of them to make a larger hollow form. Eventually you will need to join them to each other.

Or not. Matthew decided not to join his two pots together and so he has a terrific lidded jar.

If you find it is collapsing, you can stuff newspaper inside. The paper will burn out in the kiln.

Once it is completely sealed and the air is trapped inside, you can roll it on the table almost as if it were a solid piece of clay to smooth it and shape it. Then parts may be added

The shape doesn’t even have to be round.  Nan made a turtle!

But if you decide to make a little sculpture like that or like Randy’s Owl here-

make sure you put a discreet hole in it somewhere so the air and moisture can escape and not blow up your piece!

If you decide to make a piggy bank like Kathryn’s
(this pig is clearly worried by the economic situation!)

or a chicken bank like Pam’s

or a Monkey jug like mine,

then the openings are built into the form and no little hole is needed.

The possibilities are endless- here are two pieces I’ve made in the past: a jar and a teapot.

What is good about this form is that it is inherently strong, the form lends itself to so many possibilities and beginners are able to make something that has quite a bit of volume.

MAJOLICA – a very brief introduction

I recently taught a workshop as a brief introduction to Majolica.

I used the word “creamy” very frequently. It really is the best word to describe the basic white glaze that defines the category and gives Majolica its distinctive look.

First of all let me say that most of what I know I learned from Kelly Kessler and I still find her work inspiring, thought provoking and beautiful.

I brought out some pieces by her,

two small boxes I’d bought in Italy, sitting next to an Angler Fish mug by Karin Kraemer

and a couple of old pieces of mine.

I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I really spent some time making Majolica work but the date on the bottom of the bowl was 1994!

Basically, Majolica was Europe’s response to Chinese Porcelain.

People were crazy for all that pristine white-ware coming out of China. This was eventually answered with a thick white glaze (made with tin)and colorful pigments that sink into its surface. This first began to happen during the renaissance in Italy so Italy is most famous for it’s Majolica but Spain, England and Mexico all have similar ceramic traditions.

Majolica, as it is practiced most commonly now is on terra cotta low fire clay which is dipped in or sprayed with a base coat of a  creamy majolica glaze.

At Lill, we use a nice recipe from Linda Arbuckle (http://lindaarbuckle.com/index.html )and commercial pigments from Amaco™

After that dries, you can then apply your pattern or images. Some people draw very lightly on the surface with pencil- I’ve been known to use a highlighter even  but for these I just had some sketches and applied it freehand. Good brushes are key. You need something that you can load up but will make a fine line. I like long thin brushes.

For the “sea weed” on the underside of my octopus bowl, I scratched through  to thewhite but not down to the clay body.

after firing

Karin Kraemer uses this technique to good effect on her Angler fish mug. Also on her mug, you won’t see any of the white undercoat except for the belly of her fish. She painted the entire rest of the mug with a tomato red.

I also did a bit of scratching (sgraffito) on the octopus

Here  it is fired. The main thing to know about majolica is that it’s not very forgiving of mistakes when one is painting on the colorful pigments.

You can see it is a lot more transparent- more than I wanted actually. Every brush mark shows so you really have to be careful how you apply the pigments- you can not just make an outline and daub it on to fill it in- it’s best to have some direction and grace in your application. Here is the underside:

This was fired at around cone 04.  That is low fire and so the clay body won’t be as dense and therefore as strong as a cone 6 or 10 pot- but these pieces do hold up! Another student brought in commercially made terra cotta pieces: flower pots! and decorated those.

With Majolica the possibilities are nearly endless and it’s particularly great if you like bright colors.

But, as you can see in this Roberta Massuch piece, it can also be used to get a kind of pen and ink effect and it also doesn’t have to cover the entire piece. She’s used it selectively and contrasted it with texture on other parts of her pot.

This is terry’s test- she’s wanted to see how it works in dots!

I also copied one of my own pieces -what I call my “willow pattern”. Here it is before and after:

So there you have it, the very briefest of introductions to Majolica. What I like about it are the bright colors and the endless possibilities of surface decoration coupled with the near instant gratification of low-fire. This is not something that needs to be coddled along- you pop it in an electric kiln and voila!  Something lovely, useful and sturdy.

If you want to look at more contemporary majolica work I suggest you poke around Arbuckle’s site and also that of  Karen Kraemer or just google Majolica! I know there are countless more talented Majolica artists and you are welcome to put them in comments.