Whistle Creek: March 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Gettin Ready for Spring Fair

The first Saturday of May is our local Spring Pottery Fair. 50 to 60 potters all in one street at Madison and Woodburn in Cincinnati.I'm trying to fill out the inventory before then. Here's this week's load. I've been working on consistency so things stack nicely and pack tightly.That's 36 bowls in one box.Hopefully it makes packing easier.P.S. Blogger, as we all know has a mind of it's own and decided to underline everything and not allow me to change it today. Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Last week, Tracey Broome finished her studio and shared pictures on her blog.That inspired fellow blogger Judy Shreve to post pictures of her work space and encourage other bloggers to do the same. I really don't have anything else to talk about this week so I am inspired to post a picture tour of Whistle Creek Pottery.

Friday, March 11, 2011

What's New

This week brought a couple of nice things. Tina has been showing our little English Cocker "Izzy "in UKC shows.The other day we got official notification that she whas the third best English Cocker in the country and was invited to the Top Ten Show in June. I don't think Tina has told her yet, we don't want it to go to her head.

Other good things came out of the gas kiln at Middletown. I've been trying to glaze some of the big jars I made earlier this winter and they are looking pretty good. What's not good is the captions Picassa is not letting me make so in no particular order, we have Temmoku with copper red, green apple celadon, a couple of dark green Oribe pots and the big boy has fake ash and fake salt ( but the jar is real ). I don't know how I feel about the denim colored soup mug yet but it is growing on me.Maybe a contrasting rim would help? Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

New and Improved

Well, once again I have been too (pick one) (busy, lazy, tired, preoccupied, insensitive) to keep up with my blogging. Let's go with busy if we can. Monday my brother and I took a road trip to Tennessee, North Carolina,and back to Ohio. We stopped and saw out great grandfather's grave in Newcomb Tn. Then we went on to the land title office for Campbell County in Jacksboro.We found the deed to some property my great, great, great grandfather had sold in 1833. Fifty acres and a house for 5 cents.It is presumed that it was sold to a son in law but a nickel is still cheap. The deed index did not show when he purchased the land so it had to be before Campbell county was formed in about 1805. There may be a record of it in Anderson county which Campbell was carved out of. That mystery is for another trip. We scooted on down to Asheville for a truckload of clay through a heavy downpour that lasted all day. The good folks at Highwater took care of us and we headed back north. Nice to spend some quality time with the family. I got home about 10 pm tired but pleased.

The next project came from the decision that my beloved Scion XB (Excellent Box) was hitting 95,000 miles and soon would be needing brakes, timing belt, maybe a clutch, etc. My search criteria included something a little larger and more plush. The little Ford Transit Connect van was a contender but I ended up with a new Subaru Forester. Roomy, AWD, Comfortable, still economical.

Finally, Mike Baum had asked if I wanted to slip a few pots into his firing this week so I put in a couple of gallon jars and some refires while teaching a couple of days and taking care of the affairs of everyday life. Maybe I really didn't have time to blog.Thanks for visiting.

Why Whistle Creek

Whistle Creek is near the area where my ancestors settled in East Tennessee. It is about 6 miles west of I-75 and 8 miles south of Jellico.At various times the land was claimed by England, France, Spain, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky,Tennessee, the Union,the Confederacy, and the Cherokee.My family was there around 1800 and possibly before.My brothers and I still own the top of the mountain and it is still very rough country. I named my studio Whistle Creek in memory of the Allens who scraped their living from the earth and managed to keep it for two hundred years.

Bricks,Bricks, Bricks

I have two loads of kiln brick at home and one more to go. Weather permitting I will get some help from my newly retired brother and haul the rest home next week. I'm still early in the planning stages for the kiln. I haven't decided yet whether to make the firebox perpendicular to the arch a la John Theis managama and groundhog kilns or to place it parallel to the axis of the arch. I do know that with #2 three inch arch brick It will be a 3"6" sprung arch on top of low walls with a sunken firebox. If i can find a saw that will cut 41/2" I can rip some of the arch brick to fill in the ends of the courses and use the arch brick on edge to make 9" thick walls. Any input appreciated.

The Pitcher and the Nun

Yesterday a couple of sweet elderly ladies came into my booth and fell in love with the pitcher from the last woodfiring. (See last Blog entry) They said they wanted to give it as a wedding gift, then they said the fatal words-" Do you take Mastercard? " I replied-" No, but I want this piece to go to a good home and I believe that if I send it home with you, you will send me a check." They agreed and we exchanged info. It turned out they were nuns.Instead of mailing me a check, they brought back a check and some homemade candy a couple of hours later.It was nice to make the sale, but even nicer to send out a little faith in mankind and have a good deed returned.

Ohio Slip

More Spring Fair Prep....

Today was spent loading a bisque kiln with pots I have been throwing the last few weeks.They are made with a really nice red clay that a friend sold me when I couldn't get earthen red at Highwater. I should be able to glaze Monday and fire the whole load again next week. This is the only clay that I fire in the electric kilns but it gives a look that a lot of people like and I can fire economically. This plus pots on hand and pots I have been glazing for the gas kiln should be plenty for spring fair so now I can concentrate on the booth.

Spring Fair

The main project of the week was to try to finish throwing a batch of red clay that I have been working on so I can get the pots fired and glazed for the big Spring Fair sale that the Clay Alliance is holding on May 2. This is the big annual sales event for the club and I am very happly to be included this year but I do feel a little pressure to up my game and have a booth that doesn't look like a yard sale. Once I get the pots fired, I will have to spend some time focusing on display space and building some nice shelving. The sale is 11 to 4 at the corner of Madison and Woodburn ( DeSales Corner) Just take 71 to Edwards rd., Edwards to Madison, Right on Madison and you will be there in a few minutes. You will have a great time and get to meet 40 of the best potters and ceramicists in the region. More info at http://www.clayalliance.org/.

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Whistle Creek