Spring Pottery Fair Review.

Last week started and ended great with a lot of work in between. Monday morning I had a visitor from the South. Brenda Hornsby Heindel  of Liberty Stoneware had been in town for a speaking engagement and found time for a visit. Brenda is full of knowledge about early American potting and firing methods. She makes lovely early American style pots and single fires them in a wood kiln.  I gave her the tour, swapped a few tips, and she had to leave all too soon. If you don't read her blog you should. period. you'll enjoy it and learn something too.

The rest of the week was packing for Spring Fair, pushing a load through the kiln doing booth layout for the show and loading. Here's a tip if you ever do booth layout for a show. Get two dowels or pieces of scrap wood. Tie an 11ft long wire( doesn't stretch) between them. It is much faster than getting down on the ground with a tape measure. You're welcome.

Spring Fair is usually my best show of the year and this one was no exception. I took my travelling circus to the show site about 6:30 in the morning. I don't like to rush or fight for a space to unload so early works for me. It was in the 40's with a breeze but that isn't bad with a light jacket while you are doing the heavy lifting part of setting up. We had a tiny spritz of rain but it was done before I even decided to cover stuff up. Other than that, it was cloudy, then sunny with a breeze all day and some big gusts in the afternoon. I use a lot of weights and place the pots carefully so I was fine but a few pots were lost and some people took their tents down. Quick tip here. I love my KING BRAND tent . It works and I've had it for 5 years. When I opened it one of the bolts on a connector fell out. I found the nut and was able to lightly spin it into place but it is an Allen head bolt and it is all countersunk on both sides. No one brings and Allen wrench to a show, I checked. I will next time and go over all of them.

I think the brisk temps and wind chill may have impacted the crowd a little. This is our club show with 60 local potters and it is well promoted. We have a loyal following that comes out no matter what but some casual attendees may have stayed home. Early birds showed up at 10:30 and I started selling. I didn't have to make it all $10 at a time either. People bought mugs and bowls but not just one. I sold several big jars a set of plates, some baking dishes, and a number of very large salad/mixing/bread bowls. Longevity is paying off with return customers coming back for more pieces to match what they bought last year and the year before. I end up hurting all day Sunday but I really enjoy seeing my fellow club members and all the nice, nice people who come out. Every other potter who came by liked the new shelves and a lot of the customers liked them too. One even said I had the best booth in the show ! Five o'clock rolled around and I started packing. By 6 everything was boxed. I started knocking down the booth and was on the road 45 minutes later. I was totally exhausted and hurting all over but it was a great day and I sold very well. It was not quite up to last year but last year was phenomenal and you can't expect that every year. As it was, I ended up at over 1 1/2 times my sales for a good show. Can't kick about that !

The week ended with an unexpected treat. I took enough pain killers Sunday to go to an afternoon jam session. We had a new fellow show up this week. Lynn is 90 years old and plays banjo like nobody's business. He plays some when he was young, then he flew dive bombers over the Pacific in WWII . He says he didn't play much until he retired and got serious about it. That's 34 years of being serious. It was great fun and an honor to spend the afternoon with him.

OK, here are the pictures.

See You At Spring Fair

Hey Kids,

It's time for my annual look into the big van pictures. I don't know why an otherwise intelligent ( I've been tested ) man would do this every year. I make enough pots to last until September and feel that I have to put them all in the van for Spring Pottery Fair. That's this Saturday so I'd better be ready. Madison and Woodburn in Cincinnati. It's 11 to 5 if anyone is in the area it's a nice all pottery show to visit. I am packed to the gills but it is always a good show for me and we are expecting good weather so it's better to be prepared. I unloaded the kiln and packed the last pots this morning so now I can catch my breath for a minute , review what I put in the van and still make a few last minute additions. I'm really looking forward to the show. It is a back breaker but lots of fun . It's great to show with all your friends. So that's about it for now. I'll let you know how it went if you stop by next week. Here are the van pics and a few things that came out of the gas kiln at the art center this week.

 

 

CUP CAKE

Whistle Creek

“CUP”

Cakes

 

Mix together 1 box of any regular cake mix with ½ to 1 box Angel Food cake mix. ( The Angel Food provides the lift )

Put 6 TBL of your mix into a Whistle Creek Individual Baker or Soup Mug. Add 4TBL water and stir. Microwave 1:15

Let cool slightly and top with Icing, Yogurt, Fruit, Pudding, or Whipped Cream.

 

 

 

My third Leg Revealed

In my last post, I hinted at the construction of some new booth furniture. This happens every spring and the set up is still evolving. Basically, I wanted to replace a 5 ft shelf that I usually ran along a side wall with a smaller shelf that sets up parallel to the front of the booth but still allows plenty of room for entry. The question of booth furniture comes up pretty often on the web so I thought I would put together a pictorial how to just in case some of you are getting tired of all this reading. For best results, you will need a table saw and a drill press. You can do it with hand tools but you will work harder and you will not be as accurate.  I decided on a 4 ft unit that has two sides. Six inch shelves on one side and eight inch on the other, with the frame hinged in the middle for easy folding and set up. I prefer Red Cedar for my shelves. They need no finish, they are light and stiff and they make the van smell great. I was able to cut down the shelf boards from my old unit for the eight inch side. These are one inch stock and really stiff. For the six inch side, I bought 1/2 inch thick cedar fence boards. they will be holding mugs so they don't need to be as heavy as the other ones. The frame is made of a 10 ft cedar 2x6, an 8ft 2x4 and 8 3/4 " dowels.. Have the lumberyard cut the 2x4  at 48 " then cut the 2x6  into two 60 inch pieces.

Make sure you 2x6's are exactly the same length.

Strike lines where you want to put dowels for

shelf supports. Rip each into 3 equal pieces.

 

Make a quick fence for the drill press. The line on the base lines up with your

drill bit and your layout lines for dowels. It is much easier to match two lines than to try to find a line with the point of a drill.

 



 Drill all holes on the front and back posts 1" deep. The center post, you drill about 1/2 "
from either side so you don't go through. Don't let shavings pile up behind your work.

 

 Use a stop block to cut your dowels .Less measuring and they will be exactly the same.

Shelf width plus depth of both holes.

 

Dry fit it together

 

Smooth any sharp edges.

 

Check for square often

 

Brush some glue in each hole. I do one leg, insert dowels then do the other one.

 

Clamp it all up and check for square. Repeat for the

other side piece

 

 

Simple frame squares it up and supports the sides.

Notching helps keep the wiggle out. I bored 3/4 "

holes for dowels through the side of the central frame and into

 the horizontal rails. You could use countersunk lag bolts.

 

 

no mortise hinges hold it all together. bend your hinge pins a little

and hang them so the heads are up. keeps the pins for falling out.

 

Finished Frame

 

 

Finished unit

 

 

Folded frame.

 

 

 

Opening Day

Hey everyone. Happy Easter, Ishtar, Passover or whatever you have been celebrating. I've just been celebrating being able to work outside without a jacket. I've missed you but it has been awfully busy around here. May 3 is opening day. No, not the Reds, show season. Cincinnati Clay Alliance has its club show on the first Saturday of May every year. 60 Clay artists on one street ! I always do well there. Last year I did twice what my next best show was so I need a bunch of stuff. When you make tableware, that means 8 to 12 place settings of each glaze plus serving pieces, corner pieces, etc. I'm done with Green, Black and Shino but I still need Blue. Busy Busy . I bisque fired and threw through the cold months, well , when I could force myself outside I did. That led to a huge pile of bisque. Orders late last fall led to me being out of most colors of plates and I can only fit 2 on a kiln shelf then fill in with other low stuff. This train of logic lead to the conclusion that I had a ****load of firing to do. The last 3 weeks have not found my kiln cold. Load , fire, unload, load....I have had to do a bisque just to have enough mugs to fill some 6" high spaces. If I do all plates, I run out of shelves halfway up. It's all a big jigsaw puzzle anyway.

 I've also been working on a new shelf unit. It is almost done and I am including a teaser picture of some partially completed parts. Next time you stop by, I hope to have full instructions posted. It is a slick design. Oh yeah, The Subaru returned home after a month in the body shop. Total damage was about $11,000 on an $18,000 car but it looks good and drives fine. The Ford Escape from Enterprise was fine but I'm glad to have my own car back. There's no place like home. Have a great day.

Pile O' Green ,at least that's what I'm hoping for.

Greens ,Blacks, and some tests

She's Back

What the?? Why the third post?