Melinda Michelle Photography

My dear friend at Melinda Michelle Photography visited my studio recently.  She took these amazing shots as we talked and I worked on trimming my previous day's work.  I love the way she captures a moment and frames a still life.

Dinnerware

This morning I unloaded a kiln full of dinnerware that my dear friends and neighbors ordered.  It was a successful firing with a nice coverage of what has become my favorite glaze.  It took a little while to figure out this Variegated Blue glaze, but it was well worth the effort.

Special order dinnerware in Variegated Blue

There is something special about making pottery that you know will become an intimate part of someone's daily life.  People tell me  how pleasing it is to eat and drink from my handmade pottery, and I have to say that I get immense satisfaction from this. I'm a foodie, a food snob to some.  Food plays an important role in my family life, as well as any entertaining that I do.  I enjoy cooking and experimenting with food.  It is only natural to me that the dish have as much care put into it as the food that I prepare.

Salad made of lettuce from my own garden; croutons made from my husband's handmade sourdough; and my very own carrot ginger dressing in a bowl handmade by me.

Studio Improvements

I have decided to be on the map for the Dixon Studio Art Tour this year, as opposed to just having a booth at the Mission like I did last year.  So, with this in mind I have made a few improvements, most of which needed to happen anyway.  The first improvement has been to the half mile dirt road that I live and work off of.  We went in with our neighbors to purchase one very old tractor.  My husband has been amusing himself on it while improving the road at the same time.  He has also used the front end scoop to collect some small boulders to put at the corner of our property.  You can see them pictured to the right, along with an old car or truck part that he dug up out of the arroyo.  Although this has led to a few rather heated discussions, he assures me that he has a vision.  Upon this rusted fender will be a sign for my studio.  So for the time being, this image is a work in progress and not just another New Mexico landscape.

My husband has also tackled the portal, that's a porch here in NM, off of the studio.  This is where my kiln sits and where I mix glazes.  I tripped and fell over the uneven surface several months ago, spilling a rather expensive bucket full of dry glaze ingredients. He purchased some larger pieces of flagstone and revamped the space.  Now I just need to level the kiln again and I am off to the races, or rather the next firing which should be next week.  The next project was all mine.  I tore down these 10 feet tall sections of white board that covered two of the walls inside my work space.  They were used by the previous owner that just happened to be a painter.  He pinned his paintings to them and added some rather interesting quotes, or you may view them as propaganda.  Anyway, they weren't mine and I want this to be my space.  I carefully peeled them away from the wall and was happy that the mud surface didn't came away with them.  I put up a couple of shelving units that I have used for displays and started unpacking the pottery from my bins.  I have had a number of people come to my studio recently looking to buy some of my work and I knew that I needed a different arrangement.  I have asked a local woodworker to build me another unit, so I look forward to that happening so that I can unload that last bin and remove the finished pieces from my "works in progress" shelves.                           

The next thing on my list is paint.  There are a number of unpainted walls with bare dry wall and mud that need some attention.  I have picked up the paint samples and chosen a nice warm buttery yellow hue.  We'll tackle that as soon as the weather cools down a bit....and according to the weather reports, the monsoons should start on Wednesday.  That's a tantalizing thought.  Anyway, please stop by the studio and inspect these changes for yourself.  You'll know that you have arrived when you see the rusty fender.

My First Solo Raku Firing

Before the Firing

The high winds of a spring in New Mexico kept me from firing until this past weekend. We had gusts around 50 mph on Saturday, but I took my chances with an open flame on Sunday morning when the winds were a little calmer.  I was feeling rather conservative with the flame, so the firing ended up taking more than twice as long as I expected.  Monday morning I was feeling more confident and corrected this fault, although I feel like one of the glazes responded to the slower firing in a more appealing manner.

I built my kiln out of a metal trash can modeled after my friend Miya's kiln, which you can see in an earlier post from the raku workshop I did back in December.  The one difference is that I am using one burner where she is using two.  I used newspaper and straw for my post-firing reduction material, but I'll be experimenting with sawdust once I get some from a handy woodworker here in town.  I mixed up four glazes and applied them in varying thicknesses for an interesting mix of textures.  I had the clay holding a cone explode in my second firing, which also added to the texture on a few of the pieces.  Unintentional catastrophes can sometimes offer an interesting effect.

I have posted pictures of my favorite pieces down at the bottom.  All of these are available at my studio, and I am happy to ship if you can't make it out here to Dixon, NM.

Adding the pots to newspaper for the post-firing reduction

New Items for the Los Alamos Spring Arts Fair

     I have been working furiously for the past few weeks to get ready for the Los Alamos Spring Arts Fair.  This will be my first outdoor show, so I have been learning the ropes of what to expect there and how to prepare for the spring winds of northern New Mexico.  I fired the kiln up three times this week and pulled out a few rather large disappointments, but some great ones as well. I have been experimenting with a number of slab pieces and having a lot of fun with it.  I made several very large slab vases which took up a considerable amount of room in my kiln and none of which will ever be seen by the public.  The three pictures I have posted here are all of slab pieces that I feel pretty good about.  The large square platter is not a flat piece, but one that curves upward at each corner.  The mask below is one that I put up in a earlier post when it was still greenware.  I love this mask.  Although I will take it to the fair, I wouldn't mind if it doesn't sell because I know exactly where I will hang it if it doesn't sell.  The business card holder is one of those items that I made because I needed one myself.  I am fond of putting these textured buttons on my slab pieces, and I like the way it looks on this piece.  One of these buttons graced each of my slab vases, but I'm still trying to let those go.

     So, if you are free on Saturday, please come up to Los Alamos and check out the Spring Art Fair .  It will be going on from 9am until 4pm on the Fuller Lodge lawn.  The weather has been beautiful and I hear there will be lots of great artists showing their work.   I will have all of these pieces for sale, as well as all of my wheel-thrown work.  I pulled out lots of salt cellars and butter dishes which seem to go quickly.  Please stop by and say, "Hi!"

Commission Complete

I finally finished the large commission that I began my year with.  I was especially happy with the way that the ramen bowls, pictured above, turned out.  I learned a lot from this special order and it certainly pushed my abilities to churn out duplicates.  In the end, I am a better potter and I figured out a few things about running a business.  So now that it is all packed up and traveling through the US Postal Service, I have turned to my next task...

It appears as if my stock of pottery has started to dwindle, so I am back to making all of those things that people like to buy.  Mugs, soap dispensers, butter dishes, sugar bowls, and chip/dip platters are on the list.  I am hoping to have a booth at the Los Alamos Arts and Craft Fair the first Saturday in May, so I have just enough time to get in a firing or two.  I have also started making a few items that I plan to raku.  I am hoping to have a few of those raku pieces for the Dixon Studio Art Tour in November.

In the meantime, I have a handful of these beautiful bowls pictured above.  I am tempted to move them into my own kitchen, but for now they are for sale in my studio here in Dixon.  They can easily be shipped to you if you can't make it here.

My Latest Glaze Firing

     I finished throwing the large commission that I have been working on since the beginning of the year.  All of the pieces are bisqued and awaiting the glazes of choice.  In my latest glaze firing, I played around with some glazes that I had recommended to my client on the extra pieces that I threw for his order.  I was pretty happy with the pieces that I have photographed here and they are all available for sale in my studio.

     For the ramen bowl to the right, I experimented with a variety of glazes that I have used before.  Each time that I combine them, they look a little different.  The firing process is such an interesting one.  You never quite know what you will come up with.