Thursday, October 15, 2009

I am a messy, messy potter





I thought I would come out of the closet and show the world what a slob I am when glazing for a firing. And, truthfully, all the rest of the time, too. I spent the past couple of days dipping and brushing and spattering, loading a kiln in preparation for this weekend's OysterFest craft show in Wellfleet, far down the eastern end of Cape Cod. (Now high winds and rain are predicted, so who knows if anyone will show up?)
This kiln is firing now, probably getting up close to Cone 012 and the beginning of hard reduction as I write this. It's full of faceted teabowls, a few faceted side-handle teapots, some of my friend Donna Sutherland's word as she gets back to making pots after years away (her stuff is on the second shelf, front), serving bowls, a bunch of simple ice cream or cereal bowls, and a few vases and plates.
Assuming all goes well (knocking on the wooden desk top), I'll open tomorrow morning and start packing for Wellfleet.
Nice to be back blogging again.
(The photos read from top to bottom, left to right, taken about a quarter of the way through the glazing process.)

10 comments:

June Perry said...

Looks pretty normal to me. :-)

June

http://www.shambhalapottery.blogspot.com

www.shambhalapottery.com

ladyofclay said...

Well, it looks to me as though you are a productive potter ! One of the things that I appreciate the most about potters that blog is that I don't feel so alone in this ( mess ! ) and seeing your working enviroment is anouther chapter in our similar story. A couple of years ago a few relatively new friends dropped in and wanted to see my studio - they had never been to our farm but we had knowen them for several years. I thought that the studio was in fairly good shape because I had known they were coming and had sort of expected they might want a look so out we went. They enjoyed it and asked lots of good questiones ect. Then we went into the house for coffeee and to have a cath-up visit... when the woman commented on how CLEAN my house was I realised that she was drawing a comparison between my studio space and my living space ! jeeze !
Oh well, I hope by the time I'm an old woman I will stop apoligizing for my pottery space and just BE.
best wishes for the weekend - Colleen

ladyofclay said...

ah, sorry for all the spelling mistakes - I guess I should have previewed it - messy me.

FetishGhost said...

I love a productive mess. Looks good to me!

Hollis Engley said...

Thanks, all. People always come into the studio before they go to the gallery, which is in the back yard, down a stone path. They look around and look ... bemused. Where are the pots? This can't be the display space! So I apologize for the mess and point them around the corner. And Colleen, spelling is overrated.

Ron said...

Nice to see your space Hollis

Hollis Engley said...

You see space there, Ron? Wish I had more, but you can only do so much with a former two-car garage.

Anonymous said...

good luck with the firing... i'm glad to see you're messy because i am too.

Marcus said...

Whenever you want to knock down a wall and expand, let me know. And a clean workspace is the sign of an empty mind.

Or so I keep telling Anastasia.

Hollis Engley said...

Marco: I've got plans to turn that room over the studio into gallery space. I'll let you know. We need to get the carpet up and put down a wood floor.
And thanks, Jim. I like my son's comment about a clean workspace being the sign of a messy mind.