Philadelphia

I got back from a week in warm Philadelphia this past Tuesday. Laura was going to the Buyers Market of American Craft which is a wholesale trade show of hand-made crafts. I was there to help her set up her booth and help assist buyers during the show and then help her break down the booth at the end. The set up and break down all went fine and dandy, but the assisting with buyers wasn't so hot. There just weren't that many buyers there. By the end of the second day we noticed that very few buyers we coming from anywhere other than the states right next to PA. It seems they weren't even making the trip to Philly, let alone ordering pieces.

Despite the horror stories I heard this past week, we didn't go home empty handed, but my heart goes out to those who didn't recoup their expenses. This was my first time to this show so I didn't have the expectations that most there carried with them. For me, this was a chance to see what how this show worked, what sort of other work was represented, prices that other potters were posting, and if it seemed like something I'd like to do in the future. Based on the weak sales I'll probably hold off for a year or two, but there was work there that made me realize my work wasn't as bad as I keep thinking it is.

I walked through the ceramics section of the show each day I was there and found great pots and met potters each time. There was some really great work that blew me away such as Alan and Brenda Newman's work. They impressed me with their goblets. I've never before seen a ceramic wine glass or goblet that I've liked; I don't know why, they just seem clunky to me. But I actually really like theirs as well as all their other forms. Their website photos don't really do the glazes justice, there's a lot more going on than what you see there. Good stuff. Also Amelie Stamps work was great. Jason Bohnert's work was really good stuff. Goyer Bonneau Ceramics jumped out as pretty different from the pack.

While in Philly I took some time to check out the Clay Studio and found these humorous plates by Garth Johnson.



The rest are some impressions of Philadelphia.

Who's Going to Philly?

I'm headed to the city of brotherly love tomorrow with Laura Zindel to assist in the wholesale madness (hopefully). This will be my first visit to the Buyer's Market show and I'm curious to check it out. I'll be sad to leave VT for a week, but I'm looking forward to some visits with friends down yonder. Let me know if you'll be at the show and I'll stop by your booth!
I know it's been a while since my last update. I've been pretty busy with working for Laura, housesitting, making pots, and teaching my first class at the Clayworks. The teaching has been fun and I'm finding the challenge in verbalizing just what it is I do with my hands to do that thing with the clay.
Ok time for sleep.

Oh Nuts!

I've been making plaster molds for Laura this week. Just as I had finished pouring the plaster into the last mold of the week and leave work before the snow storm got too crazy, the mold let loose and sent a wall of mixed plaster slurry. It was quite the mess. I guess 15 lbs of water + 22.5 lbs of plaster is too much for one pour into my gerry-rigged mold form. Crud. Oh well, let it harden then clean up is the only thing to do.
Once the plaster was all spilled out in a big puddle it reminded me of watching Tom Spleth working with plaster to create vase forms, if you've never seen that check it out here.
On a good note: Happy Holidays! Quinn and I went to Sears earlier this week and got our ugly holiday-sweater-portrait taken.

good morning

I woke up this morning and for some reason the light through the bathroom window was really striking so I had to take a picture. This window is also one of the reasons we first signed our lease for this place. Quinn and I are both really big fans of hot dog plants; they have such beautiful flowers. Some times we talk about farming hot dogs as a business venture.
In all honesty, we don't know who made this window, but it's always a pleasure to live with.

Islamic Platters

I've been looking at these platters recently. I saw a picture of a similar platter a year or two ago and was just floored by it. I can't remember which book it was in but the other day that platter came to mind and I just had to find some images to look at. There's something so alluring about them. The Arabic sayings that are painted around the circumference are so stark and intentional. There is a beautiful simplicity to the stylized script. The one above is from the 10th century and is a serious 18 inches wide! These are all Central Asian from Nishapur or Samarqand.



This one (below) says, "Whoever talks a lot, slips a lot." This one (again below) says, "Frugality is a symptom of poverty." At first that seems pretty obvious. But what's the deeper meaning? It comes off as if frugality is a negative, perhaps poverty is a positive state of being. hmm...

fizzy cider

I'm enjoying a cup of one of my favorite late fall treats: fizzy cider. Here's how you make it:
Buy a gallon of cider sometime in October and drink about a quarter or third of it. Then put it in the back of your fridge and kinda forget about it. Then in mid to late November when the plastic jug looks inflated and about to blow the cap pour yourself a glass and notice the way it fizzes. It's that easy.

The new kiln, a slideshow

It went a little something like......