Wood Firing

Some Results from the recent wood firing class I teach at the College of DuPage.
Not everything survives the wood kiln. Here are some pots that were stuck together.
A "kiln teardrop" also know as a Biidaro, a glossy green ball of natural ash glaze.


We used lots of wood from broken down pallets to fire the kiln with. The pallet wood was filled with nails that sometimes ended up melting to the sides of some of the pots really close to the fire.


Some detail pictures of beautiful glaze melts.

Glaze Test Results

It may have taken me a few months instead of a few weeks but here are the results from testing new glaze combinations. These are the cups I made in the video from the previous post.

The cups with glazes applied ready for the kiln.
The finished cups. Have a favorite? Leave me a comment.

Porcelain at home

I threw pots for myself for the first time in over a year. It was glorious. I really enjoy throwing on my wheel at home. It has it's quirks but thats what make it so special. The eight small wine cups I throw in this video I will be using to test new glaze combinations. Check back here for the results of those tests in a few weeks.

Teapot

Here's that teapot all put together. Running the electric to my kiln this coming week. Should be exciting.

First day to work at home.

My home studio space is slowly evolving. Today I got a cabinet for $7.50 over at ReStore for a wedging table. I will have to pour the plaster top later, until then a canvas top will do fine. I also made parts for a teapot for one of the classes I teach. I will put it together and post a picture when it is all done.

Let there be light

Hung the ceiling fan in my studio and now I can see. The weather is warming. Excited to get back to work.

Art of the State 2011

My computer was dead for about seven months and has been resurrected. In the process I realized I never posted these pictures from the Art of the State opening. So here they are. Many more are located on the museum's fickr page. You'll notice they posted a piece of mine that was not in the show on the flickr page. Either way it's more exposure for my work.

Here I am with my work from the show. It was installed in a strange location by one of the entrances. Looks good on that green.

This is Skip Sensbach's work from the show. Skip and I were in the graduate ceramics program together at Marywood.

Working outdoors

One of the last things we did before the weather turned bad was to tear down the rotting trim boards, repaint the front of the house and put up new trim boards.

There was much discussion on how the boards should be arranged on the front side.

The new front side freshly painted and trimmed. Keli keeps both the garden and Noah maintained.

The previous owners had laid plastic with rocks on top all around the backside of the house and patio. This caused huge pools of water to accumulate along the foundation. So we dug a huge trench, laid drain pipe and connected it to to city's drains as instructed by an engineer from the city.

Anytime it rained our backyard would fill with water. There were patches where it would never dry. We had about seven frogs living in our backyard when we moved in. Here we are drilling huge holes in the ground to act as french wells to help deal with the water.

A long past-due update

Major renovations have wrapped up for the most part. We have been living in the house since late August. Here are the pictures from the weeks just before we moved in.

The bathroom was pretty much fully replaced. Most of the floor boards were rotten and had to be replaced. The dry wall was moldy and had to be replaced with green board. Cement board was installed around the new tub seen here covered in blue plastic.

My Dad is a tile cutting pro. Here he effortlessly cuts a circle for around the toilet.

I lay the tile. We got a killer deal on this porcelain tile which looks just like real slate. Cool stuff. Real slate is a total pain because it has to be cleaned and sealed.

The kitchen just before the biggest slab of granite was installed. You can see the two smaller slabs around the stove and the sink on the floor. They installed that granite in no time and boy did it look heavy.

Just before the carpet.

Rolled out and set in place.

Stretched and stapled. Once the carpet was in the house started to feel like a home.

Continuing renovations

Work hasn't stopped. Here is the last week and a half or so.

Green-board and a new window were installed after cleaning out the kitchen wall.

The ceilings had to be patched and sanded after the popcorn removal.

Then patched and sanded again.

Under the plastic tub surround walls was this ugly blue tile which had to go.

And under the plastic tub was a rusted steel tub which had to go as well.

Eventually we painted. Tyler assisted with his monstrous height.

After painting, the wood floors could be installed in the dining and kitchen spaces.

Keli and I planted our plants we got from the We Grow Dreams plant sale.

This is the sweet slab of granite our counter tops are being cut from.

My parent's battery operated lawn mower does not like to cut grass that is a foot tall.

Renovations begin

We have been working on the house every day since closing. There is so much work to do but we have been making some good progress.

The first thing that had to go was the dishwasher because it smelled like a sewer. Here I am hitting it with a hammer.

The entire house including the closets had popcorn ceilings and we took care of that.

Behind the sink was dis-gus-ting so ....

we took care of that too. More to come.

This Friday

I finally take ownership of our house in Aurora on Friday. I am so very excited. I will be posting some pictures this weekend as we get started with renovations. I am most excited to throw some pottery with my kick wheel and fire it in my kiln all in my garage. Home studio happiness.

Production

Finally got to just sit down and throw pots. It was glorious. You're looking at eight days worth of working. Throwing is so very Zen. To be able to empty your mind and just let your hands make. It is very relaxing. Glazing all these pots however is a different story.

These pots will be for sale at First Friday June outside Marquis Art and Frame. Also on the following day Saturday June 4th at the Arts on Fire Festival. Which is a great free event filled with music and art at the Historic Iron Furnaces.

Graduate Exhibition Videos

The entire exhibition


Just my area

Connell Space

I have work at the Connell space at 129 N. Washington Ave. in Scranton. It is in a show with the Independent Artist Collective. It's a great show. Stop by and check it out.