Teapot Tuesday

Reality Pottery

You have arrived on the front lines of reality pottery. I've got some complicated pieces to load into the kiln and there is a fair amount of trepidation involved. In the back of my mind I'm thinking there could be some mishaps. Perhaps every artist has this feeling when loading a kiln. How will my work turn out, how can I make it better, what will I do if it fails, how will it be received.

Nitty gritty sinks in. I have one vase that's almost 16.5 inches tall. I have put one kiln shelf on the bottom of the kiln with a scant one inch post, and the vase just fits in under the lid. I can fire that one myself, that's a load off my mind. I place a long level across the top of the kiln just to make sure. It has a quarter inch to spare. Is it too close, time will tell. Now for some of the others.

My saguaro vase is thick and heavy; I made it that way intentionally. I wanted a vase heavy enough to hold tall flowers without falling over. It's been drying slowly for months. I wonder if it will make it through the firing without exploding? As I carry it out to the kiln I notice a little serendipity has happened; the base has dried with the bottom arching up and creating it's own foot so air will circulate underneath and it's not tipsy. I am happy as a clam as I set it on the kiln shelf.

Then there's a vase that leans; it leans quite a bit. I made it that way on purpose; wondering how far can it lean and still stand upright? I place this one so it will lean on a shelf and not against another pot, if it fails during firing.


The shell basket with it's small feet has dried on top of two by fours and this is the first time I've taken it off. The feet now seem small; I'm hoping they hold up under the weight of the piece. I measure the length and width and height and determine it just fits in the spot I have for it. I set it in the kiln and it's OK. Whew!

I hand build all of my work and I mostly make one off pieces, so each piece is an experiment in itself. This will be the second load of three that are experiments. If they all make it, then I review, refine, re work, and make more.


I add another shelf on the left and put a platter and a covered cheese dish and some test tiles with slip deco. Then there's a cake pedestal I dried upside down on a plate with little wads holding up the top. It dried fairly flat but with little sprigs and a rim on top I decide to fire it right side up. Will it fire without drooping?


I knew one of the feet on my teapot didn't hold but when I picked it up two weren't holding. I intended to put them in the kiln and set the teapot on top of them. Later I could glaze them on. Then as I picked up the teapot a third one fell to the ground and shattered. As I held the teapot in my hand, I had to quickly launch into plan B. I decided to remove the last foot; of course it wouldn't come off. I gently set the lid of the teapot aside and ever so gently laid the teapot on it's side. I went to get my needle tool to saw off the fourth foot.


Hey, how did my hair get so dark, it used to be white blond, then dish water blond, then reddish brown, now it's almost black with a few strands of gray. Oh well, maybe I'll get it done before my trip if I have time. One of my blogging friend's, Tracey, just got all her hair cut and dyed too, something must be in the air about hair.

I'm sweating in the 95 degree heat in the garage sawing on the foot for almost ten minutes to get it to come off. I've really got to learn how to attach all the feet just like this fourth one. I'm a self taught artist and everything I've learned I've either read in books or blogs, taught myself by trial and error, or asked other potter's how to do. While I'm sawing the fourth foot off, in my mind I've developed several plans for different feet. So I decide to fire the teapot the way it is now and add feet after firing, and they might be metal.


Finally I have the whole kiln loaded. The last piece I put in is my knapsack maquette. Once it's safely placed I softly close the lid. If you click on the link you can read why I blog. I hope someone can learn from my blog posts, just like I learn from other's blog posts. It's not over yet, though. The next time I open the lid I'll raise it ever so slowly too. Then I'll have glazing to do and another firing and hopefully a few nice pots to show you.

A Blue Ribbon for My Ceramic Teapot !!!

I am pleased to announce I was awarded a blue ribbon for my ceramic teapot at the Sequoia Foothill Art Show this weekend. This is the first show where I have entered my ceramics and I am so proud. The photo of my teapot isn't the greatest, but all the ceramic pieces were displayed close together in front of a window, so this was the best I could do. When I saw how my teapot and other works were displayed, I thought I might suggest wood pedestals for ceramic pieces to be displayed on for next year.
I was prompted to enter some of my ceramic pieces in this show since it was to be judged by Una Mjurka, a well known ceramic sculptress. Our show always displays one of the works from each judge. The piece above is one that Una provided to be exhibited. Once again my photo isn't the greatest due to the lighting and the background. I was in awe of her magnolia sculptures. My magnolia tree is in bloom now and Una's sculpture is a wonderful likeness. I love the soft matte glaze she has chosen for this piece.

The show is held in my hometown of Springville, which has a population of about 1500 people. But the surrounding communities all enter their art which probably encompasses a population of about 70,000 people. The show is organized by all volunteers and they do a great job in a short amount of time. There are many talented artists in our area and everyone looks forward to seeing all the art. There were oils, pastels, pen and inks, photography, mixed media, kinetic sculpture, even a children's art section. Despite the heat wave we were having this weekend, the show was well represented and attended.