ESP Blog!
What's happening now??
February 08
Post Holidays!
What happens after Christmas and Valentine's Day?? I get to try out some new things, make some more of the items sold out, and make a few pots for me too. :)
As you can see, I decided to coat my studio with beautiful red clay (that looks a lot like hot chocolate when it's wet..) this month. I noticed at the Fall Open Studios Tour that a lot of you liked the warm earthy texture of this clay and were trying to buy things from my private collection... so I decided to share and make some things for YOU with it. In that bisque-load above, I have four carved teapots and a million handle-less tea mugs. One of you can get that platter on top, and somewhere buried in there is a creamer. I'll throw a sugar bowl in class this week. If those giant coil pots don't blow the whole load up, I'll finish everything with a beautiful Spanish red iron oxide - warm and simple. I'll of course let you know how it all turns out.
After I scrub the red out of my studio this week, I'll be anxious to get back to creamy white clay. On my (long) list, I'm going to try a new style of berry bowl, I'm going to stick some bugs on bowls, I have an idea for some interesting counter-top bottles, and so on...
January 08
Spring Semester Classes Begin
Last semester's class made some GREAT pots! I had a hard time getting you to bring them back in for pictures, since many were already being used... There were also a bunch still in the kiln and drying, but we celebrated and ate snacks off of what was there anyway. :)
November 07
Artist's Open Studios Tour
We had a great time meeting you! I especially enjoyed watching how you picked out your pots. I was pleased to see many of you getting things for yourSELVES, as well as for a couple of relatives... I also found it interesting to see your tastes in styles, and I did notice that the things you liked best were often the things that *I* liked best. You have good taste...
October 07
100 Pots Fired!
I glazed and fired a hundred pots in four days in this annual summer workshop in Canton. As you can see, we got specTACular colors in the reduction firings. I'm still clinging to a lot of these in my private collection, but I plan to make more next summer...
July 07
A New Bug!
Okay, if you MUST know, I don't really like the cockroaches... So I thought I'd make a big ugly caterpiller instead... But in my research, I found that the colors of some of these things were so beautiful that I decided to go for spectacular instead of gross. (I settled on black swallowtail and monarch...) In the picture is the clay model right before I cast it in plaster. Luke-warm espresso and tea and daytime TV *are* essential to the creative process...