Saturday, August 27, 2011

It's Fair Time Again!

Ok, time for an update. It has been a while since the last post, and more than a lot has happened.

The summer has been good. Things have gone at least as well as I hoped they would and so far I'm still on my feet. It's time once again for the Blue Hill fair, and I will again have a display in the main Exhibition Hall. It's very exciting, and I am planning the best display of the three I have done so far. Once it is set up, I'll post a picture here.

So, what else have I been up to? Well let's see. I've been throwing, trimming, glazing and firing pots. I have been doing glaze tests by the dozen (more on the search for a Duckshead in a bit), and  yes, selling pots.

I'm exhausted, but very happy with the way things have gone so far. Many old Rowantrees customers have been in to talk. It's always great fun to share memories of Rowantrees from all sides. People are glad that the tradition is being carried forward and they have all expressed their approval of the wares I am producing.

Whew!

I had another challenge recently in the form of an order for something I had not yet produced. Last year it was a large tea pot. This year, it was a small tea pot. Tea pots are probably the most difficult form for the potter because each is made up of three separate pots; the pot itself, the lid and the spout. Each is thrown in isolation from the others, but they must be assembled in a way that results in a harmony. If that harmony fails to materialize, the potter has wasted his time.

You be the judge.
That's actually a coffee cup in the picture, not a teacup. But you'd still get two of those out of that pot.

And now, Duckshead. Ah, Duckshead. How I have worked, experimented, tested and oh, how close I have come. Really. I have said it won't be long, and I still believe that. I knew black was a difficult "color" for a glaze, but a black that has to have a metallic luster to it is even more difficult. I am close. So very close.

But glazes have to do a lot of things. Looking good out of the kiln is but one of them. I have had a procession of them that looked great in the initial tests, but didn't suspend well in water, or didn't apply well with the spray gun, or failed to "flow" they way they should, or were too matte, or didn't have the metallic sheen, or...

And that doesn't even include the battery of tests that glazes have to pass before I will pass them for production.

It's coming. Have faith if you are still waiting for it. I do. it will come.

The same is true of Evergreen and Seagull Gray, But Duckshead first.