Gabby

The image is splendid. I adore pigs. (Except in my case, because I adore pigs, I wouldn't want the words).

Well I only finished 15 bowls, but I got distracted.  A co-workers wife wanted to know if I could make a strawberry planter so I am giving it a shot.  I think I should have used more clay, I used 15lbs but it seems small to me, I'm gonna be throwing the bowls for the side tonight and attaching them and see how it goes.  Might be able to get some of that Microsoft money I've heard so much about around here! Hah
 
I will say, I wouldn't have been able to do this on my old wheel, I had to stand up to pull on this one, it was 2 feet tall at one point!  Loving my new wheel

Round 1
 

This  work is hard on a sad heart, but he knew it would be you doing this, ultimately, and likely found that thought a comfort.

This  work is hard on a sad heart, but he knew it would be you doing this, ultimately, and likely found that thought a comfort.

Callie Beller Diesel recently posted the following in the QotW pool: how often do you introduce new forms, and does that change throughout your career? 
How many new designs do you come up with in a year, and what's that work cycle like?
As a functional potter, of late, I have not come up with a whole lot of new designs. However, as a teacher 10 yrs ago, every month was a new piece, handbuilt or wheel thrown, or as a combination piece. Projects for students were often "tested" out by some sort of piece in the beginning. A theme like "crazy plumbing" or "crooked houses" for something like an extrusion piece would be planned out and assembled by me before ever introducing it to the kids. Then there was the demonstration piece, and when starting a demonstration, I usually would carry that to completion also. So every year there would be as many as 10 or 15 new forms. 
When working in the studio, I am not as much concerned with new forms as refining or modifying existing forms. An example of this may be Berry bowls that came about as I found myself using a lot of fresh berries for dessert in the Summer, and decided to do a berry bowl with a shallow plate underneath for drainage of the rinse water. That ended up as a Christmas gift that year for some relatives, and then the following year for others. Teapots may be done with tilted galleries one year, and another with regular galleries, one year rounded forms, next wide kettle type forms. None of these are really new forms just morphs from previous thoughts and ideas.
 
best,
Pres

So I know this is my kitchen counter, but the light on my workbench turns most photos very yellow. This medicine set will be my own entry to the mug portion of the “Bonspiel: Canadians and Their Love of Winter Sport” show at NCECA this year. After some adventures I had with my kids and ear infections last month, I feel like avoiding illness is a winter sport!
If you’re coming this year, check out the show. We’re on the Minneapolis Picks bus tour and shuttle route on Wednesday.
 

Did a glaze firing over the weekend, here's some of the doggie bowls and a few of the more interesting mugs.  Loving my new digital controller.

Whamo mamo on sandstone buff Quyle clay cone 10 reduction.
I worked on this glaze in glaze cal class way back when-I'll dig out the old formula 
This set is in daily use since 1976-78?
 

This vessel wouldn't work for this purpose because of the size of the thing, but religious Jews before meals do a sort of ritual hand wash that involves pouring water over one hand and then the other with a three-handled pitcher, or with two handles 120' apart, called a laver.

This vessel wouldn't work for this purpose because of the size of the thing, but religious Jews before meals do a sort of ritual hand wash that involves pouring water over one hand and then the other with a three-handled pitcher, or with two handles 120' apart, called a laver.

Whenever there is a question with a very dominant answer, I like to ask myself what situation could turn the answer around.
I know that Louise Nevelson was an abstract  sculptor rather than a potter, but her body of sculptural work, at least after her earliest beginnings, was painted black. She made a few all white pieces and a few gold, but she spent her career exploring form in black.
There are creative people who find it intriguing to work under a constraint, though in her case she simply felt that black contained all colors.

You will stop looking for new glazes when you "kick the bucket". If you believe in an afterlife, then never.  Firing results may vary in heaven vs hell

How could you ever stop looking for new glazes!?!  One of the main things I love about pottery in general is that there is always something to do.  It's throwing, it's trimming, it's decorating and glazing and firing and maintenance and the list goes on forever!  What a joy it all is, and testing new glazes is a huge addition to that joy!  I wish I could do it more often, I have so many great ideas and they only rarely get a chance to be tested!  
I feel like when I test out new glazes everything looks great and I wasted time doing a small batch on tiles.  So the next time I test a new glaze I skip it and just make a few gallons, only to have it look like dookie and ruin 10 mugs.  Oh well, some lessons are never learned, just oscillate back and forth from failure to success.

I'm not sure thats a ever for me. That said I seem to get about 12-15 glazes going at any one time.-over time I experiment anbd bring is a new one to the fold and usuallt take one out.
Thats happend a few years ago with an iron saturated glaze I now make with synthectic iron and am phasing out the old iron glaze. The new one is much brighter and almost red in certain situations.
I have a few glazes that I have used my whole career  and my costomers still crave them.
Test for me works in cycles of how bored I get with my glazes and how much spare time I have to adress the testing period.
I know for example I have big (last remodel of house) on our bedroom this late spring/summer and thats will take up all testing time so its now or fall for me for new colors.
as to the remodel its a full gut interior-raising the floor 11 inches to match rest of house as one level. Raising the ceiling at least 1 foot-That means collar ties and adding 2x6 to ceiling,making walls 2x6 over 2x4 as is currently by adding furring strips to studs.
Adding a very small 1/2 bath with wall monted Toto Toilet and a small corner sink. maple hardwood floor-moving closet into two closets. Moveing entry door 6 inchs over to fit closets .New  windows(3 -3x6s) perment color outside wood interior. Maple trim throughout. New wiring (last room to get this).
Puting in a small mini split AC /heat pump unit for this room .(its about 16x 15 if I recall.)taking out the exterior door and  filling in the 5/8 x 10  old growth redwood siding with cider siding(already have it)
Adding new insulation and 5/8 sheet rock as well.
I'm doing all the mechanical/electrical and helping with some wood work and doing the trim
This room was a add on in 1962 about 10 years before I boughtb the property and its all made from old growth redwood-and is currenty covered with mahogany paneling-the real stuff. Its that only room left thats not 5/8 sheet rock.
And as you may have guessed I'm not going to be making many pots during May 20th and the later part of June-But they are getting made NOW.
Sorry I got a wee bit sidetracked on the glaze question

dhPotter recently posted in the QotW pool: 
At what point in a potter's career does he/she stop searching for and testing new glazes?
When does the potter become satisfied with his/her stable of glazes and says "This is enough"?
I really don't know how to answer that, as I am still keeping notes on new glazes, watching for ingredients and percentages, constantly interested in new glazes and trying out quite a few in 100 g test batches. Over the years, my own work has changed quite a bit as I learned more about glaze. ... I had never had a glaze theory/making/testing class. However, as I had been a math/science major in the early days of my college education and worked as a lab assistant nights glaze chemistry is not too distant a reach for me. I have learned to be more intuitive of late as I understand much more about how things react in a glaze than I have before. I was a teacher in a HS, and as my budget was a small for the size of my classes, I turned to mixing my own glazes as a way to get the most bang for my buck. I had around 20 glazes I mixed for classes, and then a few that I used in large powdered lots of commercial glaze. 
In my own work, I started out by saving money with just one white glaze that I sprayed underglazes and stains over top of for color and decoration using dipping and atomizer spraying. Over the years I have changed from that to airbrushing using a series of blue, brown and green glazes over a creamy tan white that reacts well over texture as now my decoration comes in stamped and carved decoration put in before shaping.
I really don't think potters say. . . enough, especially with the way the technology and understanding increases as we keep exploring the medium. Maybe I'm wrong, and after all it is only my personal opinion.  Thanks for the question dhPotter.
 
best,
Pres

Put handles on it! Three of em
 

I added some smaller prints too, don't know what a giant wood paw print stamp would cost me, I'll have to look into it.  I have a larger dog bone cookie cutter I can use on a slab and attach too.
Last night I decided to try to throw a vase, was recording it too, and when I finished I went to hit stop and my phone was dead.  Darn! It was a good one too!
 

Well my project yesterday was converting my manual kiln with kilnsitter into a digital kiln.
Mission complete.
 

I just opened up my new Ceramics Monthly (what a great magazine- and I see you have another article published, Pres!) and saw on page 20 a first exhibit by Anna Whitehouse called #100bottles100days. 
This made me wonder whether anyone here, at any time in your practice, undertook something like this, an item made in different versions over a course of a large number of days. I know people who have done a painting a day or a drawing of a nude each day...
If so, what was your specific objective in the exercise?
 

@Gabby, she could change it to Bacon Dress and have fun glazing different costumes!  

The image is splendid. I adore pigs. (Except in my case, because I adore pigs, I wouldn't want the words).

Remind me of the type and size of dogs you have. I have an 87 pound golden retriever 
I think dog and cat dishes are an excellent idea for the Seattle area market.
Maybe don't make them white with a goofy picture.
 

I have an oblate sphere on my banding wheel.  I have roughed in some dancing figures to circle the outside and am thinking about the underglaze treatment.
On a separate table I have an oval plaque, as yet unfired, maybe ten inches by 16." I will probably underglaze that before firing. That one is on a Year of the Pig theme, with a plan of showing up to three red river hogs, a Vasayan warty pig, and a warthog. 

We've got 2 huskies, a 3 year old white one (Kita), she's 65lbs, and a 10 month old cream one (Kodi) and he's 45lbs so far.  We also have a 12 year old daschund (Scotch) and a 15 year old tuxedo cat (meowzer)!