Final Firing Finale

We did it!! Repaired the broken exhaust fan and glazed the final orders.
Here are the last of the double/triple petals to be fired this year:

We have truly been blessed this year. We are grateful for you all and your support as well as the good fortune of being profiled in the 'American Bungalow' magazine this past fall. Thank you all very much!!!

Jemerick eLves

Some of our last minute efforts are paying off.....

Late Fall Doubles

Now that Daylight Savings Time has vanished and the cold wind is starting to whip through the bare trees here, I have some photos to show you. Steve worked on another series of Double Petals pieces and although they are not all fired, it seems like a long time since I've posted. Most of the production pieces went into gallery orders.
Some photos of our firings first:

And then the close ups of the double petals:

We resisted the temptation to use different glazes... it is difficult. However, our matt green glaze just can't be beat for its ability to break lighter on the sculpted edges and provide a lovely subtle visual texture. Other glazes interfere with the form too much.

I'm sure you noticed too that the piece in the first closeup actually has three sections.

Long Park's Art & Craft Festival

This weekend will find Steve and our pots at the 35th annual Long Park's Art and Crafts Festival in Lancaster, PA. It is a beautiful setting around a pond on an old farm bequeathed to the city a while ago. The gate/entrance fee to the show raises funds to provide free outdoor entertainment all summer.
The 200 artists displaying their work are top quality and well worth seeing. Come see us in space #306! More information is available online at http://www.longspark.org/artinfo.html
Here are some of the pieces we will be offering for sale:

Lenten Rose

Pine Forest

Classics

Petals

NuNouveau

Double Take

Double Take

Double necks to Lakefront

We are almost finished glazing and firing our pots to take to the upcoming Lakefront Festival of Art on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum. It's a special treat because in 1975 we went to this fair which was one of the first really high quality art fairs we were juried into. I wish I had a photo! There we were with our triple decked outdoor stand loaded with beautiful functional high fired stoneware. I remember working madly on finishing the macrame for the hanging planters!! and Dave Brubeck playing at the fair.... It earned an especially important place in our careers because we made $2,000!! and mostly in cash!!! unheard of! It was the reason we were able to put a down payment on our first studio and house in Lone Tree, Iowa.
So now we return and will bring Steve's double necked pots. We are firing our last kiln load tonight but here are some photos of the first three:

How the doubles were made

The process of making the double neck pieces involves first throwing a form before cutting off the neck and putting it aside. A second smaller neck is thrown and allowed to set up. Then the smaller neck is attached to the original pot and allowed to set up.

Two different pots setting up.

This is the smaller of the two above uncovered.

Adding coils to the attached second neck.

Adding coils to the original neck which was cut off and set aside before the second neck was thrown and attached to the bottom of the pot.

Reassembling the original neck over the second neck.

The two necks are joined, spaces cut out between the outer leaves  and marks made for further sculpting.

This then is how all the pieces in the blog entry 'Seeing Double' were made although this particular pot is still drying and is quite a bit larger than those shown below. Once it is fired, we'll post more photos.

Seeing Double

Steve has been on a creative binge. Taking off of an idea he worked on a while ago, he has exploited the double wall theme recently. Some of these are great now; others are asking to be remade much larger. All are really wonderful...

This one really begs to be large!!!

3 April Firings

Our cycle starts with the wedging and weighing of the clay and ends with the opening of the kiln cooled from the firing. Here are photos of the three firings we did in April:

First the orders...

New work creeping in...

Another mixture....

I'll post closeups of the new pieces soon!