Website

Set up the lazybpottery.com website. I did just have a page with contact info, but over the last couple of weeks I was able to salvage pictures from the computer that went down. I now have some pictures of pots I've made through the years.

Textured bowls

Did a little throwing this weekend. Here are a couple of greenware bowls. Used a split piece of wood to "paddle" the texture and then push out the form back into a bowl shape.

New workbench for the studio

Got this workbench for ten dollars. It's 6 feet long and 3 feet deep with 11 built in electrical outlets. Those outlets will be convienient since the only outlets in the studio are on the front wall and in the middle of the ceiling. Now I can plug the table into the ceiling outlet and have more outlets than I could ever use. Nice addition to the studio.

Backsplash

Installed the backsplash, but still needs to be grouted and sealed. We will be using a charcoal colored grout. Originally I wanted to use the "tile" all the way up the wall above the sink. It was decided that would cover up some of the end panels on the cabinet and wouldn't quite look right. So we are going to stop here for now. If we don't install anymore tile here in the kitchen, I have lots of leftover to use somewhere else or sell. Luckily I bought it at about 75% off.

Glazed Bowls

Here are the bowls glazed. Disappointed in the "black" slip turning green in the firing because I think the black would make a much stronger appearence against the green Celadon glaze. Don't know if I'll try it again or not, it's alot of work. I'm always unsatisfied with my finished pieces. There always seems to be something missing in them that keeps them from seeming like quality pots. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations or maybe I just haven't found my voice yet.

Kitchen update 2

Been sick with a cold all week so no potting has been done. I did find out Friday at school that the black slip I applied to my pots had been mixed wrong and was coming out green in the firing. Hopefully they fired this week and I can see the results. Maybe it won't turn out as bad as I'm expecting, but then I was expecting black.

Here is the latest kitchen update. After we got the lighting and handles installed and built the pantry the pressure seemed to be off because we now had a fully functional kitchen. Really all thats left to do is install the backsplash. As you can see, it has a brick look although it's actually a concrete product. Hopefully as the weather warms up I'll get on with the job and finish it.

Kreeger decorated style bowls

Been sort of busy with other things and uninspired pottery-wise lately. Decided to try some slip decorating I had seen on Keith Kreeger's blog and here are the greenware results. While I just sort of copied his decorations this first time, I am hoping the experience will lead me to my own decorating style. I certainly discovered it's alot of work! Up at the college they only have a clear, celadon, and winnoker blue that are transparent. I think almost everything will get the celadon. The blue is so dark that the contrast of the slip will be muted. They are in the bisque now and hopefully I will be glazing tommorrow night and get some results next weekend.

Today is my wife's birthday. Tonight we will be celebrating with a steak dinner with some of the family. Went to Shreveport this past weekend for some fine dining and gambling to celebrate mine (Feb.20) and her (March 5) birthdays with some family in east Texas.

My next focus is doing some pieces with black and white clay and marbling for a couple of small local contests. Any suggestions or hints? I'm tryng to think of non-functional pieces to make but my brain just thinks in terms of function. Must be that math/engineering training.

Slab Pots

Between birthdays, funerals, and the house, I haven't spent much time potting. I did do some slab pots yesterday. I bought a slightly used slab roller for less than half price from a potter who was retiring. Thought I would try it out and see what it will be like to do some slab pieces.

These all have a "shattered glass" pattern on them. The "mold" is just some glass pieces that I bought from a dollar store. Lost one piece while taking the mold off that I will redo today. I'll probably glaze them all in a transparent glaze like a celedon so the pattern will show up well.

Cold as ice

It's been cold here in Texas over the last few days. Too cold to work in the north facing unheated garage, even though I tried through 5 layers of clothing. So no pottery work has been done during this time. The entire Dallas area was virtually shut down yesterday because of the ice. Hopefully with warmer weather starting today, I'll be able to start getting some pottery work done.

Old Kitchen Cabinets

My dad's birthday was Saturday and the family got together yesterday to celebrate. Mom cooked chicken fried steak and I got to bring home the leftovers. Chicken fried steak sandwiches all week. Life's good!

I installed the old kitchen cabinets along the front wall of the garage studio. Should give me some nice storage and work area.. As you can see I've spent the morning trying to organize and figure out how to arrange the rest of the garage studio. Maybe one day I'll get back to throwing pots.

Texas Mug

Here is a mug where I was experimenting with wax resist between glaze layers. I'm not sure if I like the emblem being that bold against the background or not. A breaking glaze might highlight the emblem enough to be notice but not so stark as this.

Cone 10 experiment part 2

Here is another cone 10 glaze called green blue black over a cone 6 clear. Again I wanted to cause some movement of the top glaze. Glazes were probably on too thick. I would like the movement shown on the sides without the pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Cone 10 experiment

Here is a bowl fired to cone 10. I glazed the interior with a cone 6 clear and then cone 10 jeff's red. The outside was glazed in a cone 10 black. My idea was to cause some movement of the jeff's red glaze. My instructor thinks that some black was "pulled" off the rim and that's what caused the blue color. I'm going to do some more experimenting and see what happens.

First post, kitchen update

The new year still finds us working on the remodel of our kitchen after a slab leak was detected during the week of our wedding. Here is a picture of the progress so far. This week we built shelving for the new pantry, added a couple of lights, and the cabinet hardware. So far we have been pleased with all our choices.