A Couple Of New Pots

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Hey guys, you'll be seeing A Couple of New Pots this September in Rochester!

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

Anyone going to Gateway to Bonsai next month in St. Louis? I hope to see and meet some of you there! Here’s a couple of new pots with trees in them... the beech cascade is mine, others are owned by Atlanta Club members Curt Howard, Mark Kirkpatrick, Russell Baggett and Dennis McHugh.

 

[Carol 83]

Anyone going to Gateway to Bonsai next month in St. Louis? I hope to see and meet some of you there! Here’s a couple of new pots with trees in them... the beech cascade is mine, others are owned by Atlanta Club members Curt Howard, Mark Kirkpatrick, Russell Baggett and Dennis McHugh.

I'll be going. For once there's a show that's not 5 hours away (Chicago) or further. This way, I can go by myself and my husband is none the wiser about how much I spend!

 

[Hyn Patty]

Nice thread and you are in the Atlanta area too. Hmmm, would love to see your studio. I am surprised you are working in earthenware though for your pottery. Or did I misread that? It's so fragile, chips easily, handles freezing badly - or are you firing it higher and vitrifying it so it's no longer porous? I've always used stoneware or porcelain for making pots so they are much more durable.

 

[Hyn Patty]

Thanks guys! These are all fully vitreous stoneware fired to cone 6.

Oh never mind! Whew. I thought I saw on your first post that you were using earthenware and I was like .... I hope not!

 

[Hyn Patty]

Thanks guys. Here's more of the "whole pot", it's appx. 8 x 7 x 2". Bunjeh, I'm trying to figure out the best way to sell a few pots, they're stacking up! It may be a bit premature to try to fill the needs of a commission at this time. But, what have you got in mind?

Etsy is a good outlet for selling. Cheaper than Ebay and I've used it for some years with great success. They aren't auctions like Ebay either it's all 'buy it now' but it's also, IMO, less hassle because you don't have to worry about things timing out all the time. You can link back to it from anywhere - Facebook, forums, etc. It's an option. I see later in the thread you have a website set up. Very nice. I book marked it.

 

[Hyn Patty]

Thanks Eric. My process is self taught so I don't know how dangerous my info is. I start on the wheel and cut clay in proportion to the bat I am using, from 1/2 pound to 25 pounds of clay. Ok, so I've only done 25 lbs once, the pot is still drying. Anyway, I center and open the clay all the way to the wheel head, leaving no "floor" and the option for altering the shape later. In 2-3 days I add the thrown piece to a slab and allow them to marry for another 2-3 days. Moisture distribution and drying is everything. After a few days I put the holes and attach feet, then the pot stays covered until dry. This can take weeks, depending on humidity. Next the pot is bisque fired. Then I wax the bottom and inside and apply glaze by dipping, brushing, spraying, etc. firing is 7-8 hours followed by cooling time and fingers crossed for good results. I think 3 weeks, give or take a week, start to finish. Longer for bigger pots. That 25 lb pot is still drying well over a month later and might have another month to go before bisque. The last large one I tried was 18 lbs and took equally as long and cracked in the bisque firing. Fingers crossed for this one. That's the cliffs notes, glad to share more in Kannapolis. Here's pics of the 25 pounder.

By the way... if you work on a pot and it cracks when bisque fired, it /can/ be repaired. Yes, you read that right. I've done a lot of post firing repairs and refired and it works. But it can be tricky and takes some patience. Or even better, read up on the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi here: https://www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/kintsugi You never need to throw away a favorite pot again after it breaks. You don't have to fill it in with gold either, it could be black, or brown, etc. I haven't tried it with bonsai pots myself yet so I haven't strength tested and it would need to be. Still, they can make excellent display pieces if it was a really special pot and you don't want to throw it away.

 

[Hyn Patty]

View attachment 90763
Square, round! I don't know!
Some are just "crackers"! This one pissed me off! should have let it sweat longer????
WTF DOES THAT DO???

Oops, are you doing soaks? You can 'pre-fire' your bisque at a lower temp for a few hours or over night before you begin your actual firing. But then you may already know that - I almost never get cracks in my ceramics, not for years and years. Or is this in your leather hard stage?