It’ Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

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The heat has been relentless here in North Carolina. By late afternoon my New Guinea Impatiens is looking rather droopy. 

Luckily with a good watering, it bounces right back. We really haven’t had any rain to speak of in a few weeks. Wherever we have bare earth in our yard, it is beginning to crack. There have been many afternoons with the threat of a thunderstorm, but it all we get are a few rumbles of thunder and a little sprinkle of rain.

Most of my plants are thriving, thanks to a nightly hand watering. The butterflies are enjoying the zinnias.

Despite the heat, we have been sanding bisque ware outdoors, and loading the kiln. We manage to get it done with lots of water and A/C breaks. Everything seems to take longer than usual.

The last two days were spent glazing. Tomorrow we will fire the gas kiln one last time before we head to New Hampshire for the League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair. We are hoping for cooler temperatures when we head north! We are in a new space at the fair this year… tent 6, booth 611. It’s a corner booth, which should give us some good visibility. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends. Just not looking forward to packing.

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A Little Excitement

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What started out as a quiet day, ended with a little excitement. It was around 5:00 and I had just finished scooping the cat box in the laundry room. Jeff was sitting at the counter in the kitchen checking e-mail. The lights over the counter flickered, went out, then came on. It happened quickly and I told Jeff that I heard an “electrical” buzzing noise and it sounded like it came from outside. Since the electrical panel is in the laundry room, Jeff feared it came from there. After inspecting the panel it seemed fine. We then realized that the A/C wasn’t running. When we looked at the thermostat, it was blank… no read out. Nothing we did could make it come on. We figured there was a power surge and that the thermostat was fried. Jeff put a call into our electrician for advice and went back to work. I decided to go outside and water plants and that’s when I saw it…

A power line had snapped and was laying across our driveway!

I called the electric company to report it. The strange thing was that we still had electricity… just no A/C. I decided to message my brother, who is an electrician in New Hampshire. I sent him photos of the line and he thought maybe it was the 220 line that was down. He had me check if my cook top and oven were working… they were dead too. He told us to shut everything in the house off because it could be trying to pull in more amperage than was available (or something like that!). We shut everything off except the refrigerator. 

Around 7:30 the power company arrived at the same time our electrician called back. They both said flip the main and shut power off to the house! In no time at all the line was repaired and our 220 appliances were working. Luckily nothing was fried when the wire broke.

During the chaos of our electrical crisis, I never went out to bring the gallery “OPEN” flags in. Much to our delight, we had a customer come in at 7:00 pm. After wrapping his pots, Jeff directed him out of the driveway so that he wouldn’t cross over the live wires. Thankfully he managed to avoid them coming in.

I am hoping that’s all the excitement for the week. I will leave you with a couple of piggy banks that came out of the kiln last week. If you need a pig, I have quite a few in stock right now. Clicking on the photo takes you to the Etsy shop.

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It’s a Celebration Weekend!

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We unloaded the kiln yesterday, in the midst of 90+ degree heat. I had an order that needed to ship before the post office closed, which meant we couldn’t delay the job until evening. Overall we had some nice pots. A couple of spots in the kiln didn’t get enough reduction. The frustrating thing was the shino glaze on two pots, on the same shelf looked completely different. One reduced just fine, the other, meh. The joys of making pottery!

I was pretty happy with these two…

They will both be available to purchase at our 6th Anniversary Open Studio Celebration tomorrow. I can’t believe we opened shop in Seagrove 6 years ago! It’s been a wild ride and the time has flown by. There will be pottery demonstrations throughout the day, and refreshments to enjoy. We will be open from 10-5, so stop in for a visit. Our annual sale tent will be out in the yard. Under the tent you will find some nice seconds and other good finds at fabulous prices.
505 E Main Street, downtown Seagrove – next to the big red barn.

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Following the Latest Trend…

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…and it’s not “bubble glazing” (as seen on facebook)!
It’s the VEGGETTI… As Seen On TV!!!!
I know so many people that have one of these and love it. Since I have been gifted lots of zucchini this summer, I figured it was time I got one. With a 20% of coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond, I spent a grand total of $15.99 (plus tax & shipping).
We are always trying to get more veggies into our diet so I figured this would be a good way to help us achieve our goal. There was a little learning curve on use, and carrots are trickier than zucchini. What I wasn’t expecting was to be left with these funny discs of veggies with attached tubes. Not one to be wasteful, I bagged them up and will chop them into a salad tonight.

Our maiden voyage with the Veggetti was to make “zoodles” from zucchini, along with some spiralized carrots. I sauteed them in the wok along with some shrimp. When the vegetables were just starting to soften I tossed in freshly made pesto, my first batch of the season.

It was absolutely delicious! Jeff and I didn’t miss the “real” noodles at all. I am sure this little gadget is going to one those things that in 10 years we say, “Remember the zoodles craze?”

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It’s Official!

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Seagrove is the Pottery Capital of the USA!

The town of Seagrove unveiled a beautiful new welcome sign that visitors will see when they exit the highway, coming in to town. There are actually two signs, another on Pottery Highway 705, as you enter town from the opposite direction.

Last fall Seagrove elected Mayor David Fernandez, who also happens to be a potter in town. He has been instrumental in making a lot of things happen here. Along with the new signage, we have large planters, pots, and a pretty concrete table with benches in the downtown area. Then there is also the alcohol referendum that passed last month. It’s so nice now to go into the local market and buy a bottle of wine to go along with the fresh salmon that you purchased for dinner. 
Now that’s what I call progress!

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The Creation of The Whimsical Flower Pig

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I unloaded the bisque firing today. Probably during the hottest part of the day. I had a few piggy banks that needed some underglaze application and I was more than happy to do it in the comfort of our air conditioned studio. It’s such a treat to work in an air conditioning!!!
I thought I would share the process of creating my “whimsical flower pig” design. When the piggy bank is leather hard I apply a white slip and carve the flower design through the surface of the clay. I then bisque fire to cone 06 and after that, apply underglaze.

I brush black underglaze into all of the carved lines. As you can see, I am not too concerned with precision!

Once all the piggy banks have been underglazed, I go back and give the area a wipe with a moist sponge, to remove the excess.

I am not too fussy with the sponging. I like to leave some of the underglaze behind for a sort of “smudgy” look. I then dip the bottom half of the pigs in our Temple white glaze, the upper half in our gloss green. The overlap creates a nice pink blush. These are fired in a reduction atmosphere to cone 10. Our gas kiln typically takes anywhere from 12 – 16 hours to fire.

I also can personalize these piggy banks with names or phrases. Check out my Etsy shop for more information. 

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A Working Holiday

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I tip toed out to the studio this morning to snap a few quick photos of work that I have in progress. I had a big need to make pots that I wanted to make, not pots that were ordered and needed to be of a certain type and design. This weekend I spent some time with my favorite b-mix clay body. I have had oval bakers on my mind, but opted for round instead. I just didn’t want to deal with the heartache of cracks after spending hours on assembling and decorating. The plain round ones will get some ginkgo leaves carved into them. I altered the rims on a couple and played with stamps and slip trailed dots. The dots are slip I made with b-mix. They wont have a color, they will just add a texture to the surface.
I just had to step out of the studio and snap some photos of my zinnias, despite being in my pajamas and despite the fact that we now live in town. Thankfully our house sits back from the road and I don’t think anyone saw me… and who cares if they did?!
These flowers are growing like crazy and I love that I planted them from seeds. Something I have rarely done. I am much more frugal as I get older. I also think that I take more time to enjoy nurturing them and watching them sprout.
The holiday weekend was great for business. We had a lot of traffic through the gallery. People were spending money. It was our best weekend in months. Last night we took a breather to celebrate Independence Day. Our friend and neighbor Phil came over with a juicy, sweet watermelon to share. We grilled some chicken, and watched the fire works in Boston on the television. No crowds, no bugs, a comfortable sofa, and air conditioning. The air conditioning promptly decided to quit when the fireworks were over. We have been battling with it all weekend. A part is on order and should arrive today or tomorrow. Hopefully it does the trick, if not, it’s time to call in the professionals $$$$.

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Family Break

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I am back after a brief hiatus from blogging. I had a really good excuse to take a break.

My girl flew in from Connecticut for a few days! This year she got her turn on the tire swing, since the area is now “poison ivy free”. We were pretty chill this visit. No huge plans. Just hanging out together.

We took a drive out to the Town Creek Indian Mound in Mt. Gilead, NC and learned a little history about native american life in North Carolina. 

The historical site depends mostly on state funding for operations and maintenance. Sadly, the information building and some of the exhibits are looking tired and worn. 
Danielle and I still enjoyed our visit. We had a picnic lunch on the grounds before heading out to Pinehurst to do a little shopping.
Jeff wheeled out the smoker on Sunday and barbecued some tasty ribs. We had a great feast which included sweet potato salad, caprese salad, and grilled figs with goat cheese.
and did I mention wine?

Sadly, on Monday, I had to drive Danielle back to the airport. Saying good bye is so very hard. The only thing that takes the sting off of it, is that we head north in August and we will have a few days together again.

Prior to the girl’s arrival, I worked furiously to finish a whole mess of pigs. In between the piggy banks, there were couple of carved vases… because I can’t live on pigs alone. 

Yesterday was spent sanding pots and loading the kiln for a bisque firing. Once that’s done, we will glaze and load her up again. Vacation is officially over.

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Welcome Summer!

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The weekend brought us fabulous weather. Comfortably warm, low humidity. Cool nights. It was a nice break after the hot and muggy week. Great weather for getting outside and doing the yard work. We didn’t put in a big garden, like we planned to. There was just to much “catch-up” work to do in the studio. A kiln-less winter put us behind and studio work takes precedence over everything else. The one thing we did do was plant some flowers and herbs in the front of house. This was an area that was pretty much ready to go, after a little weeding.

Most of our little garden are plants that we either moved from the log cabin, or were given to us. I did buy a couple of flower and herbs. Some I bought on clearance at Lowe’s. On the right, still in it’s pot, is buchu. It’s a Korean chive. We were gifted with two of these and are so excited to have them. Jeff and I use them a lot in Korean cooking and we like them snipped on top of a salad as well. They have a  similar, but stronger flavor than traditional chives.

I splurged on the cone flowers last week. I have always wanted some and can’t believe that I never had them in past gardens!

I planted zinnias from seeds. They are doing ok. I am hoping they well re-seed themselves so that eventually, in the future,  I will have a nice bed of them.

Can anyone identify this? At the log cabin, I thought it was a weed because it was growing in the lawn. I always mowed it over. Jeff said it wasn’t a weed and brought a piece of it to 505 E Main. It took off like crazy and the purple flowers are quite pretty. Please comment if you know what it is.

My days in the studio have been spent assembling piggy banks. Jeff has been working on bowls and pitchers. Last night when I was heading out to water my little garden, I noticed Jeff was trimming a guinomi. I couldn’t resist snapping a photo with my phone. These are Jeff’s favorite things to make and I think it’s a great way for him to end his day in the studio.

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Pigs are Multiplying

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I haven’t been able to keep up with having piggy banks and salt pigs in stock since last fall. When we were firing in the small gas kiln I could only keep up with orders. I am happy to say that now that our kiln is built, the pig population is growing. I like to have at least a dozen on the shelves, and in the Etsy shop, that are ready to go. 

This salt pig is a re-fire from when we were having issues with pin holing in the nuka white glaze. The second firing smoothed out the glaze, but the green always changes color on it’s second trip through the kiln. It’s lighter and brighter and I am sure someone will love it. Lately the salt pig sales numbers have been creeping up to the piggy banks. A year and a half ago I tried to stop making them, but the public said “No!”.

Jeff and I also made the decision to purchase the next size up in corks for the piggy bank snouts. We had a few international buyers mention that they have some larger coins than here in the U.S. This new size should be more universal. It’s kind of neat to look back over the years and see how the piggy banks have evolved. Change can be a good thing.

Speaking of change, I forgot to blog about our town election results. The alcohol referendum passed in Seagrove! We will be able to purchase beer and wine at stores within town limits. Now we can also hope for a nice little restaurant to open… perhaps with a micro-brewery… and walking distance to my house. I like to dream big… and if you can dream it, it can happen.

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…Better Living Through Handmade Pottery.