We are set up at the Holiday Art Sale

We have 8 artist set up come if you can.

Holiday Sale is Today and Tomorrow

The winds are out of the North at 20 miles an hour. There is Snow on the Red Rocks, Winter is here! Get out and enjoy it before it's "I can't wait for spring". We are putting on a Holiday Arts Sale at 900 Zola Circle. We will have a lot of art for under $50. There is also lots of mugs for sale to fill with our Hot Chocolate and Hot Apple Cider. We will be selling Ceramics, Jewelry, Christmas Ornaments and Paintings until 5pm today and tomorrow.

Setting up for the Holiday Arts Sale

It is doing to be cold this Saturday and Sunday so dress warm. Buy a mug and get it filled with a hot beverage.We will have lots of art work under $50.00

Two day show at Tivoli

I am doing a show 11-19 and 11-20. I am here with Thom and Derik. Come by if you can

Studio Tour

First day of the studio tour is over. My studio had a good turn out and we sold some pieces. I would like to do a spring tour.

Second Saturday Raku

Today is second Saturday Raku at Pottery West from 4:00 to 8:00. Come by if you can.

Tivoli Farmers Market

I am at Tivoli Farmers Market today selling my ceramics from 8:00 to 2:00. Come by if you can.

Barrel Kiln Saggars

Here are the results from the Barrel Kiln Saggars. They are extremely well done. The colors are every thing one would hope for out of a saggar firing. They where put in to the barrel during second Saturday Raku.

Second Saturday Raku

I want to thank every one for there help with Second Saturday Raku. By the end of the night we had, high reduction Raku, low reduction ferric chloride, barrel kiln saggars, gas fired saggars, black sawdust reduced, white crackle with ferric chloride. There were a lot of pieces that were show quality. It took a lot of people to make it a sucsess thank you.

Farmers Market

I am trying a new farmers market. It is on the corner of Eastern and Richmar. It is two stop lights south of 215 on Eastern. I am featuring my Saggars and Alterative fired ceramics

Tivoli Farmers Market

I am at the corner of Alta and Rampart Las Vegas come by and see if you can. I will be here until 1:00 pm. There are new artists and farmers.

Park City UT Show

I am in Park City UT at the  Red Stone show. It sounds like we have a booth in the middle of the show. Come by and see if you are in the area.

We are loading the Wood Soda Kiln today.

We are loading the Wood Soda Kiln today. We have a lot of work to put in so it is a 8 am start. My stoking shift is midnight tonight to 9 am. The firing should be over 8 pm Sunday night. The best time to come by and see a wood fire would be Sunday late after noon or come by and just say Hi.

Tivoli Village Farmers Market

I will be selling my ceramics at Tivoli Village from 8:00 am untill 1:00 pm. It's at the corner of Rampart and Alta Las Vegas NV

Second Saturday Raku at Pottery West

Second Saturday Raku is here again come by Pottery West after 2 pm. There will be a pit firing also.

Wood Train Firing September 3 Saturday

Pricing sheet

Bisque 4” and less $4.00

Bisque up to 6” - $6.00

Bisque up to 10” - $10.00

Bisque up to 15” – $25.00

Anything larger is priced on an individual basis (see Thom or John)

All pieces must be paid for before we load on Saturday.

Cups, Tea Bowls, Bottles and Vases are more successful than Plates and Bowls.      Pieces with a lot of manipulation (not just round) catch the fire best.

Glazing for Wood Firing

Inside liner of Hamada Rust, Tea Dust, Celadon, White Salt, or Yellow Salt do well

Outside Glazes can be Shinos, Hamada Rust, Tea Dust, Celadon, or no glaze use some oxides wiped on and wiped off. The wood burning makes its own glaze.

Thom Bumblauskas and John Gregg always need help spiting wood and cleaning the kiln. Please just ask us when we are going to do it.

Wood Soda Firing July 16 Saturday

Pricing sheet

Bisque 4” and less $4.00

Bisque up to 6” - $6.00

Bisque up to 10” - $10.00

Bisque up to 15” – $25.00

Anything larger is priced on an individual basis (see Thom or John)

All pieces must be paid for before we load on Saturday

Cups, Tea Bowls, Bottles and Vases are more successful than Plates and Bowls. Pieces with a lot of manipulation (not just round) catch the fire and soda best.

Glazing for Wood Soda

Inside liner of Hamada Rust, Tea Dust, Celadon, White Salt, or Yellow Salt do well

Outside Glazes can be Shinos, Hamada Rust, Tea Dust, Celadon, or no glaze use some oxides wiped on and wiped off. The wood and soda are both glazes

Thom Bumblauskas and John Gregg always needs help spiting wood and cleaning the kiln please just ask us when we are going to do it.

I am now teaching at Aardvark Clay

I am now teaching hand building at Aardvark Clay in Las Vegas NV. The class is on Fridays from 6 pm to 9 pm. I am having fun the fist project was a Totem in fit in the kitchen window "Chicken Soup" a small stove, a pot, a piece of celery, a carrot, a onion and a chicken.

My favorite mug out of the wood soda firing

I got 14 very nice mugs out of the wood soda firing more pics to come

Wood Soda May 26 2011

Thom Bumblauskas and I organized a Wood Soda firing. We started loading on Saturday at 10 am. We had help from Mark Rosentnal and students. We finished loading the kiln about 2:00 pm and put in a propane burner to get the candling proses started. We had about 30 pieces left over. We asked Derik if he had any thing sitting around. Derik is a artist at the studio that throws large platers and bowls. This got us enough piece to load the Refrigerator Kiln it is 32 square foot downdraft propane kiln that I re-bricked last summer.We had this kiln loaded by 6:00pm. I headed home my shift started at midnight Sunday morning. At 8:00 pm Tom started a wood fire and the wind started. We had wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour all day. When I got back at midnight Tom had the wood kiln at 450 degrees. Tom headed home about 1:00 am and will be back at 8:00 am. My firing schedule was reduce at 08 to 06. this happened at 7:00 am and was coming out of reduction at 8:00 am when Tom showed up with donuts. The firing schedule next was soda at cone 9 down and then hold cone 10 down and cone11 dipping for five hours. I went home and napped from 9:00 am to noon. At 7:00 pm cone 9 was down we had made up five gallons of water with five pounds of soda on Saturday. Three gallons was mixed with saw dust and two gallons was left for the sprayer. We put the saw dust mix on top of a half stoked Burry Box then stoked the box full and put the kiln in reduction. This puts flames out the actives on the Burry Box. We held reduction for a half an hour re-stoke and sprayed two gallons putting most of it on the Chimney side of the Bag Wall and back in reduction for a half an hour. Cone 11 bending happened about 9:00 pm. I ran out of energy at midnight and headed home. Tom and the crew Closed up the kiln at 1:30 am Monday morning. In middle of all this I lit the Refrigerator Kiln at 8:00 am reduced at 08 to 06, reduce at cone10 hold cone 10 for two hours and closed it at 11:00 pm. Both Kilns will open June 1 at 5:00 pm.

Wood soda

Thank you Tom for getting the kiln to 500 degrees. My shift started at mid night

May 14, Second Saturday Raku and Pit Fire

Come by and see

The Pit fired Cairn was installed. Total hight was 6 1/2 feet and 32 pieces. The new owner was very happy.

We had a great time at First Friday. We were set up early. The customer started come by about 5:30 and ended about 10:00. I want to thank every one. We displayed high quality work and people appreciated it. A thank you goes to Lisa at the City for all her work

Come to the Spring Pottery Sale at First Friday May 6

Spring Pottery Sale at First Friday May 6

Ceramic Artists from Pottery West will be selling their work at first Friday May 6 from 5 pm to 10 pm. There will be two 10’ x 10’ tents on Casino Center between Charleston and Colorado. We will have a lot of pottery for sale. Please come by and see

This is part of my new series. They are Cairns, I have been hiking in the back country for about 40 years, and have relayed an cairns to get me from one trail to another. The first one of these I made reminded me of when I was back packing  on the Na Pali Cost in Kauai. I hiked in for two days to Kalalau Beach and had two days on the beach. On the rocky part of the beach people had been standing stones. What this is, you take a large stone and stand it up, then set another on edge on top, then another. The point is not the speed at which you stand your stones or how big it is. It is to make look like it is defying gravity. Remember to breath and relax.

This cairn is six and a half feet tall, it is made up of 32 pieces and has been pit fired. It's laid out from top left to bottom right. If any one has a idea on how to photograph it standing up let me know the biggest piece is ten inches.

Cairns are small piles of stones that indicate a trail, the piles are with in sight of each other. A cairn indicate the trail that you heard about that leaves this trail at the second tree near the stream and goes over the ridge near where it hits the tree line and comes out in the next valley. Connecting you to the other trail saving you a half day. Just follow the cairns.

Lighting the pit 

 The last pot

My favorite vases, they are 18 inches tall.  

There were 130 pieces in the pit. . 

Second Saturday Raku

Michelle and I fired about ten loads thru three Raku kilns. There were so great pieces.

There where two boys in the studio, Zak and a student son. I asked them if they would like to do horse hair pot. I don’t think I have ever gotten a no from boy when you ask them do you to play with fire. So I did a demo for the studio.

Horse Hair pots are not hard, the secret is have every thing laid out in advanced.

A turn table

Three to four piece of long Horse Hair

I use cotton gloves (They give me some protection from the heat and I can feel the horse hair)

Heat the pot to 1300 F, hold that temperature for five minutes

Pull the pot put it on the turn table (at 800 degrees the hair will no longer stick about one minute from now)

Paint the pot with horse hair

Let the pot cool

The boys did a great job, two great looking pots.

Pit Fire this Saturday

 I started loading the pit on Thursday. It was a free firing; I had about twenty pieces I asked for forty more from the artist at the studio. The final count should be around one hundred, the pieces kept on coming until nine am Saturday morning. This load was tumble stacked with wood chips put between each layer. On top each layer I used Copper Carbonate, Copper Sulfide, Red Iron oxide, Black Iron Oxide and organics (coffee and banana peal). At nine we added a layer of Mesquite tree trimmings, then scrap wood. At four in the afternoon I lit the pit with a weed burner; at five we added five pallets. I left the studio at eight the pit was still burning. There was just a glimpse of some of the pieces showing thru the ashes, we will have some great colors. We unload Monday late. Thank you every one for your help. 

 

Pit Fire this Saturday

I will be loading a pit firing this Saturday morning at 9:00 am. We will be lighting it at 4:00 pm. I am looking for 40 pieces the pit is 5 feet by 5 feet 3 feet deep. I will be using copper and iron oxides for color. There some old pallets, mesquite tree trimmings and scrap wood for fuel.

Second Saturday Raku

Hi
Second is here again stop by Pottery West if you can we will be firing all day.

The Refrigerator Kiln opened cone 10 bending. Thom Bumblauskas is standing in front of the kiln we had some great color.

The Refrigerator Kiln

The Refrigerator Kiln  finished firing last night at 12:15 am. Cone 10 down it was a 19 hour firing. The kiln had mostly Shino's so we reduced at 010 to 06. The Refrigerator Kiln is a propane six burner manual kiln. We candle with with three burners for 4 hours to 6 hours 500 degrees. Then turn on the other three burners and fire by sound, cones and pyrometer. The up grade will be a water column gage to measure the amount of propane.

The Refrigerator Kiln

The Refrigerator Kiln was loaded Thursday. I went in Friday morning at 4 am and candled it.  The Refrigerator Kiln is an outside kiln and it look like a huge refrigerator. It will fire to cone 10.  By 8 am the winds were at 20 miles an hour and flame kept blowing out. So I was back Saturday morning 4 am to candle it again its all most 9 am and its still lit.

Second Saturday Raku

Second Saturday Raku went very well. I told people I would post the white crackle glaze online. My modification is Tin oxide. Use little to no reduction. I demoed spraying the piece with Ferric Chloride. After it cooled I wiped it down and my smalled cracks were orange. You could use ink instead.

Raku 04 Glaze White Crackle Ferguson’s
65.0 Gerstley Borate
20.0 Nepheline Syenite
5.0 EPK Kaolin
10.0 silica
10.0 Tin oxide

I attended a Verbal Communication Workshop

The workshop was at the Arts Factory and put on by Creative Capital, Nevada Arts Council, Metro Arts Council of Southern Nevada, and Sponsored by NV Energy so it was free. I want to thank all of them on a great workshop I learned a lot.  The teacher was Kirby Tepper he was great being a artist himself made what he was teaching very relevant to me. I now know what and how to put together a elevator pitch. Role playing can be fun and I can be a artist Thanks again to all

Second Saturday Raku

Hi every one it we will be firing up the Raku kilns at Pottery West on March 12. Come by if you can.

Two Step Raku

Here are some two step pieces. The white are a clay body coated with white terra sig, the red is a red terra sig

Two Step Raku Demo

During Second Saturday Raku I demoed Two Step Raku

Two Step Raku

During Second Saturday Raku I demoed Two Step Raku