http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=132505

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=129085

And Dorothy has a great one in Treasury East celebrating the same colors:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bd0d483ef816d91565e42be/earthy

Over the last year, this little business has grown in random spurts all over the house.  We had our original office and then the pottery office, the spot where we packed up pottery, the place where we stored the tent and shelves, test tiles in little boxes all over the house, GAH again.

So, just like last year when we had to regroup when we had a breathing spell, we’re doing the same thing now.  I decided to put my organizational skills and Quality Management experience to work.  It’s very useful to audit your work habits and space planning to maximize your productivity.  Folks might not think of doing this for an art business, but it really works for all businesses.  I am happy to say that all pottery paraphernalia is now consolidated in one room.  I am now able to take care of orders in the same room where the computer/printer/files/etc are without running all over the house.

All this just to say that you don’t ever know how to set up a space for a task until you’ve done that task quite a lot.  I’ve also found that this applies to moving into a house and getting comfortable in it.  You just can’t know in a new space how you will “be” in that space until you’ve been there for a while.  So, don’t be afraid of taking stock of your space and asking yourself, “Is this working for me?”  You might find that things can be streamlined into a smaller footprint that facilitates your work habits.

So, when someone searches for “Tenmoku” and finds my article on Taxonomy of Iron Glazes, or gets to my Glossary of Glaze Colorants,  I am really pleased by that.  I hope that person benefited from the hours of research I did that enabled me to write those articles.  I also hope they give me credit for consolidating the information if they mention it to their friends.  Those kinds of things are a lot of work after all.

Then there are the searches for “Em’s Honan Tenmoku recipe” and “Mossy Mahogany recipe”.  See, I name my glazes the way I do for a reason.  I have worked very, very hard over the last few years to develop the glaze recipes I currently use.  I lost count on how many glaze tests I had done after about 2500.  That’s 2500 in less than 2 years.  I am extremely proud of my glazes, so I give them unique and identifiable names like: Em’s Honan Tenmoku Black, Mossy Mahogany, Midnight Peacock, Spruce Juice, Verdigris Sage, Prussian Peacock, Emily’s Persimmon, Green Leopard, Quartz Clear, Moss Agate, Chalk White, and others.  I develop my glazes from the ground up and take pride in the fact that I have educated myself on glaze chemistry as well as I have.

On one hand, I am flattered that people like my glazes enough to be searching for their recipes by name.  On the other hand, I am dumbfounded that people would spend the time and energy hunting around on the internet instead of just writing to me and asking me directly.  If you appreciate my work, please do me the favor of telling me so.  I take it as a huge compliment.  You can post a comment here, and I’ll respond.

There are exceptions to the “lurkers”, of course.  Just last week a very nice fellow emailed me asking for recipes.  It was a pleasure to talk to him and get to meet a fellow potter.

I come from a science background.  When you do research, you publish papers in peer reviewed journals and get credit for your work.  You’re recognized for the accomplishments you’ve made by others in your field.  Someone can always go back to that publication and find out what you did and how you did it.  The convention is, you give them credit for that work when you build on it.  I find this is lacking in the field of glaze chemistry where studio potters are concerned.  If you are using a recipe someone has given you, then give them credit for it.  There’s no shame in using someone else’s glazes as long as the usage is honest and straightforward.  The converse is also true.  When you’ve busted your bum and worked out a killer glaze formula, you get the privilege of naming it and calling it your own.

So please, just ask.  My recipes are not published anywhere by me, and I’m pretty sure Rob isn’t selling them on the black market.  I look forward to meeting other artists and always enjoy discussing glazes.

Thanks Y’all,

Emily

The Melbourne Art Festival 2010

April 24 and 25, 2010

http://www.melbournearts.org/

PARKING

http://www.melbournearts.org/downloads/Art%20Festival%20Pay%20Parking%20Lots.pdf

Festival Map

http://www.melbournearts.org/downloads/map.pdf

In the meantime, please enjoy random pottery picture number 4.  Maybe it’s 4?  I lost count.  We really enjoy making canisters and here’s a trio of them.  Robert, of course, threw them and turned them.  If you’d like to know more about throwing and turning, ask Robert.  I keep trying to get him to write an article and he keeps forgetting!  So, here I go chattering about the glaze…

After bisque firing, I glazed the group in my Mossy Mahogany Glaze (you know I like my glitzy names).  Many of you may have seen the first version of my Mossy Mahogany last year.  It was nice but not spectacular.  I spent a lot of time revamping it so it would shine even more.  What this picture does not show are the little gold crystals that dance around in the upper amber portions of the glaze.  It’s a real pain to apply – too thin and it’s just brown, too thick and it runs all the way down the pot during firing in olive drab puddles.  Sometimes, it runs onto the shelf (hence the angle grinder – which was surprisingly anticlimactic in actual use yesterday, phooey).  I am sure with time I’ll get more used to it, at which point, I will be bored with it and change it again or come up with another glaze and discontinue this one.  Enough talk.  Here it is:

Promethean Pottery - Mossy Mahogany Canisters

Robert throwing a canister.

Robert throwing a lid.

Robert trimming a bowl.

Emily putting handles on mugs.

I’m always struck by how awkward mugs, pitchers, creamers (anything with a handle) look before they are bisque fired and glaze fired.

Emily signing and waxing bowl feet.

I didn’t take any pictures of us sanding pottery.  I just didn’t think that was very interesting.  After I wax over the signature, each pot gets a bath with the hose.

Emily glazing canisters.

What these glazing pictures don’t show is all the time and energy I put into formulating new glazes.  All of the glazes we use are formulated by me and I’ve done over 2500 individual tests (at last count, meaning I’ve lost count and it’s probably a lot more than that by the time you’re reading this).  Our house is cluttered by boxes and boxes of little tiles and testpots with hideous glazes on them!

Emily glazing lids.

Emily signing pots

But in the morning, with my coffee and my kitties, I like to read through some of my favorite blogs.  It’s really the only kind of news I care about.  You’ll never find me cuddling up to a newspaper.  Call me oblivious.  This morning, I’m reading Jim’s latest posts on his blog: Sofia’s Dad’s Pots.  He has a very readable style of writing (that my early morning brain can follow, better than Kafka) and his pots are stunning.

OK, I’ve justified my laziness by means of this piddly post.  So, now I’m off to work.