Friday, February 27, 2009
Just a quick note about a book of interest to pass along. I am reading "Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave". I know you are interested in pottery, but this is much more than a ceramics book, history pre & post civil war, value of education, poetry, politics and general history of our area of the Carolinas. Writen by Leonard Todd whose family back in 1800s owned slave potter Dav.
Our best kept secret: We have a gallery at Clayworks!
I have some amazing news about our Clayworks gallery. The only thing keeping it from being open is the personnel to staff it. (I know! I was shocked too.)
If we can come up with a schedule to staff it on a REGULAR BASIS, we can all sell our work there! What we're going for here is to be open on Saturdays (for example) from 9:00 to 4:00 or somewhere thereabouts. If we can commit to a regular schedule we can put the sandwich board out and market it as a "real" gallery. Think about it --our work could be seen by customers (which is the first step of selling it).
Think of this scenario: It's your Saturday to work the gallery so you come in and do your clay work in the front classroom. When you hear the bell on the door jingle, you wipe your hands and greet the people in the gallery. When they are finished browsing and/or buying you go back to work in the classroom. It's a win/win/win situation since you have the opportunity to sell some pieces, Clayworks makes some money, and let's face it, do you really NEED an excuse to come in on a Saturday and work in clay?
I have discussed this with Adrienne. She approves and has gotten board approval so the only thing holding us back is us. There will be some rules and some training on the cash register, but this could really turn out to be something good for all involved.
Let's get together and talk about this. What would be a good day/time to meet and work out a plan?
I'm thinking when the weather turns nicer we could even take a wheel out on the sidewalk and throw out front. That might draw some attention.
The mind reels...
If we can come up with a schedule to staff it on a REGULAR BASIS, we can all sell our work there! What we're going for here is to be open on Saturdays (for example) from 9:00 to 4:00 or somewhere thereabouts. If we can commit to a regular schedule we can put the sandwich board out and market it as a "real" gallery. Think about it --our work could be seen by customers (which is the first step of selling it).
Think of this scenario: It's your Saturday to work the gallery so you come in and do your clay work in the front classroom. When you hear the bell on the door jingle, you wipe your hands and greet the people in the gallery. When they are finished browsing and/or buying you go back to work in the classroom. It's a win/win/win situation since you have the opportunity to sell some pieces, Clayworks makes some money, and let's face it, do you really NEED an excuse to come in on a Saturday and work in clay?
I have discussed this with Adrienne. She approves and has gotten board approval so the only thing holding us back is us. There will be some rules and some training on the cash register, but this could really turn out to be something good for all involved.
Let's get together and talk about this. What would be a good day/time to meet and work out a plan?
I'm thinking when the weather turns nicer we could even take a wheel out on the sidewalk and throw out front. That might draw some attention.
The mind reels...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Raku final
It appears that we will NOT be doing a raku firing this Friday night. There is a lot going on downtown this weekend and it's probably not the best time to be doing it. There wasn't very much interest in it anyway.
We will try another time as schedules permit.
Stay tuned...
We will try another time as schedules permit.
Stay tuned...
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Raku
We have only four days left before the proposed raku date and I have only heard one 'nay' and one 'aye' (both of them off the blog). Is anyone else interested or not interested? Is anyone actually reading this blog any longer? Don't be shy about voicing your opinion. This is our blog.
Please let me know.
Please let me know.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
New raku date?
Is anybody up for a "traditional (Clayworks)" raku on Friday, February 27th?
Please post and let me know who's interested.
Thanks.
Please post and let me know who's interested.
Thanks.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Raku on hold & barrel firing
Saturday, February 21st has not turned out to be a good day for raku. We will have to reschedule for another time.
I believe the barrel firing is still taking place on that day, after 4:30 pm.
I believe the barrel firing is still taking place on that day, after 4:30 pm.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Calendar instructions
Several people have commented that they were not able to add an event to the clayworkers calendar or their event doesn't show up on the calendar after entering it. There may be something wrong with their logins but there is also an added step to the procedure since we are updating a public calendar.
Since you signed up with blogspot, you are now signed up with Google. When you click on the link at the bottom-right of the embedded calendar, a new window should open up in your browser (or it could be a new tab, depending on which browser you are using).
Once that window (or tab) opens, you are in your personal calendar. The first time you access the calendar you need to add the clayworkers calendar to your own.
After that, whenever you add an event, there is a box that appears which asks which calendar you want the event to appear on.
If you would like the item to appear on the clayworkers calendar, you must always choose that calendar from the drop-down box since the software will always try to add it to your personal calendar as a default.
Up until this point, I have been showing the "quick add" pop-up window. Here is a view from the full page editor. The which calendar drop-down box is on both windows and you must pick the clayworkers calendar so it doesn't default to your own. (Unless, of course you want it to be only on your personal calendar, which is not in the scope of this post.)
Since you signed up with blogspot, you are now signed up with Google. When you click on the link at the bottom-right of the embedded calendar, a new window should open up in your browser (or it could be a new tab, depending on which browser you are using).
Once that window (or tab) opens, you are in your personal calendar. The first time you access the calendar you need to add the clayworkers calendar to your own.
After that, whenever you add an event, there is a box that appears which asks which calendar you want the event to appear on.
If you would like the item to appear on the clayworkers calendar, you must always choose that calendar from the drop-down box since the software will always try to add it to your personal calendar as a default.
Up until this point, I have been showing the "quick add" pop-up window. Here is a view from the full page editor. The which calendar drop-down box is on both windows and you must pick the clayworkers calendar so it doesn't default to your own. (Unless, of course you want it to be only on your personal calendar, which is not in the scope of this post.)
I hope this clears up any confusion with the calendar. If not, let me know and I will try to help you with it. Thanks.
Raku recap
Thanks to all who came out and helped with the raku firing on Saturday. It was pretty much a success with some of the pieces turning out absolutely amazing. As far as the "new process" is concerned, I think we may have some more homework to do on that front. We can't expect to be great at it the first (or maybe even the second) time out.
In case anyone wants to see what we were working towards, here's a link to Bruce Odell's video.
Thanks, again for coming out and let's see if we can't schedule another raku on the 21st (2/21/09). Anyone up for that? If we don't do the alcohol/sawdust method, we could schedule one for Friday night (2/20/09) instead.
As always, let me know what you think. This is supposed to be a group project.
In case anyone wants to see what we were working towards, here's a link to Bruce Odell's video.
Thanks, again for coming out and let's see if we can't schedule another raku on the 21st (2/21/09). Anyone up for that? If we don't do the alcohol/sawdust method, we could schedule one for Friday night (2/20/09) instead.
As always, let me know what you think. This is supposed to be a group project.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Tony Clennell on handles
Tony Clennell recently did one of Ceramic Arts Daily's videos of the week about handles. In the video he mentions Lana Wilson's Magic Water which he uses to attach the handles. He states in the video that he doesn't even score the handle when using the Magic Water.
It seems to me that we need to have some of this at the studio.
If this is really old news I apologize. I have a really old computer.
It seems to me that we need to have some of this at the studio.
| 3 tablespoons | liquid sodium silicate |
| 1.5 teaspoons | soda ash |
| 1 gallon | water |
| mix well | |
If this is really old news I apologize. I have a really old computer.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Saturday raku
It looks like we're on for a Saturday afternoon raku and the weather looks great.
We're looking forward to trying some new processes in this firing so it should be exciting (isn't it always?) and will probably yield some happy accidents along the way.
One thing we need to mention is that this is not a Clayworks class firing and is not funded by the studio. People (mostly nontoxic) have put out some time and funds for fuel, copper wash, and alcohol for spraying so there will be a donations bucket.
Please donate and have fun.
We're looking forward to trying some new processes in this firing so it should be exciting (isn't it always?) and will probably yield some happy accidents along the way.
One thing we need to mention is that this is not a Clayworks class firing and is not funded by the studio. People (mostly nontoxic) have put out some time and funds for fuel, copper wash, and alcohol for spraying so there will be a donations bucket.
Please donate and have fun.
Fourth Annual Vasefinder Nationals 2009
Check out this site to see the winners (and all the rest). They're all amazing.
Green Vase
By Bob Dixon
The link is here.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Calendar?
Does everyone like the calendar embedded permanently where it is now?
You can click on the events to get a better description or click on the link at the bottom of the grid to pull it up full size in a window.
I have currently embedded the calendar at the top and at the bottom of the page. Please take the short poll on the right-hand side of the page and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
You can click on the events to get a better description or click on the link at the bottom of the grid to pull it up full size in a window.
I have currently embedded the calendar at the top and at the bottom of the page. Please take the short poll on the right-hand side of the page and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
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