High tech from the 1700s

A while back, I read an article in Ceramics Monthly about 'kacheloffens', or tile stoves. The idea intrigued me of having a large massive wood stove that used the fuel to heat up the tiles and slowly release it back into the room. This is accomplished by burning very hot, and using a long fule/chimney that winds back and forth through the oven so that most of the heat from the fire and smoke is absorbed by the brick and tile. 

Then a few days ago, I ran into another article on Low Tech Magazine about the same thing. Apparently developed in Europe due to shortages of firewood, they are very efficient, more so than the metal stoves known here in the US. Metal heat up quickly, but cools just as fast, requiring continuous tending. The tile stove is only lit once or twice a day, burns very fast, hot and more completely, with less fuel, and slowly heats with a more moderate warmth all day or night.

Is there anyone out there using one of these 18th century marvels? 

Progress report

After a particularly busy week last week, I finally got a chance to get back in the studio last night.

I threw 2 2lb vase forms with the new Standard #240 white stoneware. I'm thinking it's at least as good as the old 563, if not better. I didn't have much trouble controling it or getting decent height from it, and that's significant given how out of practice and challenged I am right now.

Overall, a very satisfying evening.

Another day, another clay

I'd recently gotten a comment on my clay review post on Standard #563 from Curtis that it had been discontinued. Standard has replaced it with #240, another smooth white ^6 stoneware.

So when I went to buy new clay last night, and discovering they were out of my favorite Little Loafers, I got a bag of #240 to try.

It wasn't bad at all. I'm still out of practice, but it seemed a bit easier and well behaved than the old 563. I've mainly been trying to have fun and experiment, but I'll have to find out how well the new clay burnishes and polishes after a saggar fire.

6 months of blogging

Just recently realized that I've been doing this blog for 6 months now. Back when I started, I didn't know what direction it would take (still don't really), or if I'd even stick with it or have anything to say.  Apart from rather sparse posting recently, I'm pretty happy with it.

Here's a quick summary of a few fun stats so far:

1460 visits

36 Countries + US (All states except AK, HI, and RI)

Northernmost visitor - Rekjavik, Iceland

Southernmost visitor- Hobart, Tazmania

Top 7 countries in decending order:

US

CAN

UK

Italy

Brazil

Turkey

Australia

Languages:

English

Portugese

Italian

French

Turkish

Swedish

I'm going to head back to the studio today after work to celebrate!

New beginings for 2009

I finally got back in to the studio today. It felt good to get my hands dirty again.

My clay was pretty stiff after being there for the past 3 months, but I still had fun. I wedged up 3 pounds, cut it into 3 - 1lb balls and just played, making nothing in particular. Just ventering and pulling up, splitting rims, bellying out until it went wonky, then cutting it in half, and doing another.

I think the scraps are destined to be my next terra sig experiment, and I'll buy a fresh bag of clay next time

** Update **

I feel like I got kicked down a flight of stairs this morning....  but it still feels good to get dirty again!

Less is more

I've definitely noticed a theme of simplifying and minimizing in my life the last few months. Partly brought on by the lingering injuries and physical challenges of the auto accident, partly by a deeper urge to de-clutter the mental and psychological blockages that build up over time.

I've been away from clay for too long, and I'm coming to the realization that I need to start somewhere.  It's become clear that I won't be throwing like I did 6 months ago any time soon, but I need to get back to doing something.  Less clay, smaller forms, less time at the wheel in one stretch. Less expectations, smaller goals, less pressure on myself.  Physical therapy is making small, slow, sometimes imperceptible progress, and I need to be content with the same rate of progress in the studio.

Along these same lines, Leo Babauta has written a companion to his book 'The Power of Less' — a free ebook called “THRIVING ON LESS: Simplifying in a Tough Economy“.

Creativity 101

I read this today over at Zen Habits, another of my favorite blogs;

http://zenhabits.net/2009/01/the-secret-to-being-insanely-creative/

Great ideas for nurturing you inner artist and realizing that we're all creating things all the time, every day. 

Study Pottery in China

West Virginia University has just announced their 2009 schedule for study abroad in Jingdezhen, China.

 Sounds like a great opportunity. Last year I really enjoyed following Brad Lail's experience there at http://blail.blogspot.com/

More info on the program can be found at WVU's website at

http://art.ccarts.wvu.edu/international_programs/china_program

Pottery books for Christmas

Ive been enjoying reading one of my excellent Christmas presents:

Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose

I've checked out Robin Hopper's videos on form and proportion from the library before, and was happy to see much of the same material expanded upon in this book.

This book covers all kinds of kitchenware, plates, mugs, bowls, goblets, butter dishes, pitchers, teapots. He also covers proportions and esthetics of form, along with praticalities like center of gravity, weight, and making things 'fit' the human body for use.

He also has a broad definition of 'funtional' pottery that isn't just dinner service, but includes decorative ware that serves as objects of beauty and contemplation. 

New blogs and old friends

Google Reader had a suggestion of a blog I might be interested in

http://claycraft.blogspot.com

So I was browsing through and found this post about my long-lost first pottery instructor who moved to the other side of the country:

http://claycraft.blogspot.com/2008/11/jamie-kirkpatrick-display.html

You never really know what or who is going to pop up out of the past on the internet these days. And if you haven't given Google Reader a try yet, check it out. I really don't know how I'd keep all the blogs I follow manageable without it.

Pottery section now on Alltop

For those of you that don't know about it, Alltop.com is a nifty blog aggregator that groups blogs by topic or area of interest. They generally strive to have the most popular blogs as determined by their own ranking criteria.

Within each topic, they list their top blogs, along with the last five post titles in an easy to scan 'magazine' format.  Very easy to lose several hours exploring....

The Great news is  -- They now have a Pottery Topic.

Congrats to Jen Mecca, Emily Murphy, and Bulldog Pottery for making the first cut! You need to go and get yourselves a badge for your blogs here: http://badges.alltop.com/

Go check them out...  the more traffic they get from all us potters the better. It might get them to expand the number of pottery feeds in our section!

What color green are you?

All of this glaze testing going on out in the pottery blogosphere got me thinking about color --

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Words of wisdom for artists and other creatives

Here's a little gem I found going through the old posts from the Red Deer College'sArt Blog

The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth:

http://www.brucemaudesign.com/incomplete_manifesto.html

Some of my favorites include 

4) Love your experiments.

6) Capture accidents.

34) Make mistakes faster

 and 

26) Don't enter awards competitions - 'Just dont. It's not good for you'

Check it out for a goldmine of wisdom and sanity.

Red Deer College

I had a pleasant surprize this evening. While doing a semi-regular check on my blog stats, I discovered some traffic coming from a blog I was previously unaware of. 

http://robinlambert.wordpress.com/

Turns out it was from a ceramics blog at Red Deer College in Albert Canada.

I've just started exploring but it's chock full of interesting assignments and projects, as well as links to other online resources for ceramists and artists.

Even though I've been an IT guy for almost 20 years, sometimes this whole internet thing just amazes me.