Back on Track.

Rice Bowls, Butterkeepers, Small Jars and Lids

 We had a busy day here at Hughes Pottery. I started out by seeing Dr. Collins, Oral Surgeon, about my horrible toothache that came on strong New Years Eve. $110 later it was determined that I had to have an extraction.(! REALLY?) but I guess it's best that they took the x-rays and did the exam in case there was something else that was causing all that pain.

A couple of small cups

It was also determined that I would be on antibiotics, Ibuprofin and Vicoden until I could schedule the extraction. They could do it in 8 days or a month. So I chose a month. I need more time to come up with the $360ish dollars it will cost. Ahh the life of the uninsured.

Next I came home to get started on production. We had a lot going on. I started throwing. Cristin came over and learned about unloading bisc kilns and cleaning biscware and waxing the bottoms of the musg with hot wax, while Ro got started mixing up new glazes.

Parts for Goblets

Ro had to take a break to run some errands so I got Cristin started with Wedging. Then I made Goblet parts and then had to take a break to meet with one of my old HS art teachers about a new Empty Bowls project in the area and the possibility of me teaching some workshops.

Big pile of mugs to glaze

I finally got back into the studio about 3:30 while Ro got started taking pictures of soup mugs and posting new listings on Etsy. I got some small jars and butterkeepers made, then I got sleepy, took another little break, made a pizza for dinner, ate with Ro and then we both headed back to the studio. I threw rice bowls while she finished mixing the glazes. The day seemed to go on forever.

We quit about 11PM. Tomorrow's plan is to trim the pieces that are ready for trimming, then do all the glazing with all those full buckets of glaze. Load the kiln, then in the early evening take off for an evening visiting friends, come home and pass out :)

Big Bucket of Glaze, ready to add water.

Break is over!

 I really got back into the full swing of production last Thursday  when I made all those soup mugs. Since then we have had a bisc kiln and a glaze kiln and I have made 65 round mugs, some pitchers, a ginormous tankard and a few pasta bowls and some plates.

Later this week we're going to take a few days off for an annual retreat we take this tie of year so I want to have all my work in progress finished for Thursday.

I worked on trimming and handles today. I got the plates, pitchers and ginormous tankard done. I trimmed all the mugs and got about 1/3 of the handles done.




The rest are under plastic and I'll get in the morning, then tomorrow afternoon I'll get the soup mugs glazed and loaded.

I'm hoping I'll have a chance to do some bowls, tumblers and goblets tomorrow that I can trim and assemble on Thursday before we leave.

On the selling end of the business things haven't slowed down too much. I was surprised to have a couple big sales and a few special orders come through this week. I thought we'd really see nothing at all, but people still seem to want what we have to offer..in fact we keep getting asked if we have more of certain things. I think we should have been better prepared for this. We will be next year. We learn!

So part of this production is for us on Etsy, some of it is for an event we have in NH at the end of January and part of it is stock to send to Tampa at the end of February. All in all I am looking at about 300 pieces by the end of Jan and another 300 for the end of Feb. I am so glad to have help. The new studio assistant is working out well. she has prepped clay and organized my chaos, now we'll see if she can keep up. It was pretty fun here on Monday, Rowan was loading pieces onto Etsy, Cristin was cleaning and wedging, Morgan was over grinding the rest of the kiln shelves and I was throwing. It kind of felt like a real business. Lots of stuff getting done all at the same time!

I liked that a lot. I'd love to be able to keep 4 people busy all year round.

Kiln Shelf Cleaning

 Once or twice a year we have to do the nasty business of cleaning glaze drips from our shelves. When I first learned pottery I was taught to do this with a hammer and chisel. Later on I picked up a tip to invest in a diamond head grinder cup from Fastnal and it works so much better and so much faster I really can't believe it. It cuts through the glaze (and the shelf if you are not careful) like a hot knife through butter.

I resurfaced about 10 shelves today in about 20 minutes. I am so pleased, they look like new! We still have about 8 more to do because we had a kiln load cooling today, but if the weather holds we'll do it tomorrow.