I LOVE Oriental glazes! They are just so colourful and yum and difficult and sensuous and they are what I strive for! Daniel Vito and Donna Hetrick’s Fireborn Studios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a studio, gallery, and classroom!
Their website has some great info and great pics of the glazes I would kill for! Luv to all you potters out there! 
Glazing! It can be your passion, but also your nemesis!
Here is the verbage straight from their website as to what it will do for you as a potter:
What is HyperGlaze X?“HyperGlaze X(tm) (version 10)is easy-to-use glaze software designed for artists who use ceramic materials, HyperGlaze can be used as a database to store clay and glaze recipes and to list raw materials and their analyses. It also has many powerful tools for glaze calculation.
It’s frustrating when you can’t find a certain glaze recipe among all your notes and papers. Or when want to mix up a batch of 18 pounds instead of the 500 grams the recipe yields in your notebook. Or when you want to substitute an ingredient. You can spend all your time sifting through notebooks and old magazines, and you can sit down with a pencil and do a lot of tedious recalculation.
Or you can let HyperGlaze do the calcuations for you!
No more lost recipes! Searching is easy and fast. HyperGlaze is an easy-to-use glaze notebook, a sophisticated glaze calculator, and an invaluable teaching tool — all in one!
Accurate glaze mixing! Automatically figures ingredient amounts for a batch of any size. Converts grams to pounds and vice versa.
Fix glaze problems! No Albany Slip? Gerstley borate gone again? No problem –recalculate your favorite glaze with new ingredients. Unwanted crazing? Make a few adjustments to the thermal expansion! You can even create a new glaze from scratch. The well-written help stack guides you through these steps.
HyperGlaze is simple enough for anyone to use, but its powerful features satisfy even the most demanding glaze chemist.”
Sounds great! But it would require some serious computer time! But…I think I’ll give it a try!
Here are some of the screen shots so that you can see what the software looks like. HyperGlaze Screen Shots
Let me know if you have used it (or other software) and what you think!
As a potter, we are always looking for good ways to market our pots. Thanks to Lori Watts at Fine Mess Pottery for the great blog post on how to add the Shop button to your Facebook page! Here is the link to that post! Thanks, Lori! I recently refired my big pot that I made in the Helen Charles Workshop. To refresh your memory, here is what it looked like out of the wood fire. I wasn’t satisfied with the “look” so I refired it in my gas kiln. First I applied CMC, then sprayed with it with more glazes. I’m much happier with the outcome! What do you reckon?! Pot on! I love a good copper red glaze and Kristen Busch’s pottery is so gorgeous and different! She’s from Bloomington, Indiana and has been doing pottery since 1998. Her high fire reduction pottery creates one of a kind art works! In her artist’s statement she says: “My goal is to enhance the celebration of daily life and enrich its simple joys. I think a well made pot should be able to function well and elevate the daily routine of eating and drinking to an artful and enjoyable experience.” — Kristin Busch” I love that! Here are a couple of examples of her work. Peace out! Little earthling potters! I thought I would give you an update on my studio and the barn/shed redo. It’s all done now and looks fantastic! What an amazing place! The history of the barn is very interesting. Originally, it was the workshop for Griffith Tablecraft. Some of you Australians may remember the business and the location – Treetops Ecocenter, which included a restaurant and art gallery. Here’s an article that was in Belle Magazine about the property and the big shed/barn that now houses my pottery studio (thanks Krista Mathis!) Belle Magazine Article Here is an article about Griffith Tablecraft link Although the furniture factory is now gone, we have tried to keep the barn in workable order so that we can use it. Although I share the barn with my husband, Ronnie, (really…there’s plenty of room for both of us!), it is the most fantastic workspace imaginable! My biggest problem is how to work efficiently in such a huge space. I know, don’t hate me. I know that I am priviledged beyond words and super lucky, lucky, lucky! I, too, worked out of my garage and had a very small studio previously, so now is my time- yeah! Here are a couple of reminder photos for you of the BEFORE! So here are some photos and a video to let you see what we have done! Please come visit us someday! It’s incredible! Now I must make some incredible pottery so that I will feel worthy of this wonderful workspace! I love angels! So I decided to make some clay angels! And here are the finished products! My mom used to teach a Bible study class and she was an amazing Christian. She taught one session on angels and I’ve always wished that I could have been in that class and could remember what she told me about angels. Basically, I don’t know what I actually believe about angels…(you can read lots of stuff, but it is highly conjectuaral!). Here is one description of angels (sounds like the description of a UFO to me!!!): New International Version (NIV) 1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were openedand I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.[a]There the hand of the Lord was on him. 4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings.7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings,9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. 15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. This part sounds very UFO-y!!! 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome.23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty,[b] like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. 25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. I like the idea that someone is out there watching out for me! The reading above described angels as light sources. So! my angels will be light sources in that a candle can be placed beneath them and there are holes in the base that will allow the angel to be a luminary. Perhaps what is putting me in the mood to think about Angels is that in Australia, Christmas is often celebrated in July as the weather is more conducive to the traditional “Christmas” food and decorations. In Australia, our summer is Christmas, so a hot meal of turkey and dressing, doesn’t even sound good! But in the winter (JULY!!) it sounds grand! I used to make oil lamp angels in my former “pottery” life, about 10 years ago. They were cute (sort of???), useful and about 6-8 inches in height. So in keeping with my promise to myself, I’m going to be making BIGGER! AND HOPEFULLY, BETTER! These angels are about 15 inches high and 9 inches across – a nice size. Let’s see…how shall I glaze them? Hmmm….always the dilemma! When crusing through some old Ceramics Monthly’s, I came across an article about Gordon Hutchens. I was especially enthralled with the handles that he creates! So, of course, I googled him to find out more! and YES! and WOW! there is so much more and I never ever heard of this guy! Yes, I live in a hole and don’t come out very often. So Gordon Hutchens is my Wicked Wednesday Wow! and you must learn more about him! (Of course, I may be the ONLY one on the planet who didn’t know him or his work!). Gordon lives in Canada, so that may be the problem? Nah…probably I’m just not in the loop! Gordon hails from Denman Island, British Columbia and has been a potter for over 30 years. Here is a video where Gordon Hutchens talks his work and about the complicated art that we have chosen. He also talks about how difficult it is for non-potters to understand our struggle and passion! Well said! Great video! His work ranges from the very gorgeous crystalline glazed porcelain, the Denman Lustre, the reduction fired earthenware (my fav!) to raku and wood firing! Love it! A man after my own heart! Do it ALL! All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW!!!! This past week, Morgan Lloyd-craftsman extraordinaire, reworked my sink area in my pottery studio! Just being able to have shelves, a double sink, a work area, AND an additional spigot that is low for filling buckets and not having to lift them, is so great! Thank you, Morgan! Here is the finished NEW & IMPROVED sink area! Once again, I’m lucky! I was so excited to learn that I had been chosen as #8 of the Best Pottery Blogs of 2013 by Brandon of Pottery Making Blog!!! What an honour and what a task for Brandon Schwartz of reading, collating, and sharing all of this information! Here are my comments to Brandon: First of all, Congratulations to YOU for all the hard work, time, effort and love that you put into this pottery blogging universe!!! You have made my day, week, month and year! As a blogger, we never know if or who is reading us and if it makes any difference at all – this award and recognition is a great way to encourage all us bloggers, allow us some bragging rights and make us pretty darn excited about our blogging! Thanks again so much for reading, categorising, promoting, and encouraging all of us bloggers! You are amazing! Someday I’ll thank you in person and buy you a beverage! Which brings me to another point. I wrote in my “About Marian” section of this blog about “Why I Blog” and I feel that I need to restate that. I have reread this previous post and found that I feel the same way now as I did when I first wrote it. So I shall give it to you again:
Ezekiel 1:1-28
Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision
Footnotes:
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
All that said, I do believe that there are spiritual forces out there that take care of us and give us intuitive messages – be it angels or God or whatever.
Why do we blog about pottery, clay and the processes surrounding it? For me, it is the ultimate way of recording what has been a miracle in my life. I would like to share it with the world and the teacher/educator in me feels the need to pass along my hard-learned knowledge.
Other potters, such as Scott Cooper at St Earth Pottery, write blogs and he was also contemplating this exact thing – why do we blog?!
His post of January 22 talks about blogging and how it works as both a photographic record and firing record. He also mentions Michael Kline, “who’s just back from a blogging sabbatical, and the man I think of as the Godfather of potter bloggers — has been writing about the whys and wherefores of his endeavor over at Sawdust and Dirt.”
Another potter/blogger that he touts as a great influence is Carter Gillies. His post about pottery eyes is brilliant! He states, “This is the critical role of my blog. It is a tool to pry open our eyes and our perceptions.”
So, I will continue to blog. As a record. As a tutorial for others. As an inspiration for others and myself. And, ultimately, as a tribute to the love affair of my life – CLAY!
Life is good.
