The post cards are sent and the date is approaching for the fall sale. It’s always an exciting time for me. Lots of ideas now a reality. Rebecca and Sarah are working hard as well. Sarah is to return from Spain in a week. What fun to see what she has produced.

Pottery is not a quick turn around form of expression. On my “The Process” page of my site I have put up some pictures of the steps. Each one takes thought and experience. I begin by making a decision on the weight of the clay that I need in order to make a certain form. So, I have already decided what I will make before I wedge the clay. I don’t just sit down at the wheel and see what happens, see what the clay wants to be. The clay needs direction from me. Since I have been throwing for over 35 years now! I can throw what I intend to throw. This is freeing. It puts aside the tentative feeling a beginner might have, wondering what will happen in the process of throwing. It gives me the freedom to make slight changes in a design of a form. Will it be taller rather than more rounded? Will it have a wider rim? Slight changes, all of which need observation to check on the proportion and balance of a piece.

Drying is next. The drying is tricky. The first drying is only partial, to leather hard or cheese hard. A potter needs to know the atmosphere of the room in which the pieces are drying. The seasons change that and so one must adjust the time of drying. I sometimes use a fan, but never directly on the pottery. It has to dry evenly or I get warping. Each piece needs to be turned at intervals to make sure drying goes right.

Trimming, stamping, slip application, then bone dry to be put in the kiln to be bisque fired. Next comes glazing and then the glaze fire. All of these steps for a finished product and the beginning of each pot starts with a thought of what it will be. Bringing it out of the kiln is a treat, some say like Christmas. I think of who might use each piece, all of the uses there are for one piece of pottery. The beauty of it even when not in use. The wonder of the this material with such a humble beginning.

My pots are designed for use. To bring a richness to the everyday.