New Plum Bottom Pottery Facebook Page

Thank you to everyone who has followed this blog for the past couple years. I have decided to upgrade my website and part of that upgrade means that postings that I would normally post here  will post on Plum Bottom Pottery’s new Facebook page. You can like my Plum Bottom Pottery facebook page by clicking here. I will be able to post more often on facebook and I think I’ll also be able to get more video and images online that way.  Also the brick and mortar Plum Bottom Pottery store will be opening for the season on May 1st with new artists and new work. We’ll be open everyday from May-October from 10-5pm. See you soon!

FEED THE BELLY!

I will once again host Knock Magazine for their summer issue release party. Nik Garvoille and I have collaborated on this event for the past two years. Last year was a a great success. I am truly excited to have the contributing writers doing live readings from Issue 8 The Belly.

I am firing a new body of porcelain work that will be making its debut at the event and Angela Lensch will be unveiling her new summer jewelry designs. Last year Pamela Moore(my mother) catered the event and this year she has graciously agreed to create the cuisine but with an Asian themed twist. If you haven’t experienced my mom’s food, trust me, it’s worth the trip down to Plum Bottom in itself.

The revelry will start around 6pm on Thurs. July 15th. We will also be serving wine and beer. Come on down and feed not only your soul but your belly!

I hope to see you there!

New March Porcelain Work on Website!

I have just finished posting all the new porcelain work for March on PlumBottomPottery.com! Click the picture of one of my favorite new porcelain wall sculptures and it will take you to the site. I’ve also added prices to the captions of each piece. If a piece happens to catch your eye just call or email me with the number of the piece, which is also listed in the description and I will ship it out fast, via Fedex or UPS! Enjoy the new work – it’s time for me to get back to work in the studio – summer is fast approaching.

Back in the Glaze Room

Amazing how time slips through your fingers. I’m back in the glaze room getting ready to fire the kiln on Friday. I have 120 new pieces that I’m working on which includes lots of new mugs and wall sculptures. Things here in Door County are starting to warm up . . . at least for now the weather has been beautiful – mid-30′s and the sun is shinning. Makes it hard to be in the studio all day but summer is fast approaching and I’m hoping to be a little ahead of the curve as far as inventory goes this year. Of course when the new porcelain work is done I’ll post new pictures on plumbottompottery.com. Thanks for checking in.

Don’t forget to hug and kiss your pots everyday, you wouldn’t want them to feel neglected!

Wood

This is about 4 Cords of firewood that will keep me warm through the long harsh winter of Northern Wisconsin. Actually the wood stove that I installed about two years ago has done an amazing job keeping the studio nice and toasty. There is nothing worse than working in clay in a cold studio. All this wood means that Plum Bottom Pottery is now holding Winter hours which are Friday and Saturday 10-4pm. If the snow is blowin’ you may want to call ahead and make sure I can get the road clear, but more likely than not I or Angela Lensch will be there. Thank you to everyone who stopped by Plum Bottom this summer and fall – it was a tremendous year and I’m already excited to get back into the studio and start work on next summer’s line of work.

I will be firing the kiln in the next week. I’ve been working on some new oval casseroles and teapots perfect for the upcoming winter months so feel free to stop on by and see what’s new. The new work will be in the gallery Friday, Nov. 27th – the day after Thanksgiving.

Firing with Joe

Back into the glaze room for a firing with Joe Singwald. Joe is a potter working down in Algoma, WI. He studied with Randy Johnston at UW-River Falls as has his masters from Utah. We decided to split as kiln load and see what happens.

Things here at Plum Bottom are starting to wind down after a very successful season. Lots of new work and new ideas were explored over the summer and fall. I look forward to retreating to the solitary studio for the winter months to try my hand at some new ideas that have been rattling around. It becomes harder to experiment and keep things one of a kind as you find success with certain forms and glazes. The temptation is to lie back and enjoy the fruits of what you have accomplished. I really want to keep pushing myself right now – as uncomfortable as that may be. We’ll see what happens.

Nose to the Grindstone

Copper Reds

New work is in the gallery. 110 new porcelain pieces found their way into the gallery here at Plum Bottom. After getting back from Penland School of Craft it was a bit of a challenge to get back to work in the studio. I just put my head down and started working. A month later some nice pieces came out of the kiln. I really believe sometimes the most important thing in your work evolving is to do just that, work. It was a valuable lesson to not judge the work too harshly while in process and be thankful for an opportunity to express myself creatively – even if at times there is more struggle than inspiration.

A Few of the 350 Test Tiles

The Joy of Test Tiles!

It feels good to be back at Plum Bottom after being at Penland School of Craft. I spent over a week mixing and testing different glaze combinations. I really wanted to get a feel for the individual raw materials that go into glazes. After a few days of lecture by Jeff Zamek I developed an idea to mix 350 different glaze combinations to gain knowledge into this arena. Nancy O’Neill a fellow potter out of Washington D.C. thought “The Project” sounded worthy of her glaze mixing skills and lent her insight and expertise in this enormous undertaking. Truth be told, it was a bigger project than first anticipated, so much so that I am still waiting for half of the results to be shipped to me. A misfiring of one of the kilns while at Penland forced me to leave without all the finished tiles. What I feel this study gave me was a better understanding of the materials that make up the majority of glazes. This knowledge will lead to the development of my own palette of glazes that I hope to begin experimenting with this winter. Some of the fruits of this labor will hopefully start to be seen next spring on the newest line of porcelain work. So with that I’m back to work in the studio.

New Porcelain Work

Here’s a peek at a couple of the porcelain pieces that came out of the kiln(click the pics for larger images). I got really nice copper reds. I also have been experimenting with the above black and cobalt blue glazes. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results. You can see the majority of the new pieces on my website www.plumbottompottery.com. On Friday I am off to Penland School of Craft for my week long class with Jeff Zamek. It’s a class on glaze chemistry, I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the raw materials that go into glazes t gain better control over my glaze colors and textures. I’m excited for the class but also excited to go back to Penland. I studied there with Cynthia Bringle for two months about two years ago. I also want to see Nick Joerling, an old friend who does beautiful ceramic work. With all the potters and artists in the area I’ll be like a kid in a candy store. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few pictures while I’m gone to keep ya’ll updated as to what I’m learning. Angela and Becky will be holding down the fort here at Plum Bottom Pottery so the gallery will still be open everyday 10-5pm.

Glaze Monkey

New work about to be glazed.

Carbon Trap Shino

Time to get back to glazing! I leave for a glaze chemistry class at Penland School of Craft in a week and a half so I need to get some new work out into the gallery. I’ve been working on new textured mugs and a new style of tumbler. New work should be out in the gallery by Aug19th. I will have about 100 new porcelain pieces to display. The pictures above show some of the new bisque work that is about to be glazed. I also wanted to show a picture of a new carbon trap shino glaze I have been working with. I really like the variation I get with the carbon trapped areas and the contrast with the bright orange of the non-trapped areas. You can expect more of these colors in the new work.