Kreeger Pottery

Checking in..

After the kids got to bed I spent the evening in the studio throwing soup bowls while I watched the debate. I’ll keep the politics out of this post because it’s late and I’m tired. I’m sure McCain has been given his Ambien by now and is off to dream up his next “bold” leadership move….alright…maybe I’m not so tired that I can’t take a shot at McCain. I figured I would stick with soup bowls so that as I got angry at the TV I wouldn’t lose my concentration on a complicated form.

No pics. You’re just going to have to trust me that I’ve been productive. I even had to clean off a few shelves of junk/stuff/things so that I had space to put some freshly thrown work on.

As is always the case when I’m getting good deal of work thrown it’s been pouring all day and my studio is as damp as can be. I have some more stoneware to throw tomorrow and then it will be trimming/assembling/managing the drying of everything.

Evangelina is off playing in the sun in Florida visiting her sister this weekend. Luckily, I have Morgan, our sitter/Clarita’s pre-school teacher, coming over to help out for a good portion of the day so I should be able to get some more studio work done. I unfortunately decided against heading out to Truro to check out Randy Johnston’s workshop. The upside is that I’ll have some dedicated studio time tomorrow to focus on work.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/27/2008 04:45 am | 1 Comment

Missed Opportunities…hopefully not

Just a quick post as it’s late and I’m still tired from getting home from Fenway at about 1:30 last night. I’m getting a little too old for that. The Sox lost last night but tonight they clinched a playoff berth…bad luck for us because the party was just about right in front of our seats with all of the players coming out of the clubhouse after being doused in champagne. Papelbon literally stole all of the bases and gave them to fans. Mike Lowell sprayed champagne over the fans who stuck around to watch the festivities. Too bad….if they had won last night our first ever trip to Fenway Park would have been ridiculous. It was still a great night and I’m glad that I was able to surprise Evangelina with the tickets…she was thinking that we were just going to dinner. Well, I guess we did….hot dogs and overpriced beer. It was fantastic!

Anyways, I got an email from Truro Center for Arts at Castle Hill letting all of the Cape Cod Potters members that there was still space in the Randy Johnston 2 day workshop this weekend. I hadn’t been planning on going but I feel like this is one of those moments that I’ll be kicking myself over if I miss it. Evangelina is heading out of town this weekend so I’m not sure how much babysitting I can line up on this short notice. I already have a sitter coming on Saturday to help out so I’m thinking if I can at least sneak up there for a day it will be worth it. I have taught workshops at Castle Hill often and I’ve always enjoyed heading out there. They have a great variety of artists teach but it’s typically in the summer so even if it’s someone I’m dying to see there’s no way I can sneak out of the gallery to check it out.

If the stars align correctly hopefully I’ll be out in Truro this weekend. It’s been years since I’ve been to a workshop. Maybe it will do me some good as I’m smack dab in the middle of a throwing session getting ready for my November shows.

Fenway Pics tomorrow….and maybe even some pics of pots I’ve been working on.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/24/2008 03:07 am | 1 Comment

At Fenway. Have a good night everyone.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/22/2008 11:31 pm | 1 Comment

Heat

I’m just sort of catching up on the rest of the trimming and decorating that I didn’t finish over the weekend. I’ve also been looking into some heat for the studio. Since this is my last winter here I don’t really feel like putting in a whole new system consisting of a new boiler and fixing whatever is wrong with the baseboard heat. The quote I got was pretty large and since I won’t be around to see any of the return on the investment it didn’t make sense to pour money into it now. I’ve been looking at some infrared overhead warehouse type heaters but I have low ceilings and I have absolutely no clue how much those cost. I might take a trip to the woodstove store to look at wood/gas/pellet stoves for some options. I guess I shouldn’t have traded Mark a woodkiln for all of those firings a few years back.

Anyone have any ideas for cost-effective heating solutions for this winter? Last winter was spent with a space heater and clay that averaged 40º-45º isn’t going to cut it this year. Glazing wasn’t too fun either.

I got accepted to the ACC Baltimore Wholesale/Retail show so I need to have a productive winter. My freezing cold studio definitely slowed me down last year. But, it’s not too bad because this is my last Northeastern winter as next year will be spent with some A/C on down in Austin.

Tonight we’re off to Boston for our Anniversary. Evangelina and I have never been to a game at Fenway and I thought, rather than go out for a nice dinner…how about some hot dogs, over-priced beer and a baseball game. I can’t wait. I don’t follow baseball that closely but apparently with a win tonight the Sox can clinch a playoff spot. Apparently, this year is either copper or wool for the gift….whoops. Next year is pottery so that should work out well.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/22/2008 06:15 pm | 4 Comments

Trimming

Last night I set out to trim those large bowls and platters I made earlier in the week. Problem was, I don’t have a bat large enough to trim them on. I really didn’t feel like making a wet chuck for them since the bowls are fairly deep.

So today I’ll be borrowing a jig saw from my friend Ben and then I’ll be out back making a couple new bats.

If all goes well I’ll trim those bowls , finish up some decorating, get a quick clean-up done so I can get a fresh start together for the morning and still have time to take a quick ride on the motorcycle. That’s pushing it though…that’s a lot to get done for me on a Saturday and I would also have to either sneak on my bike out or get permission to leave Evangelina with 3 crazy kids during crazy afternoon time. We’ll see how it all goes. Monday is our 7th anniversary….it would be nice to make it until then.

Once I decorate and trim I’ll try to get some more pics up.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/20/2008 02:21 pm | 3 Comments

More Honduran Pots

I’m tired and it’s late. I did have a fairly productive day even though the morning was taken up with errands in the big city of Hyannis.

Here’s another pot that Evangelina and I brought back from a trip to Honduras a few years back.

It finally made it’s way into my work.

And…some more incised line decorations on another pot.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll have some words to go along with these images…but for now, it’s off to bed.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/18/2008 03:01 am | 3 Comments

Going Big

I decided to really work on scale. My next big show is CraftBoston Holiday in November. I’m planning on laying out my booth differently and bringing more substantial pieces rather than focusing on smaller functional wares. I’ll bring that as well, but I want to feature some medium and large scale work.

These first 2 images are a 24″ wide platter that I threw yesterday. The clay was mighty stiff so I basically beat it down and then centered and opened it. I’m hoping to make another video soon. Maybe it will be a large platter demo…we’ll see if I ever get around to that. I would have to clean up my studio a little first. Anyways, it’s been years since I’ve made a platter this large. The downside of relying on someone else’s wood kiln for most of your firings is that I have always been hesitant to bring larger pieces over. Firing my reduction kiln again changes all of that.

I really liked how the platters came out last firing so this is a big bowl with the same incised lines. It’s about 20 inches across and maybe 10 inches tall.

I started to throw this 10 pounder of clay and sort of lost my way…or I may not have had a real plan going in other than bigger than my typical 4-7 pounds of clay. I squared it and then looked at it and I liked it but it didn’t seem to feel like one of my pots. I then asked myself what the traditional and stiff looking rim was for. I then made a few more without a defined rim…closer to my smaller wobbly vases.

Still a little stiff, but I liked the direction it’s going. These are going to be fun to decorate.

I have a few more of these squared and semi-wobbly vases. I’ll take some pics and put them up after lunch.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/17/2008 12:22 pm | Comments Off

Old Fashioned

As I’ve said…Evangelina and I have been watching a lot of “Mad Men” on AMC. The main character, Don Draper, keeps ordering one of my favorite drinks. I haven’t had one in ages so I think tonight’s cocktail is going to be one of these…

And, apparently, if I was an ad man I could be having one right now instead of the coffee in Mark’s mug.

Now, where did my assistant go? I think we need some ice in my office.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/15/2008 07:34 pm | 2 Comments

Platters

Here are a few of the platters with the incised lines, celadon glaze on the B-Mix clay body.

I’m pleased. The first one is already sold and being shipped out shortly. There was a little pinholing in the second one. I might try to re-fire it.

They are all roughly 16 inches in diameter.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/15/2008 05:59 pm | Comments Off

Big Bowls

The rest of the firing came out well. The larger platters and bowls turned out really nicely. I’ll try to get some pics posted soon.

I just finished making 2 large bowls in the studio this morning. I’m hoping to make a couple more later today. I’m always reminded of this set of pictures from one of Susan Peterson’s books when I’m making large bowls. This is nothing like how I make them but I did use this technique of setting the rim very early on. I think it worked pretty well. I’ll get some pics of my own posted soon but for now I’m going to wedge up some more clay for a few more pots before lunch….or so I’m ready to go right after lunch.

Posted in Uncategorized on 09/15/2008 03:23 pm | 1 Comment

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