A year ago I tried making a couple of large lidded oval bakers. They turned out well and were sold as soon as they came out of the kiln. (Why does Dave Ericson a;ways show up to help unload?) I decided to try a longer run of the last week. Here is a simplified step by step of their making.

I started by throwing a series of low wide cylinders and reshaping them into a trefoil type oval.

The rim is thrown thick and formed into a gallery to accept the lid.

After the body of the pot has set up a while but is still pliable I throw the bottom. I like throwing rather than rolling it because i get that nice spiral in the center.

The body of the pot is then placed on the bottom and “wiggled” around until I feel it start to stick. I then smooth down the edges with my finger inside and out and cut all the way around it with a wooden knife tool and then trim away the excess clay from the bottom with a fettling knife.

Using a triangular rib I scrape away excess clay from the base and undercut it a little. I like to leave the “deckle edges” where they occur.

With the oval baker still on the wheel I stick a couple of handles on and pull them in place.

Next I cover the bakers with light plastic and roll out a slab of clay a little bigger than the pot for each one and set them aside.

After the slab has had time to stiffen up some I use a hard rubber rib to press the slab into the rim of the baker carefully stretching it to give it an inverted dome shape.

After I have finished shaping the lid I trim around the edge of the baker with a needle tool and let the lids and bakers dry and stiffen together.

When the lid is stiff enough to handle but still pliable I turn it over and trim it along the line left in the clay from the rim of the baker using a needle tool on the outside and a fettling knife on the inside. I also smooth the rim of the lid with my fingers and a little water if needed.

With the lid trimmed and smoothed I pull a strap handle, bend it and attach it to the lid. I fit the lid to the baker by gently adjusting the shape of the baker to conform to the lid and by shaping the lid with a sureform. This is only going to work if the baker is still somewhat pliable. THe moisture content of the baker is critical and can be maintianed by wetting the baker and keeping it covered until the lid is ready.

These six bakers were made and put together over a three day period.

Here are some teasers from yesterday’s firing. The sale is November 27, 28 and December 5, 10 am to 4 pm. There will be another firing out just before the December 5 date.

SOLD

Sold

Here are scans of the piece of mine published in The Log Book.

One of my standard production items is an oval platter made with a rolled out slab on a plaster hump mold. I have made them for a lot of years but only this last year started making them with textured slabs like this.

I have never gotten around to getting a proper slab roller. I still roll them out by hand with out any sort of gage to get the thickness consistent. I like that aspect of them.

The mold is one I made years ago while still a student. I borrowed a wooden bowl and poured plaster into it to get this negative of the shape I want to make the piece. The slab is laid on the mold and the gross clay is trimmed away with a needle tool. After patting the clay a little I trim the clay to fit the mold and pat it a bit more. The clay sets up for a day or so and I remove it from the mold and round the rim with a rib tool.

The roulette used here was made by winding a piece of cord around a cylinder of soft clay.

This roulette was impressed with the thin edge of a wooden rib.

This slab was textured with a wooden roller that has cord glued to its surface.

Here I used a narrow wooden roller with fine cord glued to it.

HORSESHOE MTN. POTTERY

THESE POTTERY WARES ARE MADE BY HAND ON A LEACH STYLE TREADLE WHEEL BY JOSEPH BENNION.

THE FIRING IS ACCOMPLISHED OVER A THREE DAY PERIOD IN A TWO CHAMBERED WOOD BURNING KILN.

THE FUEL FOR THE FIRINGS IS ALL RECYCLED WOOD FROM BEETLE KILLED SAWMILL WASTE.

NO LIVE TREES WERE FELLED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS POTTERY.

THIS POTTERY IS COMPLETELY SAFE FOR KITCHEN AND TABLE USE WITH ALL TYPES OF WHOLESOME FOOD. NO TOXIC MATERIALS ARE USED AS INGREDIENTS IN OUR CLAY OR GLAZES.

IF YOU BUY THIS POTTERY YOU WILL HAVE GOOD LUCK IN FIVE TO SIX WORKING DAYS AND MY KIDS WILL GET FED.

I’m just two weeks away from the last day I will be throwing pottery this year. By then I’ll have enough ware to fire two to three times. My holiday sale days are November 27, 28 and December 5 then its off to Flagstaff with Sterling Van Wagenen to talk about a possible Grand Canyon film. When I return to Utah I’ll be scheduled for some hernia repair surgery that will put me out of commission for the rest of the year. I’ll likely start throwing again as soon as my doc says OK. Lee and I are gunning for a April or May Grand Canyon river trip that will be just the two of us. I’ll need to have a lot of inventory stacked up so I can take the time off and still be ready for my Memorial Day sale.
Here are some of the things I have cranked out the past week.

I have been making some roulettes out of bisqued clay and impressing them into bowls. I am also using the rope and cord rollers I made a while back.Here are some examples of what I have so far including close-ups of detail.

From time to time I make a few of these large chargers with slogans on the rim.

Lee and I drove down to Phoenix/Scottsdale last week and hung our show at the Marshall Gallery and spent the week at the NCECA Conference. it was a great time. I saw dozens of old friends and made many new ones. We were selling Lee’s salve and our Grand Canyon river trip that will take place in June of 2010.

This is NCECA, dinner and conversation with old and new friends, Ah Leon and Eric Serritella. I made pots for Creative Industries and they let us work out of their booth.

Von Allen put together a show of BYU Ceramics graduates for the conference. As ever at that institution as was the token potter, a distinction I rather relish.
The show at the Marshall was nice. Ron Richmond and Doug Fryer, both neighbors and friends had work in the gallery and it played well against ours. Ron’s pieces worked especially well as he uses my pottery as props in a lot of his still life paintings.


My pottery interspersed with Lee’s and Ron’s work.

I unloaded my last woodfire eight days ago. It has been a busy time or I would have posted these sooner. I had to fall right back into throwing for next weeks firing. I am selecting work to take down to Scottsdale. I’ll be throwing the last of them Monday and then getting my taxes done while they are drying and in between more gardening. Good thing I don’t have to work for a living.

Tea Bowls are always a nice place to start from.

Tea Pots and detail.

Commemorative plates.

Hump molded platters showing off the new tools.


There is a little of what I got. It was one of the better firings I have had in this kiln. Really only two or three pots that came out less than expected. The large bowl pictured has a joint crack visible on the inside. It will make a nice tomato planter for the deck.

Lee and I will be in Scottsdale/Phoenix April 6-11 for this show and the NCECA Conference there. Lee will spend most of her time at the conference sitting in the Creative Industries booth in the commercial exhibitor’s hall selling and talking about Mom’s Stuff. I’ll be in and out and will throw some pots in the CI booth.
Please note that the time on this card is wrong. The show opening is from 7 until 9 pm.

The Studio Potter piece is out in print. I highly recommend a subscription to this journal. Their issues are always packed with thoughtful articles and great images. Besides they are nonprofit and need your subscription. Please check out their web site.