Opening the Kiln

Penguin wedding cake toppers

On Sunday morning, I get up early to unload my kiln and list new pieces in the afternoon. Here are the penguins! They were thrown, off centered and thrown again. Then the features were sculpted. I'm so happy with the lifelike expressions.

Here they are with the rest of the kiln load. The Birds Nest casserole is also pretty awesome, as are the flower bowls.

These are the Mama and Baby Bird bowls. Most of them are already sold but a few are still available, at LeeWolfePottery. Each of these birds is formed individually, so it takes hours to make this many, yet I never rush through it. Each bird must have a lifelike gesture to it. Some come alive quickly and some take more time, and they all get as much attention as needed. The little hand built bowls must be carefully formed, too. This rustic style doesn't mean that they are carelessly made! I like a certain flowing gesture to my organic shapes.. They must also sit well without wobbling, and support the birds in balance. One of the rewards I get is knowing that dozens of moms will open their present this Mother's Day to find a little piece of art.

Now I have some time to plant a few container gardens with organically grown violas we got yesterday at the Herb Festival.  Hope you all have a day of smiles.

Lessons from the nesting birds

This morning I awoke to a furious lecture from doves nesting in a tree. My cat had crept too close to their home, and the daddy shooed Wally away with wings opening and shutting in wild menace. Mama bird sang with frenzied staccato. Wally backed away.

Motherhood brings out this strange layer of love. Parenthood makes of us both nurturers and warriors. I will remember this as I make my mama and baby bird bowls. How love is both tender and fierce.

Forty Years of Zen

new flower bowls, available soon on Lee Wolfe Pottery

I have practiced Zen meditation for 40 years. Perhaps I have been practicing longer, as I recall days as a child watching leaves float on a stream and letting my mind float out of myself into the flow of fresh water, and letting an entire summer day pass in this serene mental vacancy.

Quite paradoxically, I am prone to ranting and swearing over a news story, an opinion I don't like, or how the type is getting smaller I SWEAR IT IS! on every single publication the older I get.

I like to think that the real me is the Zen-ified one, and that the angry raving person is just a reasonable reaction to all those freaking idiots who haven't learned to keep their mouth shut!...but essentially, I feel very at home in myself when I'm raving, and sometimes I even enjoy it, especially with other people who like to get pissed off and make snarky remarks while we are drinking their good wine.

I thought, many years ago, that the anger would leave me entirely one day and I would be left with only perfectly loving feelings and a desire to serve humanity. This has not occurred, so far. Lately, I notice a kind of paradox in everyone. The people I know who are the absolute smartest in some ways are appallingly dumb in others. The kindest people can be mean to themselves.

In case you were wondering, this hasn't the slightest thing to do with flower bowls. These are just the empty vessels my hands shaped while I was thinking about all this.

Works in Progress

My work is not made as one might bake a cake, from start to finish. I work in cycles. One day pieces are thrown on the wheel, the next day trimmed and embellished. Another day is spent hand building plates, small bowls, and sculptures. It takes an entire day to glaze for a kiln firing. 

Last night I loaded the kiln with noodle bowls, flower bowls, dinnerware, small bird and owl sculpted bowls. As these fire, the pots for the following week are set atop, to dry in the radiant heat. 

You can see that next week's kiln firing will have penguin wedding cake toppers, owl soap dishes, birds nest casseroles, pea pod casseroles, and Urban Rustic bowls. You will be able to see most of these in LeeWolfePottery.com. 

Why not on Etsy, you might ask. Well, Etsy has been redefining "handmade" lately. It now means 'anything someone claims to make with their hands, or somebody's hands, even if the individual handmade artisan is also a wholesale importer and distributor of things that are identical to that which one is handmaking. Or having other people handmake.' This blog explains it all, if you  haven't been enjoying the latest debacle.

Artisan Food, Artisan Pottery

I've been working on texture in clay, if you can even call that "working"; it consists of pressing, poking, and dragging things into the clay to see what happens. I've also refined how to roll clay into a circular shape so that the edges are the natural, untouched texture made by the process. they are not cut into shape. This is my first nesting bowl set made in this manner. You can find it on my website here.

I've also been studying a bit of food styling. Here is a simple shot, using some melon balls to show scale in my nesting bowl set. My props are beginning to tell a story about my bowls. The gray placemat was made by stamping onto fabric, a technique similar to my textured clay. the melon balls visually articulate the intention of my Urban Rustic series, which is to showcase wholesome, artisan food, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables.

My new frontier is to integrate my love of food with the styling of my pottery. My ceramic work is shaped in part by my own needs as a home cook and hostess. Here is a recipe I use all summer long. You can use the syrup sparingly for a light fruit salad or lavishly for a very tasty dessert. It is ultra-simple. Everyone wants seconds and the recipe, too!

Melon Balls in Grand Marnier sauce

3 cups- cantaloupe or mixed melons (watermelon is great in this), balled or cut into cubes

sauce:
1/2 cup orange juice
sugar to taste (4-5 T approx)
1/4 cup Grand Marnier liqueur

whisk sugar into orange juice. You will need a little less or more depending on how sweet the juice is. Fresh squeezed orange juice needs a bit less.Then add the Grand Marnier.

Pour sauce over fruit and allow to marinate 20 minutes- 1 hour before serving.

Savor!

Dinnerware sets

This is an old dinnerware set that I decided to revisit. I quit doing the flat bottom lace plates because they cracked so much that it got annoying.... okay, now that I think about it, an inch away from batshit crazy might be more accurate. These colors still draw me in, though. I had to reformulate a blue glaze but I think I may have it right. This one is Beach Cottage.

This is another older pattern- one of my most ordered dinnerware sets, Organic Soul. I had to remake it 3 times on my last order due to all the cracking. It was a bridal registry that just went on and on, week after week of dealing with those cracked plates. But I am trying to bring it back, too. I think that throwing a foot rim on the bottom may stop the tendency to crack along the rims. Anyway, I have a revised set of each in the kiln that will be out tomorrow.


Wish me luck!
If they come out well, i will list sample sets on my website, LeeWolfePottery

Happy Easter! Happy Pesach!

My home celebrates Passover and Easter, so my table is prepared to transition.

Passover bird plate

 

white bird plates

Blue bird plates

Wherever you are, and however you greet the spring, I hope that you set the table well!