bits and pieces.....

You will see here another before and after type picture comparison: just snapped a pic of the top of the kiln, still cooling and about 130 degrees, fired yesterday to about 2200 degrees at 4:30 in the afternoon at the end of a 12 hour firing cycle. The lower photo shows how grey and chalky pieces look before glaze firing. It is like a cake, batter becomes this beautiful chocolate dessert!
Also down there, a tiny teapot and cup for an elephant sculpture I made....YES, those were made on the wheel like a full-size piece :)


(pottery by Gary Rith)

making stuff, living the life.....

You will see below the parts that went into making the cake stand and car wall piece. I hadn't made a cake stand before, but the wife wants one from me for Christmas. You make it and you are like "this thing is wicked fragile, hope it survives drying and firing without cracking". I figure if it survives (I can make many many more, btw) it will be YELLOW!
Also, I was talking to Brett and Robin earlier in the week about an exhibit of my wall pieces in 2012. Sure, I do wall pieces, you have seen the 3 pigs or the cow over the moon, but in talking with them, I got an idea for BEAGLE RIDING IN A CAR adorable wall piece, and made one....you see the dome shape below, which became the car....and of course, you also see the DOG IN THE CAR which inspires art work like that (Penny and I went on a trip to hike in the gorgeous fall weather yesterday, soooo nice out!)

Pajamas, penguins, Penny, parties and polar bears: the postscript!

Yesterday the wife sees the first 2 photos here on the computer, of Spike with my (secret) new penguin PJs and she is like
"wait, that is my cat, that is my bed, but whose legs are in those penguin PJs, you don't have penguin PJs" and coincidentally, I was wearing them at that point and came out saying
"well, I have them NOW" and she is like
"you went back to the store after you got bear PJs and also got penguin PJs???" and I am like
"well, YES, I did....they were your favorite when we saw them!" and she is like
" :) "

You know how it is at home for passionate couples, sometimes it is a BEAR night...but maybe sometimes it is a PENGUIN night...do I have to spell it out?

Also, you see below, more shots from Kerry Brett and Terry's visit Sunday.......

PARTYtime: me in my Pajamas partying with Penny and pals...

Kerry and Brett came over Sunday with Terry and holy cats, my dogs and cats were all over them spreading the LOVE. These are my most favorite people on Earth: We never see them as much as we would like, but I swear: there is a lot of twins seperated at birth type conversation....and we talked, as you do, after mobsters, about vampires and zombies, and naturally I dreamt vampires and zombies all night....in my dream I made the mistake of trying to scramble the brains of a vampire with a golf club, which is what you do with zombies, and I was like "whoopsie!" and used the golf club to stake the vampires heart. It worked well. In my dream, I discovered that they aren't as bad as you first think, an invasion like that, because ZOMBIES AND VAMPIRES CAN NEITHER DRIVE or ride bikes.

Anyway, down below, you will see my new PJ pants, BEARS! Goes well with my favorite polar bear tee, yes?

NOT 6 am at all.....

People think the life of an artist glamorous, and it is! They see you in the studio, making brilliant work, noodling around. They see you at a fair, with a brilliant display of your items. Women don't throw their undies at me (like women throw their undies at the Rolling Stones during concerts), but people are suuuuuuuper nice and say tell me they love what I make. Its awesome.

BUT. There is always a but. Like, my pal Christi and I met in Rochester to do a fair at the armory. OK, let's do some math:
-Rochester from my house, about 108 miles each way, 2 hour drive. SO, with setup at 7am Saturday, I was up around 3:50am. On the road about 4:50 am, first artist to arrive at 7 am. Then you are carrying your boxes and display in and out and setting up until ten am. Then at 5, time to take it down. This was a very big fair, huge, with 80 plus artists, and ONE exit. All of us getting our stuff out the back door at five. Into the tiny lot. WELL, at 4:30 I told Christi, "I am gonna run around the corner and bring my car to the back door, please watch things" and I parked in SPOT NUMBER one next to the back door. I told Christi when I got back "Christi, grab your car, you could get spot 2, next to me!" and she did. Christi and I raced to see who could pack and leave fastest (remember, set up was nearly 3 hours) and I boasted I had once packed and left in 41 minutes. WELL, I would have tied Christi and left at the same moment, except I helped her carry a couple of items. So I am calling it a draw, not bad, at 48 minutes to pack up and be gone.... So, departed Rochester without getting lost at 5:48, home about 7:48.
Shows are hard work. I don't do too many of them anymore, because you get into bed and sleep the sleep of the dead.....until your beagle tells you to get up at 5 am, because she thinks it is 6 am and time for her breakfast :)

Anyway, awesome fair, we had a wicked great time. I met a zillion nice new people. The fair was the first I had ever been to put together and featuring young hipsters. The event intended to feature art outside the mainstream, fine and funky......my tribe for sure, loved it....

anyway, here is me and Christi...my camera was not working well, but you get the idea....

Saturday and beyond

In the post below, you see teapots on top. The turquoise teapot here is one of them. I am entering a small teapot competition this winter, and these 3 are my entries so far (might change my mind.....)
I could NOT be more excited about the turquoise pot, with the subtle blue checkerboard , yessssssss......gotta make more!
Gonna be in Rochester, NY Saturday at the Mayday Underground show at the Main Street Armory...c'mon out!
I won't be able to post for a couple of days.
Here is something to do, I need to leave you with homework:
IF YOU ARE NOT already a facebook friend of mine, consider becoming one! Go to FB and use my email to find me garyrith at yahoo dot com
Thank you and have an awesome weekend!

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

the kindergarten way......

(new pots, REALLY NEW, by Gary Rith)

One reason I started this blog was because customers always seem curious about what potters are doing. I feel ordinary and like I am doing ordinary things, but I guess we are a bit of an oddity, outside the mainstream of JOBBY-JOB life. Like, for example, I am always wondering what glass blowers are doing: now thats cool!

Anyway, so customers seem to like seeing what we are doing and making. Here is an example of the magical transformation that gets potters up in the morning: yesterday at 5:20 I had freshly glazed pots, top pic, and fired to about 2200 degrees, reaching it about 4:20 in the afternoon, then overnight the kiln cooled, I was dreaming, I swear I am not making this up, that the firing was VERY BAD, got up at 5:20 and popped the lid, and was relieved to see the lower pic : MOST PERFECT looking. I used a lot of my turquoise glaze on those items, and the temp is down to about 140 right now. Magic, eh wot???? More pics of these things later, when I can take them out and get a couple of pics....

You will see below i was messing with stamps. My old pal Susan and I lived in the same dorm in college, rooms next to each other actually, and knew each other pretty well way back when-25-30 years ago. We also student taught for a year in the college kindergarten together. The magic of FB brings old friends together again, and she sent me a boatload of old rubber stamps to mess with--I was trying to roll out and make plates with a rolling pin....as a kindergartner might.....

the wife will be appalled and upset when she sees....

(new teapot by Gary Rith)
I absolutley love my job, love my work. Except for mixing glazes. This is an old house with an old basement. It is dry, which is nice, AND THE HOUSE IS SO OLD you can see the logs...because this house was built as a log cabin on river stones originally in 1865, then added and adjusted, modernized in 1885 to the style then called "Italianate" and ...painted purple by the last owners.

Anyway, spiders or no, I would still hate mixing glazes, which consists of measuring and dumping powders and cleaning buckets. I do some in the basement where all the ingredients are kept (silica, talc, kaolin etc) and the outdoors--and it was a beautiful day and I need to get as many mixed before winter as possible.

OK, so, you know, the one yucky part of my job...what is to upset the wife? She will see this picture and be like
"you were down there with the spiders making a mess in YOUR BEST LAMBSWOOL SWEATER?".

Baking Love....

You're like "what does the pig stuff have to do with baking?" and it doesn't, really, but it is a nice mug, hmmmmm? CanNOT have too many pigs, oh noooooo....

Me and the wife were in Boston one day and saw the heart cookie cutter and, well, it gets a lot of use. I loooove baking and loooove baking scones. I have been debating sharing my scone recipe with you. I have my secrets. This is like, the secret every MAN should have: how to score chicks through scones! Because, OH YES, it was through these scones that I won the heart of the wife.....and win it again all the time....

well, alright.

Gary's scones
-preheat oven to 400
-in large mixing bowl, put in 8 tbs margerine, microwave 27 seconds
-add large egg, STIR, add 1/2 cup yogurt--I use soy yogurt--stir some more!
-dump in 2 cups flour--if it seems sticky, you may add more flour
-stir in 1/3 cup sugar
-stir in 1 1/4 teas. baking powder, STIR!
-add dried cranberries or raisens or nuts or all of that!

Turn mix onto floured counter, knead like bread. You may have to add flour if its sticky. Roll out flat nearly an inch thick and cut into wedges or use a heart cookie cutter.....lay scones onto cookie sheet and bake 9-10 minutes. Check at 9 minutes for golden edges, they will start to burn easily, careful!

oh GOSH, not another yellow teapot??????

(new pottery by Gary Rith)
Why YES, this small one just out of the kiln, looks good with its 2 big brothers eh WOT?
Yesterday afternoon Penny and I had to pick up the wife from work, so we went to our favorite spot--Cornell University's arboretum. Oh GOSH its pretty, even now that most of the leaves have fallen. There is a "modern" sculpture garden that doesn't look so modern anymore, and these geese did not seem too concerned about her.....