Eagerly Anticipating

Another purple pitcher, but a different style both in shape and glaze application

The Mud and Spirits Pottery Show this weekend in Post Falls. Twenty potters and ceramic sculptors all with very different work set up in a lovely remodled old church, now community center; with live music, purty decorations, and wine tasting & snacks. This will be my 3rd. year participating with them and did very well those previous times.


Yes, I also love glazes that are not purple and loosly applied.
This is an example of my celtic knotwork pottery. The drawing on these pieces are all done freehand.


Wish I had time for one more firing before the show. I have plenty of work completed, but then do a lot of re-firing if the glazes are on the not-exciting-to-me scale I re-glaze and haven't had a chance to since my last firing. I guess I won't take those with.

I'm looking forward to much talk with other potters since there will be folks from several regional cities selling there.

Palouse Potters at Cowgirl Chocolates

Platter with purple glazes, I am going to keep working on this style!

The Palouse Studio Potters Guild Show at Cowgirl Chocolates begins Saturday, Nov. 17th. and goes through the Christmas season. We are holding a reception that afternoon as well with snacks. Marilyn has been very generous with us. Still, space requirements are such that we can't bring many items, so I am arguing with myself over what I want to bring. When they sell, I will replace them.

These pitchers are influenced by

the Medieval 'baluster' shape
but the surface decoration, glazes,

and glaze application are 21st. Century!!

Whatever the venue, I always want to bring the most recent things that came out of the kiln, although older work might be better sellers....I don't know, if I did know I would be a much wealthier person. Finally got to unload the kiln today. Some worked out well, others not so much. The glaze experiments didn't work out as well as I had hoped they would, the kiln fired at least a cone hotter, possibly more, because I programed a very slow cool-down, the temperature rise is counter-intuitive, but there you go.

This bowl has about a 2 qt. capacity
It really shows off the "huckleberry"

purple glaze

I am still discovering and amazed by the color of these purple glazes when applied to the textures I am using on the pots. The purples are so strong.

More on Medieval Pottery

During the Medieval European era eating from pottery was not favored by the Aristocracy. Wood cuts and illuminated manuscripts of the times show us that ceramic pots were more likely to be found in the kitchens or in the taverns. Still, ceramics were ubiquitous; shards of kiln wasters and broken pottery are found at almost every archaeological site. So many discarded pieces have led some to describe Medieval European pottery as the equivalent of the modern paper plates or Tupperware.

Her Antirian Majesty Miranda Faoltrina prepares to enjoy Amberguard's Harvestfeast.

In our “Modern Middle Ages” though, pottery is a popular and valued craft. People use ceramics for feast ware and there is increased interest in redacting medieval recipes and preparing them with the cooking methods and styles of pottery used during the period. There are some very ugly medieval pots out there. They were a utilitarian tool, often made without adornment and care for the shape. I suspect much of the clay near available near the land’s surface was short, lacking the kaolin that helped make the Chinese clay of the same period so plastic and which resulted in beautiful shapes.



Arthur Dearhurst, Baron Wastekeep, with his balluster drinking jug

I am not interested in replicating work unless I am delighted with it, this encourages me to research until I find shapes I consider strong and beautiful, of which there are aplenty. There exists a variety of styles of many of these medieval mainstays; I choose the styles I make through my own interest, from suggestions of customers and “beta testers”.