Northstar Pottery in Joplin!

Northstar Pottery is now represented by a local Joplin Gallery, Local Color Art Gallery & Studio. I have been showing and selling work here since June. I've been so busy ramping up my production for this new venture I have neglected my Blog - Sorry, this will improve. My hope would be that if you are in the Joplin area you will stop by and have a look at my work in person.

Gryphon Building

1027 South Main Street

Joplin, MO 64801

417.553.0835

10am-6pm Monday - Friday

11am-3pm Saturday

Closed Sunday

10am-9pm 3rd Thrusday Art Walk

Pots Coast to Coast!

It's exciting for me to think that I have now have my pots residing from Pennsylvania to California!

The Blue Brocade Bowl was commissioned and now finds it home near Sacramento, California. It measures 14 x 5 and was hand built out of porcelain. The brocade texture was stamped and both foot ring and rim were added at the wheel. The owner requested that I glaze the piece "Ice Blue".

Fired to Cone 6, June 2011.

Cups III

Cups II

It's been a few months since my last post because my studio has been pretty quite due to my right hand being injured. Good news is that it's now totally healed after being hospitalized and under going physical therapy to regain full range of motion of my thumb and fingers. I now have been working in the studio again for the past month trying to get the work flow going again and getting to know the clay again.

So, about what I've been up to. I'm still thinking about cups and mugs as you can tell. Below are a few images of my latest endeavors. I'm narrowing in on what I feel is a good size of mug, but I still feel they are slightly undersized. I am also working toward looking at developing my own style of mug. Something that has my signature to it style wise that I can call my own.

Enjoy and please comment.

4 Mugs: Cone 6 with multiple dipped glazes.

Series 6: Set of 6 mugs (only 2 shown), Cone 6,

multiple glazes applied by dipping,

black slip under glaze decoration.

4 Tea Cups: Cone 6, multiple glazes with black
slip under glaze decoration.

The Cup: Just Getting Started

I have rediscovered over the past month how much fun it is to make cups and mugs and I think I have started down a path of focused exploration with the form. I want to explore size, scale, form, handle shapes, surface decoration and as these pictures show glaze combinations.

All the mugs below are approximately 5" tall and 3.5" in diameter Fired to Cone 6 in an electric kiln.

Some of these combinations got a little crazy but I was feeling good and a bit whimsy when I glazed them. I was please with the out comes. What do you think?

Overall these feel a little small to me in scale. I started with about 1lb 8oz of porcelain for each mug. I will be experimenting with the right amount of clay and the size. The overall presence of the mug may be the most important factor in my mind at the moment. Too small it won't hold enough and no one wants it! Too big the beverage will cool before you can drink it all and no one wants it! To find the perfect size is my mission right now. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated.

Dinner for 6

My pottery output over the past few months has been sporadic and interrupted because of my heavy Furniture Design travel schedule, but I'm happy to report a good amount of forward progress in my craft despite the travel.

Over the past month or so I have had the opportunity to create a Dinner Service for 6 for a friend of mine and his wife. I believe these pieces represent some sort of milestone in my craft development. No longer do I seem to struggle so much at the wheel as forms come more naturally and I am also able to repeat them. The right glaze and application still seem to my biggest hurtle to push me to the next level, but I feel that I am now beginning to be able to consistently put multiple pieces out there with a good result consistently. As I do not pull my handles, but rather extrude them I have also struggled to overcome the disadvantage, but I again believe I am starting to make progress in being able to apply the handle to the form.

Below are a few pictures of my Dinner for 6 series of plates, bowls and cups. They are all made of porcelain and fired to Cone 6. I am using a combination of 3 glazes applied to each piece. I think the matte steel green blue interior is rather unique and compliments the more rustic exterior. I have tried to achieve a more wood fired appearance on the exterior using an electric kiln.

Enjoy.

Extruded Handles

Bowls, 5.5" with Steel Matte Green Interior glaze

Glaze applied to the plates by pouring on to the surface

and moving plate to spread glaze in desired way.

Dinner plates are 10" x 1.5" I like a higher lip on my plates

to help retain food more easily (espeically if you like eating in

front of the TV).

Top view of plate and bowl set stacked and nested.

Rustic Bowls

I decided to push my throwing ability by trying to produce several larger bowls. I combined them with my latest combination of glazes that I feel are very rustic and have a wood fired look, all though the are fired only to Cone 6 in an electric kiln.

Each bowl used between between 7-10lbs of clay

and measure about 10-11" in diameter.

This is a slightly larger bowl measuring about 12" in diameter using a

Matt Sage Glaze with secondary glaze poured on the interior.

Not so rustic but more Arts N' Crafts perhaps?