cutting hardie backer board or durock for the tile base in a metal table

I have finished cutting and snipping the durock (cement board with woven fiberglass threads inside) for several small metal tables.  Here are some of the tools and a photo of the 'nipping' process which I use to remove little parts on the outer edge which need to be rounded off.

New Hexagonal Tile Cutter's Production

Here are the tiles, hexagonal, with one little diamond one filling in the front edge space-----cut and drying on the old pieces of sheetrock (gypsum board), which had been duct-taped around the edges.  I stack the sheetrock and tiles up, ending with a final board covering the tiles, so they will dry flat.  Using the tile cutter also helps keep the tiles flat since I don't have to roll the tile up off of the cloth/table to release it.  If I am cutting more of a puzzle-style set of tiles, I can slip the set, still on the thin sheeting, off of the piece of granite I use for a flat rolling surface, and onto a piece of sheetrock, cover with another piece of dry-ish sheetrock, and let it get to leatherhard before I do the final puzzle cutting and pulling the clay off the sheeting.  (too many sheets,  sheesh!)  
I think I may tile the old Steelcase desk (that's Peter's, but is in my studio,) just to try out the effect.  And I may also try the beeswax/mineral oil finish, which I did on a square plate, recently, instead of a glaze.  (I've been looking at old French tiled floors.) I used to have the pugmill on the desk, but have moved it over to a workbench, next to the extruder, so there's not that much weight on the desk right now.  Except for Paulie, now and then.  Diet time for kitties.
Coming up, I'll show some images of the dies I make out of clay, for the 4" Brent extruder barrel.  

crop circles

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Magic+Valley+Regional+Airport,+Twin+Falls,+Idaho+83301&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&cd=4&geocode=Fco_iAIdmB4t-Q&split=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&hq=&hnear=Magic+Valley+Regional+Airport,+Twin+Falls,+Idaho+83301&t=h&ll=42.380865,-114.007187&spn=0.028214,0.053043&z=14&iwloc=A

comment from Randy---thanks!

thanks for your idea of doing a hexagonal table, Randy  (I haven't figured out how to post comments, yet, but will).  I, too, while having lunch out on the porch yesterday, had a brainstorm, since I have a table base which has a triangular top, onto which I was going to put a circle top, cut from the silica-based handyboard---3/4",  (not the durock cement board, 3/4 inch, with the fiberglass imbedded.  )  And, quite frankly, cutting a circle is a pain, ---I have to cut a lot of straight lines and then take a tile cutter or plier and nip off the uneven parts)  so--while chewing on whatever was my clean-out-the-fridge lunch, I thought,  hmmm, I could simply make a lot of hex tiles, filling in the spaces along the outer edges with the diamond shaped tiles, fire them all, take the measurements, and then make a hexagonal table, which would mean that I could cut and break straight edges for the hex table, and not have to try to cut a circle!  Thanks, again, to Randy,--I really believe that there are a LOT of really smart people out there, and that, together, we can figure out all sorts of things... (like health care?)
The next post will show the hex tiles, drying on old pieces of sheetrock (drywall), and then (ta da!) I will show the clay dies for my 4" Brent extruder, which I make from the same red clay I am using for the pots, fired to a cone 2, (pots and dies), out of which I can extrude edge tiles  (nose tiles).  I am pressed to keep on track, here, since Bruce is showing me youtube feeds on his computer that show how many potatoes can be taken out of an area (a whole truck load in three minutes),--go to Magic Valley, Idaho, and go to the 'airport', and then go to google maps, and then go to regional airport at Twin Falls.....He's doing a unit for his 5th-6th graders using Michael Pollen's  The Omnivore's Dilemna.   Aughhhhhhhhhhh  (OK, I digress:   the next post shown above will be the crop circles, for the irrigation of potatoes in Idaho)..........

tile cutters

I recently bought another tile cutter from Georgie's--a hexagonal one, and am cutting tiles for tables with it. Because the plunger plate is metal, I usually add a piece of luann plywood which I glue to the face plate, and which then makes the release of a wet clay tile easier.  The first tile cutter I had (4 inch square--from back in the '70's) did not plunge the tile out beyond the frame of the cutter, so, until I glued that thin piece of wood onto the plate, I could not get the clay off. [top photo, plunged all the way out.] These are photos I used to write a letter to the helpful hints section of Ceramic Monthly.  More photos of the hex cutter and drying tiles to follow.

First dinner outside, on the porch

The first dinner outside on the porch's tiled table, after winter's storms, and a clearing up of the yard day.....a quick and dirty fixing of Annie's organic pasta, with those funny, roundy carrots, steamed, --- and fresh snips of shallot greens.  Orange and yellow.

Glazed work is done; new work started.

It's almost the end of March, and I have finished decorating the bisqued ware from last year, and am starting on new work.  Some of the pieces will go to The American Gallery in  Sylvania, Ohio, some to the Collectors' Corner at the Toledo Museum of Art.   Here's the center section of a tiled table, along with some tile work on a three-shelved cart.  When it stops raining, I'll wheel the cart outside, and take a photo without all the pots on it.  

Pots at the gallery in Red Lodge, Montana

http://www.redlodgeclaycenter.com/lists.php?aid=11&type=artist

In December, I sent several boxes out to the gallery at Red Lodge, in Montana--here's the link to the gallery's web site, and the page of my work.

Yunomi for the AKAR Gallery, to benefit "Studio Potter"

Here are some of the finished Yunomi from the set which is on it's way to AKAR Gallery in Iowa City. 

Yunomi for AKAR

The maiolica colorants are applied onto the unfired glaze, working, first, with areas to be waxed, then with the larger color areas.  Details are added last.

Yunomi, glazed.

Once the tea bowls are glazed, I begin thinking about all the ways I'd wanted to decorate them--a little brainstorming---more photos of the decorating to come.

Getting ready to decorate:

I am taking photos of our compost pile in the bricked garden that Peter made for us---we move the pile around every year, and this time we circled some old wire.  This afternoon I'll be decorating the glazed yunomi (every day tea bowls) for the AKAR Gallery, using the compost as inspiration. 

My Neighbors!

The Bieber boys have been working in the studio with me and their mom, Sheri!

Yunomi

I'm working on a set of Japanese tea bowls for 'every day use':  they're called yunomi.  They are taller than the tea bowls used for the traditional tea ceremony.  When they are done, they will be shipped out to the AKAR Gallery in Iowa, and will go onto an online sale in February.  This year I am using our compost containers for inspiration.  We put two new ones up, using some old fencing that we'd gotten a number of years ago to put around an older garden so the puppies wouldn't run through just after a planting. 

Tiles for Tables

Just before the sale, I finished firing tiles for an old table that we eat on during the summer months  (spring and fall, too).  It's in a metal frame, and is brightening the front porch.  I have several more outdoor, wire tables to be tiled, coffeetable style, and am thinking about extruding a raised, thin tile that would fit inbetween the square ones.  The effect would be something like the large flower pot in an earlier posting.

In 1958 I was given a penpal from Finland!  Her name was Raija and she was studying English; I, French.  We wrote to each other steadily for ten years, through high school, college, and her marriage and birth of two sons, while I went to graduate school.  In the following thirty years, we lost track of each other, until Bruce received a grant from the school where he was teaching, so that he could travel to the International Horn Symposium in Lahti, Finland.  I wondered (since I was going to go with him) whether or not I would be able to find Raija again. When I wrote to her old address, she was still there!  We were able to visit with her during our trip in 202, and we continue to write. She has recently retired and has been drawing, more.  Over the summer she sent me a postcard with her artwork, which I then put onto a tile, now on it's way to Helsinki.

WHEW!

After the party's over, Paulie relaxes for a little snack.  Thank you, everyone, for supporting our efforts!  I'll be mailing work out to the gallery in Red Lodge, Montana this week, and delivering to the American Gallery in Sylvania, OH, and will still have work for sale in my studio.  About mid-week, I'll begin to decorate for the next glaze kiln firing, finishing up the ornaments that our customers decorated during the sale, and working on tiles and the rest of the plates and bowls.

Kiln Accident...

One of the carrots tipped over during the firing, and rested on the adjacent shelf, simultaneously  adhering to the nearby pitcher.  We served miso gravy in it Friday evening, and various names came up  (gravy with a carrot on the side--Ted Ligibel's addition).  The carrot's perfect horizontal alignment (though something that could be arranged if the carrot had been attached at the leatherhard stage) is a fluke, but amusing....Usually, kiln accidents are much more dramatic, and unforgiving.  The rest of the carrots, after the firing, are resting in a narrow casserole.

The Kiln Fills Up

Decorated pots fill the kiln, as the final shelves are loaded up and the kiln is ready for firing.

A kiln load of bisque--

It's Sunday noon, and the bisque is unloaded from the kiln, and waiting for the waxing.

Unloading the bisque kiln

On Sunday, I'll be unloading the last bisque kiln before the holiday sale:  more platters, covered containers, and some work done by Sheri's three boys, plus anything else I could fit in.  Carrots for the rabbits, mugs, etc.---photos to follow, tomorrow.  Meanwhile, here's a picture of Blue, my friend Barbie's miniature horse--he's quite special!

More about the Rabbits~~

I have a new person working with me in the studio--Sheri Bieber--she lives just down the road to the west of me, and is learning about the pottery business! Of course we spend a lot of time talking, but we work, as well---here she is, cutting clay mini-slabs to be pressed into the bok choy plaster cast, which are then used as ears on the rabbits. She has also been learning how to roll and cut the clay tiles, and has pugged clay with me. She has a good sense of working with the clay, and is not afraid of trying things on her own initiative! I know I'll be learning from her, as well as she, from me!

more about the garden rabbits:

After the rabbit forms are thrown, they are trimmed at the bottom end to remove the extra clay, then paddled and scraped smooth. They're then plopped on their side, with a small pinhole in the formerly bottom end, to allow some of the air to escape. This hole will be covered by a tail made from clay pressed into a plaster cast of a tree fungus which I made while we were living in Connecticut. The ears are pressed into a mold of bok choy, made at about the time I built my studio, in the mid-80's. Max the Cat holds down the other side of the worktable.

hallowe'en visitors!

After I'd gotten the handles on the mugs, our friends, the Ligibels, came over...with a surprise visitor!---Ted's mom, Angela---a.k.a. the Fuller Brush Woman! She'd been visiting her grandkids' school, and was still in costume---what a great Hallowe'en Treat!

New Projects

I'm beginning several new projects, though they are forms which I have done, before: mugs (drying upside down, and without their handles), both short and tall; tiles for an outdoor round table, which I hope to have finished for my December sale; and garden rabbits. The rabbits are a more involved form, so I will be showing some of the phases in the next few posts, and talking a little more about how they got started. The body of the rabbit is thrown, so what you see, here, is a collection of five rabbit body and head forms on end. They began as an extension of some pottery which belonged to a woman whom I was taking care of, and who owned a set of Dedham Pottery ware. She was Helen Tee-Van, an artist from the '20's, and lived near me in Connecticut. to be continued.....



           

autumn, around the studio and house

Fall is here, and I AM working in the studio, though lots of work has to be done in the yard, as well. Our maple in the front yard is once, again, a glorious golden color--always a surprise after a spring and summer of green. (We don't, apparently, have very long memories.) In the studio, I am throwing plates, bowls and mugs, and rolling slabs for platters. A young woman who lives down the road is starting to work with me making tiles; photos will follow towards the end of the week.

Last weekend at the Erie Orchards

This is my last weekend at the Erie Orchards, in Erie, MI---I've been next to PeeWee the deer, and am surrounded by apples, and pumpkins, and people! In the studio, I am getting clay ready for throwing, and for slabwork. Most of the bisqued ware from August has been decorated and fired, so, now I'll be thinking about shapes and forms that I want to make for the next two months before the studio sale. I still have a few orders, but hope to try out some new forms which I've been thinking about.

pea vines from the fall garden---

I'm finishing up the decoration for the last of the glazed bisque ware (or, trying to), so that the shelves will be clear before I begin to make more work. Orders from this last batch are done, so I have some time to try new patterns, and the garden has had a 'rebirth' since August, when we finally pulled the last of the weeds and replanted! Peas are growing, as are the cold weather salad greens, and the lavender looks grey and bushy. I am working, here, on a large platter, with the pea vines, and will do a similar pattern on the teapot and mugs.

Zippy

I have sad news: last Thursday, our old kitty, Zippy (the Zip, Zipster, Missizippi, and other endearments), died. She was 17 1/2, and I got her from Bill Shively who worked at the 577 where I was teaching. He brought four little kittens to work one day, in the back of his station wagon, with litter and food, and, for a dollar, I picked out the lively little black one. She was to be a gift to our son, Pete, who loves kitties. He was graduating from the 8th grade. I wryly thought this would be a good gift for him even though some of the other kids were getting computers;  our budget was a little more limited. After almost 18 years, I think Zippy outlasted, and gave more love, than those old computers! Zippy lived in the house, at different times, and in the studio, and was the boss of all the other kitties and dogs who came, and went. She was fiercely attached to us, and put up with our inconsistency and silliness. We miss her.

Time for orders

Now that fall is here, I am working on orders (at last! some say..) Here are some photos of a set of bowls: first, being thrown, then, being decorated after the bisque. They will match a mug sold earlier this summer, and one will eventually be chosen for the set of mug and bowl.