Glaze testing with Andy Martin's Show Saver

As a potter, admitting that you despise anything about the ceramic process, is often met with shocked looks and disdain. But here I am confessing, not for the first time I might add, that I HATE MAKING GLAZES. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! Wheeeeeee! that felt good......
But as much as I don't like doing it.......it still has to get done.
This week I maned up.....womaned up......and made some glaze tests.
Here are the results:


Andy Martin's Show Saver Base Glaze:
nepheline syenite 21.4
frit 3110 4.2
strontium carbonate 12.8
whiting 2.4
barium carbonate 22.8
grolleg (EPK) 2.4
silica (flint) 31.o
bentonite 3%


For Water Turquoise:
add: 4% copper carbonate
















For Purple:
add: cobalt carbonate .25%
manganese carbonate 3%



















For Grass Green:
add: chrome .5%
copper carbonate 3%
red iron oxide 1%

















For Ultramarine Blue:
add: cobalt carbonate .5%
copper carbonate 3%
















For Chartreuse:
add: .5% chrome
(be careful here. it calls for .5% not 5%. too much chrome is never a good idea)

















I am going to remake the purple and the grass green with less of each metal for a little less intense color. Next week I'll post test tiles.
Have a great creative week!!!!
Leanne P

finished bottles and chicken heads

Here is the finished group of bottles from the last post.
Like I mentioned previously they are glazed with:











Andy Martin's Show Saver Glaze:
nepheline syenite 21.4
frit 3110 4.2
strontium carbonate 12.8
whiting 2.4
barium carbonate 22.8
grolleg (EPK) 2.4
silica (flint) 31.o
bentonite 3%
add:
copper carbonate 4%

This glaze is AMAZING! I love it! Very stable, wide firing range- cone 3 up to cone 10, does well in oxidation or reduction, does awesome in a salt kiln, buttery surface.
I can't get enough of this glaze. Every time it comes out of the kiln I always think of candy, specifically Jolly Ranchers:)

Side note: I do not use this glaze on pieces meant for food because of the Barium content.





On another page.....or wall..... chicken heads. Everywhere!
When I am sitting in the studio carving, this is often what I see. Chicken heads peeking around the door, looking for treats from mama. So I just had to make one or two or 10......so you can have chickens peeking at you from a wall, or around a corner.






























































Later in honor of one of my bestest friends birthday........Giraffe Heads!
You know when you have a good friend and you can't think of one more thing to buy her/him? That is where I was this year. So I decided to make something just for her. She loves giraffes. So in your honor Lisa........

what's on the shelf......

what's on the shelf this week?
Lots of orders......
Commissions can be a great support system behind an artist during the slow months in the beginning of the year. I try to manage small orders throughout the year and save the big ones for January and February when I am really slow and don't have much to do. This year I taught Winter Term at a local college and didn't have quite as much time as usual. So these past couple of weeks I have been trying to finish many orders that have stacked up on my list. This group of bottles is due next week. They will be glazed a shiny turquoise called Andy Martin's Show Saver glaze.





Also on the shelf this week are many pieces coming out of the Lotus Series.
I have an order for 2 large loti, 3 medium and 7 small. So far I have made all but 4 small loti which I hope to finish today.























Off the shelf this week is a big order that I did for the Greensboro Children's Museum. The request was to make tiles and plates that thank the museum donors by having their name carved on the pieces. I had a wonderful time working with Betsy Grant and the staff at the museum.
In the following picture are the tiles that they have hung on the barn in the Edible School Yard.
Here is some information I have quoted from their website:

"The Edible Schoolyard History

The Edible Schoolyard is a teaching garden and kitchen where children and their families can learn how to grow healthy food and create delicious snacks and meals using fresh, local, organic ingredients. The Edible Schoolyard offers children a chance to build practical gardening and cooking skills, to connect with the natural world and to enjoy nourishing food.

The Greensboro Children's Museum has been selected to be the first children's museum in the country to have an licensed Edible Schoolyard, a program created by Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Foundation!

The Edible Schoolyard at GCM is expected to serve as a national model for other museums and children’s institutions nationwide promoting health and wellness in young children and families. "

The garden is exceptional and beautiful. They have chickens and rabbits.....and every vegetable, fruit tree, herb that one can possibly think of. What an amazing place to have in ones home town. I am proud to be a small part of such a wonderful museum.

what's on the shelf......

Hello out there!!!
It has been so long since I last posted. And if there are still people out there that follow this blog thank you for being patient.......thank you bunches.
Life has been simply put-crazy.
We have had some family emergencies, but thankfully things are looking better each day that passes. We have been very blessed.
On a lighter note, we have also had some really crazy fun shows this spring. The collaborative Alien show with my great artist friend Paige Cox, traveled to Winston Salem and Greensboro. In September, the show will travel to Columbia, SC to Southern Pottery Gallery.
We also had the best "Keep It Local" home show so far. A big thank you to all of you who came out and helped make the show such a success!
With all of that said, I am happy to say that I am recommitting myself to blogging. I have truly missed this connection that the blogisphere allows and the friends I have found out there. And on that note here is what is on my greenware shelf waiting to be bisque fired this week:
































pottery lingo:
green ware: formed pottery that is air dried but unfired and, thus, still raw clay.
bisque or bisqueware-is clay that has been hardened through a firing to a lower temperature somewhere around 1600 to 1800 degrees F. Bisque Firing is the first firing to harden the clay for glazing.

Keep it LocAL pEOPLE!

It is that time again! Spring has rolled around and we are gearing up for the 11th annual KEEP IT LOCAL show. Join us on Saturday the 23rd from 10-4 for a fantabulous day of fun!
Fellow artists include:

Melissa Blackburn- fused glass jewelry
Diane Mannino-fiber and fabric
Lisa Skeen- fiber and food
John Malpass-pottery
Kim McEntee-fabric dolls
Dani Keith- jewelry
Beth Feeback-painting
Adrienne Byrd- mixed media
Bonnie Hitchcock-pottery
Ann Lynch-pottery
Debbie McDaniel-pottery
Tammy Lamb-salsa
and of course me Leanne Pizio!-pottery and sculpture

We are also having our 2nd annual ART HUNT. To participate all you need to do is bring 6 cans of food to donate to the local food bank and you can hunt for a piece of art.
Can't wait to see you all there!

Alien Show

We are Here!.......

This show was a collaboration of Leanne Pizio and Paige Cox, two artists trying to imagine and then express the idea of alien life and landscape.
When we started talking about this show we began thinking of other worldly landscapes, color and the circus. Which led to dolls, parades, funeral parades, outer space, crop circles and aliens.
I think we left little remnants of all these ideas in the show but in the end though we focused on an alien world.
Paige Cox is an amazing fiber artist and a whiz at felt. She works from her studio at home in Greensboro, NC and you can see more of her work at lulugrove

It is not what I had hoped for......

Boo!

Alien Show Coming Up in March

WE ARE HERE: aliens, ufo's, and otherwise quirky visitors.

Come and see a fantastical, colorful Utopian about aliens and their landscape. Paige Cox and Leanne Pizio present to you their interpretation of our friends from outer space. Urban Artware. March 4 thru 31st.

More to come..........

Keep it LocAL pEOPLE!

It's that time again! Come on out and see us this Saturday!

Gearing up for Fall

Wow! It has been way too long since my last post. A big apology for my lapse.....it has been a crazy end of summer and early fall. At the beginning of summer I got a chance to make some artwork for a showroom at the Furniture Market. This has kept me really busy especially with my upcoming schedule. I would post some of the pieces but they went off separately as soon as they were finished so I don't have many images. Next week, when Furniture Market starts, I will have a chance to take pictures of the showroom with the pieces inside. I will definitely post them then.

Now on to the fall season. I promised a couple of customers that I would post my schedule for the fall. If you live far away please bear with me for continuing to post about shows and such.
Schedule:
1.Fall Pottery Festival. October 24th, 11:00-5:00pm, Greensboro Curb Market,301 Yanceyville St. Greensboro, NC
2. Fall "Keep It Local" art and pottery show. October 30th, 10:00-4:00pm, Leanne's House, Oak Ridge, NC
3. Hawk Spirit Show.....November 5,6,7.....Reidsville, NC.....address coming......
4. Diane Owens Home Show. November 12, 13th, San Diego, CA.......addresses and times coming.
5. Jessica Gaston's Home Show. November 19-20th, San Fransisco, Ca........addresses and times coming.
6. Collaborative Installation Show (so far unnamed) Leanne Pizio and Paige Cox. Opening Date December 9th. Show runs from December 9th until maybe February? Southern Pottery Work Center and Gallery. Columbia, SC. Show times coming.
7. I have applied for a show on December 12th. If I get in I will post the place and times.

Besides working really hard, I have been having a really fun fall. The chickens are super crazy and such good entertainment for an over worked artist.

I hope all of you have been having a super great, fun, productive fall.
can't wait to tell you more about the collaborative show I am doing with Super Artist ( I really mean that ) Paige Cox. Go see her here @ LuLuGroove. She rocks!(the picture above is a hint)

Leanne

Thinking about the gulf....

Softly dreaming....

heat

The heat has been outrageous this summer! You would think that being a potter and one who works around kilns and flame that I would be a little more tolerant of heat........a no. I am grumpy and itchy and edgy and unable to sit still. So to ease away the waves of hot humidness that is life here in the south.....some pictures of fun stuff to make you smile....
















Frieda out by the studio

















KiKi in the yard
















Blue and Chickweed asleep on the couch.














Bird Bird, Kimy and Frieda in the gallery

Meditation Hut

Last year I started the New Year with a resolution to meditate each day. When I began, the process was strange, unfamiliar and hard to accomplish. As the days went by, I began to see the benefits of this old, amazing process. I was more centered, calmer, less anxious.....my mind was less unruly, and I felt more connected to everything. Alas, for many reasons, my practice of this magical art eventually declined as I got busy in my fall season.
Well, long story short, Will (sweetest husband ever) made me this beautiful and super cute meditation hut to inspire a new practice to begin.
As soon as it is ready I am going to paint it and begin decorating. I can't wait!

Organization versus Chaos

Which one are you?

After visiting a good friend and fellow artist this month...Ms. Cynthia of The Fairies Nest, She took me see her studio. Not only was it a beautiful space, but compared to my studio we could all agree that it was immaculate. The floor was clean, the work space was organized, the fabrics were all labeled, books were on shelves.....and the most awesome part.....there was clean space to work. Hmmmmmmm.....imagine that.....a clean table to work on without having to clear a space.....this is an artists dream. I have written about this before. My need to work in chaos. I don't enjoy it. I crave order. But it is just not to be. I will say this though.....at least i haven't gone this far.....Francis Bacon's Studio.....yet.

In the book Encounters with Great Painters Bacon states, "My personality has several facets. For example, I like perfection. I even like perfection on a grand scale. In a sense, I'd like to live in a very grand house; but since one makes such a mess when one paints, I prefer to live in clutter, on a pile of broken objects and memories. I think all of us have these two sides. One side craves order, the other craves chaos. We have to fight to impose order."
Well said Mr. Bacon. If you substitute clay in there for painting you have my studio in a nutshell.
There is a part of me that wants to clean it all up and start over organized and clutter free. Then there is a part of me that wants to, like Bacon, surrender to the madness and let it all become a frenzy of clay.
So which one are you?

Finished Cut Outs and a new design...

Here is the new design for the Cut Out cups. This design is inspired by these Silver Sebring hens. Wonderfully beautiful chickens that are fascinating in color and pattern.











And here are the finished Cut Out cups, pitcher and gravy boat. Me and Will have used these and both like the design.
We agree there needs to be a few minor adjustments such as a larger oval spaces for the fingers.
































Clay Tip of the Day:
The best tool you have when you are building with clay is your own saliva. Whether you are fixing a tear, or attaching a wetter piece of clay to a dryer piece, your own saliva is the best adhesive. **Please note: I do recommend knowing the ingredients of your clay body so as not to toxify yourself.....