Blog

Sgraffito Workshop

I’m making good use of my time in Florida, sitting in the sunshine while I sgraffito lots of pots in preparation for the summer season. On Sunday, February 11, I will be giving a workshop on sgraffito at Claymore in Naples. I’ll be talking about underglaze vs. slip, different tool choices, design considerations. The participants will be given a leatherhard tray try to work on. I’m excited to see what they will produce! I fire my pots at Claymore while I’m down here. It’s a lively place and good for my soul to be around other creative people!

Great Workshop!

I recently had the pleasure of attending a 2 day workshop with Sara Ballek at Claymore in Naples, Florida. We worked with a luscious red midfire clay, white slip and underglazes. I made this piece as my entry for the ClaySpace face jug competition in May. It’s so much fun to play with forms, techniques and ideas that are outside my usual!

Northern Illinois Pottery Tour

Today is the start of the tour at NorthernIlPotteryTour.com! And it’s the first day for my new Etsy site, NancyGormanPottery..and I have already had my first sale! So exciting. I’ll be doing a demo of sgraffito tomorrow at 1 pm. Check the website to register for a free Eventbrite ticket so you can watch all of the potters demonstrations via Zoom.

Shiny new wheel!

In April I bought a shiny new VL Whisper wheel. You can tell by my grin how pleased I am! Who knew that a 10 x 10 private studio at ClaySpace could be so spacious and lovely!

New private studio!

I recently moved into a private studio at ClaySpace and am loving it! Lots more shelf space, my own glazing area, surrounded by my Dad’s photos and, best of all, REALLY bright lighting so I can see what I’m doing!

Show schedule updated

I have posted my show schedule for 2018…at least the shows I am anticipating since the jurying process has not yet finished!  But I will make any changes once the official news is in. I will now have about a dozen pieces in the LaGrange Art League Gallery in LaGrange, Illinois. I will be changing these out every month or two to keep the selection fresh. Meanwhile, I’ll be hard a work building my inventory for the 2018 season. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the new soda kiln at ClaySpace, hoping I like the more random effects it can create on my sgraffito wares.

New work added

Thanks to some lovely photography by friend Jean Burnett, I have added some new work to my extended gallery page. I’ve also added a new show to the 2017 schedule, the Prairie Arts Festival in Schaumburg on Memorial Day weekend. Now back to the studio to keep building the inventory for the busy season ahead!

New bowls

I made these bowls as brie bakers, but now I’m thinking of calling them Brie baker-chili-onion soup-ramen-pot pie-soup bowls!  What do you think…too long?!?

Catching On!

I think I’m finally catching on to uploading pictures more successfully! Here is my maple lantern done in the mint glaze. It’s a softer look, less weathered looking than when glazed with the dry matt green. I like this maple leaf shape better than the sugar maple shape because it is more deeply cut. I can’t remember what it’s called but it grows to a medium height in my front yard!

Butter Dishes

My latest obsession is butter…making containers for butter, that is. I went to a workshop at NCECA in Kansas City and saw a demonstration on stretching a thrown disk into an oval that looked like it would be fun/easy to do. Ha! Fun, definitely, but the challenge has been getting that circle into an even oval that is the appropriate length for a stick of butter. Since clay shrinks significantly and the walls of the cover also take up space, this is requiring major mathematics on my part! (Did you know a stick of butter is 5″ x 1″?)  But butter dish #1 was successful. Butter dish number 2 was made in a different way, opening the clay lump into a small ring and also a larger hump in the middle to form the lid walls. When soft leather hard both the little ring and the wall ring are stretched to an oval or rectangle. The ring is attached to a slab to make the dish bottom. Another slab is shaped and attached to the lid walls to make the cover. Dish # 2 also fits the butter. Dishes #3 and 4 are ready for the bisque but I am afraid #3 will require some trimming of the butter stick to fit. I think #3 will end up being the one I keep for me to use!

I should take some pictures of the process…although that’s a bit tricky when I’m covered with clay!