Spruce Pine Potters Market tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Spruce Pine Potters Market and if you are in the area, it's definitely a must visit - great potters, beautiful and varied work and incredible weather at the moment.

We just got back from a lovely drive to Banner Elk - had lunch,did some grocery shopping, and checked out a new gallery and a local country store.It was a lovely surprise to see how much fall color they already have.

My lunch, a meatball hero, was huge (couldn't even finish half of it), so Bodhi got some and I brought the other half home for dinner - same with Jim and his steak hero. It's just as well I don't have to cook tonight. I'm deliciously tired from the lovely drive and shopping.

The past two days I've gotten almost no studio time - still not feeling 100%, so I opted to spend most of my time sketching pot ideas, cooking and doing computer cleanup and some glaze chemistry. I'm in the process of making lists of what cone 6 glazes I want to test in the December wood/soda firing in the pallet kiln at the Energy Exchange. I have a lot more glaze chemistry to do to try to get some 6 versions of some glazes I'm using in my cone 10-12 firings. Most of the current bisque and ready to bisque pots are for the cone 10 soda firing but I still need about two full studio days to get this latest group slipped and decorated. This flu type bug has set me back two weeks so far, in my planned mid October firing date, which now looks more like it will be late October or early November. Fortunately, the only deadline I've had is of my own making - which is how I like it!

Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here are a couple of pictures of the many wonderful potters showing and selling their work today and tomorrow in Spruce Pine, NC. I'll post a couple every day for the next few days. This first one is Will Baker's elegant wood and soda fired work. These pots as well as Joy Tanners wonderful forms, in the second photo, are from the second firing in the new pallet kiln that Mark Peters designed and built at the Energy Exchange.

It was so crowded that I had a hard time trying to get in a good position to take photos; but these will give you an idea of the quality and variety of work available at this annual show and sale.

I actually got some studio time this afternoon - mixed and strained a couple of slips, and dipped a bunch of pots; but unfortunately I tipped a 5 gallon of flashing slip and spent the rest of the time cleaning up the mess. Fortunately, I managed to grab the bucket before it totally emptied - not a fun job. I also broke the rim of the porcelain platter I was dipping - another one of those studio AARGH moments!

By the time I finished the cleanup it was time to come in and get dinner which was easy since it was the escarole,sausage, bean and potato soup I made the other day. Tomorrow I'll try to get more slip and  brushwork done on some of the pots after breakfast; but in the afternoon  I have an azalea, a fig tree and some garlic to plant  and a baked pasta dish to make for dinner, so I'll need another couple of days to finish decorating this group of pots, fitting studio time in between the fall garden cleanup, meal prep and animal care.

Spruce Pine Potters Market

I decided to give blogger one last try to upload these photos before heading for the studio. Seems it only want to let me upload one photo per message, so the other one will have to wait to after dinner. Linda's lowered the copper content of the Shaner Oribe and I love the color better than the original which has between 5 and 6% copper.

Spruce Pine Potters Market - Linda McFarlings booth

Here are some photos of Linda McFarling's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters Market. I had to drag myself away from here booth to avoid temptation. I already have half a dozen of her wonderful pots!

Blogger.com is having problems this morning. It took forever to get one picture uploaded. I have two other shots of Linda's booth, which I'll try to get up after dinner.

We saw some incredible work at the market. It took a lot of restraint to not deplete the family coffers; but I did buy a Nick Joerling plate to add to our collection. I took pictures of many of the booths which I'll post this week.

Mark Peters wife Erin, who is a fabulous cook, had a lovely lunch menu, so we had a light lunch there before heading home to get my bush beans processed and in the freezer. After that I had to do some computer work and before I knew it, it was dinner time. After dinner I watched the Brit coms followed by Poirot and Jim opted for the football game.

Sunday mornings are for lazing around and reading the papers and watching the gardening shows; but I'm going to get in the studio after breakfast and finish my organizing and tidying. I'll probably work till around 3 and then come in to start dinner prep - small pork roast, roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and yellow wax beans. If I have time I might make some stewed apples to go with it..

Some of my little nature's treasures

I was inspired by Joy Tanner's picture of her studio collection of shells, etc, to take a picture of my little treasures - sea shells, bits and pieces of driftwood, eucalyptus pods, and stones. We potters, I think, tend to be scroungers of natures bounty. My husband gets a kick of my posture when walking in the woods or on the beach, because my head is always down looking for those little treasures.

Yesterday I got in a bit of studio and garden time before heading out to dinner. I finally got the rest of the garlic dug up and replanted and planted the crape myrtle which took forever since I was digging through 8" or more or gravel from the old driveway. From one hole, large enough for 3 gallon plant, I wound up with 3, 3 gallon buckets of gravel to dispose of from the hole! My late bush beans are coming in with great abundance, so I'll have to prep some of them for the freezer this afternoon. The only studio time I got yesterday was cleaning a wheel and washing a bunch of bats, so I'll try to get in there this afternoon.

After a nice lunch Thursday at the new "Knife and Fork" restaurant in Spruce Pine, we went back there for again last night for dinner, which was lovely. We will definitely make it part of our regular dining out experience.

This morning we're going to the Spruce Pine Potters market. Their menu is enticing, so we'll definitely have an early lunch there before heading home.