Where in the world is River City Farmers Market?

When we first moved to Marietta, Ohio, back in pre-internet days, sometimes I'd see an event in the newspaper I might be interested in but didn't know how to find- because the building was named but there was no address given. Apparently I was to drive around looking for it. Or, just know.

Even in these days of google maps and Facebook events it is not uncommon for me to run into people who do not know that Marietta, Ohio has a farmer's market at the Washington County Fairgrounds, and some who do not know where the fairgrounds are located. I hope to help.  First of all, the fairgrounds are practically in downtown Marietta. I don't know about you, but I expect fairgrounds to be a little more out in the country. That was my experience as a kid and I expect it to stay that way the rest of my life!  Second, there may be some confusion caused by the multiple entrances to the fairgrounds. Plus, there is no road sign at the main entrance for the fairgrounds, and the main entrance is where we're going.  There is a Washington Co. Fairgrounds sign, yes, but it is much higher than a road sign and out of the sight line of drivers.  So, here are some clues:

From Rt. 60:  Going south and passing Wendy's on the right, drop down onto Front Street where road forks.  Pass Eaton St. on right. The entrance you want for River City Farmers Market is the next right.  (.9 miles from Wendy's).

From the Armory on Front St.:  Pass Muskingham Park on the left.  Look for Fair Ave. on your left (after Front Street curves to the right but before it meets Second St.)  Take the next left after Fair Ave. (1.4 miles).

From Marietta College:  Take Fourth St. to Washington Blvd.  Turn left and follow Washington Blvd. to Second St.  Turn right and follow Second St. to Front.  Turn right then make a quick left. (1.6 miles).

Once there, you will  need to find the building.  Yes, there is a building.  Although I sometimes set-up outside, I do have a regular space inside the building as do other vendors.  Here is a link to a map of the buildings:  Washington County Fairgrounds  The market is in building #4.  This is adjacent to the Fair Board office which is building #3.

Some of the vendors will only set up outside and can be found from spring through fall, while others are year-round inside the building.  The market is a favorite Christmas shopping stop, in fact, for many customers.

On to pottery, here are a few things out of the kiln this week.  I will have these at the market Saturday.

Above and below:  Flower children.  In the past I have attached these to steel rods.  The last few I've made are on sticks.  Let me know what you prefer.  The steel rods, of course, are going to hold up much longer, but the sticks are easier to attach (whittle, whittle) and I also whittle a couple of bucks off because they are free.  Easy to replace, too, obviously.

I really like the above bowl.  The stencils were a last minute decision.  They were cut from newspaper and difficult to work with on the bisque fired bowl. I tried moistening the stencils with water, but it really wasn't that helpful.  Had I thought to do this when the bowl was still somewhat moist green ware it would have been much easier. Hindsight!  Black and blue engobes used here and some rutile wash splashes.

More stenciling, but this was a store-bought stencil. Actually, I think I may hold onto to these two bowls.  This was supposed to be a set of three.  The middle sized bowl developed a surface crack in the bottom. I have another set of three that are not yet fired and now I am thinking that it might be best to hold on to these two until I see how the other set fares. Just when I thought I had gotten past the S-crack issues!

Hope to see you at the market!

some assembly required

Just the usual Christmas rush going on here.  I took on a few things this fall that set me back from where I'd like to be with my inventory.  There's a lot of pictures I've wanted to post the last few weeks, but it's pretty much been out of the kiln and into boxes either to the co-op gallery or the farmer's market.  I really meant to get some things to the gallery yesterday, but too many of them required assembly, which took longer than expected. Of course.  Then I went to take some pictures and the camera's batteries died, so in the afternoon while they were charging I finally got around to decorating for Christmas.  Well, half-way.

Here's the pictures I got so far.  I managed to load these pictures with partially charged batteries, tried to take a few more pics, but it was back to the charger for these worn out batteries.

 Seems like I've made a lot of critters lately.  I had an order for six turtles which I delivered at River City Farmer's market last Saturday.  No pictures (rush, rush).  A little Quickcrete in the brick and steel rods for the birdies' perches.
 

 I have not made large quantities of anything.  Wanted to, but because of the time crunch I just made a few of this and that.  Have made only four of these bowls.  Sold the two from the last firing.

Here's another of those assembly projects.  You can't see it, but there are holes in the end on the spoons and I shaped the end of the twigs to fit (thank you Dremel tool).  I'm sure a woodworker person could do this much more efficiently with their special something-something tools, but I got it to work. The stuff in the bowl is a mixture of glue and sawdust, which I dropped into the opening of the spoon to get a really good bond.  The sawdust is from what I trimmed off the twigs- what didn't end up all over my hair and face and glasses and clothes. Won't mention what it did to my nose.  Next time I will try drilling a hole in the end of the twig and inserting a dowel rod. Delayed logic.

 

So I started out with this on Tuesday and now, two charged batteries later, it is Wed.  Usually I keep a couple of spares charged, but I used one of them for something else so...
I worked at the gallery today and brought in everything you see here.  I may stop in the gallery on Friday afternoon and pick up a few things to take to the farmer's market on Sat. if they haven't sold by then.

Owl ornament.  I went with the Barred Owl this year.  Only made six of these.  One is set aside for a farmer's market customer who wanted one and the rest are at the gallery.

I made several sets of these "preppie bowls".  All different glaze combos.  I don't use tags on everything but I notice people seem to like them when I do. On some tags I might explain how the item might be used, other times I describe the process of making it, and/or what inspired the idea. I started doing this because I felt I should explain my flying nun baskets. That was 10 years ago, or so, and I had a great response to the little note I attached to those pots.  If I'm not present when customers are looking at my pottery, like at the gallery, then they will know something about my pottery they wouldn't have known otherwise.  It's one of those things that adds on the time when you're trying to get things ready to go, but can be worth the extra effort.

One of those magic glaze combinations.  This is a plum-black with a chun glaze over the top part.  I make several shapes of mugs.  The roundish shape makes it one of those cup-your-hands-around mugs. I expect to be using more of this glaze combo in the future. 

 

 

 

catching up

Here's a few things from the latest firing.  It's been tough finding the time to stop and take pictures  A lot of pots have been unloaded from the kiln and directly transported either to Riverside Artists Gallery or River City Farmer's Market. The following are at the gallery but I do have a few of the mugs at the farmer's market. I also have other tiles and jars at the market and hope to get a firing done this week, so more to come for you last minute shoppers.

 

You may have seen these tiles in progress in a previous post. 

     

 

 

The last of the owls.  These were spoken for before even leaving the house, but I wanted to show the packaging.  I used paper mache boxes and made a nest with some grass-like material I had at hand.  The burlap strip folds over the owls and a descriptive note is tucked inside.  The owls are small- about two and a half inches long, but surprisingly time-consuming to make.  Really, it was the painting that took much longer than expected.  I priced them at $35.00 each.  Most people, not realizing the time involved, would  think that's a lot for such a small item. This is why I felt they needed a special presentation and written note.  Besides, I think they deserve their little nests.

 

hedgeapples for inspiration

Around late October, early November I had an idea for using these hedge apples.  I wanted to create a mold and press clay into it to make bowls with that hedge apple texture on the outside. With Christmas coming up, there was little time to experiment, so I put the idea aside. 

Now I have no hedge apples to work with because, of course, they will have rotted. I haven't given up on the original idea- maybe try again next fall, but sometimes ideas morph. 

The texture on these bowls really has little to do with hedge apples, but was inspired by them.  I have a glaze with a light chartreuse tint I plan to use on these.

always a learning experience

A few more pots from the last firing-

I wanted a little more of the wood ash glaze feathering in this shallow bowl.  I remember now that last time I used this combination I brushed a little clear glaze over the wood ash glaze to make it run a little more. 

One of those learning experiences. While I was working on these utensil holders I started to think that I'd rather be doing this slip and stencil with tiles.  I might like the one that's second from the left, but overall just don't think tree stencils worked well with this form. I think some of these will find customers with just the right kitchen for them, though.

I've come to appreciate succulents.  Give them a good watering once a month and leave them alone.  I made this planter so it would fit on one of my windowsills. It's a little under 4" square. I didn't bother with a drain plate because after thoroughly watering a plant I let it sit in a sink until its done dripping. 

A little birdy.  Haven't made any of these for a couple of years.  This is wheel thrown with enough clay left at the bottom to pull a tail (ha).  This is the black engobe by itself with no glaze.  I like the pebbly surface of the unglazed engobe for nonfunctional things.  The hole at the bottom is large enough for a dowel rod in case someone wants their bird hovering in the garden.  One of these has been known to hang out in our garden.  I would like to hand build some birds one of these days.  I did this once before to make realistic looking birds.

getting ready to bisque.....and Red happens

It's been taking a very long time for things to dry out, but I finally have enough to bisque fire today.  I figured with the dry winter air I might have a problem with pots drying too fast, but I guess the basement always stays a little damp.

Some salt pigs and a utensil holder in the kiln today.  Pots were piling up in my basement workspace.  Usually when they are almost dry I transfer them to a shelf next to the kiln in the garage.  With some nights dipping down to the teens recently I was afraid to do that.  If there is still visible moisture and the temp goes to freezing seems like things could go wrong, as in expansion.  I've never taken a thermometer down there.  Since the garage is mostly underground maybe I'm safe.

French butter crocks, also in the kiln.  Actually one crock and 3 lids.  I have some extra crocks due to the tendency the lids have to develop hairline cracks.  Hence the extra lids. 

Not ready to fire- some nesting bowls and a set of soup bowls.  I'll be heading down to trim some of these this afternoon. 

Red happens.  Found this mess this morning.  I leave my slip bucket to set overnight on my wheel so the water will separate enough to pour out,  then I'll recycle the slip into clay. Red, the cat, loves to watch anything liquid move across the floor.  He, in fact, finds it hugely entertaining.  Used to tip his water bowl over every day until I got a tip proof bowl.  I've learned not to leave small glaze containers on my table and I had been hiding my slip bucket from him.  Lately, I thought I could get away with just covering it with a towel.  It worked...for a couple of weeks.  

The guilty party.

Here's what happens to the slip, trimmings, etc.  I'm using a rack that used to dry out bath toys.  The very wet clay is slopped onto a piece of canvass and left to dry to the consistency of usable clay.  Then, because I don't have a pug mill, I double bag it with plastic grocery bags and slam the heck out of it. The idea being to de-air it as much as possible. That doesn't get me out of wedging, but it helps make it easier. 

a week later

Well, here's what I was going to post last week but didn't since I had that little memory problem with my camera. 

 Fun with wax resist.  This is Randy's Red on top of a Grace's base with gray stain. I used this combination on an acorn finial and wanted to explore it a little more. These are soup/cereal-size bowls.  I have these at the market right now.

 A larger, serving bowl.  The rims are plain Randy's Red with a little of my clear w/iron oxide brushed on to get that fluxing action.

Decided some pine branches painted on these plates might be Christmas-y.

One went to a woman who used to live in Maine and said it reminded her of the piney woods there. She bought something else too but I remembered the plate because it seemed to make such a connection with her.

  I had these bisqued plates left over from a commisson I did a while back.  I had been avoiding making plates, but a customer tricked me into making them.  First, she asked for mugs in a certain glaze. Then she wanted cereal bowls in that glaze.  When those were delivered she wanted plates.  So how could I refuse when she was two-thirds on the way to a matching set?   Anyway, after years of plate avoidance, I was feeling insecure and made many more than needed.  You know, just in case.    

 Um...oops.  Thought there was p-l-e-n-t-y room between that cone pack and the star.  Luckily, I was able to snap them apart without any breakage.  More pendants.  Today at the market Kate (the jewelry vendor) was wearing the one I first fired, which she did her jewelry magic on.  I should have thought to take a picture, but it was pretty busy at the market so that's my excuse.  She was going to post it on a jewelry website so maybe I can get the link. 

 More stars. These sold like hotcakes.  I only made a couple dozen.  Guess I'll know to make more next year.

I get nagged at occasionally to make new designs for cookie stamps. They're not really what I like to spend my time on pottery-wise, but once I am actually making cookies with them I feel like I'm sort of providing a service to the community by making these available.  These cookies are good!

Samples last week at the market.  The plastic wrap doesn't look so good- wanted to be able to lift cookies in case a customer wanted to see the plate.

The market is open on the 24th but I won't be there.  I'm pretty sure it would be slow for me.  Not that may last minute pottery shoppers out there.  So if you're a market customer I'll see you next year!