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!

Toad houses...with toads

                                                                                   
I made two toad houses for a customer who wanted to give them as gifts. I was instructed to make each one a little different from the other, and with toads on top of both. I made large toads perching on the sides of the roof rather than try to make tiny ones to fit on the very top.  Getting the details of the feet and legs seemed like it might be too difficult in miniature.  By the way, the toads bodies are hollow and after attaching to the roofs I made a hole through the roof and the toad bellies so as to avoid any unfortunate toad explosions.
                                                            

The houses were made on the wheel as closed forms.  When leather hard, I placed them back on the wheel and threw the little finials, one an acorn, and the other a beehive (sort of) on top.  
The color application came after bisque firing.  I have some engobes and slips that can be used on both greenware and bisque, but find I prefer to use them on bisque since, being dry and porous, it holds the material better.  Also, I often apply the color then wipe off to leave a light stain in some areas and darker stain in areas with etched designs- a technique which works best with bisque fired pieces.  Next, the toad houses were glazed, then a 50/50 by weight combination of frit 3134 and mason stains was brushed over the glaze to get the toad color.  A little disappointment here- what worked great on a test tile (chartreuse spots over tan) did not work as well on the toads, as the chartreuse can barely be seen.  Actually, at least around here, toads are not green, but the customer asked if I could add touch of green.  I am very glad that this particular customer understands that working with glazes is not the same as choosing crayons out of a box!

One of those grab and go mornings with the items, still warm from the kiln: Quick pictures of the finished toad houses with an oak tree for a backdrop at River City Farmer's Market in Marietta, Ohio just before meeting up with the customer.

Barn Owl

The time got away from me and I just managed to get two owl ornaments made this season.  I think I made screech owls last year and barred owls the year before.  Or, maybe it was the other way around. This year it is barn owls.

I throw in a little education with the owl- after hours of modeling and painting them, and looking at pictures for reference I want to know more than what they look like.  This one flew off this afternoon to perch at Riverside Artists Gallery.  I need to find a box for the second one before it goes anywhere.
The colors are primarily the same as what I used here.  No glaze was applied. The color is all in the slip, with some cobalt wash for the eyes and rutile englobe on the beak and claws. 

another engobe recipe

I check my stats every now and then.  It's interesting to see what countries people are from who visit my blog and what, if any, search words were entered.  The other day I noticed there was a search for "red engobe".  I previously posted a black engobe recipe which is probably what the searcher landed on.  I remembered, though, there was a recipe in the same Ceramics Monthly article the black engobe came from that  used commercial stain.  Might be a possibility if you want red or some other color difficult to come by with the usual oxides on hand. I took a look and found two.  I haven't tried either of these but here they are:

Stain Colored Engobe 1
(cone 06-6, oxidation or reduction)

30 Wollastonite
15 Ferro Frit 3110
30 Bentonite B
25 Commercial Stain
100

Stain Colored Engobe 2
(cone 06-6, oxidation or reduction)
40 Talc
15 Ferro Frit 3110
30 Kentucky Ball Clay (OM4)
15 Commercial Stain
100
There's a note on this one:  At Cone 6-8 this is an interesting matt glaze.

back on the grid

You don't realize how dependant you are on electricity until it's not there.  We were in the path of the storm that raked through mainly in Ohio and West Virginia Friday evening. We were lucky- no damage to the house, just one pine tree got topped off and some smaller branches off other trees.  It's a little unnerving, though, to experience life without technology.  No air conditioning, no internet, no t.v., zero to spotty cell reception, gas pumps not operating.  At first, no radio news, either.  When we tried to find out what hit us and how widespread it was, the only local radio station with a back-up generator was broadcasting a baseball game that night!  On Saturday we heard we needed to conserve water.  In fact, our water pressure was dropping.  Ivin mentioned that I might want to plan a road trip. After considering the impact of the water situation (hey, if it's 95-100 degrees and I can't take a shower...) I called my brother in PA to inform him of his status as a potential refugee center. Thought that Sunday morning I just might be persuaded to make that trip, but fortunately the electric, along with the water pressure came back.
Many more people are still without, and it may be days before the repairs are made.
We went through this with a hurricane when we lived in Texas.  Only then, we didn't have cell phones and internet to add to the list of dependancies.  It makes you think about how unprepared we are to deal with the basics on our own.

Anyway, before this all happened, I did a firing and here's some stuff:

The tile worked out pretty much like I wanted it too.  You know, when you're layering engobes and slips and glazing over, especially as I am really not that experienced at brushing glazes, how things turn out has that element of mystery.  Sandwiching the tile between drywall squares to dry seemed to do the trick- no warping.

I have a customer who has first dibs on these hand built vases so after she makes her choices I'll put the rest up for sale either at the market or on etsy.  Although I did just have a sale on etsy and am in communication with a customer about a custom order, sales have mostly dried up in that area, while picking up at the market.  I haven't added to my etsy shop for awhile, and it looks it, but I know it's more likely I can sell those items locally right now. 

 Also reserved for same customer.  Hey, if you don't know already, click on these pictures to see them bigger so you can see the textures better.

I saw this baby bird sticking it's head out of the bird house attached to our deck posts looking a little desperate for it's next meal.  It's house made it through the storm unscathed.

bowls

 Doing a little bowl cramming here. I just found out last week that the date for Empty Bowls is March 24.  I figure I received an earlier heads up, probably before Christmas, which obviously flew out of my head. 

Those light colored bowls were made with Laguna's #55.  I've found it difficult to throw with. I purchased it partly to use for cookie stamps- thought its smoother texture might be better for those, and also to see how the lighter color would work with my glazes.  Maybe I'm just not used to it yet, but it doesn't seem like it has the plasticity of my usual- Laguna's #45.

These striped bowls are the lighter clay.  In addition to the black engobe, I used white and gray slips.  It was a bit of a struggle to see if I was getting good coverage with the white and gray on this light clay body.  We'll find out when they're fired.

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.

slow start

I've been working with some slip stencil designs lately. Here's a few utensil holders/wine coolers I've made recently using slips or engobes and stencils: 

It's been a slow start to the new year for me.  I always have a difficult time getting back in the flow of work after a break.  This year, after Christmas, we passed around something or other- worse than a regular cold, that's all I know.  Still dragging a little, but doing a lot better.

This is a link to a picture of one of the pendants I made after Kate, the jewelry person at the market, did some magic with it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67885530@N03/6544375309/
I had no experience with making jewelry items, but had some fun messing around with ideas.  I was glad she suggested the pendant idea.  We'll see what happens.

got a glaze question

I've been back into the clay for several days.  I took a break to do the usual Christmas stuff plus, I have to admit, I was putting off the major clean-up that had to happen before my work space could be usable. My first priority was to take care of a couple of commissions- set of mugs, some salt pigs.  Now I'll get on to some of the ideas I've have popping around in my head.
Here's what I'm wondering:  I have some ideas about using this black engobe.  I'm sure it's not food safe to use unglazed, but what about with a clear glaze over it? 

This is it with a coating of clear glaze.  

  Here it is again on a french butter crock lid.

 I've never used this engobe, even under a glaze, on any surface that would come in contact with food, but  would like to if I were sure it was safe.  I've been afraid the engobe might become suspended in the glaze during the firing and be part of the surface.  So can anyone tell me if I need to be concerned about this, or is it safe to use as long as it's under a glaze?

This is the engobe recipe:

Black Engobe 2

Wollastonite              41

Frit 3110                   15

Bentonite                  30

Chrome Oxide            4

Cobalt Oxide              3

Copper Oxide             2

Manganese Dioxide   5
                                100

Recipe is copied from an old Ceramics Monthly.  I use it at cone 6 oxidation, but the recipe notes that it can be used in 06-6 oxidation or reduction and that it has an interesting luster in raku. On it's own, no glaze, it has an interesting orange peel texture at cone 6. 

Here's one I haven't tried which was part of the same article.  I think I passed on this one because I thought it might be too blueish under a white glaze:

Black Engobe 

Wollastonite               42

Frit 3110                     15
Bentonite                    30
Cobalt Oxide                3
Red Iron Oxide           10
                                  100

I should probably test this one to see if I like it.  It's just that I have a fair amount of the other already mixed.

If anyone knows the answer to the food safety question I'd appreciate hearing from you.