POT # 4

This is a pot by Yoshiro Ikeda. He is a professor of Art at K-State. I feel very fortunate to have this teapot. I missed out on buying one at the KCAC art auction a few years ago...just a little too much money, but cheaper than buying one from a gallery.

Anyway...I contacted Inge Balch at Baker, told her I was looking for one of his small pieces from the Cone Box (usually they are purchased before I can get there). She told me she had some in storage and I could come get one. YAY! It is the prize of my collection!

This little treasure may be made of porcelain or B-Mix. The body is pretty creamy in color. The body and lid appear to be thrown, but I'm not sure (maybe I should read up on his technique???) The spout is surely hand built as well as the squeezed together handle. The bottom is covered with 9 little feet.It is 4 5/8 x 31/2 x 21/2". There is a black slip on the body with a white crawler over that. There is a band of black slip or gun-metal glaze around the middle as well as on the feet. The middle band also has a band of red and touch of what appears of be Higby Water Blue.

This piece almost looks rakued, but there is no reduction on the inside (where there is NO glaze). There is a spot of red at the tip of the lid and each of othe 9 little feet.

I love this pot.

POT # 3

I have forgotten who made this delicate, little teapot. If someone out there knows, please tell me. I purchased this teapot at the 2006 Cone Box. This teapot appears to be hand built from porcelain slabs. It has five concave sides, coming to sharp points at the seams. The surface has been chipped/loop-tooled away. The lid is cut from the body of the form and a star shaped flange has been added. The fit is not terrific, but does the job. The side and top handle are created from slabs...textured with lines and added. It is glazed white or clear inside, but the outside surface appears to have been sprayed with stain. The base 'cushion' upon which the teapot sits is fashioned from the same clay. It is heavily textured with pressed lines. The base is glazed and relatively smooth considering the texture. The teapot is 3.75 x 2.75 x 2.75. The cushion is 3 x 3 x .75". Together they are 4.5 x 3.75 x 3".

March 28, 2011...POT # 2

NEWS FLASH! 04/21/11...I just found a very similar pot in "500 Teapots"...same glaze, forming method...same stamps! The pot was credited to Donna Cole!

Whaddup with that...I will have to get to the bottom of this!

I am going to open a glaze kiln later today...always a little scary.

POT #2...from the Cone Box Show. This piece is circa 2004 (I think). It is by Mika Negishi Laidlaw. http://www.msnu.edu/artdept/gallery/Laidlaw.html

She got her MFA at Kansas State University. I bet she studied under Yoshi Ikeda. She teaches at Minnesota State U. at Mankato. This teapot is 6 x 2.75 x 2.5" and appears to be made from cream colored stoneware...maybe B-Mix. Hmmmmmmmm.

It is slab built from pieces that have finger grooves or throwing grooves in the surface. There are very tiny stamp marks to act as joints/biscuits. These are spiral is shape. The glaze is mottled light to very dark green (almost black) and looks like it was fired in a reduction atmosphere.

I do not remember what I paid for this teapot, although I *do* know that it was under $150.oo, because that is the limit to what your piece may priced at.

***If I post incorrect information about your pots, please let me know ASAP***

march 27, 2011...POT #1

I am going to start with my Orton International Cone Box show purchases. I love this exhibit. The show was started by Bill Bracker (Bracker's Good Earth Clays) while he was teaching at Purdue University. All entries are juried by piece...no slides...and must fit inside an old fashioned Orton cone box...6 x 3 x 3"...although they do not have to be shipped in an old cone box. After moving around for a bit, the show settled at Baker University with Ceramics instructor, Inge Balch. The show moved again in 2010 to the Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, Kansas. This was the first piece I ever purchased at a Cone Box show. It was 2002 and I also happened to be in the show. (It was my second attempt at being in the show.) This wonderful little teapot was made by Becky Posnac. She is from St. Louis and it cost me the tidy sum of $35.oo. It appears to be made of stoneware, reduction fired with a buttery green glaze. It is 4 x 2.75 x 3.25" The Orton International Cone Box show is a wonderful opportunity to have beautiful work by famous, and not so famous, artists at a reasonable price. It is also great for an artist that does not have the facilities and equipment or the money for professional images. Check it out at at every NCECA. The next show will be accepting entries in fall of 2012.

march 27, 2011...Pottery documentation starts

I have decided to photograph and document all the pots in my house. I will try to remember everything I know about each pot:

• WHO made it


• HOW it was made...forming method, materials, firing, dimensions


• WHEN it was made...WHEN I acquired it


• ANECDOTES

Here goes..........

march 27, 2011

Holy Cow...what a day...

• it snowed


• KU lost...no more Tyrel (sob)


• I glazed


• I took piccys of some work

I think I will begin taking piccys of all the pots I have purchased throughout the years...see if I can remember WHO made them, WHEN I bought them and HOW much. Should be daunting.

I also have to clean out a space for my new furnace!