Molly Jones

new studio

2010-10-19T19:21:00.003-05:00

I have a new studio! It is still in the process of being set up, but it has worked out well so far. See more pictures on my other site, http://mollyzjones.com/news/

2009-11-01T08:18:00.013-06:00

I was finally able to upload pictures today! So here are some pictures of Plum Tree Pottery, where I am resident artist for 2009-2010.

Plum Tree Pottery is a very green place, or at least it was back in September.

John Glick stands behind some newly made arches of clay. We mix the clay slightly wet, then roll it into logs and bend the logs into arches to dry.

Me at the wheel, taken from behind my then empty shelves.

The show room, where John sells a large portion of his work.

This is the throwing area for the resident; standing soldner wheel with a back support, lots of bats, shelves, and a wedging table. On the other side of the shelves is a treadle wheel, for trimming. A sweet set up for sure.

By this time the shelves are full of pots. (time to fire soon!)

A view of the soda kiln building in foreground, then L-R, the old studio/show room, gas kiln room, and new studio. Everything is so green in this photo, you can tell it was taken a while ago. At the moment the grass is covered in recently fallen leaves.

Growing season

2009-06-09T08:46:00.005-05:00

Plants are lovely things and there are not enough of them in the city. On the stairs outside of my apartment there is a little container garden. Yesterday I transplanted some of the little dudes, they had long ago out grown their containers. I made a bunch of flower pots for them this spring, however I keep on acquiring more plants, so I had to find more containers. It doesn't look like much in the photo, but its sweet to come home to.

Alas, I have no studio over the summer, but its okay because I have one to look forward to this fall. Without studio work I have tons of time, which I have had no trouble at all filling. I need to start using some of that time on the computer, I'm really behind on this.

There is a garden in KC that has Kohlrabi growing, even though all the other plants are decorative. I suppose the Kohlrabi are for decoration too, but they are so delicious looking, I want to pick and eat them. Anyway, I have some growing in my container garden, but they are not nearly so large.

KC is humid, thank goodness for the dehumidifier.

More Jars

2009-04-12T15:32:00.003-05:00

I have been continuing to make jars. These three came out of the last reduction kiln, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I will have three more casserole sized jars and two little jars for the next firing. Its is getting very close to the end of the semester, its kind of sad to be throwing my last pieces.

I have been making Christmas ornaments as well. One of them is in front of the two blue jars in the photo on the right. I'm slip casting them and hanging them in the glaze firing. This first one was an experiment, now that I know it works there will be many more to come.

Half way

2009-03-22T15:02:00.003-05:00

These are the large jars I have made so far, all set up for midterms. Two of them have yet to be glazed. I have started working on smaller items over break. There might be one or two large pots yet to come, but certainly not this many.

Moving along

2009-02-12T08:15:00.005-06:00

Things are going well, its sunny out, my seedlings are growing, the three jars are ready to be bisqued, and I have a new batch of clay for more jars. Im going to start two more jars today, and work on some cups/mugs at the same time.

Green grow the rushes, O

2009-02-08T17:25:00.004-06:00

The latest batch of big jars are not as big as usual. I like to make them about the size that I can carry them without help. Perhaps I will make one oversized jar this semester, just for fun.

Today I have been making plaster stamps. They are in the dry box now so they will be all ready to stamp cups tomorrow. I also worked on three pitchers this morning, and as soon as I'm done here Ill be trimming them.

The seedlings are doing quite well, its gray outside but they are basking in the fake sun of the grow light.

Back to work!

2009-02-07T21:05:00.002-06:00

This is how the last two jars from the fall semester turned out. With the new ones I am making I'm trying to avoid those pesky joint lines visible on the lower section of both of these.

In other news, I am starting some seedlings. They are under a grow light on a shelf in my studio. Im going to make some flower pots soon, so when the plants get large I will have something to transplant them into. I love plants! I have marigolds impatients and basil, but only the marigolds are up.

Explorations of surface

2008-11-03T21:39:00.007-06:00

Its getting down to the end of the semester and things have been busy. So not as much posting has been happening. There is still lots going on in the studio, though. This weekend a new batch of glaze tests came out of the kiln, I'm exited to try them out on actual pieces. I don't have photos of them yet.

Here are some cups ready to be bisqued. I have started putting designs with impressions or slip on the outside of the pieces.

These are the next two big jars. I want to put slip, like on the cups, on the one on the left, I just haven't decided on the design yet.

Teapots

2008-10-20T19:10:00.007-05:00

I am planning to make some tea pots soon, here are some that I like.

Fong Choo makes little tea pots, they are pretty sweet. You can see how he makes them here.

Also, this is his web site.

More photos

2008-10-20T10:13:00.007-05:00

Some stuff from the kiln.

Lanmans fake ash and Copper blue.

Lanmans base with Rutile, a tiny but of cobalt over plane base and Copper.

An overview.

Some new glazes: Leroi's ash, Copper blue under Tosicka black, and Tosicka black.

They are all lined with Frazer celadon.

Both of these are lanman fake ash, the difference is in application and firing. The one on the right is a thicker application and normal reduction and the other is normal application and heavy reduction.

Here are two lid variations. More work to come on this.

This is Frazer celadon. I know, I know, celadon looks nasty on stoneware, but this glaze is so glassy smooth I just had to. Next time Im going to make some out of porcelain.

Done! Now start over.

2008-10-18T17:18:00.005-05:00

Here's the stack on Monday afternoon just after I finished loading, and Thursday night after the firing and cooling off. This kiln came out just about right, it was even and well reduced. Only one piece dripped onto the shelf.

More pictures to come as soon as I can get them to upload. For some reason only these two worked.

Today I made more four more big buckets of glaze, now I am out of buckets. So, now Ill just have to make test batches.

Its time to make more clay and go through the entire process again.

More of the same

2008-10-10T22:45:00.007-05:00

Im still glazing...............

This is everything I have glazed so far (not including what went into the salt kiln), and my glazing table. Im not doing anything too complicated with glazing, but there are still so many steps involved in the process: I have to

>wipe all the dust off the pots

>wax the feet

>glaze the inside

>the clean up any glaze that dripped onto the outside

>wax the top part of the inside

>glaze the outside

Sometime I would like to calculate how much time is spent on each piece, from making the clay all the way to unloading the kiln.

I think in the second half of the semester I should fire smaller amounts more often, glazing everything at once is a pain. Plus there are times when I have been throwing for ages that I just want to glaze something for a change.

Variety is the spice of life, right?

KCAI Kilns

2008-10-07T20:13:00.006-05:00

This is the soda kiln and the forced air kiln, with the natural draft kiln in the background.

In addition there is a little soda kiln and a big catenary salt kiln. Plus lots of barrel electrics and 4 or 5 oval electrics. Most of them just have sitters, but a few have computer controllers.

If I could change anything I would want a little gas kiln, 2-3 times the size of the soda kiln, and no salt/soda kilns inside!

All-Fat Wheat Middlings

2008-10-07T18:30:00.006-05:00

I can post pictures again! I have no idea what happened.

Anyway, this is a quilt (graduation present from my sister) that my family made for me. Its all cloth from when I was little, every piece has a story. What a wonderful present, thank you Ali, I love it!

The last step

2008-10-07T10:53:00.004-05:00

Soooooo...... the tests came out of the kiln last week. Unfortunately I cant seem to get any images up. I did the same thing as for the other photos Ive posted, but for some reason it doesn't work now. I gave up, because I was getting really angry.

It has been a long time since I made anything new, and I'm getting antsy. Plus I will be firing a kiln that I haven't used before, and EVERYTHING Ive made so far will be in it. This week will require lots of blind faith, and some caffeine.

I just hope next week doesn't require lots of trash cans, and a hammer.

Glaze testing

2008-09-24T19:34:00.002-05:00

This is the materials area of the glaze room. I didn't take a photo of the application area. Today I made some tests, Ill put up pictures of the tiles once they are fired.

Tiny army

2008-09-23T22:14:00.005-05:00

I am making some casseroles, they are almost finished. Next up, plates. And lots of glaze testing. I have either forgotten to take my camera in or forgotten to actually use it. So Im posting these pictures from this spring. This was part of an installation, lots of little bugs. Before and after pictures are always interesting. Notice how much more room there is between the pieces once they have been fired.

Beach Art!

2008-09-22T23:02:00.003-05:00

Its the best

Inspiration

2008-09-22T13:54:00.003-05:00

Now thats a big pot. This is in Jingdezhen, China.

Trip to the Belger

2008-09-21T06:43:00.009-05:00

On Friday the seniors went to the Belger art center, this was the current show.

Mo tells us about the Mohammad Ali quilt.

A close up of some, uh, non traditional quilting?

Priscilla, queen of the desert.

Angel wings for Tupac.

Finished!

2008-09-20T21:32:00.006-05:00

Here is the jar, it just needs a lid and carvings.

Like this! The sun comes in the studio in the afternoon, it gets hot sometimes!

Carvings

Trimmings, aren't they beautiful?

2008-09-16T21:14:00.004-05:00

Im trying to figure out some new toppers/ knobs/ finials/ what ever you want to call them, for jars. I made them all separately, so now I have to see what they look like on top of a jar.

Big Jars

2008-09-16T10:11:00.015-05:00

Im making two big jars. Here is how I do it:

First I make a base.

Then I throw a bottomless wall.

Then I put the base back on the wheel and flip the wall on top of it.

Next I throw the wall section out.

And throw another wall section, and turn it upside down on top

of the last wall section ( the bat is still on in this pic, I always do it this way, I just forgot to take a pic before I cut the

bat

off in pic #3)

Cut the bat off,

and throw it out.

And so on.

It has gotten bigger, but I didnt take my camera so I have no pics. Ill post one of it all finished.

Cups and bisque

2008-09-14T21:14:00.011-05:00

These are some of the tumblers I have been working on.

They all have different carvings on them.

This is the jar I posted a picture of before, plus all the stuff I bisqued last week.

Mugs, some of the first things I made here.

Home sweet home

2008-09-13T22:21:00.004-05:00

This blog is about ceramics, so this post is a little off topic. Im in Kansas City now, but I come from the lovely blue ridge mountains. How different these two places are. Im still not sure if I like this city, or cities in general, but I know I like home. The blue ridge is beautiful; old, old mountains, worn down into soft rolling hills. I think this landscape is imprinted on my mind.

Response to “The Genre”

2008-09-11T21:58:00.004-05:00

Before reading this article I looked at the vase on the cover page, (by Michael Casson, seen at right) automatically noting its apparent visual references to medieval Europe and German salt glazing. Then I read Greenhalgh’s description of the pitcher, in which he mentions a myriad of historical sources that the piece draws from. Sometimes I think that people read too much into a piece, however after reading Greenhalgh’s description of the lines on this vase, I can see the connection with each of the sources mentioned. The depth of Greenhalgh’s knowledge and his ability to express his ideas and thoughts is impressive.

It is interesting to hear how Greenhalgh categorizes the arts and artists as either positivist or ironic. I had never thought about it in this way, but after reading this it makes a lot of sense. Most well know artists, as well as classmates of mine, fall into either the positivist or ironic mold. While all of this makes sense, I’m a little skeptical to buy into it, just because it is too easy to categorize things in such a manner. Anything that puts people into one of only two categories has to be oversimplified, and thus also somewhat incorrect. It is an interesting exorcise to categorize everyone this way though.

Podcast pots

2008-09-08T21:16:00.004-05:00

My shelf with most of the pots Ive made so far.

This weekend I remembered that I can put podcasts on my ipod, (for free!) So I have been listening to "the news from lake wobegon" and "this American life" all weekend.

This is good, because I was starting to get tired of listing to the same music all the time.

This is one of the jars I have been working on.

First post

2008-09-06T20:38:00.000-05:00

Hi!

This just a test post to see how everything works. Im taking my camera to the studio tomorrow, so look for more pictures soon!