Extruding -Possibilities with Clay

by Eleanor Hendriks

The second in a series of workshops for professional potters at Haliburton School for the Arts focussed on using the extruder to create new forms in clay. Led by Colleen O'Reilly, the group of us moved away from the round forms a potter's wheel creates into the world of tubes, hexagons and squares. You can see Colleen here with some of her exhuberant extruded garden art.

Unfortunately, the photos I took during the workshop were miserable and won't be useful to any body...most were much like this one...

My clay results weren't much better... One of my projects was ticking along very well, I was really enjoying my octagonal jar, that is until I dropped the lid on the floor...

Irretrievably damaged, I'm afraid...
So, I come away from the workshop, not with a kiln full of work, but with an new enthusiasm for the not-so-round world of extrusions and another piece of equipment added to my wish list.

Workshop with Scott Walker

by Eleanor Hendriks

This past week I had the pleasure of spending three days at the Haliburton School of The Arts
for the first in a series of workshops for professional potters.

The first presenter was Scott Walker of Peterborough, Ontario. He makes functional wheel thrown pottery in traditional shapes with a refined sensibility. He uses beautiful glazes and his teapots are elegant little gems.

This monstrous tourtierre (I'm guessing it is 15" across!) had everyone oooh-ing and ah-ing. Attempting this shape will be my next challenge in the studio...

Scott demonstrated many of his signature pieces with good grace and humour. I was particularily taken with Scott's attention to detail -particularily to the bottoms of his pieces.

The foot on this bowl is so refined -I would be tempted to display it upside down!

A finished bottom -notice the very particular glaze application, on both the usually unseen bottom and in the carved bands, all set off by smoothly finished unglazed porcelain.

And, because it is always nice to match the potter to the pots... the face behind the work...

Thanks, Scott!

Valentine's Flop...

by Eleanor Hendriks

Back to the studio and the blog after a very busy Christmas season...

I'm working away on custom requests that accumulated during the holiday season and on a special project. The Etsy Mud Team is having a Sweetheart Vase Challenge and our entries are due by Jan 27th. I keep selling, breaking or overshooting the deadline with my pieces for these challenges... I was hoping that this time I'd make it but I got over enthusiastic with my piece and over indulged with the flourishes.

Between the stamping, the carving and the heart-y handles, I think I've ruined it by doing too much... Unless maybe some slip trailing would help?...

Don't worry, I've got a backup piece and I intend to show a little more restraint with that one. Sometimes less is more -maybe not for love -but definately for pottery decoration...

Its not all playing in the mud!

by Eleanor Hendriks

Being a potter isn't all playing with clay -in fact, I haven't touched wet clay in over a week! This past while has been glazing, kiln loading, packing and...

...painting the new table top display my super handy husband built for me...

It's got a nifty hanger for all my Christmas ornaments and it folds flat to fit in the back of my CRV. I've painted my old IKEA crates to match, sewed some table cloths and skirts and loaded up all the pots not already for sale in my Etsy shop. As we speak, my wares are set up at the Kawartha Potter's Guild Annual Christmas Sale in Peterborough.

I completely forgot to take a picture of my display while I was there, even though I remembered to take my camera! If you are in the Peterborough (Ontario, Canada) area, you'll just have to check it out for yourself! If you come on Sunday, I'll be there working one of the cash registers. Introduce yourself and I'll whip some Elan Dollars out of my pocket for you...

The show is on Saturday Nov 29, 10-5 and Sunday Nov 30, 11-4 at the Peterborough Lion's Community Centre, 347 Burnham Street.

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Shipping out...

by Eleanor Hendriks

My Etsy shop has been hopping lately -here is today's selections of items that are being shipped out to places as far flung as California, Colorado, Ohio, and Guelph, Ontario (where I used to live)...


All boxed up and ready to take to the post office...
I've had to get creative to carry so many parcels at once -I've taken to flinging a large sack over my shoulder -I look a lot like the big red guy -only not so big, or so hairy, or so red -really it's just the sack over the shoulder... and no, I'm not posting a picture of that...

Just a reminder to my American friends -Christmas comes early in Canada -or at least the last minute to ship to the US does. If you've had your eye on something in my Etsy shop , now is the time to snap it up. After the first week of December it is very likely that it just won't reach you in time for Christmas. Canadians have a little more time, but the selection is thinning quickly...

Come to my Christmas Sale!

by Eleanor Hendriks

My 2nd Annual Christmas Art Sale is coming up fast!

This year's participants are:

Suzi Silhanek, Artistic Lamps, Bobcaygeon
John Poole, Photography, Sturgeon Point
Janice Addison, Watercolour Painting, Seagrave
Anne Kulmala, Recycled Fur Creations, Bobcaygeon
Meg Silhanek, Beaded Jewellery, Bobcaygeon
Morris Young, Woodturning, Peace Point

and me, Eleanor Hendriks, Pottery, Fenelon Falls (North of Lindsay in the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada)

These 6 artists will join me in my studio two weekends from now, November 7-9. We'll have a Christmas tree decorated with all handmade ornaments. Refreshments will be served -after all it is not a proper art event without food!

Hours are: Friday 6-9pm, Saturday and Sunday 11-6. I'd love to meet a blog reader in real life, so if you are near enough to drop in, send me an email with your snail mail address. I'll send you an invitation with 5 Elan Dollars to spend at my studio....

Have no fear -all that snow that I showed off in my last post is long gone! But I suggest you come on out soon before the snow starts to fly again!

I'm dreaming...

by Eleanor Hendriks

...of a white Christmas! Just in case you thought it was a long way off -here's my backyard at this moment...

Of course, because I am a potter and because it takes me a while to finish things, I've been thinking about Christmas since August, but there is nothing like the feel of the first snow on your face to really drive the fact of winter home...

Time to dig out the mukluks !

So -It's been a While!

by Eleanor Hendriks

Well, I haven't been blogging -not even the (almost) once weekly I keep promising myself -but I'm back -temporarily at least. My apologies to those of you who have been checking in and getting nothing new! That doesn't mean that nothing has been going on at StudioElan though!

First of all, that glaze marathon I mentioned earlier had some lovely results...

In fact, I've done two other serious glazing sessions since then -but in the flurry of pre-Christmas excitement around here I neglected to document them. Many of the things in the above picture can be found in my Etsy shop along with pieces from the latest two firings. You'll have to check the Sold Items for some of them -I've been trotting off to the post office laden with packages quite frequently lately...

These two boxes... ...full of Fruit Salt Shakers and Apple Bowls went off to NorthWest Fine Woodworking Gallery in Seattle a while ago. This long-time cooperative gallery is a great showcase for beautiful fine woodworking and I'm thrilled to have my pieces there. I particularly enjoy these Dancing Tables made by Tom Deady. If any westcoasters are willing to pop in there and give me an in-person report I'd love to hear from you! I doubt that I'll be there to check it out in person any time soon -but you never know...

I'm about to embark on another glazing session and I'm setting myself a challenge. I am going to glaze this series of intricately detailed bowls that I have had sitting around since forever (they were one of the first things I made after moving here and opening the new StudioElan). I've put off glazing them out of fear, but the time has finally come.

I did a test of my new Champagne glaze on a small piece that I embellished in the same way and I'm reasonably happy with it...

I'm going to try a little something on them to bring in a little more colour... wish me luck!

There, now I've commited to glazing them in front of the whole (wired) world. I can't get away with putting it off any longer. Check with me later to see if I manage to follow through!

To those of you who stopped by the studio for my first year as a participant in the Victoria County Studio Tour, thank you for making me feel so welcome (and giving a fair number of my pieces new homes)! If you are in the Kawartha Lakes, GTA, Haliburton or Peterborough areas (or are willing to drive for a great art experience), drop me a note and I'll make sure you get advance warning of next fall's tour and a copy of the self-guided tour map.

And last but not least...

**Watch this space for information about the 2nd Annual StudioElan Christmas Art Sale**

A Friday Treat for me...

by Eleanor Hendriks

...an appearance on a busy handmade goodies blog...

Time to Glaze...

by Eleanor Hendriks

I am about to embark on a mini glaze marathon... It's a mega glaze marathon when I have two tables full of pots to glaze -I try to avoid those -they make me sweat!!

...and a few results from the last round of glazing -I tackled the experimental jars that I made during my week of freedom...

Lots of food for thought here -but I was happy enough with them that you can find them for sale in my Etsy shop...