In this first image, top right, the kiln is partly loaded and I’m building the setting to hold the various sized pieces for this firing. The way the kiln is stacked – how tightly and whether the shelves are staggered – all affect how the kiln will fire. Air flow, heat distribution, oxidation, reduction, intake, exhaust, gas and chemical reactions, shrinkage, timing between changes… It is always slightly different with so many variables. Just firing a kiln is an art and science.

In the second and third photos the kiln is fully loaded. It’s 1pm and I’ve lit the burners.

The 4th shot, at right, is of the kiln ~12 hrs into the firing at 1am. The peephole plugs are out to show the effect of reduction on the kiln. The intensity and color of the flame is an indicator of the strength of the reduction. This firing took 13.5 hours to reach 2350f.

The final photo was 36 hours later, after the kiln had cooled to ~250f.

Until the temp is below 400f we barely open the door…

The finished pieces go through quartz inversion at ~400f – a time of rapid shrinkage when they will easily crack. One can hear ting ting ting through the cracked door. In high fired stoneware and porcelin, there is approximately 13% shrinkage – about 10% of this happens during the glaze fire – torturing the pieces. A true trial by fire.

click any image to enlarge

After a lot of refining and studious work, I finished several unique new glazes this month. With them, I have been throwing porcelain instead of the brown stoneware clay. I’m loving the way the new glazes are reacting with it! The colors are more vibrant than ever.

We’re at a high point in experimentation success and expression.

As I write, Peggy is in her studio filling color in on pieces she wax decorated over the past few days. I’ve been making a lot of new pieces in preparation for our expansion in Studios on the Park.

The photo above is of two slab vessels I carved with geometric intertwinning imagery, along with new wheel thrown porcelin teapots, and a large porcelain covered jar.

The photo below is a group of bisque fired porcelain bottles and vessels waiting to be glazed. Tomorrow is glaze day and I plan to finish some of them. I am developing more new glazes for the porcelain and revisiting some of the combinations I loved in my past porcelain work.

It was really a day in the sun – about 80 degrees with a light wind – absolutely perfect weather. It was a great crowd and we had very good sales. Again this week, as at Saratoga, patrons bought some very nice pieces of both our collaborative work and my individual work. There was a great funk/R&B band playing, wine tasting, BBQ, and art. What more could you ask for?

Our daughter Emily, with her daughter Zoë, and our son Josh, with his daughter Heidi and son Carter all stopped by for visits. It was a wonderfully fun day in Templeton.

We had our first weekend of expansion at our gallery at Studios on the Park, too. We are both thrilled with the new displays and more cohesive space. We’ve been working so hard in preparation that the space is already full! We’re very excited and looking forward to showing off the space… Here are our first photos.

We did the Saratoga Rotary Art Show last weekend. It is a great show. During the show we often marvel at the superb jurying process. Every accepted artist is tops in their field. They’re not just good; they’re outstanding.

To get a feel for the quality, take a look at the art and artists in their program.

The attendees at the show are equally impressive. During the show we had some really wonderful conversations, gaining insight on favorite symbols and discussing some of the ancient tribes who we capture in our work. Quite often we are educated by a customer who knows the the intricate historical detail of a symbol. We love this!

Hopefully we’ll see you there next year. The show benefits the Saratoga Rotary, who are actively involved in the community.

…

Quick reminder: Day in the Shade is this Saturday. It’s a tiny show in Templeton, CA. It’s in the park and there’s live blues until 5pm. It’s a fun way to spend a Saturday if you’re near by.

And if you stop by Templeton for the show, you should also stop by Studios in the Park where we have our gallery space. There are 40 artists in an open environment. Visiting both the show and the studios is a good way to get a weekend art fix before Mother’s Day :-)

Title: Butterfly Woman
Spirit Figure wall piece. Design and glazing by Peggy Vrana.

Dimensions: 7″ x 16 1/2″

Turtle

Dragonfly

Title: Turtle and Dragonfly
This small round vase holds the designs most preferred by Peggy in her geometric repertoire. One side is a turtle and the other side is a dragonfly. The turtle symbolizes mother earth, female fertility, and long life. The dragonfly symbolizes transformation.

Dimensions: 6″ x 8 3/4″
Price: $160.00

Peggy’s collaboration with D’Ambino Winery and Cellars, a winery owned and operated by a family of talented and fun loving musician/winemakers, has shaped and inspired her to make pieces with music as a central theme.

Like the D’Ambinos, we’re a family of music lovers, too. Many years ago – way before MySpace, color computer monitors, and almost before the Internet was invented – we were in the band Up in the Air. Peggy played flute and Michael played conga drums. It was great fun and we still have our original instruments decorating our home.

Peggy has always enjoyed illustrating and glazing people in her wax-resist work. It’s a natural next step and adventure to capture musical life, and she is eagerly exploring and inspired to do more musical designs.

The photo of the hanging plate above is the 3rd piece capturing musical life. It’s not for sale – we’re keeping it. The first two, including “D’Ambino Family at Play,” were sold during the Art of Wine auction on April 16th, 2010.

Title: Dragonfly Lotus
Large flare bowl can hang on the wall as a painting or for serving and enhancing fine foods.

Dimensions: 15 1/2″ x 3″
Price: $325.00

Title: Green Bowl with Flowers
Made to hang on the wall as a decorative piece,   but also can be used in serving foods for special occasions.   Our glazes are safe for food.   Hand thrown and decorated by Peggy Vrana.

Dimensions: 13 3/4″ 2 1/2″
Price: $168.00

We always look forward to your visit at our permanent space in Studios on the Park, between noon and 6pm Thursday through Sunday (until 8pm Friday and Saturday) – But we’re also lined up for some fun shows next month and we’d love to see you come out and join us.

Location: Saratoga, California (map)
Date: Sunday, May 2nd – 9am-5pm
About: Put on by the Saratoga Rotary, and dubbed, “the largest one day juried fine Art Show in the West.”

Location: Templeton, California (map)
Date: Saturday, May 8th (day before Mother’s Day) – 9am-5pm
About: The Templeton Day in the Shade is a great small festival in the central park in downtown Templeton. It’s the day before Mother’s Day and is a great opportunity to take the mom in your life out to lunch and culture (or find a last minute gift).

Come out and join us for a wonderful experience at these shows.

Title: Four Thistle Plate
Handthrown by Michael Miller, design and glazing by Peggy Vrana. We love this one.    It’s strong in design and reminds us of work from the renaisssance It has a wall hanging kit on the footrim for wall display.

Dimensions: 14 1/2″ x 2″
Price: $265.00

Title: Earthtone Geometric Flare Bowl
Small flare is handthrown by Michael Miller and design hand painted by Peggy Vrana. Our flares are designed to hang on the wall or for serving fine food.  The footrim is wired so it can be hung like a painting.

Dimensions: 11 1/2″ x 2″
Price: $130.00

We’ve been having a lot of fun getting the blog and new pieces online. It’s pretty neat to have this new contact with customers, friends, and family. And about a week ago we got our Facebook page and Twitter account set up, too.

Facebook makes it really easy to share our pictures and videos, and we have a few albums created of our studios, gallery, and work. If you have a Facebook account you can “Like” our page and get updates when new pictures, videos, and events are posted. Here is our Facebook page

We don’t really know what to do with the Twitter quite yet. It’s interesting and we have it connected to our cell phones so we can post updates about what we’re up to, but it’s a little strange to send a text messages out to the Internet instead of directly to people we know. Here is our Twitter account

We hope you’ll join us online!

Peggy and Michael each paired with local Paso Robles area wineries to collaborate on inspired pieces, mixing the feel of their respective winery in art. Later, offerings from the wineries and the pieces were sold at silent auction.

Clayhouse Wines and Michael Miller paired to create “Clay House” – with David Frick, winemaker, getting his hands nice and covered in clay in the process.

D’Ambino Vineyards and Cellars and Peggy Vrana paired to create “D’Ambino Family At Play”, a piece highlighting five musical members of the D’Ambino family run business, each wearing tuxedos and playing in a ceramic jazz concert.

Both of these wineries have absolutely amazing wines, created by truly wonderful people. It was a lot of fun and good times working on these pieces. We’re looking forward to getting out to the tasting rooms again!

In the video Michael talks through and throws a large vase using his new style and design, describes how to throw a 4′ tall masterpiece with 120 pounds of clay, and reminisces on some early teaching experiences at the Atascadero Mental Hospital – for the criminally insane (no, he was not a patient!)

(note: Audio for the first 7 minutes are terrible. It’s good after that. Sorry!)

What do you think?

Title: Flower Vase
Tall porcelin cylinder vase - Handthrown by Michael Miller with design hand brushed in wax-resist and glazed by Peggy Vrana.

Dimensions: 5 1/4″ x 11 1/2″
Price:  $150.00

Bird’s Flight

Flower’s Scent

Lute’s Resonance

Title: No Strings Attached
We took three photos to capture the detail in the designs (the three photos are of one piece from three angles). It is a unique piece, inspired by things of the air: bird’s flight, flower’s scent, and the lute’s resonance. This vase was handthrown by Michael Miller and designed and glaze decorated by Peggy Vrana.

Dimensions: 8″ x 14″
Price: $400.00

Our customers often asked to buy our work online. We’re starting that today! This is a big move for us and we’re looking forward to making exclusive pieces available.

Selling art online is tricky – it’s hard to know what it feels like – and we want to exceed your expectations. To make this happen we’re personally selecting only our choice pieces. Each item available on EarthseaPottery.com is hand selected for uniqueness, special characteristics, new styles, and/or new glazes. Basically, these are the best representations of our work.

It isn’t a big online store. We’re keeping it personal and offering only a few pieces at a time. Each is one of a kind and offered first-come, first served. You can find them right here, in our blog, or bookmark our Favorites.

This is so exciting for us! We’ve always loved connecting with our customers and believe this way of offering our art is the best way to maintain that connection.

We had a terrific opening night on Friday, July 17.  I was having so much fun visiting with our many friends who stopped by to celebrate with us, that I forgot to take any pictures of the party.  Our studio partner, Henry A.J. Ramos and his beautiful wife, Claudia were there co-hosting the event .  We were all very pleased with the response from the wonderful people in attendance. Our new hours at the Studios on the Park beginning July 24 will be, Thurs. & Sun. 12:00-6:00, Fri. & Sat. 4:00-10:00 

I’m busy finishing new pieces for this weekends Art in the Park in Morro Bay – July 3, 4, 5.  I loaded a glaze firing yesterday and fired the kiln until 4am this morning.  The kiln will be cool enough to unload by tomorrow night – appx. 30 hrs. cooling time.  Unloading a glaze firing is always the most exciting part of the process, the culmination of several weeks work.  This show is Michael’s new work exclusively and will include the results of this firing.

This afternoon, we set up a display of beautiful, new pieces at The Gallery at The Network at 778 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo.  We will now have an ongoing, ever changing body of work available in SLO.  The Gallery is celebrating its 10th year and we are pleased to be joining them.  This cooperative Gallery represents clay, glass, wood,  jewelry, photographic and painting artists.

I’m learning to blog as we speak and I just wanted to share a picture of the kiln full of pots ready for a firing.  The door is about to close and the firing begins.  (This is actually an older photo) and I’m looking forward to sharing new works with you in coming blog posts.

We’ve had a beautiful day hiking and enjoying the coast.  If you find yourself in Cambria and visit us at our home/studio, this is my studio in the pines. 

Dragonfly Platter (top) and Zuni (above) are examples of Peggy and Michael’s work and have either sold or are in our private collection and not for sale.