Greg Johnson Pottery Blog

Tom Coleman Video

2014-02-06T20:31:00.001-08:00

I have always been a fan of Tom's work. I appreciate how he has been able to continuously innovate and evolve as an artist. Here is a cool video that shows how you can make asymmetrical vase with some decent throwing skills and some altering. I have tried this with some success. While it is not necessarily my "style" I enjoyed making a few. I urge you to give it a try!!! Thank you Tom for all your contributions to ceramics in America!

No words needed

2014-01-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

https://www.etsy.com/shop/GregJohnsonPottery

Getting artsy

2013-11-21T21:45:00.001-08:00

It's cool how after teaching throwing and handbuilding I enjoy a little more surface design. The throwing never looses it glory but the designing can be a blast on a decent size piece!

Mossy Creek Pottery

2013-11-11T21:38:00.001-08:00

A somber day for NW potters. The most wonderful NW gallery Mossy Creek Pottery is about to change owners. I am hopeful that whoever the new owners are that they will be as awesome as Dan and Susan Wheeler have been.

I spent almost 2 years working at mossy creek helping them remodel and doing some production pottery/apprenticing. I am so grateful for that experience. I am hopeful and a little scared about the who will run it as well as the wheelers!

Laguna Pacifica Pottery Wheel Review

2013-09-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

Ok, I have been a HUGE pusher for pacifica wheels since I started throwing. I throw 2-60lbs gloriously with no problem or complaints. They are white (much better than 70's yellow...sorry brent) they have more table space, good splash pan assembly, quit, and they HAD smooth great metal foot pedals.

Then they changed the pedals a few years back when Laguna took over. Now they look like this:

These are not so great.....well basically they are crap! RUN AWAY!!!

I am a ceramics teacher so I manage, maintain, and repair 23 pottery wheels. These new pedals have FAILED on 3 of the 6 BRAND NEW wheels. Within ONE YEAR. Here is why:

The old metal die cast pedal used an electromagnetic throttle for speed control.... the NEW so called "magic" pedal uses a crappy STRING on a pulley with a spring....See below:

Soooo..... on 3 of these new wheels I have had to restring them using high grade 80lb leader line. This will be just a temporary fix until it breaks again I am certain. See Below:

The other problematic issue is the wheel does not stop quickly when the pedal is turned off. When you are trimming or working and you want to make an adjustment or spin the wheel to a certain point you must manually direct the wheel. They wheel spins too long after turning off. I am sure there is an adjustment I can figure out and when I do I will post here!

When I called pacifica about the problem they were VERY aware of this common issue and you'll have to send your pedal in on your dime and wait 1-3 months for a fix.

I would highly suggest buying an older pacifica with the die cast metal pedal over a new one. If you cannot find an older pacifica you should probably steer clear of these wheels unless you don't mind taking it apart once a year.

Please email, call, or write and inform Laguna why you will not purchase another pacifica wheel. Maybe...just maybe they will switch back..... and pacifica, once again, will make great products!!!

Good Luck and Make Great Pots!

Greg

Illumination

2012-11-20T16:59:00.001-08:00

I walked into the kiln room of my classroom and the light was shining through the window illuminating one of my freshly finished bottles. I had to snap a picture! Enjoy!

Love this form

2012-07-16T18:05:00.001-07:00

Simple form but such a great surface to decorate!

Creative Thoughts

2011-12-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

As a teacher you are often required to have a rhyme and reason for everything you do. All choices made must have an intention that is explainable and quantifiable. BLAH!

For an artist to have to give an account for every choice is like asking a rose why it is beautiful, smells beautiful, and why yet it has thorns. I feel like when you do that you compromise what IS. Focus on the beauty and enjoy it. For that is its higher purpose and it is your higher purpose to revere. To mentally massage such an idea is ignorant and futile. Objectivity will distance you into a never ending enigma of unsatisfaction.

Part of what makes me a creative person is that I am not mechanical, thought out, or limited by a formula. Half the time I cant even explain why or what I am doing with my art, I just do it. As if it is part of a subconscious process that cannot be understood but only seen. Like how your best ideas come to you when you are doing something "normal". Artists and creatives cannot by enslaved by anyone's self justified false logic. It must transcend beyond that to become what it IS so we can all focus on its beauty and enjoy. Let reverence be your guide.

Production

2011-11-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

I cant tell you when I am ever feel more fulfilled that when I create work. Its like a sweet song prayed to the one who is. Thanks God for such days.

Ornamental handles

2011-10-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

It's amazing when you look at some porters work and they use simple decorative techniques to turn a plain form into an extraordinary work of art. It's is also a struggle not to over decorate or distract with anti-unifying elements. Here is a small study of work exploring this very thing.

Peace,
Greg

Some slip carving

2011-09-28T21:19:00.001-07:00

I played around with some slip to make this piece. It is more or less an exploration but I see some potential!

New Kiln

2011-09-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last 6 months I have been working on a new kiln for my ceramics program at Tigard High School. I built a 40cu ft Minnesota Flat Top kiln designed by Nils Lou with minor alterations. It is amazing how hard you will work for something you are passionate about. After over a thousand hours of blood, sweat, and frustration (no tears yet) we are only a gas line away.

However, I have done one very cool thing and that is that I have created a brick by brick CAD model of the kiln with Google sketch-up. Here is a graphic of what I have:

If you are looking into building this kiln shoot me an email and I will get you the files I created.

They are not plans but would really help anyone out that is undertaking such a task!

Peace!
Greg

Some bottles (and 1 bowl)

2011-08-16T16:43:00.001-07:00

When I first started really getting into shaping my pottery. Bottles, for me, were the hardest thing I could think of to throw. I couldn't believe how guys like Tom Coleman and Dan Wheeler could make such nice forms. Especially while making their pots so light and consistent! Not to say im anywhere near guys like tom and Dan it is encouraging to be able to throw the forms that I once looked at as impossible.

If I were to offer tips for somebody who's been throwing for a little while that wants to tackle quality bottles. It would probably help and to think very hard about their order of operations to reduce unnecessary clay movements. it's also just as important how they appropriate their clay before going from cylinder to a bottle. When trying such delicate forms reduce drag as much as possible as well as reduce water saturation. This is a difficult problem because the less water you have the more drag you get and with more water the less drag you have. So you have to work very fast and intentional. You also have wet only certain sections a certain times then rib the water off right away.

Lidded jars

2011-08-14T16:40:00.001-07:00

I finally got some coleman porcelain!

One of my huge pet peeves is when you are at an art show or gallery looking at lided pots and the lids are so loose they wobble all over. Cmon potters take the time to make a lid that's at least close to being snug!

Here is a tip for super tight lids.... Throw your flanges and the lips if your pots thick with the lid being slightly too big. Then while you are trimming trim the lid to the perfect size. So easy and will make your pots that much more professional!

Valve grinding compound is also essential after glaze firing.

Peace,
Greg

BiG PoTs

2011-08-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

So I am out of coleman porcelain so I am having to scrap around for something to throw until my shipment comes in from clayart. I figure it I am using a white stoneware (b-mix copy) I might as well throw some bigger pots.

There are two thing I want to say about this:

First, Whenever you switch clay it seems like it takes some time to get your hands to work right. I have to pull much slower with this clay and I cannot stagger my hands during a pull as much as I do with the coleman. However, once I lined up my inside and outside hands I had much more success.

Second, water usage was a little different. I have to pull slower meaning the water has more time on the clay making it weaker overall. I don't like this... I also found that English ribbing (double ribbing) works better on bmix than coleman. I stopped double ribbing on my porcelain but I now recall its advantages as well as with dry throwing.

Each pot took a lot of time but after many flops I am having a higher success rate.

*pots were stacked and scored together

2011-07-18T23:25:00.001-07:00

Leaving for Maui tomorrow! I will keep an eye out for some Hawaiian pots!

Look at these glazes!

2011-07-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

I tweaked the iron content, feldspar, and my firing cycle. The increased iron and g200 fluxed the glazes which will allow me to fire a cooler. I was having to hit ^11 which made my reds almost burn out in hot spots. Now I can barely drop ^10 and I can get the melt I was looking for. As with any discovery there is a cost. I lost about $500 in pots from running in this load.....Oh well. Such is ceramics!

Peace!

Firing again

2010-06-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Just finished 2 loads of pots in 72 hours. Whew I am pooped!

I am amazed at the magnitude of the effect the smallest thing can do to your firing. In my firing on the 3rd I turned my target brick sideways to allow the slightest amount of flame to get around it and reach the front of the kiln, there was about a 1.5 inch gap. This caused cone 12 to fall on the bottom with 11 half down on top. In this last firing I moved that target brick so no flame got around it and in this last firing cone 11 is flat on top with only 9 down on the bottom. Just the slightest move and the kiln temperature inversion is flipped.....ugh.

I will post some picture of the pots from both firings soon. Keep posted!

Peace to you!
Greg

Summer is in the air! Time to prduce pots!

2010-05-27T07:48:00.001-07:00

Got some good pots out of the last 2 firings! I am still working on glaze tests towards a glaze book that will be out someday! At the rate of success I am having it will be at least 10 years! :)

I have finally figured out these forced air burners at George Fox. I have had to slow down the my heat rise in the last 5 hours of the firing by keeping the kiln reducing. So much air flows through these forced air burners that this seems to be the only way to get the results I am looking for. If I don't do this the glazes will look dull and under-fired (un-melted). This tip came from Dan wheeler and Mathew Patton, Thanks guys! I have posted a bunch of new pots on etsy and have taken a large load of work to mossy creek pottery! I am excited to see how my work does this year.

Thanks!
Greg

Packing Pots

2010-01-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

I just spend a few hours on this dreary saturday to pack up some work for Mossy Creek Pottery! I pulled the pots out of the kiln about a week ago. It is funny how after a week I like them more! Perhaps my expectaiotns work against me. Either way the last load was pretty good, lots of deep color and very few flaws. I am exploring with some shino as well as with some other special effects glazes. Everything else was copper red with my "Gambler" glaze reacting to all sorts of special effects glazes. I had good luck with the shino on porcelain but the other tests were a waste. I will be adding more fine porcelain worrk to my etsy in a few days. I will add them slowly to keep things fresh.

I am loving making pots and attracting buyer online. It is so exciting to see work go to New York, DC, and other various cities. I need to again thank each one of you who has ever bought one of my pieces! You keep me going! I owe you so much and I attribute a large amount of my success to you!

Greg