Goshen Fair 2009

Another great year at the Goshen Fair, Goshen, CT. The weather was perfect.

I get to work in the lean-to addition in the front.

Goshen Fair is a small, but fun-filled fair up the the Northwest Corner of CT. One of the earliest New England potters, Hervey Brooks, lived right down the road, along with Jesse Wadhams and Jonathan Kettell, made functional redware pottery from the clay in Goshen in the late 1700s till the mid 1800s.

Herveys' pottery barn has been moved to Sturbridge village in MA.

So I feel right at home here in this simple country town and among woodcutters, ax-throwers, tractors, barnyard, farmers and stitchers displaying their skills and their wares.

See you next year in Goshen!

Another year at Erie County Fair

Another great time demonstrating at the Erie County Fair in NYS.

This year, I brought along some new Slip trays, Face Jugs, Wall Pockets, Butter Jars and of course lots of Miniatures!

The Miniatures sold like hot cakes! It is so much fun to make them on my old treadle wheel. I made red clay Minis and miniature Scraffito Plates, Stoneware Whistle Jugs and Tiny Butter Churns. The smallest Jug I made was 1/2" tall, and yes, it was hollow. People ask me what are these Minis for, and I say.. "Nothing!" "Just for Fun!" I made over 400 Miniatures at the fair this year. I can box them up when dry and at $3 each, will easily sell them at my next fair... which is the Goshen Fair in CT. (My local fair is small but it is the "Fair above all others" for us. Labor Day Weekend. )

....................This year, I had Austin back to help out. His dad is the demonstrating Blacksmith and last year, Austin made a nice tile. Often, I ask kids to help me out, and Nathan put a face on a little jug for me. He and my other little helpers got to take their pots home. Sometimes, kids and I do a marble swap. I bring some wonderfully colorful and smoothly burnished Old-Tyme Clay Marbles along, fired and ready to use. The kids make me a marble out of fresh clay trying to make them perfectly round and then we swap for a finished one. Clay marbles are dried and then rolled around in a metal bowl with a mix of water and colored oxides. As they rub against the bowl and each other, they acquire a nice patina that is enhanced when fired.

Along with meeting some really great people, other crafters, locals, visitors and staff, I reconnected again with Athena and Pete who let me hold Butchy the snake. Butchy is a 7' phython and very friendly. Here is Roger the Bowlmaker, a giant broom specially made by Little John and me with Butchy. You can find more information about John and Roger at my web site on the "Reenactors I know" page. http://www.eastknollpottery.com/id18.html

Athena and Pete are the owners of Butchy the snake and the other larger snakes they bring for people to marvel over.

For more photos of the people and attractions at the Erie County Fair, check out this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29942392@N08/?saved=1

Paulette and Barry are fairgoers that live "off the grid". I had a great time visiting with them everyday and learning of their solor and heating meathods. The sweetest couple in the world have been married 34 years!

I miss all of these friends and wish them a year of happiness and success till I see them again next year!

Summer is here and I will spend the month of July at home making lots of pottery for upcoming fall exhibitions. And teaching kids pottery, Tuesday nite Handbuilders club and my occassional Potters Wheel student.

Its a busy month, but I hope to spend some time enjoying my yard. The garden has been visited by a lovely elegant Doe. She ate the tops off 4 of my 8 sunflowers. I now have dog hair decorating the surviving sunflowers and most of my bean and pea plants. Sigh. If she wasn't so elegant and beautiful, I would call my brother, the hunter over. But no, I will just try to get her to move on.

I have some new clients for my pottery. White Memorial Foundation in Litchfield will now be offering some face jug birdhouses, garden sculptures and other decorative and usefull pottery pieces.

Stop by to see a wide variety of new pottery and tour the 200 year old pottery barn...or sign up to take a class. Click on my web site to see more about the pottery and classes... www.eastknollpottery.com

Old Deerfield Village 2009

Old Deerfield Village's craft fair was not very well attended this year. The forcast predicted heavy rain, but as usual, the forcast was wrong. The sun came out between patches of clouds, and the light misting was a relieft to the heat.

Sold out all of my new little red birds. They look great in your garden or house plants and people also bought them for flower arrangements. Their bright red color attracted many customers.

Lots of mini pots were made and sold too. It was a good weekend for me with sales. I saw many old customers and crafters to catch up with. Talked to some other potters about our craft and ate lots of blueberry perogies.

Home again for the month of July to make some stock and teach children pottery making. And, I hope to finally get my greenhouse up.

My new Face Jug Birdhouses were a big hit also... adds a little fun to your yard and attracts the birds too!

Treadling at Mercer

Reggie the potter, daughter Erin and granddaughter Isobel, the youngest apprentice at 17 months old, working on the old wooden treadle wheel at Mercer Museums Folk Fest in Dolyestown PA.

Mercer Museum 2009

Another great year at the Mercer Museum in Pennsylvania. This is a wonderful place to hang out for a weekend. The crafters are experts in their fields, fashioning with enthusiam furniture, baskets, pottery, weavings, soap, paintings, so much more and even home brewed beer over a wood fire.




The lifestyle of the traditional craftsmen are in a world of their own. They have studied and practiced their craft. They have sought the simpler way of making useful and decorative crafts.

People have told me I can get a motor for my potters wheel instead of the slow steady kick of my wooden treadle, but that would defeat the purpose. The idea of starting a craft from scratch, a piece of wood, a ball of clay, a hank of wool... and slowly and meditatively turning those raw materials into a work of art; semetrical, smooth flowing lines, perfect balance... is not something to be rushed, but worked on subconsiously, meditatively, slowly. The craftsmens hands caress their work and instill a bit of themselves into it.

And the end product reflects the craftsmens lifestyle, practice, patience and skill.

Campfire Cookery

I have moved on to experimenting with campfire cooking.

These are my pottery crocks for cooking on campfires. My first attempt, was to throw some greased pottatoes in the crock on the left and stick it near the coals. It took about 40 minutes and they were soft and great!

My second attempt was not so good. They must have been too far from the coals and after 2 hours, yes they were soft.

Tonight I mix together 2 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of butter in the crock. Then I crumbled a dry loaf of french bread crumbled into chunks. A handful of raisons and half an apple then went into the mix. 1 hour near the coals and it was perfect.

In the other crock, I placed 1 inch cubes of potatoes, carrots, pork, shredded cabbage, garlic, onion and salt and pepper. I stuffed it in and filled the crock with beer. This mix took about 1 and 1/2 hours to soften the potatoes.

The crocks held up well, no cracks even when the flames got 2 " to the crocks. I wouldn't suggest the flames get any closer, and most of my logs were coals when I put the cold crocks in. The lids kept the steam in and both turned out quite tasty.