Revisiting Forced Age

It has been 6 months to the day that I first set out to the misty March woods to lay my pots to rest.
It was one of my first posts; and I was quite excited for the little experiment.
To recall, I set some earthenware pots I made on the woodland floor and covered them with moss and mud to attempt to force age upon them. I would travel back there from time to time and take a peek, but not to truly investigate the results. I would wait for the 6 month time line I gave myself.

So into the now; late September woods I went.


I set the pots down in the woods near the spring creek; and a wild rose bush that's now covered in beautiful hips.


Back in March when I placed the pots, I created a stick structure over them to mark there whereabouts as well as protect them from falling debris or animals trampling them.

As I crept behind the rose bush, there was the wooden tee pee with my pots safe inside.


As you can see in the photo, some time during the summer I also put some commercial pots in the mix as well to see if the different clay body would react differently to the environment.

So i squatted down and took a closer look.


The pots seemed to happy here. They were moist with their pumpkin tones glowing. And yes moss was starting to take hold as well.


With this closer inspection I quickly realized that this type of moss; as content as it was here growing on the pots in the woods, it would not survive out of this environment.

I was looking for more of an algae looking moss that would truly bond to the surface of the pots; almost like green paint.

with this slight disappointment I started to pick up the pots one by one and give them a real examination.

A - Ha; Yes! I said to myself.


This is what I was looking for. This moss variety seemed to be the right one. As sparse and delicate as it was, over time it would colonize the earthenware surface of these little pots.



With this glimmer of success I put the the pots back down on the woodland floor; and headed back to check on my other attempt to force age by the turkey coup.

There I placed commercial pots around mid August beneath a down spout from the roof. There was large bed of moss and with this location I could check on the pots more easily and as often as I wished.


These pots took on age at an alarming pace. With their time being there for less than 2 months they were showing amazing color. That blush of green was present on all of them.

I have determined that I think my pots; when fired in the kiln were brought up to a temperature that might have been to high for the likeliness of moss to grow on them.
That high temperature sealed up the porous surface of the pots preventing the moss to truly grab hold and thrive.

This coming winter when I do make more planters I won't fire them in the kiln to such a temperature. This will hopefully make them more porous and appealing to the moss.

In addition next spring I will take half of the pots and put them back in their woodland home and the other half will be relocated to the moist ground of the turkey coups down spout.

The experiment will continue!

Sounds At The Studio, Autumn

There has always been a connection for me between music and my art. I have music playing in the studio constantly; as it affects my mood, disposition, and what I am creating.

It is with this love of music and art that I have decided to post a new series titled "Sounds At The Studio". The series will give you a sampling of what I am listening to and show you some of the creative results.


This first compilation; I have been playing in the pottery while I have been creating objects out of cement. I am planning on doing a post soon on this new creative endeavor, so check back some time soon for my "concrete adventures".

For now please take a listen to this first installment of Sounds At The Studio, and let me know what your thoughts and feelings are after listening.


Please enjoy!

P.S. The first and third photos are taken of the pottery circa autumn 2008.

Rural Curb Appeal

The structure of the barn looks rather stark to me at some points in time. I appreciate the architecture of my "squat tower" in the landscape, but it has always seemed plopped; as if it was dropped from the sky.

I have been going back in forth, in my head whether to plant gardens in front or not since last summer when we bought the house. One voice says to me,"the structure is beautiful on it's own, minimal is better". While the other voice says, "You're a garden designer, every structure needs a foundation planting, plus you can never have too many gardens".

So guess which voice won? Of course gardens.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you, the foundations and steps of creating a garden.

When I decided to go ahead and design the new pottery gardens, I went back to my initial design I completed over the past winter.
I would create two curved stone walls flanking the entrance of the barn and they would arch around the sides to the back.
The planting would all be shade tolerant, as the only direct sunlight that comes through the trees is for only an hour during mid-morning.


Then when I was about to execute this plan, another idea came to me.
Maybe a better option would be to have two small beds with perfectly square footprints, with lower rock walls as edging.
After sitting out in front of the pottery for an hour contemplating these designs, I consulted with Stephen. He liked both propositions, but favored the "square gardens". He mentioned the fact that around the grounds of the M.H. Merchant House, we had already had several perennial borders with sweeping curves. The square lines of the new pottery gardens would fit the architecture and create a different feeling down at the pottery.

It was settled, square it is!

I set down to the barn with the wheel barrow, two shovels, rake, and a tape measure. I measured out from the corners to 6ft. and then placed a small marker stone. With a flat spade I edged a complete square, which would be the footprint of the garden.

Then with the same spade , I scraped off a layer of roots, moss, and weeds, to a depth of 2 inches.
Now the beds were starting to take shape.

The next debate I had was, whether or not to build a stone wall to retain the new beds. The prospect of working with stone would normally be great, but the past week I just completed a new stone patio off our kitchen and I was still a little sore.
I new the walls would look great; they would give a real sharp shape to the gardens as well as adding another texture. So I just bit my lip and went into the woods and began gathering stones. Several hours later and I thought there was enough stone to start.

I start with the largest stones first with the straightest edge always facing out. I place them in a single layer and work the perimeter. Then come additional stones and so on, stone on stone, layer after layer until the desired height is complete.

When the walls were complete, I set out the next day to amend and till the new beds. I dumped 8 bags of topsoil and 1 large bale of peat moss in each bed.

Then comes the fun part, rototilling! I powered the little baby up and got to tilling, until all the different soils were incorporated.



I quickly dug up some perennials from my other shade garden and added some rocks that I found the other day in the woodland that would hold water, both for the birds and to please the eye.


The next stage was to plan in my head how the gardens should look. I sat down in front of the pottery and the new beds and began to think of all the different plants to choose from.
I new I was dealing with a deep shade type of environment, but there are so many great botanical choices out there.
After the concept was finished in my thoughts, I jotted down on a note card my "recipe list" of plant material.


The list is basically a wish list, for when I often go to garden centers to execute my plans, I always deviate and select different plants for other reasons.
The bones of the concept though tend to stay true to my initial design.

With note in hand I headed to my favorite local nursery and dropped a small fortune. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I wanted a full look, and most of the plants were on sale.
I loaded my little Subaru hatchback up with plants until some of them were hanging out of the windows.

I chose to go with a quite color pallet of burgundy, plums, hints of white and different shades of green.


The plants were selected for both their foliage color and there bloom time; so there will be something showy from spring until late in the fall.
I planted two red twig dogwoods, a few canna, and lots of hucheras, ferns, and other shade loving perennials.



With the new gardens completed they really helped the pottery become more of a destination from the road.
It just seems a bit more inviting and I think has a more comfortable feel.


In fact that day we had several visitors and even more sales.

I guess a little curb appeal can go a long way.

Night Light

Stephen took these beautiful pictures of the pottery at dusk a few weeks ago on a humid August evening.

I love the way the light bounces of the beams of the barn, and how the inside of the structure shines like a beacon from the road.

Even as night falls over Cornwallville, you can still read the white pottery sign from the giant maples at the roadside. As one gets closer walking up to the entrance, the porcelain pots blur and glow with the saturated light from inside.



One of my favorite new works that I have done this past year, is this hanging porcelain pendant lamp. I made five of these rather long thrown cylinders with holes in the bottom for cords. I threw them as thin as I could on the wheel, for porcelain becomes translucent the thinner it is.

Unfortunately this piece was the only one of the five that was tall enough to fit both the lamp fixture and bulb.
I will be making more of these this coming fall, playing with the shape, and texture of the lamps to cast off different types of light.

I just imagine a dozen of these luminaries strung in the woodland at night. It would give either a haunting or magical feeling to the viewer, depending on the mood.


I have always loved this feed trough built into the one corner of the barn. I suspended a light up inside before the opening of the pottery and I love the way the light shines through. I am still thinking of how to display work inside the lit wooden slats, as I believe it would be a great space to showcase.


Finally these are a couple of shots of the north side of our home, The M.H. Merchant Stone House. Stephen installed the up lights on the stone almost a year ago.

I never tire of staring each night at the amazing craftsmanship and simple beauty of our home.

The Perfect Combination

I have been passionate about pottery since I started working in a ceramic studio some years after high school. It was there that I learned and absorbed all there was to know about the process of making and firing clay.

I was taught the philosophy that being a potter and or a ceramic artist, starts with skill. Where you take that "skill" with what creativity you have will be your own journey.


Gardening for me though comes from a deeper place. I feel that my love for plants and creating gardens is truly in my blood.

My great-grandfather was a champion dahlia grower. He tended to his tubers, and pinched buds off his specimen plants for years as my mother grew up watching him.
I believe that green thumb talent passed on to her.

When I was a child I think back to all the colorful snapdragon's and bachelor button's bursting out of the borders and the snow peas dangling from the trellises in the vegetable bed.
I loved being outside working and digging with my mom.
It was there in her gardens at a young age that I feel my little thumb began to blush green.


So for the years growing up as a child I always seemed to have an appreciation for the beauty of plants, and the way they made me feel.
It wasn't till I moved into my own apartment, during some time when I was working at the pottery studio that I started to learn about plants and their requirements.

I had this huge south facing picture window, that I began filling with houseplants. I bought books and started to absorb all that i could to help my new leafy friends thrive.

My plant path continues to this day with all sorts of botanical adventures, some mind blowing and others great failures.

As I know it is the exact same way one feels as being a ceramic artist. There is so much that one needs to learn and process, and then to take that information and make something uniquely beautiful, even if that beauty is all for you is a humbling and amazing feeling.


So, it is in this perfect combination that the two loves of mine have finally met.


If you were to go back to a my post in March of this year under "Forcing Age", you will read how I came to make a good amount of small terra-cotta pots, some of which I am attempting to "force age" upon. Those pots are still in the marshy woods, and soon will be checked on.

The remainder of the pots I recently planted up with, some amazing succulents, specimen lavenders, and scented geraniums.
Under the plants I mulched them small crushed stone with some special pebbles, and placed a metal plant identification tag in each pot.
I placed them out back of the pottery, facing due west.

I set them on some rustic benches and they seemed to glow with life.
Both the plants and the pots were transformed.

I am really pleased how these creations turned out, and even more so, that people have been taking these little guys home as well.

I'm already planning on making even more planters of different sizes, textures and glazes this coming winter.
I can't wait to see what comes of this plant inspired body of work!

Country Advertising

It has been several weeks since the official opening of the Cornwallville Pottery, besides during the open house we held at the end of June, not one person has stopped by. No one, not even a car slowing down to look.

My impatient self got to thinking that I should do some country advertising. In the simplest terms, I needed to make signs, and lots of them. Our road, Strong Rd. is snuggled between two major thoroughfares that go deep into the Catskills, Rt. 23 and Rt. 145. I knew I had to make a bunch of them for all the twists and turns of the country roads.

It took some thinking about which roads and directions that the signs would be pointing. I drew myself a little map and the number of signs needed and in which direction they should point.

I cut up some plywood from the old cabinets that were in our kitchen before we renovated, and cut posts as well. I screwed them together, and slapped on some white paint.

After they were finally coated, I penciled on them either pottery, or Cornwallville pottery with arrows going in different directions. When they were completed I rested them on the potting shed to dry.

The morning after I could not really sleep in. It was that feeling of having a yard sale or something of the sort. I wanted to put out the signs and see who would show up.
I woke Stephen up around 7:30 in the morning and we hit all the corners of our country roads with the homemade signage.

I would run out of the car to the trunk , whip out a sign and sledgehammer, and post. Jump back in and to the next corner we would go.


Some spots were more difficult than others, due to rocky terrain, but I got those signs in. I was determined to have my little billboards.

When we did our roundabout and got home, I put the final sign up. It was the one right out front of the pottery, a double faced sign that read, pottery.

It looked great on our country road. Simple, sweet, and to the point.

That same morning we retreated to the house to have a late breakfast of poached eggs, and Montreal bagels. As we were about to sit down we got a shocking...HELLO.......GOOD MORNING! It was the first customers.

They were a friendly couple from a nearby hamlet on a bike ride, and spotted the signs. It felt good to have strangers come view the pottery.

Later during the day, Stephen and I viewed several cars basically crawling past the pottery as well as five more visitors of neighbors and passersby.

A long day and several sales later, the country advertising was definitely worth it!

Independence Day

Greetings from Cornwallville on this Independence Day!