watermarktile blog

Hi all

The cool weather is here and its time to start and finish some new projects at the farm and the atelier.

A new green house and hen house is going up .The green house is green because I am using material I have saved from other jobs to make it recycled but yet sustainable in the fact that it is what is…solar powered with rain collection :)  Just in time to get the organic veggies going all winter long.Yes it does get cold here but the wind is the thing the plants do not like so this should give them room to branch out.

The wood fire kiln project is happening too! Stay tuned for specifics if you like to join the workshop email me to sign up or you may be left out in the cold. It will be between Jan and April 2010.Meanwhile the wood fire tile line is happening here  now its so NICE Ive never seen anything like it but that’s the work produced here more to come with it esp since there are 7 clay bodies testing all unique…..the porcelain is phenomenal esp naked…that is the term used by wood burning artists that leave it like it is…let the fire do it!

New retailer in Austin !! That is right you green people see watermark  tile at ECO WISE Jim and Amy have decided to get watermark tile in the showroom and become the outlet in Austin! So stop in and take a look,they are behind Guerros on S Congress on Elizabeth Street. Nice to be back in their store as Jim Carried my handmade note cards in the beginning…was that 20 years ago?

Also Parts and Labour is another retailer for the T shirts that have the dye art on them and they have the sushi plates and the infamous wall pockets that are all unique everyone is an original  so get them collectors.

East Austin Studio Tour continues this weekend then Bastrop artist harvest on T giving weekend then Wheatsville art show the first weekend in December.

Any questions?

JBG

yes this baby site off the watermark tile is a helper to those who just prefer that handmade look vs the Store bought machine made dust pressed junk from the chain stores. I love when I bid a job then find out they cut their expenses with off the shelf tile.Tile is special to me.Tile that was cheap ugly and machine made is just that…. so. I deal with this daily. It does not bother me it just shows how much passion I have for my work and why I keep on making my hand made ceramic tile…..LOVE that job and LOVE the results.

If you are here for the handmade ceramic tile then lets rock on with your project.If you are new too this then let me guide you to utopia at your destination.Lets us not focus anymore on the bids lost over the mass produced tile and get on with the clay slab I am cutting 2×2 out of….These are my favs at the moment so pretty and unique each one its own going up in situ where art is important….

Sushi plates are in the kiln and are just the thing for a gift.Looking forward to sharing these with customers….the fun has begun at the studio to table. Now to get the fresh ingredients and start the cali rolls.There are platters too!

So much to tell am I bragging “yes” that is your update from the watermark shed.

Happy Labor day!

JBG

Hello

On the big note.People are calling asking for info on purchaces.

This tells me I may be super buzy so please leave me a message if you are calling the studio the cell provider I have has gone down and I have added a land line that is still just that barely anything  all at mucho dinero.

I am not going anywhere just have sorry phone eq…I cant / wont do texting / twitter/ etc as I have my hands in clay and am focusing on ceramics which is what this takes… I thought it was just clay too till I got serious about the jobs I was doing and another tile maker in town Allen told me I better learn the clay as he had a degree in it…amused I went on for years till I learned the eutectics of clay oxides and minerals that dictate what I now make. A degree in ceramics? Clay makes one take a course in chemistry and every thing else involved time management, business.This goes on and on.Through hard work and studies and a passion for clay.. the best tile ever>I make the body too.WOW.and its just a canvass to ebru.hard fired 2250 degrees solid permanent ebru on tile.

JBG

Its coaster time!

You know what you set your drink on a hot Texas day.

I have created a thick super coaster with Leafs pressed in or a Texas carved in….

Yes all by hand and super absorbant with a cork footing they will be awsome at your house.

The cork is recycled green wine corks that I cit and glue to the back….

These can be hung on the wall too. Just like that art..

Signed and numbered each a master…like your s truly.

Let me know if you like first pics as there are only 50 of one and 25 of the other.

As far as the Sage tile..its a tile with my native sage pressed in colored in a wash or glaze these are limited as the sage on the ranch comes in August and thats when they are made. Even though there is a drought the sage this year are GREAT! I can press the flowers and hand color if you like. Add these with my herb line and your kitchen may just be a herb garten. Others avail are rosemary, tyme parsley celantro.No need to spell out the names unless you like?? But everyone I know looks at the tile with herbs and thay are astonished how beatiful I have them..well each one is from my garden and then original as I press only once…wash or glaze? ten differnt clay bodies 40 greens….The results are fabulous let me know if you like a pic of the product or process this has been a long ride to end up with the results that are here!

Looking forward to knocking out some estate size kitchens with these!

Back to the studio all the august natives are in and the pressing continues…Grape mesquite oak boisdarc.This list is HUGE.!.

JBG

Hi People

Its been a hot summer! Thinking about a cool house thats green. Makin tile and pottery.Picking up new outlets for the xmas season coming.Do you know want watermark at your location?

Life is grand back to the farm!!

CYA JBG

Hey Now

I have been putting up fences around the farm.This means work…esp getting the old fence down and the trees in a pile to make way for the new fence with fire lanes.

These help me keep it grazed or mowed .Also help slow a fire on the place.I wish there were before and after pics but I dont , they make it seem so easy.Look that’s what he did in 2 seconds when it took a few months.This will never happen here…like the art work I make look it just took twenty three years for that.Well considering a retrospective show of all the works that are NFS that belong to the watermark story is a fun thought, so I have decided to add it to my studio sale this fall where I will show new works!! Have seconds cheap and harvest cash from people for the kiln building the next weekend….

Wood Fire Kiln Building is when a few interested people get together and build a wood fire kiln brick by brick and then add their pots and things and FIRE it together.

So hence the title today Fields of Fuel like the Neil Young song all these mesquite trees will be the fuel for the new kiln .I hope to build two kilns a small cone 6 and a giant cone 10/13… I am waiting on a book 21t century kilns to come out so I can get some more info and tweek or add plans. Yes I have bricks and need more and have metal for roof of kiln house.Also running a big water line to site( dont plan on showers and toilets yet ) so Kilnmiesters get ready email me your info and why you want to get involved so I can send you the info as it comes up.

Today I am doing a special project that goes back to Mandala. Whats Mandala? (I still have not fixed the resume) it was a dye art business I worked on in the late 80s and early 90s, primarily fiber art.Cotton garmets and paper where the focus.Remember this Cotton makes rags, rags make paper, paper makes money. So the project being a star folded into a mandala. This should be fun and will be available real soon,Back by popular demand!

Thanks again folks for taking the time to send thoughts and visions for watermark.Things have never been better and because of the support network that evolved through the art and love you all provide.

Keep It Coming!

JBG  back to the projects.. miles of fence…cups and clothes..underpinning and painting all in over 100 degrees !!

How dee Yall!

I know it souns corney cause it is…well Texan talk.

There is a new series of Coffee Cups coming out of the kilns….and as I have a cup of Joe. I thought I would shout out the specifics to all the watermark groupies.

There has been much going on at the studio,  100 cups and 100 vases a making a showing. Getting the pieces ready for the GACA show at E4  gallery, doing the First Bloom show in Elgin.Next weekend on Sunday the Ninth Moms day, I will be doing a demo atWestlake Highschool during the Art of the Pot show from 2-4.”How to cut tiles from quilted patterns” sound complicated but it will be shown and known how simple the process is when all the kinks are taken out and Grasshopper puts a twist of Zen and fun into it! Look for a table with watermark cups and vases and tiles to be there. This really is my fav fest in the austin proper so do attend. The pro potters are some of the worlds best and this year all in one location! Its going to be a real eye opener for the collector.

Back to the Farm…two snakes and nine inches of rain since mid March.The grass is green and the new spray room/clay making room is starting to be, Mucho trabajo nadda denero ( much  work no money) is the slogan. The addition needs to be done before the heat sets in so I can make up some cone 6 porcelain  as I am out…There is to be no more mixing in the studio.There is also plenty of other clay to use up and some indigenous clay to be tested.LastSpring Dad had a lake dug on the east side of the place the reult untill it fills with rain water is a Clay Mine 35 fee deep and clay that has not seen the light of day in thousands of years.There are out crops of colored rocks purple red yellow, sand , grey clay red clay black and brown.This is the divide the high of the hill where water hits the west side and goes to the Colorado River.Rain hits the east side and it goes to the Brazos River. Sounds Big well its texas were talkin here…there is always something to learn about this state.People were telling me how magic this land was when I was showing at the festival last weekend.All sorts of people with a take on it that is to each its own.There is much potential and a project that will stretch a lifetime and end up in the history books! It is exciting and real and glad to have you along for the ride! This fall there will be a woodfirekiln building workshop so do attend and see how its done.The mesquite tree will be the fuel, the gray clay the body and yours truely shall be the vehicle, To add Ebru to the vessels and tablets fire them to 2250 with wood will be a groundbreaking experience for me and the world in which we all live…can you get excited too?We will see if what is in mind comes to fruition…if not the first try then it shall come within a few.

Back to the series.If you are a retailer these are available wholesale with terms. If friend, collector, art patron You can get them from me.I can send pics. The beauty is there is life besides tile here and it shows.The idea being that if the economy slows and people  are inclined to get back to basics, they need to drink from a handmade utilitarian ware made locally. The art in situ theory will come back full throttle soon enough. Meanwhile Nature needs pondering, the garden needs tending, the spring time brings so much new life into perspective.

Next the summer heat will be here and I will move fast like the ants. I will see the sunrise everyday with a new plan and be so thankful when it sets…..to be cool again.The joy of water is the Summer here.

Peace Thru Clay

JBG

Hi

Well the movie was a blast, Buggs was great in Gruene Finally after hearing about him for 25 years I get to see the guy on the front row at the oldest dance hall in Texas.

And Buck Pottery in Gruene is always fun .Talking to Terry about the woodfire kiln was intense.I plan to build one this fall and will make it a workshop so others can help and learn at the same time.That way someone will help fire this thing and they can put pieces in there too.

So its Friday again and I am marbling some porcelain vases from the kiln…3D its going to be fantastic! I also have some coffee cups to marble that are just bisqued and ready for ink…then glaze and a hi fire.If they come out they will be on the spring tour starting end of april and ending mid May. Yes of course you can get them here too. I will up the pics next week..

Other things this week were Rain…one inch helps heel the drought.Tattoo had a calf, and more cups than I can count….limited edition one of a kind signed and numbered by the artist….

Off to the studio where there is no email just a 50 cdplayer and tons of clay and pigments to be ground.This is the best job I have ever had :).

The calls and emails this week have been wonderful! Thanks to all who contacted me reguarding the work. I love it you love it…what can I say except that an apprentice would be great but asking to work for free is crazy …it would take 20 years to learn all these feats ..but hey thanks for asking Keep coming back maybe someday I will need help.And for the one that said I cant afford it now..There is always something here for you…notecards and fridge magnets areoriginal and affordable..signed by request.Thanks to JK for sending all the cds…I never heard of all these bands and am amazed..Bluegrass dark side of the moon WOW

Happy Friday!

JBG

 So today I am going to make that movie”Monsters Vs Aliens”.Then this afternoon perhaps a drive to Gruene Hall to see Bugs Henderson do the afternoon show.

The kiln is craving a load so that means a night time fire or everything gets behind so There is a big week coming up..

I keep thinking about Ron Rivera,then Louis Katz sent a wonderful article from NYTimes about him. Maybe I can post a link here.This is moving me in so many ways.Hopefully others are moved too….

FUNDAY Im outta here!

JBG

Well its Saturday and I am headed to the park with the kids.We may go to a movie but time will tell. The cold front is here and after yesterdays Tornado like activity at the studio, I want to be thankful. Tornado like activity? Yes I was working hard on the limited edition cone 6 red espresso cups but I took a break walk around outside when I noticed a lil funnell cloud coming down from the mass grey that was passing by…All this after receiving an inch of rain earlier in the morning

I grabbed tha camera and a break took 20 minutes to photo. I work on the divide a ridge a hill to speak so weather acts strange when it passes by the hi white clouds and the churning gray underneath the passed storm east and the clear wild winds west brought this peaceful turmoil to the place. I shot 50 something pics and will up some here .When I went back to the work table finished all I could listening to the winds howl I could be thankful all was safe.When I went to the truck to come home the door was locked,( 40 mph winds did it) the key in the ignition.Since this happened last week the spare was inside….not in the house.Luckily my neighbor is a locksmith she came over got in and now in lu of money I will be mowing her 3 acres.Especially since she got me in the studio last week.. I owe her a double gratitude.She made me an extra so it shall not happen again. Back to the atellier this afternoon to trim cups and prepare for marbling Sunday evening….its only cold so often and that means marbling here esp with the barometric pressure being High.

With April coming all the work must be finished for the shows, showings and wholesale . And like all Aprils I expect to make tile for the makeover people?

Spring dont you love it? The okra goes in the ground today …… and the gutters get cleaned