JaybeesCrafts.com

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Thanks for a Great Year

I want to thank everyone for a great year with the pottery and wood working.  Without your support we could not have gotten the shop and Esty site off the ground.  We sold pottery all over the country including shipping some to the United Kingdom.

I have  turned several different things since I last updated this site.  I have added Yarn Bowls to my collection.  These have been a real hit with all the people in Ravelry.  This is a knitting and social group for those interested in fabric arts, and they are spread all over the country.  I want to extend a big thanks to them for accepting my work and purchasing all the bowls they have.

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and wish each of you a very Happy New Year. 


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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Beer Steins


With the fall season coming, and October Festivals being celebrated all over, I decided to create a few beer steins.  However, I did learn something.  You can not call it a stein unless it has a top on it.  I did not know this, and never gave it much thought.  I am going to call my mugs a stein, even though they do not fit the full definition.  I will have several sizes, in varying heights and thicknesses.  I figure that there are all types of beer drinkers and will try to make a stein (mug) for everyone.


They are made out of a brown clay, that makes a great earthy-looking finish when done in Yellows and Greens.  I plan to finish them in Fall colors, and highlight the imprint on the steins (BEER). 

 Please give me your thoughts on color and possible decorations on the out side of the steins.  I have placed a thumb rest on the top of each handle to help in controlling this large stein.  Each stein measures 5 1/2 inches to 7 inches tall, and the openings are 3 inches to 4 inches round.


Thanks for looking and let me hear from you on your suggestions.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Press Release


Hand Thrown Pottery Comes to Lavonia

Pottery comes to Lavonia!  Local artist Jerry Beatty is starting a new career from an old passion.   Art has always been a part of his life and he always wanted to be an artist, but making a living got in the way of his passion.



Back in the late 70’s Jerry started painting in oils but decided that getting a job was necessary, as the term “starving artist” was too close to the truth and that was no way to make a living and support a family.  However after slowing down, Jerry decided to take up the arts again and bring art to downtown Lavoina.   He went over to the Art Institute in Anderson and studied pottery under the instruction of a local artist.  Soon after enrolling in the class, he created Jaybeescrafts, the name under which he operates and sells his pottery.   “After just the fist class, I realized that pottery is my new passion,” Jerry said.  “The process of creating something beautiful with my hands is very rewarding and I really enjoy it.”  Jerry’s pottery is made from several different types of clay and glazes.  “Experimenting with different glazes and colors is where the real artistry comes out. Each piece is as unique as they are beautiful.”

The pottery is all hand thrown and created in the same manner that pottery has been for thousands of years.  Pottery is an art that besides having been made safer by removing the lead from the glazes has not changed dramatically over the years.  All the pieces made by Jaybeescrafts are food and dishwasher safe.

Along with pottery, Jaybeescrafts offers wood turned art.  Jerry has been working with woodturning for over 25 years and continues to create bowls, pens and wine stoppers.  Most of the wood art is made from wind fallen trees and salvaged limbs that normally would end up in landfills or chopped up for mulch or firewood. “It’s so much nicer to see them turned into works of art,” he comments.  The woods Jerry loves working with most are Cherry, Pecan and Walnut.

The doors are always open at Jerry’s office and he invites you to stop by and see the pottery and woodturning anytime. His office is located at 725 Grogan Street, just off the square in the heart of downtown Lavonia.  If the wheel is going, you can see a technique that has been passed down over the ages and maybe you can try your hand at throwing clay.




Tuesday, July 27, 2010

New Casserole Dishes

The new casserole dishes are coming out of the kiln.  I have done in two different glazes over two different clays.  The first one is thrown out of a brown clay with small dark spots which showed up after firing.  It measures about 9 inches across and is about 3 inches deep.

The second one is thrown in a white clay and has a floating blue glaze that I have been working on for several months.  I found this receipt in Ceramic Art Daily and made my own changes to get the greens to come out a little more and still have it floating within the blue.  I will be posting several different shape and different approaches to this type dish over the next several weeks.


I will be in Blairsville Georgia this coming weekend for a festival and hope the weather tones down a little on the heat.  I hope to see everyone there!  Thanks for looking.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

New Art Show

We are planning to be in Blairsville GA on July 30, 2010 for a Green Bean Festival.    You can check out the website at:  www.GreenBeanFestival.com 


I will have about 150 pieces of pottery and 50 pieces of wood art.  Please check out the web site and check out my web site at http://jaybeescrafts.com   I hope that we will have a great day just like the Crane Creek Festival last month.  I will post photos of the new pottery coming out of the kiln.  I have fired some of the casserole dishes.  I will get this posted within a few weeks.  This is a new pot to replace the honey pot sold at the last festival.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

New 2 QT. Casserole Pottery

Started a new casserole dish.  I have not seen this style with a uneven ridge in a scalloped fashion.  I hope this will fire without any problem.  If it turns out, I will make some companion dishes.  I am using a new clay that is a brown, with darker spots (dark oxide) after firing.  I plan to use a dark brown glaze with several colors mixed in to give it a very different finish.

  I will upload the finish piece next week if I have a chance to fire.  Thanks for looking and if you like what you see, please check out my web site at www.jaybeescrafts.com.  I do not have all the pottery on the website.  I am trying to upload more, but with over 150 pieces in the shop.  Let me know if you need something, as I may have it in the shop.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Crane Creek Art Show

The art show at Crane Creek Vineyards went over very well.  The weather was great and the traffic was better.  We sold a lot of inventory and got a lot of different ideas and suggestions.  I had one lady want a butter dish.  Does anyone know a easy way to throw the base and the top?  Let me know if your have a good idea you would like to share.


We had the wood and the pottery displayed for both side inspection and got a lot of positive feedback on the pieces shown.

This is the scenic view from the open porch area at the vineyard.  This winery is one of my favorites for relaxing and just chilling out.  The wine is very good and that is from someone that does not drink a lot of wine.

I will get some new pieces posted later in the week, as I have to go to Florida on business next week.  Please leave a comment if you have any new ideas and any suggestions for a butter dish.  I will upload some new items on the web site, as the most of the inventory shown sold this past week.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Crane Creek

Heading to Crane Creek for Spring Festival for the day.  I hope that a lot of the pottery and wood art will sell today.  I forgot to take a picture of the two new projects I got finished yesterday.  I finished another cherry bowl.  It measures a little over 8 inches across and 4 inches deep.  This is part of the cherry tree I got from a friend's yard.  It has been drying for over 8 months and show the grain great.  You be the judge. 

I also got a small bowl from a Red Gum piece I had in the shop.  This piece was a little old and started to crack and ended up only being about 3 inches high.  I do like the way the grain comes out in the red gum wood.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

New Manzanita Bowl

I started the new bowl using the Manzanita wood.  I think I make a mistake in trying to let it dry.  I should have turned green and worked with what I ended up with.  This is a very hard wood to work, and lost a coffee mug in the process.  The piece of wood came off the lathe over my head, and right on the mug.  I could not have done it better if I was trying.

You be the judge of the rough bowl.  I love the grain and the way the cracks and knots leave an open space in the bowl.  I am going to let set for a week and come back and reshape and cut as thin as I can get without losing the whole bowl.  I have loaded it down with linseed oil which I hope will be compatible with the oil from the wood.

 Please let me know if you have any suggestions on finishing this bowl.  I am working with this wood for the first time and need all the help I can get. Check out my website at www.jaybeescrafts.com

Friday, April 30, 2010

New links to web Site

I have just purchased the domain name "www.jaybeescrafts.com".  This will help people find my web site as you no longer need to add the - in the log in.  We have post a lot of new pottery to the site and will continue.  We are planning to show our projects at Crane Creek Winery at the end of May.  Crane Creek is a small winery located north of Young Harris, GA.  If you are in the area, please stop in and see all of our works along with several other artist.  Thanks for reading and will be posting new projects soon.  Keep practicing and have fun with your hobbies.

Monday, April 12, 2010

New Pottery Uploaded

I have just uploaded some of the pottery I finished today.  This one is a small bowl, about 5" in diameter.  It is a blue sage glaze with a cobalt blue overlay swirled throughout.  I will be posting about 30 plus pieces of hand thrown pottery for your review  including mugs, bowls, honey pots, sake bottles and glasses and hope you will love them and take some home with you.  I will continue to upload and if you do not see what you are looking for, please let me know.  Everyone is welcome  to come to see my work at Crane Creek Vineyards, in Young Harris, GA on May 29, 2010.  If you drink enough, it will look great........ Please visit my website at www.jaybees-crafts.com

Sunday, March 28, 2010

New Cherry Bowl

I am putting the finishing touches on the cherry bowl.  This bowl measures about 10 + inches wide and is about 4 inches deep.  I started off hoping to get a deeper bowl, but the grain of the wood would not let me.


I have sanded up to a 500 grit.  I hope the highlights show in these pictures, but this does have some unusual grain.  I will have to finish the bottom, but have to get the vacuum chuck hooked up before I am able to finish.  I will post finished pictures if I am able to get up to the shop next weekend.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

New Pottery Projects

Here are a few pictures of the new Pottery projects.  I have about 15 different projects started and in different stages of being finished. The new wheel was delivered, and I have been practicing on throwing the clay.  It is not as easy as I thought.  However it is coming along great and with a little practice, things are looking up.   I have hand thrown each of these and I'm getting them ready for the first firing.  This firing will be at about 1250 degrees for about 3 hours.  Then they will be coated with a glaze and the final firing will be done at around 2450 for about 8 hours.

This one is a bean pot and can be used for a flower pot or whatever.  I do plan to glaze this is a green and blue combined glaze.  I love the type glaze that comes out looking like you have mixed several colors and overlapped each of the colors.

I also am doing a group of cups.  These are drying and the next step is to put on the handles.  I am going to take these to class tomorrow and have the instructor show me how to do the handles so they look like they flow into the cup.

This one is going to be a small jar, for holding Sake.  I plan to finish this is a white glaze and over coat of green grass.
Stand by for the finished projects.  They should be finished in about a month or two.  Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any suggestions and ideas on projects.  As always keep practicing and always work for improvement.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Hackberry bowl

I finished the Hackberry bowl.  

This bowl was made from a great piece of Hackberry,  a member of the Elm family.  It has a very unusual grain and has dark highlights within the light wood.  As you can see it will fit into any decor and enhance any arrangement. 

It measures 8 1/2 wide and 4 3/4 inches deep.  I left it a little heavy at the bottom, as it adds to the stability with heavy fruit or other objects displayed.  For additional photos please let me know.  Thanks for looking and if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Hackberry bowl

I started a new bowl using Hackberry.  I secured this piece of wood through ebay, but really do not know anything about this type of wood.  Does anyone else know anything about it?  It is a light colored wood with some interesting dark markings in it and is turning very well. 

It has a great looking grain with spalting.  The bowl measures about 9 inches wide and 4 inches deep.  I will be posting it on my website as soon as I finish.  www.jaybees-crafts.com

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Cherry Bowl

This is the finished cherry bowl that I started the last time I was up at the shop.  It turned out great and I love how the top curves up and over and flows down into the bowl. This gives it an interesting look. The bowl is over 5" tall and 91/2" wide and is over 3 1/2 " deep in the center. If you are interested in this bowl, please visit my website at www.jaybees-crafts.com.  

Thanks for looking and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.  Remember we all learn from each other and we hope we never stop.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

How to Made a New Cherry Bowl

I have roughed in a cherry bowl out of some of the wood I got from a friend's downed tree.  I have had this wood drying for about 6 or 7 months, so I thought I would rough one out and see what we have.  I cut the shape I would like to achieve, and then waxed in anchorseal to prevent cracking as the piece dries.  I will continue to post pictures as this project is progressing.

Thanks for looking and if interested in seeing my work, please visit www.jaybees-crafts.com.



Thursday, January 28, 2010

MAKING A MAZANITA BURL WOOD BOWL

I have just secured a large premium Manzanita piece of wood.  This wood measures 10x9 and is about 8 inches deep.  I have never worked a burl piece like this, so it should be very interesting.   I plan to keep as much of the outside of the piece intact.  This should make for a very interesting and unusable bowl.  If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.  If you are interested in seeing my work, please check out my website at www.jaybees-crafts.com

I will post this project as it is being done.  I hope someone will point out the mistakes before I make them.......

 





 This piece has very rough surface, and I am anxious to see what is inside.




Sunday, January 3, 2010

How to make a Winged Bowl

Sorry for the delay in getting the photos uploaded.  This is the finish bowl, but will start posting the projects as they are being completed.  Thanks for the advise and will continue to improve and hope we can get this right one day!

With each project, I am going to start posting as we go pictures.  This will help in understanding what I am doing, and hopefully you can give me some tips on improving my work and different techniques. Thanks again for the emails and comments.










.One of the most popular bowls made are the winged or bark rimmed bowl.  It is not as hard as you may think.  First you need to pick a log suitable for turning. This log can be green, and not dried to the point you need to finish a bowl.  Many turners use green timber as it is easier to turn and cheaper to find.  You can find logs from wind-downed trees, or trees removed in your area.  Make sure that the bark is firm, and not easily removed.  If necessary with turning, you can use CA glue to hold the bark in place.
Take a log, twice as deep you are looking for.  Cut the log from one end to the other.  This will give you the grain of the bowl going along the length of the bowl.  If the log is 6 inches you want to cut the length 10 to 12 inches.  This will give you an oblong type winged bowl.


Lay the log down with the bark side up, and find the center.  This will become the top of the bowl.  I like using a screw chuck to hold the bowl for roughing. I use the Barracuda chuck, but there are many different chucks you can use.  Place the block on the lathe, and center the block on the lathe using the tail-stock to hold the piece in place.  I use a 1642 Jet lathe, but many of the other lathes are suitable.  It may take several tries to center, but take your time.


Turn the lathe up to the point that it starts a small vibration and then reduce the speed.  Start roughing and start with the bottom of the bowl.  From the outside to the inside, you will make the foot of the bowl.  After that is done, you will start shaping the bowl.  From the center outward, start shaping for the desired curvature.  Be very careful at the end, as being too aggressive will result in bark removal.


Next start turning on the front side of the bowl.  Do not remove yet.  You can remove the majority of the topside of the bowl to balance the project.  After that is done, you can turn the bowl around and secure from the foot you made on the bottom of the bowl.


I recommend that you take a drill bit and drill a hole to the depth of the bowl.  This will prevent you from making a very nice funnel.  Once that is done, start roughing the bowl from the inside to the outside of the bowl.  Cut the bowl down to about ¼ inch from the bottom of the bowl.  At this point, if you do not have a vacuum chuck, you may want to cut a reverse foot for the chuck.  Cut this so that you can hold the bowl with the chuck when the bottom of the bowl is finished.  If you are using green wood, this is the point you want to stop and use anchorseal or a sealer to prevent cracking as the piece dries.


Place it in a brown paper bag and place it in a closet or a dark and damp place if possible. Leave it for about 4 to 5 weeks, or until the moisture level is around 19% or less.  I will post finishing techniques in a later blog.  However please give use your comments on finishing techniques you use.



Please take a look at the finished cherry bowl on my website at www.jaybees-crafts.com