A letter from parents

A Happy New Year!

Thank you for supporting STARworks Ceramics and hope it's going to be a great year for everyone.

We received a nice letter from a person whose child took pottery making class at STARworks Ceramics last year, and we want to reference it because it's very good news.

-----------------------------------


My oldest son and I made a visit to STARworks this summer with Communities in School. While there he made this great Pirate Jug that he was very proud of. He then entered it in the NC State Fair under the 4-H Division and won 2nd place with it. Donny said that he saw our picture on one of the boards that were set for display when he was doing the tour during the Annual Meeting. I thought you could let them know how well he enjoyed it and also how successful he was. I wish I had thought to take him back and do Christmas presents for people. Tell them that can be an angle for next year for them.

Thanks,

Lynn

---------------------------

Congratulations! and we are so glad to hear it.

STARworks Ceramics want to continue these kind of hands-on pottery programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, suggestion and helpful opinion are needed.

Holiday Info

STARworks Ceramics will be closed
from Dec 19th (Sat), 2009
to January 3rd (Sun), 2010.
We are sorry for inconvenience.

Have a great holidays and a happy new year!

STARworks Ceramics

Happy Birthday

Today, Dec 17th is Takuro's Birthday. We had a pot luck lunch in our office and it was fun lunch with our colleagues. He became 37 years old.

Takuro Shibata started working for Yadkin Pee Dee Lakes Project in July, 2005 and set up STARworks Ceramics Materials & Research several months later.

STARworks Ceramics area, March 2005

We visited STARworks building with Nancy in March 2005, it's several months before he started working, and we were very surprised how big it was. In the airplane on the way to go back to Japan, Takuro was really worried how his ceramic business could grow. When he started, he had one bloom and swept up the huge floor day and day. If I were him, it might have been hopeless work, but he didn't gave up. It's been over four years so far, and we think he made it possible.

Happy birthday Takuro and let's grow more gray hair!

Demonstration and Lecture

Clayworks Guild invited STARworks Ceramics to their Guest Artist Lecture/Visit event, and we went there on Wednesday, December 9th. Hitomi Shibata, Studio Manager of STARworks Ceramics gave Japanese Teapot making demonstration for potters, then Takuro Shibata gave a slide lecture about STARworks Ceramics programs. Santiago Ramirez talked about our NC local clays and gave clay samples for people. It was fun night and we enjoyed talking to people who want to know more about what STARworks Ceramics is doing. Thank you very much for inviting us and also we are looking forward to working with you in the future.

More about Clayworks Guild:
http://www.ncclayworks.org

In addition, Sasha Bakaric who is one of the guild member wrote an article about our demo and lecture, and we would like to reference it here. Thanks a lot, Emily and Sasha!

------------------------------------
On Wednesday, Dec 9th, Ronni Theeman hosted our meeting in her beautiful home in Governor's Club. Thank you Ronni!

There was no business meeting since we had a busy schedule. We enjoyed tasty dishes and gave a toast to a successful year. Many members participated in a gift exchange.

This year we had to rush a little to give our guest speakers enough time for their presentation. Japanesse natives Hitomi Akebi Shibata, Takuro Shibata gave us a very attractive and educational presentation. Hitomi showed us how she assembles beautiful Japanese style teapots. We all admired her steady hand and relaxed and very precise style of working.Takuro, director of Starworks Ceramics did a slide presentation on the couples' journey from Japan to Massacusests to Star, NC. Star is very close to us (1.5h from Durham) and it would make a nice day trip.

Thank you Starworks for clay samples. It will be nice to test our local clay. If you missed this meeting or if you would like to find out more about our guest or about Starworks please visit:
www.starworksnc.org

Happy holidays!

Sasha Bakaric
Durham, NC
www.SashaCeramics.com

---------------------------------

STARworks Ceramics can visit and give demo/ lecture for potters guild, group, and schools. Please contact us if you are interested.

Students Pots unloaded

STARworks Ceramics had a school group on Nov 18th and they made small dish with our NC local clay. It's dried, bisqued, glazed and fired. Today we open the kiln and everything looks good.

STARworks Ceramics wants to continue these kind of hands-on pottery programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, suggestion and helpful opinion are needed.

Materials arrived 12/7

It's been low stock in our warehouse, but we finally got materials arrived this afternoon. We have lots of Highwater premix clays and dry materials. STARworks Ceramics Supply Shop will be closed form Dec 19th until after new year, so please email/call your order to us as soon as possible.

SW Ceramics Original T-shirts

You might have seen our original T-shirts at Celebration of Seagrove Potters, and Takuro Shibata, the director of STARworks Ceramics designed it and Evan Morgan, Wet Dog Glass made them.

There is a phrase in front and it said "Kikuneri Sannen" in Japanese. It literally means " Spiral wedging clay takes three years to learn" and it implies "don't be too confident, but be patient and keep practice". It's common proverb of pottery villages in Japan because Japanese potters believe clay is the most important element for pottery making.

E-Yakimono net has an article of clay and also has nice photos.
http://www.e-yakimono.net/guide/html/clays.html

There are a little bit left over T-shirts in our supply shop and please let us know if you are interested in.

Holiday Information

STARworks Ceramics will be closed
between Nov 25th (Wed) and 29th (Sun).
Have a great Thanksgiving!

Celebration of Seagrove Potters

STARworks Ceramics join "Celebration of Seagrove Potters" this year and have a booth. We sell NC local clays, pottery tools and T-shirt. It's good to show people what we are doing at STARworks. We have fun and enjoy this event!

School Group Visit

STARworks welcomed a school group from Badin, NC this morning, and students had tour in Clay Factory, then made pots in the clay studio. Because it was very short time, they made small plates for candle holder by STARworks NC Local Clays. We will do firing their pots and return pots in mid December. They also had STARworks Garden tour and demonstration in STARworks Glass Lab after pottery class. We hope students enjoyed STARworks today. STARworks Ceramics wants to continue these kind of hands-on pottery programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, suggestion and helpful opinion are needed.

Central Park NC Annual Gathering

Central Park NC had an Annual Gathering last night and there were lots of crowds in our building. There were speeches by Dr. Jones who is Central Park NC board, Dr. Gottovi who is Central Park NC Executive Director, and Michael Shuman who is a guest speaker and also economist.

There were also art gallery space which is brand-new art space, and artists of STARworks exhibit their work. We had very good local food, local beer, and live Jazz band, and those all made people happy.

We are so glad many people are interested in what we do and toy to do for local communities and businesses. Thank you for supporting Central Park NC and STARworks, and we need your help.

Fall Carnival at Star Elementary School

STARworks joined Fall Carnival at Star Elementary School on October 16th and had a booth to show what we do to parents and kids. It was good opportunity for us. STARworks Ceramics brought one wheel and did throwing demo by using our local clay mix, and many kids were very interested in it. We asked several kids if they had experiences to make pots before, and no one said yes. Personally, I thought, school children need good experiences of arts, so that it will give kids more wide-open eyes for future.STARworks Ceramics wants to make art programs for local children, especially for a school in town of Star. Your any support, donation, and helpful opinions are needed.

Wood firing

We had a wood firing this weekend. Takuro, Santiago and Hitomi made a lot of pots made from STARworks clay and fired STARworks wood kiln for two days. We can't wait to see the results.

NC Local Cone 6 Clays

Now STARworks Ceramics just started selling cone 6 white stoneware (STARwhite 6) and cone 6 brown stoneware (Okeewemee 6). Those clays are very local clay mix and it's very very plastic. Please try and let us know your opinion. If you want to know more about our slay, just give us a call or email.

Tools arrived

We got many kinds of pottery tools in our supply shop.
If you need tools to make many pots for Fall season, just hurry!

Holiday Info

STARworks Ceramics is closed on Sep 7th (Monday) for Labor day.
Have a nice weekend!

UNC TV

UNC TV broadcasted about STARworks include ceramics.
Now you can watch on website and please check it out here:
http://www.unctv.org/ncnow/features/august_09_01.html

Open House went well

We had Open House tonight and lots of people came to see us. Thank you so much for coming! There were many good foods include Sushi and lots of drinks. We hope you enjoyed this event tonight and you will love our new cone 6 local clays.

Now STARworks Ceramics start selling cone 6 white stoneware (STARwhite 6) and cone 6 brown stoneware (Okeewemee 6). Those clays are very local clay mix and it's very very plastic. Please try and let us know your opinion.

Open House, Aug 28, 2009

We want to announce STARworks Ceramics will have an Open House on August 28th (Friday), 5-7pm. This time we will give out cone 6 Local clay mix samples for everyone at this event. Please save date and don't miss it!

Samples are ready!

Family Clay Class 8/14

We had "Summer Holidays Family Clay Class" this morning. We had small group than we thought, but they are very exited about making pots and they did great job. They made bowls, cups, face jugs, and tried wheel throwing a little bit. Thank you for taking part in this special summer class for local families.

We also had Ms. Linda Beaulieu from Montgomery Herald Newspaper and she interviewed participants about pottery making. She will write about art program at STARworks on Montgomery Herald Newspaper sometime soon.

STARworks Ceramics want to continue these kind of educational programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, and helpful opinions are needed.

Art Alliance Group Visit

STARworks Ceramics had a group of Art Alliance of Greensboro today. They had a building tour, wheel throwing demonstration and also everyone got small sample of NC local clay. We had great time. Thank you for coming to see us!
STARworks Ceramics offer group tour, clay demonstration, and clay experience workshop for public. A small fee might be occur. Please contact us in advance if you are interested.

phone: 910-428-9007
Email: info@starworksnc.org

Many Face Jugs

We had Montgomery Summer School group in July and kids made nice Face Jugs in our clay studio. It's been dried out, bisqued, glazed, fired, and unloaded this morning. It came out pretty nice and now they are ready for pick up.

See Also:
Summer School Group Visit 1
Summer School Group Visit 2

STARworks Ceramics wants to continue these kind of programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, suggestion and helpful opinions are needed.

Materials arrived 7/30

We have got lots of ceramic materials (premix clays and dry clays) in our warehouse today. Please give us a call or send email if you need. Also STARworks clay (Star White 10) is now in stock. Come and see us, and be ready for the busiest season!

Montgomery Herald

Montgomery Herald Newspaper has a photo of Hitomi's demonstration in the newest issue. Please check it out the newspaper.

STARworks Ceramics offer group tour, school trip, clay demonstration, and clay experience workshop for public. A small fee might be occur. Please contact us in advance if you are interested.

phone: 910-428-9007
Email: info@starworksnc.org

Wood Deck is coming up

STARworks Glass Lab will have nice own entrance soon. It's made by wood and has nice slope for wheel chair. Maybe good for music live and drinks with beautiful sunset.

Summer Holidays Family Clay Class

STARworks Ceramics, a Non Profit Organization located in Star, will have a Family Clay Class for local families this summer. You can make clay objects with experienced instructors. Pots will be fired in several weeks and you can pick up later on. Please sign up in advance. First come, first served. 30 People/max (approx 12 families)

Date:
August 14th (Fri) 10am-11:30am

Age:
3 to 12 years old
Parents/Guardian need to attend together

Bring Your Own:
Apron and towel

Cost:
One Adult and One Child $12/pair
Additional One Child $5/each
This includes clay & firing fee.


Contact:
STARworks Ceramics
Phone: 910-428-9007
Email: info@starworksnc.org

Summer School Group Visit 2

STARworks Ceramisc had another group visit today and they also made a lot of nice face jugs in our clay studio. We also invited Ms. Linda Beaulieu from Montgomery Herald Newspaper and she interviewed kids about pottery making. We hope they had great time and experience.

Thank you, Linda!

STARworks Ceramics wants to continue these kind of programs for local children for future. Your any support, donation, and helpful opinions are needed.

Summer School Group Visit 1

STARworks host Montgomery County Summer School group visit today and tomorrow. They see Glass Blowing Demonstration, have Trail and Garden Tour, Biofuel plant tour, and pottery making class in our clay studio.

It's just short workshop, so we prepared small jug for everyone and they made "Face jug" which is this area tradition. Some kids had experiences of pottery making but mostly don't. They worked hard and enjoyed making small face jugs with STARworks Ceramics staff. Pots will be fired and returned in three weeks. We will have another group tomorrow. It's fun!

Lots of nice face jugs, and lots of smiles:)

Kids Art Class

We had a kids art class conjunction with Star Library in our studio today, and Mary Alice McDermott who lives in Moore County gave kids paper craft workshop. They did many different projects and enjoyed a lot.