Holiday Info

Here is STARworks Ceramics holiday information in the end of this year.

12/21(Tue) Open 10-4:30
12/22(Wed) Open 10-4:30 (the last day of service in 2010)　
12/23(Thur) - 1/3(Mon) Closed


We will be opened on 1/4(Tue) 10am as usual.

Thank you very very much for your business
and wish you have Happy Holidays!


STARworks Ceramics

Ornaments are ready!

STARworks Ceramics had a hands-on Xmas ornament workshop on Dec 3rd and participants made cute&beautiful ornaments. Thank you for joining and we hope those can make your Christmas tree look special than last year.

Holiday Ornament Workshop and sale

 "Holiday Ornament Sale" Friday, Dec. 3, from 5pm to 7:30pm. 

We have hundreds of handmade ornaments and gifts created at STARworks. 

There will be Glass Blowing demonstration at Glass Lab and also, 

Hands-on workshop at STARworks Ceramics Clay studio.

It's a 1-hour hands-on clay ornament workshop during the STARworks Holiday Sale. Using local clay, participants will create a one of the kind handmade ornament. No reservation is needed, and sign-up begins at 4:30 p.m. at STARworks Ceramics and the workshop will be from 5 to 6 p.m. Space is limited to 50 participants The cost is $5 for Children and $7 for Adults. Your ornament will be fired by STARworks kiln and will be available for local pick up in 3 weeks.

Any questions about this class, send us email to:  hitomi@starworksnc.org

STARworks Holiday Ornament Sale and Workshop

STARworks will have "Holiday Ornament Sale" on Friday, Dec. 3, from 5pm to 7:30pm. We have hundreds of handmade ornaments and gifts created at STARworks. There will be Glass Blowing demonstration at Glass Lab and also hands-on workshop at STARworks Ceramics Clay studio.

It's a 1-hour hands-on clay ornament workshop during the STARworks Holiday Sale. Using local clay, participants will create a one of the kind handmade ornament. Sign-up begins at 4:30 p.m. at STARworks Ceramics and the workshop will be from 5 to 6 p.m. Space is limited to 50 participants The cost is $5 for Children and $7 for Adults.
email: hitomi@starworksnc.org

Come join STARworks holiday sale.

Celebration of Seagrove Potters

STARworks Ceramics had a booth at Celebration of Seagrove Potters this year, too. We sold many tools, clays, oxides and T-shirts. Also we donated STARworks NC local clay mix for throwing demonstration and kids clay class. Thank you for coming to see us.

Special thanks to:
Tim Ayers
Tony Inskeep (STARworks Biofuel)

Jack-O-Lanterns

Happy Halloween!

Central Park NC Annual Gathering was successful!

Dr. Jones gave a speech

It was a big night. There was Central Park NC Annual Gathering last night and lots of people came to join the party. This year, we had speakers talked about local farming and we learned how important to use local grown products. It same as using local clays which STARworks Ceramics produce in our clay factory since 2008.

Central Park/ STARworks want people to realize we had better buy local products because lots of e-good things (like economy, environment, employment and education) will come back to us later on. Might not to us right a way, but to our children and to our future.

a tour in the clay factory

Mac and Phil (Wet Dog Glass) try pouring casting iron

Great foods

STARworks Bio Fuel Oils and Oil Lamps

As a big surprising, director of STARworks Ceramics, Takuro Shibata received  "cowboy award" as the most contributed worker of STARworks and he got a glass cowboy hat. Because he set up and made many good things and possibilities from zero since 2005. But he said, the award is not only for him but for all of us. 

Takuro received a "cowboy award"

Heehaw!

Thank you for supporting us and please keep getting involved.
More exciting news? Go to:
Central Park NC
http://www.centralparknc.org/
STARworks
http://www.starworksnc.org/

Your support is our power.

Lamps

STARworks Ceramics is making lots of Oil Lamps for Central Park NC Annual Gathering which will be hold on this Thursday. This year, STARworks Bio Fuel will sell Lamp oils made from waste oils.

There are lots of fun things at CPNC Annual party, so please go to http://www.centralparknc.org/ to see more details.
We appreciate your support.

Glazing

Lots of Clay-Jack-O-Lanterns

Pumpkins just harvested

STARworks Ceramics Clay studio had a Clay Pumpkin Workshop on Saturday morning and we had lots of people who made Clay-Jack-O-Lanterns. Thank you for participating and hope we can do it again.

Lots of Clay-Jack-O-Lanterns

We reached maximum participants early and there were more people who wanted to sign up. If you want to receive workshop information in advance, please send us email to add your email address on our mailing list.
info@starworksnc.org

STARworks Ceramics made this new clay, red earthen ware for this workshop and it will be our newest clay body soon.

Clay Pumpkin Workshop

Clay Pumpkin Workshop
Oct 16th (Sat), 10am-12pm

STARworks Ceramcis Clay Studio will have a Clay Pumpkin Workshop on October 16th (Sat) 10am-12pm for families, kids, and friends. Please join us and make clay pumpkins, and it will be a great candle-holder for this coming season. Your work will be dried, glazed and fired in 2 weeks.

Fee: $5 for child, $7 for adult. 
Reservation is needed, maximum 30 people. 
First come, first served. 
Bring your apron and towel. 
Contact: hitomi@starworksnc.org

Open House on 9/24

STARworks Ceramics had an Open House last Friday and we thank you all for coming to see us! We gave away our new clay samples, Okeeweemee 10 and Groweemee 10. We hope you enjoy using our new clay bodies.

STARworks Ceramics Newsletter

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STARworks Ceramics Newsletter, Fall 2010

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Open House on Sep 24th, 2010, Friday 5-7pm

STARworks Ceramics will have Open House on September 24th (Friday) 5-7pm. We offer you our new clay samples for free. Please save this date and come to see us. Refreshments and drinks are to be served.

Clay Pumpkin Workshop/ Oct 16th (Sat), 10am-12pm

Our Clay Studio will have a Clay Pumpkin Workshop on October 16th (Sat) 10am-12pm for families, kids, and friends. Please join us and make clay pumpkins, and it will be a great candle-holder for this coming season. Bring your apron and towel. Fee: $5 for child, $7 for adult. Your work will be dried, glazed and fired in 2 weeks. Your reservation is needed, maximum 30 people. First come, first served. 
Contact: hitomi@starworksnc.org

Two New clay-bodies available

STARworks Ceramics has two new clay bodies in its inventory. The new local clay products are called Okeewemee10 and Grogeewemee10. “Our customers have been asking for clay that is a little darker,” said Takuro Shibata, director of STARworks Ceramics. “Both of these are a light brown in cone10 reduction, These are a totally different blend than our STARwhite10 clay body. However firing range is a little bit lower and range wider than our STARwhite10. Both are made from several kinds of local clays from within a 40‐mile radius of Star. According to Takuro, the Okeewemee10 is a good all around cone 10 clay, while the Grogeewemee has 20% more grit. “It is coarser and good for hand‐building and slab work.” “The new clays have tested well during firings in gas and electric kilns,” Takuro said. And we just fired our wood kiln to test them, and “ It worked great and came out beautiful.”. The moist clays are sold in 25‐pound convenient packages. STARworks’ clay factory also produces two white clays, Star White 10 and Star White 6, as well as Okeewemee 6, which is a buff‐colored clay. 

“We are using extra thick plastic bags for our clay and are starting a recycling program. We will clean and test each bag, and if it is good for re‐use, we will give our customer credit $0.05 per bag. We hope this program works and hope we can reduce waste in some landfills.” 
Visit the website
www.starworksnc.org/Ceramics/ceramics.htm 
or call at (910) 428‐9007

Hands-On Clay Workshop for children group

STARworks Ceramics are welcoming school/ children groups and we can give special tours and quick hands-on workshop. It'll be a great experience and education for your school children to make clay objects from local clays. Also as special field trips they can see us process the dirt and turn into the pottery. The clay factory tour is to see how the local dirt is processed to make pottery clay and also how it becomes a piece of pottery. In the past, children made small face jugs, candle holders, clay houses and simple functional pottery. In several weeks after the workshop, you will have pottery to enjoy! A small fee will be charged. 
Contact: hitomi@starworksnc.org

Schedule your own ‘clay experience’ at STARworks

STARworks Ceramics has two standard workshops for people who don’t have any/much previous clay experience or beginner potters. Both courses include all materials (local NC clay, bisque and glaze firing fee) and instruction fee. Pots will be ready for customer pick-up in a month. Reservations are needed in advance. One‐hour class: $15/adult, $10/child
two‐hour class: $30/adult, $20/child
Large groups from schools and organizations are also welcome. 
Email: hitomi@starworksnc.org

STARworks Ceramics visits Potter’s Guild

Carolina Clay Guild in Greensboro area, NC, invited STARworks Ceramics in August 14th for their meeting. Takuro Shibata gave a slide lecture about STARworks Ceramics programs. Santiago Ramirez talked about our local NC clays and gave clay samples to the potters. We enjoyed talking to potters there and appreciate their hospitality. They are one of the biggest clay guild in NC and the most active pottery guilds in NC. 
Please visit their website to see details. 
www.carolinaclayguild.com/

Come to See us! Events outside of STARworks Ceramics

September 12, Sunday from 2pm-4pm 

"DIRECTion: Native Clay" Exhibition will be hold at Meredith Collage in Raleigh NC between September 12 to October 31, 2010. The opening reception will be September 12, 2-4pm at Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery. 16 artists from across the US present functional and sculptural objects made from hand dug local clay and fired in wood burning kilns. The variety of artistic visions is great, the touch of the hand to a natural resource is a marvel in today's high-tech world. Takuro and Hitomi Shibata will join the exhibition. Please go to see their website for the details. http://www.meredith.edu/art/gallery-exhibits.htm

September 16, Thursday from 6pm-6:30pm

Takuro Shibata/ the director of STARworks Ceramics will have a slide presentation at the gallery "Frank" in Chapel Hill NC, it will be  in September 16th from 6:00pm and the title is "Where and what is clay? The process of making the material.". They have a " NC invitational Show" August 10th- September 5th, and they have events every Thursday nights during the show. They are showing over 30 of the state's best-know ceramic artist's works. Go to their website to see more details. http://www.frankisart.com/index.html

October 1, Friday 6pm-8pm

STARworks Ceramics support an exhibition "Clay and Blogs:Telling a Story" which will be hold between October 1-29, 2010 at Campbell House, 482 East Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines, NC. It is featuring 50 potters from all over the world who also blog. Takuro and Hitomi Shibata will join the show. 
More Information about the show, go to http://www.mooreart.org/

November 19th to 21st

STARworks will join the 3rd Celebration of Seagrove Potters between Nov 19th (Fri) and 21th (Sun). The new clays we start mixing this year are available for sale there. And we are planning to make new design T-shirt for sale too. See you at our booth. 
More information at http://www.celebrationofseagrovepotters.com/

STARworks Ceramics  Materials & Research

P.O. Box 159, 100 Russell St.

Star, NC 27356

Hours: Monday-Friday

10:00 am - 4:30 pm

Phone: (910) 428-9007

Fax: (910)428-1001

Email: info@starworksnc.org

Web site: www.starworksnc.org

4-H Group

STARworks Ceramics welcomed a kids group from Stanly county in the end of June. They made lots of nice face jugs by using STARworks local clay. They are 4-H group and making pots by local clay must be good experience for their hands-on project. Pots are bisqued, glazed and fired by STARworks Ceramics and it looks pretty good.

Thank you for coming to STARworks and hope come back making pots again!

New addition

I am sorry I didn't update this blog for long time. I have got a new baby in the middle of May. He is now 3 months old and really healthy. He will be around STARworks Ceramics soon and you will see.

Star Elementary 5th graders

The teacher, Ms. Linda Thompson brought her 5th grade students of Star Elementary School this morning, and they made "Clay house" in our clay studio. This clay house project was related to their year long research about their family roots and culture, and STARworks Ceramics prepared lots of clay slabs for this project.

Firstly, Santiago took them to STARworks clay factory and told where materials of our local clay mix come from, and also how we process clay. Then students watched demonstration how to make clay house by Okeeweemee clay and started building their house on a banding wheel. It was only one hour class but they did great job.

Those houses will be dried, bisqued and glaze fired in three weeks and return to them. Thank you for coming to clay studio and hope students had great time.

Thanks to:
Star Elementary School
Santiago Ramirez
Anne Partna

Coiled Large Jar Workshop 3/1

We had a Coiled Large Jar workshop today and it was really successful class. Everyone did great job and made a large jar. Thank you for your participation.
And special thanks for your support to:
Wayne Shiver
Santiago Ramirez
Evan Morgan

Large Platter Workshop 2/26

There was a large platter workshop in our clay studio today and it was very successful. Thank you for take part in this class!

Materials arrived 2/25

We waited for the truck coming for long long time, and at last lots of materials arrived with full truck load this afternoon! We are sorry for making you wait, and now we have a lot. Please give us a call/email and come to pick up what you need.

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

Spring Workshop Information

STARworks Ceramics clay studio will have several exciting workshops this spring.

1: Large Platter Workshop
Friday February 26th 10am-12pm, $35/person Max 4 participants,
Instructor: Hitomi Shibata --- Full on 2/19
Participants will learn throwing technique and make a minimum 16 inch platter. After the class, you can take your platter home with you. We will provide our original local NC clay and you can choose either cone10 or cone 6. Firing is not included. This workshop is geared to anyone wanting instruction in Japanese large platter throwing technique. There are basic tools in our studio, but you might need to bring your own pottery tools. Intermediate to Advanced.

2: Coiled Large Jar Workshop
March 1, 2010, $35/person Max 10 participants,
Instructor: Hitomi Shibata
Participants will learn coil building techniques and make a minimum 12 inch tall jar on a banding wheel. Instruction will include information about Japanese traditional jars and how to make one. After the class, you can take your jar home with you. We will provide our original local NC clay and you can choose either cone10 or cone 6. Firing is not included. This workshop is geared to anyone wanting instruction in Japanese coil building techniques. There are basic tools in our studio, but you might need to bring your own pottery tools. Beginner to Advanced.

3: Clay Box Workshop
Saturday March 13, 2010 10am- 11:30am, $30/person Max 10 participants,
Instructor: Hitomi Shibata
Participants will make a container clay containeres by molds. Decorating techniques will be taught including inlay, clay slip applied using a brush( Hakeme) and drawing. After the class, you can take your clay box home with you. We will provide our original local NC clay for your work and you can choose either cone10 or cone 6. Firing is not included. This workshop is geared to anyone interested in learning new forming and decoration techniques. There are basic tools in our studio, but you might need to bring your own pottery tools. Beginner to Intermediate.

4: Introduction of Clay Research
Saturday April 24, 2010 10am-12pm, $35/person Max 20 participants,
Instructor: Takuro Shibata
Participants will learn how to test clays and techniques developed by Takuro Shibata who does the STARworks Ceramics clay research. He will give a lecture and demonstration emphasizing use of local clays, and then participants will process local clays to prepare for testing. This workshop is geared to anyone interested in making and testing their own clay formulas using local materials. All levels.

Please sign up soon because space is limited. In case of a bad weather or without meeting minimum number of participants, classes might be canceled with full refund. Give us a call or email, if you are interested.
Email: hitomi@starworksnc.org