This Year's Uwharrie Awards

January 09, 2013

This Year's Uwharrie Awards

Stamps I created for this year's awards

It's that time again - time to make more than 500 pieces of pottery for this year's Uwharrie Mountain Run, a local foot race across the Uwharrie Trail, a "treacherous" trail according to the organizers of the race.

From their website: Fallen leaves conceal rocks, roots, sticks, and holes. Expect to trip and fall at least once during the day. If you turn an ankle, keep moving. Dutchman's Creek flows along part of the trail and runners will enjoy numerous stream crossings, which may mean wet feet if you aren't careful.

Anyways, we've been doing the awards since the race first started more than 20 years ago. I try to do something different every year. This year, I made a number of stamps commemorating the trail, and I'm making small and medium size bowls that are stamped inside with the stamps.

Actually, Levi (whose running the 8-mile race this year) has made all the bowls already. I trimmed them and wrote "Uwharrie Mountain Run 2013" and "20 miles" and "40 miles" on all the bowls. So, there's a 8-mile, 20-mile and 40-mile race. The 8-mile finishers get a medallion.

I'm going to glaze the inside of each piece, leaving the rim unglazed so I can stack pieces rim-to-rim in the kiln. I ended up trimming the bowls because pressing the stamp into the bottom of a bowl tends to cause the piece to "pooch" outward on the bottom, even after pressing the bottom back.

That was a lot of trimming and writing. We're nearly there. I haven't figured out what I'll do the for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners yet. Maybe something with all the stamps. I'll post again when I finish everything.