He keeps going and going....

I have been hard at it for the past couple days. I had a great firing. Really nice soda on the bowls and some cool side fired flasks. Today I packed up all my boxes for the ACC show in Charlotte this weekend. Whew, LOTS of pottery!!!! I have been in front of the computer for the past 2.5 hrs working on images for the Philbeck Studios Newsletter which comes out next week I hope. Also doing computer work for the Carolina Claymatters Pottery Guild, I am their newsletter editor. I didn't get to go trick or treating tonight. Ha. I am ready for a warm cup of tea. Here are some images from this weekend's firing. Unloading the back stack.
Soda!!!
Hot yunomi.
Keg. This pot was influenced by a picture I saw of a pot made in Korea in the 15th century.

Yi dynasty.

Thumbs up!! Killer firing.

88.7 fm is featuring Frank Zappa's A Weasel ate my Flesh ( I think) tonight in it's entirety. Frank is out there, I bet he and George Orr would have had some good times.

Loaded and ready for action

I loaded the kiln today. It was a bit more of a challenge than usual and took most of the day. Lots of wide pots, bowls, and tall pots, bottles and vases. Not many small pots. Anyhow it's done and the burners are lit. I will finish the firing proper tomorrow midday.
Listened to NPR today, Harriet Miers is history, it will interesting to see who choice #2 is.

Today's music: Warren Zevon. Dale Duncan turned me on to him. Very cool.

Cool morning

It's a bit chilly out this morning. There is a light frost on the ground. I guess fall/winter has finally decided to show up. It won't be long and I'll have to bring over a load of firewood for the woodstove.

I'm on my second cup of tea and the day is off to a good start. I have practiced my morning meditation and journaling and got in a little positive reading. I have vowed to be good to myself today and practice being impeccible with my word. That last part comes from the book The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz which I highly recommend.

I will be glazing pots today and loading the kiln tomorrow.


More later maybe. Remeber to smile today, even if you don't feel like it.

Hump day

Today was good. I am still finishing up pots for next week's firing. I cut feet on some yunomi, assembled some bottles,and mixed up some test slip.
This evening I spotted a very small lichen colored toad out on a length of plastic pipe. He was just hanging out and sat still while I shot several pics.

Pots

Animal pots from this weeks firing Large serving bowl that got some great soda action.

Slipped yunomi that I threw yesterday and finished up today.
Square dish with black inlay from the firing. This was an experiment. I like it.
More pots

At last

Finally some pics. This is the new studio exterior. I am working inside now on getting the workshop and show room ready to finish up. This cute, little guy was hanging around outside this evening.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I can see the light at the end of the pottery tunnel...or is that just the view through the peep hole in the kiln. (hum, I don't know if that's a good play on that or not) anyway I am at the end of the making pots part for the ACC show. Today I made some yunomi and assembled bottles. Unloaded the kiln too. Good firing. I'll try to get pics up soon. My friend Dale Duncan from York, SC stopped by while I unloaded. We had a good visit. Dale is an excellent potter. Then the guy from the propane company came to refill my tank, I haven't even looked at the bill. No reason to ruin a perfectly good day.

I've gotten a few emails commenting on this journal site. Keep 'em coming, I like hearing what's going on with you guys. I have realized it is a bit of a pain to comment directly to these posts via the comment link. So just email me ronpots2@yahoo.com

Here is the quote from dailyzen.com yesterday. Very appropitate to my living Intentionally bit.

Truth is perfect and complete in itself. It is not something newly discovered; It has always existed. Truth is not far away. It is nearer than near. There is no need to attain it, Since not one of your steps leads away from it.
- Dogen

My desire is to live from my Truth.

Ignore this post.

Sorry for the long lapse between posts. I have had my nose to the wheel making stuff for the upcoming ACC show in Charlotte. Today I am firing my kiln. (it pretty much does it own thing, I just have to increase the gas pressure now and then up until the time I have to put the salt/soda in. That will happen in a couple hours so I have some time to kill).

I have been thinking about the purpose of this journal site. Initally it was going to be all business/pottery related stuff. Lately I have thought it would be more interesting to include more personal entries, ie what I am thinking about, struggling with (clay and otherwise), thoughts, ideas, rants, ramblings, etc. Basically keeping it REAL , which is something I strongly desire to do in my life. Real and simple. The simple part seems to be more complicated than I thought. Well so does the keeping it Real part. Hell, it all seems complicated until I can slow my brain down long enough to see that everything is temporary and is probably not going to kill me so why worry so much about it all. ( now is this more interesting than me talking about studio construction or would like me to stick to that?) Well anyhow, the simple life seems to require lots of planning. Being Intentional. Like getting enough groceries in one trip to the market to last for the whole week, and before that planning a menu of what I'll be preparing. It's so easy to get caught up in the fast track way of life and just throw my hands up in the air and go to Taco Bell. Sickening. Living intentially is a strong desire of mine. (That and wanting a new laptop, but that's another thread). Being intentional...what does that mean? First, it requires me to slow down. Way down. And that's hard for me. I tend to take the stairs two at a time. And often do the same with other daily activities. "Activities", "work", "do". These words have strong meanings to me. My father's work ethic is heavily conditioned into me. I struggle with "doing nothing", "relaxing", and "playing".

Okay well that's a bit for now. Putting this out there is a bit uncomfortable but kind of helpful. I have kept a Journal for over 20 years, writing daily. Never showing it to anyone. So this is a bit fun. Don't worry, I won't be going into any deep psychological details here. I'm not ready to be that Real, plus it would probably cost me. But this may be fun. Or I may just hit 'Delete'

Later. Gotta check the kiln.