I Finally Got to Make Some Pots...

Today was a good session on the wheel. This morning I made all this stuff and even got the salsa bowls handled after lunch. The kiln is cooling so there will be some new work out tomorrow. I have been thinking today about what it would be like to soda fire some of this slipware. Just a kaolin slip on the outsides , I could still incise and pop some colored glazes on the interiors or even over the outside slip. I think I'm desiring a dirtier surface, with some variety. So we'll see what comes of that idea.



Tomorrow the plates, bowls and yunomi will get footed and most everything will get slipped before the end of the day.

No pots today

Well I don't know what I was thinking when I said I would glaze, load, mix test glazes and make plates and bowls today. I did all but get the pots made. Tomorrow, tomorrow, pots made tomorrow. I did make this nice clay brownie with white slip frosting and red clay cocoa powder. Yum, yum with a cool cup of milk.

I Need Chocolate

Yesterday Amy and Guthrie came by for a visit. It's been awhile since Guthrie has been here. He's getting big. He was all decked out to go turkey hunting yesterday but Amy and I got too busy talking pots so that will have to wait until next time. I am going to be helping Amy work on a public art commission in the fall. We went over some details on that, had lunch and then Amy gave me some feedback on the pots I've been making. It was good to have some company. As you can see Guthrie only has eyes for one person at this point in his life.


Last night I dreamed I was taking the blocks of clay out of the racks but instead of clay they were big chocolate brownies. I must not be getting my daily chocolate fix. I'll have to work on that.

I'm off to glaze a load of pots and then hopefully make some plates and bowls. Check in later to see how that goes.

Clay Harvest

I started bringing in my clay today. My racks are twelve feet long by 2 feet wide and divided into 3 sections. You can see here where I cut the clay into blocks early this morning. By late this afternoon the ends and some of the side pieces in this section were ready to harvest. The section just to the left was all ready and the one on the right was still pretty damp. It had gotten wet during a storm the other night. I store the clay in big trash bins and pug it as I need it.

Yea! Tomorrow I get to make some pots!

Giant Frog and Other Things...

No aliens showed up in the night. I guess the closest thing we've had that was green and slimly was this guy which Karma found behind a planter near the workshop. He was quite happy to be returned to the creek out back.Having my tea out of this Hannah McAndrew mug this morning. Sarah and I got online last night and ordered enough tea to last us for the next couple months. We both have our favorites, Sarah loves green tea scented with jasmine, I like the Gyokuro, and we both enjoy a good black tea in the morning. We ordered the Baker Street Afternoon Blend for the black this time. It's quite good and it always makes me thing of Sherlock Holmes when I make a cup. I've also been hooked on Darjeelings for some time. Spending $40 on tea seems pretty crazy I guess but we really don't have any other vices, alcohol or smoking or illegal drugs , so I feel like it's money well spent and on a price per cup basis it's really cheap. We buy tea from Upton Imports, check them out if you love tea as much as we do.

Below is the copy of Michael Cardew and The West Country Slipware Tradition that Doug recently sent me. It's really been an inspiration. Just check out that harvest jug on the cover. I hope this book will be avaliable in the States at some point soon.

Fancy Bits

Slipped these two guys off here at the end of the workday. I had Doug's stein there to help out with those fancy handle additions. What do you call that scrolly part Doug?...Compensation? I can't remember.I am so ready for my clay to come out of the racks. I have been just putzing around. I got some pots packed up for a show today and mixed some slipped and ran out for some materials. I'd like to be making some dishes.

Off to wash up and get supper going. Sorry this wasn't more exciting. No convertables or surfboards
or shooting innocent duckies. Maybe over night some alien body snatchers will land in the field next door.

Two New Pots and a Goat

These are the two latest additions to our collection. Tom Gray send me the blue ash mug in the post last week. Tom hardly ever makes mugs anymore so it was nice to get one from his latest firing.
The gigantic tankard was a gift from Doug. My friend Fredia was in England during Hatfield event and went by to see Doug. He warned me not to fill it up with beer as it may 'give me a bad head'.
This guy was out in the side field this morning. I think he escaped from the livestock yard just up the road.

Rice Noodles Made by Hand

I have several food blogs that I regularly check in on and Eating Asia is one of my favorites. I think if I had the chance to do anything I'd travel around the world meeting people, eating and learning about food. It would be amazing, hard at times I guess but just think of all the great stories and experiences to be had.

Sarah and I went into Charlotte for part of the day and had lunch at Lang Van, it's our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. I had pan fried noodles with broccoli and tofu; Sarah had vermicelli with bean curd that was marinated with lemon grass and more (that I can't remember). Anyhow of course it was delicious, we also had summer rolls and Vietnamese iced coffee.

Anyhow I was just looking at Eating Asia and saw this post on making rice noodles. Not in a factory mind you, but by hand. Check it out. What hard work this is. Most of us have it so very easy, we go to the store and get what we want. In some ways the process the lady is using isn't unlike making clay and pots. Speaking of pots, look in the background of the 12th photo down. Nice jar!

Tonight it's tomato sandwiches for me again. No, I don't seem to tire of these throughout the summer. It won't be that long before fall and winter and there are no more fresh tomatoes to be had for awhile.

Who Made This #2

This one may be a little tricky. I 'll give a hint and say it wasn't made by an American . That really narrows things down. Ha. Okay have at it.

I'm Here Somewhere

Karma made a huge mess in the shop today by knocking over a bucket of muddy water. That didn't make my day, but what's a little more clay and water in the floor right?

I have to confess I've become totally obsessed with working on my WordPress site. It's like learning to throw, slow and frustrating. I'm not going live with it for a while, but I think it will be a bit of an improvement to this Blog. However i have to say I can get on here and do pretty much what I want to. I guess I'll get better at the WP thing too. Getting the look all set up is hard, mainly b/c I can't make up my mind and also b/c sometimes I'll get it all like I want it only to discover a problem.

Sarah has about had enough of it, she told me yesterday I needed to get it finished so I'd pay her some attention. That was a little harsh but I got the message.

Out of clay! I'll have a bisque firing tomorrow and then fire a glaze kiln over the weekend. Hopefully I'll have more clay next week.

If you've asked me a question in the comments lately and haven't gotten a reply you may have to try again. I've sort of lost track, but will be happy to answer.

Gotta go.

Getting Over the Hump

Wednesday is here! A new day, a hot cup of tea, and it's been raining heavily since midnight. I may have to get Hannah to float over here in her ark to get us if this keeps up .

Mixed up a batch of clay yesterday with plans on making more next week. I would like to start to get ahead of the game on my clay stock. I don't like mixing in winter.

I saw Leon yesterday and he had worked up two new glaze bases for me on his software. I'll be testing them in my next firing.


Regarding my last post, I think a big part of my ups and downs could be the fact that I work in isolation most days for most of each day. That gives me LOTS of time to be in my head. Being in there with all those voices is not the most healthy place sometimes. But by knowing that I can allow myself to step back and see what process is all about. I can try to observe it without reacting to it. Either that or play lots of loud music in the shop.

I realized I had a little more clay than I thought when I went in to check on my reclaim last night. I may get to make a few more big jugs before this next glaze firing. So, I'm off to work. Have a soggy day!! Smiles.

WWHD

I've been meaning for years to make a tee shirt with this image and WWHD on it. "What Would Hamada Do?"It's late, I need to be in bed but I've been working on my Wordpress site which may end up happening sooner than I thought thanks to some progress tonight. (Thanks Cynthia!)

I just read a great post by Joy Tanner. Check it out here.

I often end my days in a slight funk, feeling like I need more time, or that I wish I had spent my time better or even had a different kind of day or sometimes a different life. In the mornings I am upbeat and ready to go again, but ending up in bed staring at the ceiling thinking how things could be different is telling me something is missing in my life. What is it?

I think I can safely say that a big part of this is that I've gotten away from living in the present moment. My meditation practice has ceased to exist. I think about it often. Then my guilt kicks in and then shame and then I decided it'd be easier not to think about it so I go to work, or get on this machine, or something. Maybe just putting that out here just now will help me. I guess I should go now.

All Systems Go

Looks like things are working again. Brandon had the correct answer to the "Who Made This?" post. That luncheon plate was made by Randy Johnson.

There are new pots on my Etsy site!

Test

My comments do not seem to be working. I think the haloscan site is down too. Hopefully it will be back soon. I haven't been able to see if anyone got the correct answer on the "Who Made This"

Who Made This?

I have been enjoying Patricia Griffin's 'Famous Potter Challenges' so I thought I'd put up some pots now and again to challenge my readers. Below is a luncheon plate that we have in our cabinet. We actually are lucky enough to have 4 of these. Can you guess who made this? Leave your answer in the comments.

Getting Low

I didn't realize I was getting so low on clay. Today after making some 6lb oval bakers , a couple platters and this big dish my clay bin was relatively empty. So tomorrow will be mixing day and finishing these pots up. I got a call over the weekend from a friend asking me if I'd make something special for a wedding gift. So this platter will get a foot thrown on tomorrow and then decorated some how for that occasion. Probably birds.

I have some reclaim drying out that I will be able to make some cups with and then I guess it'll be about time to fire again. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and my clay won't take forever to dry in the racks.

Indonesian Red Rice Salad

Sarah made this incredible supper for us tonight. It was a recipe out of this month's Yoga Journal. It was made with red rice and had basil, macadamia nuts, ginger, shallots, coriander, coconut milk, carrots, green beans....you get the idea. Man it was tasty.

Weekend's End

Well it's Sunday evening and the weekend is over. Not too much exciting news to report though. Mainly we hung out at home, but did have some time with family and watched a couple movies and some of the Olympic games.

I also got pumped up after reading some posts on Emily Murphy's blog and also on Colorado Art Studio. It was in regard to using (or switching to) Wordpress.org as a blogging platform. It seems this has lots of advantages. I won't go into it, just read Emily's or Cynthia's posts. They cover it well. What is inviting to me is that I could have multiple pages and that I can set it up on a host (which I will have to pay for) and have my own domain name. I feel like this blog has opened lots of doors for me and I want to say up to date with it and have the features avaliable to me to allow it to grow and provide the information I want to my readers. I'm not sure when this switch will happen but I'm reading up on the whole thing and trying to make my mind up. One nice feature is that I can take all my content from the past 3 yrs or so of being on Blogger and have it transfered to the Wordpress site. So nothing will be lost in that regard.


I shot some images for Etsy today, I have to resize them and get it all ready to put up on the site. I also made up some test slips and spoke to Leon about helping me with my glaze crazing issue. I am hoping he can get me a little closer to what I need using his computer glaze software.


That's it for now. Here's a quick shot from the showroom.

Modern Technology

Yesterday afternoon I went over to Gene Young's studio to check out his new Geil kiln. Gene and Leon where finishing up the first bisque firing in the new kiln . This gas kiln can be programmed and pretty much fire itself. The computer even controls the damper. It was pretty weird watching the damper adjust itself. You can hook up your laptop and get all sorts of information and chart the firing or cooling and atmosphere.
Pretty fancy stuff.
Maybe one day all you woodfirers will be able to sit back and hit a button "STOKE", "STOKE", "STOKE". Ha, just kidding, why on earth would you want to do that right?

On a related note the other night I told Sarah I was going out to light my kiln. That's what I've always said over the years when I was going out to get the salt kiln going. Well, I was just going out to push a button on the electric kiln that says "start". Not nearly the same as striking a match and really 'lighting the kiln'. Oh well, I'll be back lighting my kiln with a match someday soon I'm sure.

Emily Murphy

Emily Murphy has updated her website. I hope you'll go check it out. Emily has been an inspiration to me for years here on the web. She is a top notch blogger, always sharing information and help. Reading Emily's last posts have motivated me to make some changes and work on some aspects of this blog. Guess, I'll be 'chipping away' at it a little at a time.