2010-03-27 Saturday - Spring Home Sale

Saturday was our Spring home sale.  The artists who joined me for the sale were Amy, Becky, Cindy, Elaine, Kim, and Susan.  While sales weren't what we wished them to be, it was a pleasant, sunny day and a nice time to visit with good friends and have some good food.  Thanks to all who participated and all who attended.

I really liked hosting the sale and thought the front lawn was a great place to hold it.  We had two 'rooms', one on each level of the yard and I think the layout worked well.  We have several other sales planned this year so stay tuned for dates and locations and come on out and see us.

We had some surprise guests while setting up in the morning.

It was great to see Amy and the boys!

View from the driveway in one of the 'rooms'.

Elaine's seconds stash.

Kim's display.

Some random shots of my pots.

More random shots.

Becky's birds.

Susan's goblets.

More of my pots.

Look what now lives in our front yard.

2010-03-21 Sunday - Busy day

I planned on going to church on Sunday, but it got too late.  So the first thing in my busy day was to clear out the garden beds and plant some peas and lettuce.  I think it might be too late for both of them, but since I already own the seeds I thought I'd give it a try.  I then proceeded to chop out some ligustrum and holly out front.  Fun stuff, and I've been sore from it today.

Next it was off to Clayworks for the big cleanup day from 1-3pm.  It was a beehive of activity and everyone was working hard.  I had to leave a little bit early, but the place was looking good as I was leaving.

From there, off to the supermarket to get some chicken wings for my next stop:  The ClayMatters meeting which always includes a pot luck.  It was a good meeting and we were treated to demos of several artists' surface design techniques.

2010-03-20 Saturday - Frenzied making

I went to Clayworks on Saturday to try and get some things made before I lost studio access for the break.

I made some more of the earthen red bowls and some more orangstone slap trays.  I also tried to make some straight-sided orangestone bowls, but after the first one came out well, I tossed the next three for one reason or another.  I'm trying to get a straight-sided shape that will take a handle well.  I'll try again next session.

Part of the work I planned on getting done.

I like the spiral on this slap tray.

2010-03-16 Tuesday - Last class

Tuesday was the last class of the winter session and we celebrated it with a pot luck.  The food was great, the company and conversation interesting and the evening went by way too quickly.  Special thanks to Angela for the mango salsa and the beer --it was wonderful!

I am going to miss Adrienne's class, since I love to watch her throw and pick up new things in every class.  I have to go back to Wednesdays since there were some scheduling conflicts for Tuesday nights.  I'm also looking forward to getting back to Greg's class for many of the same reasons, so it's a win/win situation.

2010-03-14 Sunday - Raku day!

A bunch of us converged on Clayworks Sunday to raku some pieces.  There was a whole lot more going on there, such as people working on all aspects of their art, and Maggie even had a make-up session for one of her classes scheduled.  The raku had mixed outcomes (as is often the way of raku), but there were some outstanding results in the mix.  Becky had some really great results with her horsehair birds.  She also found out she really likes using feathers as well as horsehair.  Joe's pieces came out wonderfully and I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of them.  It's ok, Joe, I forgot to take one of my own pot.  Kim had mixed feelings about her saggar firings, but I thought some of them came out nice.  Expectations often rule our perception of the final product.

Greg, Joe, and Melissa take a break.

One of Kim's pots that I like.

The sky was a lot more friendly today.

First, the bird goes on a small sawdust "nest"...

Next, the horsehair is applied...

As more horsehair is applied, the patterns form...

Now multiply by twenty-four!

(or Four and Twenty if you prefer...)

Pete was busy making his really tall shape.

I really like it and the decoration works very nicely.

Chuck was working on his tall series.

I like this for completely different reasons.

Read on...

This is the previous one he threw.

I love the fluidity of this form.

It looks like we caught it in mid-wave in moving water.

Greg raku'd this fine looking couple that are joined into one piece.

It took him hours to layer on his glazes and it makes for rich results

that have a a lot of depth and subtle details.

2010-03-13 Saturday

I went to Clayworks today to pick up the propane tanks so I could refill them for raku on Sunday.  As always there was lots going on at the studio.  I glazed one piece for the raku firing, talked to a lot of people, and then went home.

Before I left, I went out front and got some shots of the impending storm.  Soon after these pictures were taken the sky opened up and it poured for quite a while.

Our front door.

One of our trolleys.

2010-03-12 Friday - Fish

Just in case you haven't noticed, I have added some fish on the right.  They are a friendly lot and you can feed them by clicking in the water.  They eat all they want and never seem to gain any weight.  Something's fishy...

2010-03-11 Thursday - The Flu 2010

I was fortunate enough to catch the flu this week so I have had some time (some of it lucid) on my hands.  Most of my time has been spent sleeping with the strangest dreams (even by bizarre dream standards), but I have been up and about the house at times.  I am now kicking hard back towards the surface and hope to be past this soon.

All this moss and lichen, is this in some primeval forest?

Nope, it's our front yard.

As soon as you get the camera out

everyone wants to get into the act.

2010-03-06 Saturday

I was at the studio Saturday to help unload the kiln and saw a lot of activity as usual.

The "Bird Lady of Clayworks" (Becky) was there decorating some her flock.  The flock has swelled quite a bit, which you would expect in the Spring time.  Her birds are amazing and I don't know how she makes each one seem as fresh and alive as the last.  She's got some sales coming up, including the multi-artist sale at Goneaway Pottery on March 27, 2010.  (shameless plug)

Becky organizing her flock.

They get several different types of treatment.

A resting point on their migration from shelf to kiln.

Some are late leaving for migration.

Apparently good stuff in the aviary.

I caught Chris glazing.

Some of my new pieces.

Tiny pots and butter dishes.

Open butter dish.

The trays have a design on them.

Another example.

Different view.

Heavily textured pot.

Medium textured pot.

Different textured pot.

(There might be a theme here...)

Becky and Susan sussing out the kiln controls.