2014-12-01 - Monday - Val Cushing, Leaves, and pots

On Monday I went to the Mint Museum for a talk and video presentation from Herb Cohen about his friend, the late Val Cushing. It was a moving and informative session made better by Herb's personal recollections about his friend and classmate.

In the late afternoon I went outside to clean up some of the leaves that we are blessed with every autumn. For some reason the blower did not have the usual power. When I removed the tube I found a large chunk of something hard blocking the air flow. I removed it and when I flipped it over I found the whole ring around the impeller filled with the same substance. Since this blower also works as a vacuum I realized that the debris was composed of ground up leaves and mud. I took quite a bit of work to break it up and remove it and I realized this would have made a great building material for a mud hut.

I am happy to report that since removing the dried mud the blower is back to full strength.

While I like the patterns the leaves made on our
new concrete, I am going to clean it and seal it
in the spring.

More leaf patterns.

On Monday night a slid into Clayworks to get some work done. I am trying to branch out into new forms and processes so I made these.

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