June 26 - Family fun

Tuesday Karen's aunt and uncle came over with two of her cousins.  It's always good to see Uncle Anthony and Aunt Camille and it's surely a bonus when Janet and Julie come along too.  I've said many times that I am blessed to have married into such a great family.

My brother also arrived for a couple of days.  I really like to spend time with him and we always have a lot of fun.

Early morning.

Stephanie, Ryan, and Justin clowning around.

Karen, Julie, and Janet.

John and Anthony.

A family meeting on the beach.

Atlantic City in the distance.

While waiting for my brother to arrive
I found a nice cloud at the end of the street.

Later, the moon caught me.

.

2009-08-01 Saturday - Greg's Birthday

We celebrated Greg's birthday on Saturday and I think I can safely say that everyone had an excellent time. It was a warm day, but nobody seemed to mind a bit. Combine good friends, good food, assorted beverages and several hula hoops --how can you go wrong?

Dave modeling his new eyewear.
(It wasn't quite THAT humid...)

Julie and Amy (probably talking clay).

Julie can even drink a beer
while maintaining her hula hoop.

The birthday boy and his sister.

Joe and Pete solving the problems of the universe.

It's a hula hoop convention.

Greg gets his hoop on.

Kit goes for three hoops.

2009-05-09 Friday Demo and Kiln

Friday a bunch of us went to catch Adrienne's demo at the Mint Museum. It's a shame that a lot of the people currently at Clayworks have never seen Adrienne throw. In the past I have had the good fortune of taking her class and watching her throw every week. She throws like most of us breathe. It looks graceful and effortless and is a joy to watch.

After the demo, we unloaded the gas kiln and I caught up with Nick and his latest project: carving on his planters. He has really taken to it and is turning out some fine work.

Adrienne's display at the Mint.

Making pots.

There was a good crowd of familiar faces.

I sat at the table with Ann, Greg, and Max.

Julie looks so cute in her shade hat.

Speaking of cuties with shade hats,
Guthrie arrived with Amy.

Is this kid cute or what?

The opened kiln.

Nick with his new carvings.

2009-05-07 Thursday Clayworks

Thursday I went to Clayworks and made some "oil can" pots even though everyone thought they looked like chickens. Once I began putting the handles on them the chicken look went away. Thanks to Karen, Ju-Ian, and Julie for their suggestions on different handle styles.

2009-05-05 Tuesday Clayworks

Tuesday at Clayworks people were hard at work, as usual. I had to glaze a pot for the gas kiln because Julie and Ro were loading it. I got the pot glazed and even had time to help load the kiln.

My craggy crunch pot with spotted shino,
Rick's shino, and Alfred blue.

Julie and Ro hard at work.

"No, this pot should go there."

"We're almost finished!"

Ron checking in.

Ron and his great apron.

Ta-da!

Rick's newest plate.
He draws great fish.

That building I always catch in different weather.

2009-04-26 All Fired Up

The 2009 All Fired Up fundraiser roared by last night. While attendance was lower than desired, the event was a lot of fun. If you missed it, you REALLY missed it. Clayworks took on a fairy tale appearance with the addition of thousands of Christmas lights. The whole place was transformed into a wonderland of friends, food, and art. Thanks to all the attendees, volunteers, and especially to Adrienne and Julie who really jump through hoops every year to create a great party and make it look easy.

With the silent auction, door prizes, music, food, beverages, desserts (yes, they deserve their own separate category!), and raku, things were hopping. Add to that the wild fun of the clay olympics and you will see how memorable the night was.

It was pretty warm, but at least us folks in the raku department didn't have to deal with inclement weather for a change. The raku went well and the pieces came out great. I'd like to give a big thanks to Nick, my raku partner-in-crime.

Directly following the big shindig, everyone pitched in and converted it back to a working clay studio in no time at all. It's an amazing transformation to witness.

A few of us late-nighters stayed and chatted for a while after everything was done. It was nice to relax and unwind a bit. There was talk of going to the Penguin, but that will have to be another time when we're all feeling a bit younger.

The clay olympics in full swing.

Julie is MCing the olympics.

The silent auction.

The bar.

The food.

The desserts.

The lights.

The lights.

The DJ.

Some major reduction.

Some fun after the fun.

You can see more pictures at Amy's and Becky's blogs.

Kiln loading 2009-03-11

We loaded the gas kiln on Wednesday night, but the transformer burned out and the safety system shut the gas off at about 500 degrees. The new transformer came in on Friday and Julie said she is planning on firing it on Monday. Thanks Julie!

Julie checking the burners.

Greg and Julie checking the burner controls.

Muddy Fun 2009-02-28

Saturday, February 28 was another Muddy Fun day at Clayworks! It was a rainy day and folks were happy to have a fun indoor activity. Did I mention it was Fun? Muddy Fun?

We had two good classes full of people that were not timid about working the clay as was evidenced by the amount we used.

The next Muddy Fun classes are on Saturday, March 28, 10 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 3 pm.

Julie demos to the class.

I don't know what this person told Julie,
but it looks like lightning bolts
are going to shoot from her eyes.

Lots of learning going on.

Rick was helping out.

Ann giving instruction.

Did I mention Rick was helping?

Angela lends a hand.

Susan teaches technique.

Julie admires a pot.
(Rick's teaching in the background.)

Concentration.

More concentration.

Work, work, work.

Rick still helping...

Ju-Ian, Cindy, and Amy.
(Love those candid shots.)

Ju-Ian showing her pot.