Barrel Firing # 7 - The Next Day...

Saturday, January 10, 2009 we returned to the studio to check on the results of BF#7. The usual (read: hardcore) crew showed up for the retrieval. I arrived late and thought the barrel would be empty already but apparently I was right on time.

I think there were a few standouts, but the general consensus was bit of a yawn. Several people said they were going to re-bisque their pieces and try them again. At least we had fun during the firing.

After the unloading and the yawning were finished some of us headed inside to make some pots.

Becky doing her famous barrel-diving act.

The goods.

Max, Becky, Amy, Cindy, Kim, and Elaine
during the unload.

Becky was looking for Ron in the cardboard dumpster.
From barrel-diving to dumpster-diving, Becky is very versatile.

Max's ingenious homemade bead firer.
Cool, eh?

My latest orangestone pot.

Amy and Becky eating licorice pigs.
Don't you just love candid photography?

Said licorice pigs.
Yum.

All in all, a good Saturday afternoon.

Barrel Firing # 7

Barrel firing # 7 took place on Friday, January 9, 2009 and it was a great way to start the new year.

We got together at Clayworks and lit the highest fire yet. I was planning on throwing some pots and was having such a good time around the barrel that I never got to the wheel.

I helped "split" some wood for the firing. I used quotes because except for a few logs with knots in them, the wood was so worm-eaten that it pretty much crumbled to dust when I connected with it.

Since this was our holiday barrel, there was a lot of Christmas wrapping paper used for kindling this time. Along with the wrapping paper, we had the usual ingredients such as sawdust, wood shavings, copper carbonate, copper sulfate, epson salt, Chore Boys, seaweed, charcoal briquettes, etc. It really is quite a conglomeration of combustibles.

The pile of wood I helped "split".

Elaine loves barrel firing.

Nice fire.

That's a tall fire.
I like the little licks at the top.

During the burn.
Notice that little snake of green flame
on the right. It stayed there
for most of the firing.
Green flame usually means
there is copper present.

Becky, Elaine, and Kim
looking at some of Elaine's
old family photos after the barrel
was covered to start reduction.

Tuesday 2009-01-06

I am very far behind in my posting. (If you think I am behind on posting, you should see my office.)

Tuesday night I was at the studio for Ron's slipware class. He helped his students make slip trailers like the one that Hannah sent him a while back and then showed them how to use them. It was quite amazing to watch, but after trying Becky's, I think I'll stick to sgraffito. I now have more respect for Hannah than ever.

Ron demoing with a quick fish.

Becky giving it a workout.

Onggi pot - time lapse

This is amazing. Adam Field has been studying with onggi masters in Korea. Check it out.

I also like his music choices on his videos.




From the youtube comments section:


Just in case you missed it in the comments:

"-the wall is 1/2 inch near the rim & foot & 1/4 inch at the belly"

Go read that sentence again, I'll wait.

Check out some other videos at Adam's website.

Playing with light

Since the holidays were officially over on Monday (twelve days of Christmas and all), I wanted to get a shot of the lights we put up this year. I try to do something different every couple of years and this year was white lights. It was bright but understated and this didn't seem the year to put up an party of multicolored lights.

I took the tripod and turned the camera on manual exposure to see what I could do.

This is a 1 second exposure.

Same picture with a10 second exposure.

This is a 2 second exposure
(from much closer). I like the
"flares" from the light bulbs.

I looked up through the trees to see the moon behind thin layer of clouds and thought, "That could be a nice shot..."

4 seconds.

15 seconds.
(The longest exposure setting.)

About that time a car went by and I thought about stretching the lights from the cars. (I love doing that.)

The street at 2.5 seconds.

A ghost car at 2.5 seconds.

A ghost van at 2.5 seconds.
I really like the way the top tail light
puts a perspective on the image and
gives it even more motion
than the single level lights.

You can have a lot of fun with a point-and-shoot camera if you go "off road" and turn off the automatic settings. Don't be afraid to take a lot of bad pictures to get one good one. (I know where the delete button is in my sleep.)

Goofy time

I caught up with my brother for lunch today. After a great lunch we both decided we had nothing pressing, so I suggested bowling and away we went. Neither of us gets out to bowl much and lately I have been doing more bowling on the Wii than at a real bowling alley...

... and it shows.

But the main thing is that we had fun and I got to spend some serious "goofy time" with my brother. Something we just don't do enough. (If you think the bowling was "goofy time", you should see us on a golf course.)

Excuse the cell phone pictures.

Dave on the lanes.
(It looks strangely deserted in this picture,
but we had to wait for an alley.)

Last game of three.
I hit a streak and Dave didn't.
But you should have seen him
in the second game!
(Well it is my blog.
Which scores do you
think I would post?)

Wow, between the two of us, we bowled a perfect game. :^)

Today's assignment: Spend some "goofy time" with a sibling or good friend.

It's all about the family

It sure is nice to have the family around, especially during the holidays. It's nice to watch the kids grow up and see them interact with their cousins. Even with all the teenage angst and arguments, I can see myself longing for these days down the road. Sandwiched between the stressful times there sure are a lot of good ones.

I took Stephanie out for her first official driving lesson in a parking lot today and she did really well, especially considering she was driving a minivan. It didn't phase her in the least and she handled some tight situations without any input from me.

Today I'm remembering teaching her to walk, roller skate, ice skate, and ride a bike. Now we're on to the next transportation mode in the path to adulthood. But don't worry about her growing up too fast since she still wants a skateboard --and I can't teach her about that one.

As I type this, the girls are currently making chocolate chip cookies (at midnight).

Stephanie, Justin, Meredith,
Pop-pop, Ryan, and Audrey.

It goes by quickly. You have to enjoy it while you can.