August 3 - Friday in Wilmington

Karen has been working such crazy hours lately that she decided she needed a break.  I was glad because she really does work very hard and needs some rest once in a while.

We went to Wilmington on Thursday night.  We'd never been there or Wrightsville Beach, so we thought we'd check it out.  The weather was iffy every day we were there with lots of pop-up thunderstorms.  We walked around down by Water Street, checked out the Cotton Exchange, and ate some good food.  We even stepped onto Wrightsville Beach for about five minutes.  At the Cotton Exchange I found several people to talk with about pottery and purchased some small block pictures.  (I'll try to get a shot of them later.)

The hill up from Water Street.

Wrightsville Beach.

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July 29 - Sunday Joy Tanner workshop

Sunday was the Joy Tanner workshop sponsored by Carolina Clay Matters Pottery Guild and hosted at Central Piedmont Community College.  Joy presented an informative, professional workshop and showed us how she creates her beautiful work.  I have admired her work for a while now and it was interesting to see how she approaches her pots and what brought her to her current work.

Throwing...

...on the big screen.

Using a linoleum block cutter.

We had a large crowd in attendance.

More crowd.

We had a nice lunch from Jason's Deli.

Joy brought lots of work to sell.
I bought a small plate.

Laurie and Leon capturing the action...

... and me!

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July 28 - Pickup, lunch, setup, and curly handles

Saturday was a pretty busy day.

I met Kim in Kings Mountain to pack up our remaining pots from the month-long Earth and Fire show.

After packing up and loading out we went to grab a bite for lunch at the Cherokee Street Tavern.  I had a very nice Texas brisket sandwich that was so good I forgot to take a photo of it before I ate it.

Next, it was back to Clayworks to put some handles on some pots.

After that, it was over to CPCC to set up the room for the Joy Tanner workshop on Sunday.

Busy, busy, busy...

My new sculpting tools I bought at Carolina Clay Connection.

Pot with attitude.

I like the curly handles.

Setting up the CPCC room for Joy Tanner.

Will and Ralph discussing something large.

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July 27 - Rainbow

Driving back from Lillington I stopped near Troy for gas and saw this rainbow across the street.  It was already fading by the time I got my camera out to snap this.

Later, on the road I saw a double rainbow that met the ground on both ends.  The "main" rainbow was so vibrant and solid that it looked like sherbert.  I had never seen a rainbow that looked so solid before and I desperately wanted to get a photo of it, but there was no place to stop.

To top it off, the whole time I was watching it I was listening to Radiolab from NPR and they were talking about how we perceive colors, such as in rainbows.  I can't express how amazed I was a the coincidence I was enjoying.  It was a great show and I may never look at colors the same way again.

You can listen to the show here:





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July 24 - Altering a pot

Tuesday I altered the two-piece pot by pulling up the neck which made it go a bit wonky.  I like the curves it made so I pushed it a bit further and added some stubby handles.

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July 21 - Muddy Fun, pots, and a former crab

Saturday was Muddy Fun day and the place was hopping.  Angela did her usual fine job of leading the class.

I worked on my lump of Allison McGowan porcelain again and came up with a new form (for me).  I also made a two piece pot from recycled clay and attached them.  I will have to pull the neck up a bit more since it is rather thick near the top, but I have to wait for it to stiffen up a bit first.

Someone brought in a bag of shells to use for textures on the clay and I noticed something rattling around inside one of the shells.  It was a former hermit crab, completely dried out.  That's something you don't see every day.

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July 15 - Moody skies

Sunday I had to work in Lincolnton.  When I went to the store I noticed the storm clouds moving in creating a dramatic sky.  I love the sky.  It's the best free show in town.

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