2010-10-29 Friday - Lexington, Kentucky Day One

Friday we woke up in Lexington, Kentucky.  We went to the Kentucky Horse Park and had a great day looking at, petting, and riding horses.  Well, the girls rode them while we waited for them.

The Kentucky Horse Park is a great place where you can see lots of different breeds of horses, visit the International Horse Museum, see some horse movies, take a horse-drawn cart ride, and see some past champion horses who've been retired there.  Are you sensing a pattern here? 

It was a clear, crisp Autumn day and we enjoyed every minute of it.  I even got a bit of a sun burn on my face.

Meredith and our cart team.

In the Hall of Champions:  Mr. Muscleman.

Da Hoss.

Cigar.

The girls try "barrel racing".

Sometimes you can catch the moon out in the daytime.

And sometimes it's easy to forget it's actually a sphere out in space.

Important horse trivia.

Waiting for a ride.

Nice grimace, Stephanie.

Fences.  Oh, and horses.

Family in front of the statue of Man 'O War.

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2010-10-23 Saturday - Making using mixed clays

I made more bowls for Empty Bowls today and then mixed some of my leftover phoenix and craggy crunch clays together to get some swirls of color and different textures.

I am getting very comfortable in my potter's skin lately.  While I am not ever going to quit my day job, I feel I have reached another milestone in my throwing skills.  My confidence level is much higher than it's ever been and I am way more comfortable making most forms than I was just a few years ago.  Don't get me wrong; I still have more than one lifetime of things to learn, but I am feeling pretty good about where I am right now.

It's all about joy...
                                       ...and the joy of the process.

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2010-10-21 Thursday - Making pots

I went to Clayworks to make some new work using speckled brownstone clay.  I made some large, low bowls for a friend and with the leftover clay I threw a rimless form since I don't believe I've ever made one.  I thought it turned out pretty well.

Part of my joy in clay is constantly trying new forms or trying new methods and styles in making my "regular" forms.  It's all about the process, and I'm already thinking about several different options for glazing and surface decoration.  Stay tuned.

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2010-10-19 Tuesday - Glazing babies

Tuesday found me glazing all my "baby" pots for the gas kiln.  I like making these small pots since they are a nice change to the larger work I make.  People seem to like them since they are tiny pots treated just like their larger cousins.  I throw them in cone 10 clay, glaze them in the same styles I use on "regular sized" pots and fire them in the cone 10 reduction kiln just like the big boys.

Fun stuff.

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2010-10-18 Monday - Kale: It's not just for breakfast anymore...

I have recently discovered the joys of kale and pasta and am exploring that whenever I receive kale in my Absolute Organics delivery.  This week's entry was pasta with homemade tomato sauce, kale, chicken, and cannellini beans.  I'm hooked on kale.

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2010-10-17 Sunday - ClayMatters raku workshop at Pottery Central

Sunday we had our Carolina ClayMatters Guild meeting at Pottery Central.  We had a small, but hardy group attend who were ready to do some raku.  Folks used several different methods and materials including copper lustres, clear crackle, naked raku, horsehair, and some commercial glazes.  Good results were revealed each time the pots were removed from the reduction cans. 

We had a good group, the weather was perfect, and we had our usual treat of good food and great fellowship.  Thanks to Andrew for hosting us at Pottery Central.

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2010-10-16 Saturday - Pho and Muddy Fun

Saturday, Nic and I went to the Vietnam Grille for lunch and had grilled pork on rice vermicelli with crispy spring rolls and fish sauce.  Amazing.

After a great lunch we headed back to Clayworks for a Muddy Fun class.  I also did more of my cone 10 glazing.

Yum!

Nic thinks so, too.

Ann and Angela teaching Muddy Fun.

We only had three students this week.

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