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Last Few Days

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The past couple days have been nice, but not very much work going on in the pottery shop. We had a visit on Tuesday from a friend who lived in Boone while Sarah was in school there. It was wonderful to see him and catch up. My friend David the wood carver came by yesterday for lunch and we had a long visit. I have finished up the last pots for my next firing, I'll fire another bisque in the next day or so and fire the salt kiln next week. I am testing a new clay body too.

Last night was the first night of the Real to Reel Film Festival in Kings Mountain. It's the 8th year. We've been going since the beginning. It's put together by the Arts Council, so I am pretty active. There were some great films last night. My favorite was Darius Goes West. The film maker and a few of the crew members as well as Darius were there last night. It's a wonderful film. I hope you'll visit the website. It was very moving and powerful to see Darius, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, travel across the country with the other guys.

Visitor

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The weekend was pretty low key.
While I was out with the dogs one morning I noticed a long neck bird that circled over and landed in a tree down by the creek. I got my binoculars and scoped out a green heron, Butorides virescens. I guess it probably made it's way down to the creek at some point for lunch. Here's a pic I got off the web.
Sarah has been under the weather. She's home today and will go see the doc this morning. I am going to be loading a bisque and getting some pots made.
The drywall finisher had to put me off until the end of the week. No problem really, but I'll be glad to see that done.
That's it for now. Hope you have a good Monday.

End of Week

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I spent a few hours yesterday morning with photographer Randy McNeilly. I have known Randy for 15 years or more. He is a nationally known photographer and a good friend. I always enjoy hanging out with him talking about his travels, music, food, and life. He's a great guy and I am lucky to be able to get him to take images of my work. He and his wife Janet are real art lovers. Anyhow, he shot about 20 pieces for me including some plates and platters that I am submitting for an upcoming book.

Today I am back in the studio making pots. I'll be firing soon and look forward to that. Other than working there is little going on. Maybe Sarah and I will get away for a bit this weekend or just relax. Last night I finished my first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet. I don't know why I've never read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works. I picked this up at the library last week. I'm now reading The Hound of the Baskervilles. When I was in college I had a professor for Calculus III, Dr. Levine, he was well past his retirement, probably in his 80's. He loved to teach I think and wasn't one to leave the department. Anyhow the library at NCSU had a huge section that he had dedicated, all mystery novels. I never read a one while I was there.

Finishing

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I spent today finishing up pots from the past few days. Below are my pilgrim bottles. I really love these pots. I first saw them made by John Leach, mine are a little different shape with a longer spout. They are good for oils and such but we keep one by the sink full of dishwashing liquid. These mugs have a different handle placement than I usually do. These have a one finger handle that's more in the center of the pot. I rather like them and they feel good in the hand. I have another six that I'll give similar handles tomorrow.
I had several boards of bakers that got handled. Here are a couple.
I also worked on my tripod dishes and animal jars. They will finish up totally tomorrow.
This evening we worked on the renovation. I am so ready for the finisher to come on Monday. It's going to be awesome.
Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with my photographer to take some new images of some pots. That's it for now, it's almost time to hit the hay.

Part of a Day

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I only got in part of the day in the workshop today. Most everything from yesterday was still too wet to work on so I made some bigger bakers, more mugs, and a few other things. I spent the better part of the morning and noontime around the Arts Council. Tomorrow I have no commitments so I'll be finishing up all the work.

My brother in law recommended a fellow who would do the finish work on my drywall in the new renovation. He came by and gave me an estimate. It was very good so I hired him on. He'll start on Monday and I expect it will be done in 3-4 days. Sarah was very happy. I told her she better go pick out her paint colors.

I've felt much more grounded and present today.

I will have maybe one more wet day and then I'll be ready to fire.
That's' it for now. I have to spend some time with the dogs and then get supper going, stir fry veggies and rice. Simple.

Monday. Back at it.

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I feel like I had a good day back at work in the shop. I finished up some things like getting my tall footed bowls slipped, and cut feet on my 18" dishes and got them slipped too. I also finished up a few tankards that I made on a whim at the end of the day on Friday. Below are the big dishes. I made a board of mugs and a few jars that will get animals. Also some lobed bowls that will have tripod feet. The shapes on the right will be pilgrim bottles. I haven't made these in awhile and realized today I had none in the showroom. I also made two boards of 2 qt. bakers and two sets of owl candle stick holders.
All this stuff will get finished up tomorrow. I do have to help out at the Arts Council at 10 am and then a board meeting at noon. So I'll need to have a productive afternoon or some of this may ride over till Wednesday.
Sarah is out tonight with a friend so I made myself a nice dinner. Tom had send me a pasta sauce recipe so I tried it out. It was really nice. I'll have left overs tomorrow for lunch.
I felt better day than I did over the weekend. I was really aware of all the messages and clatter in my head and what kind of effects it has upon me. I am trying to practice awareness and attention. I appreciate the positive comments and emails some of you send me.
Well now it's time to do the dinner dishes, which is a good time to practice awareness and enjoy all the nice pots I've used today.

Sunday

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Last week was way too busy for me. I am hoping this week will be different, but I haven't looked at my calendar yet. Sorry for the lack of posts. I feel like I ran around from one appointment to the other with a never ending list of things to do on my mind. I don't like operating from this state but sadly it's common. Last week was emotionally draining too, just dealing with my 'junk' and trying to figure it out (which doesn't seem to help).
I did get some pots made and hope to have a productive day in the studio tomorrow. So far today I've done nothing, which is wonderful.
Thanks for checking in. I promise to post more this week.

New Start

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I got a start on my next kiln load this week. Today, being a holiday, I didn't work all day but did finish up some of the pots I made Monday and Tuesday. Below is an 18" bowl, I made two of these today. I had made one last week but lost it today when cutting a foot on it... the walls got too thin. The two I made today are thrown better anyway I think. These three large ovals got handled and slipped today.
Here is a shot of what I made on Tuesday. I am having to keep things covered or shuffled around since I now have my AC window unit blasting cool air. If I'm not careful things will get dry on one side or dry out before I have time to slip them.
This is a fat pitcher I made yesterday. I don't have a set pitcher shape but tend to lean towards the narrow tapered shapes. This one was inspired by Doug. Maybe I'll try a board of these and see where they go.


Weekend

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I've had a really nice weekend. I feel like I did a good job of staying in the moment this weekend and let some of the junk I've had troubling me fall to the side. Friday night I made a great pizza with tomato and basil from the garden and some mozzarella cheese. I need to shop around for a good quatily mozz. Sarah was out with a friend so I just chilled out, journalled, and drew a bit.

On Saturday my dad and I worked on the renovation. Things are pugging along slowly, but we will get there. That evening I talked Sarah into going to see Ratatoullie. I thought it was really wonderful. My 'inner child' and 'inner chef' totally enjoyed it. The digital anamation is awesome. The story was cool, and orginial I thought. I love going to the movie theater, the big screen and great sound system totally beats watching a dvd at home. Afterwords we hit Chens for some lo mein.

Today was pretty laid back too. We cleaned the house and headed over to Sarah's parents for supper. The new kitchen looks awesome. Sarah's mom is really happy with it. It's going to take her awhile to get settled in and find places for all her stuff, but I can tell she loves it.

Tomorrow, Monday, I have a gallery owner coming to buy pots and after that I will be getting back to making things for my next kiln load.

So that's it. Thanks for checking in. I am looking forward to getting back in the studio.

Just a few

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Today I did manage to make a few pots. I have plans to work on the house this weekend so I didn't go crazy in the studio making stuff. I knew I'd probably not get back to any of it until Monday. This morning I did some work on my big homemade kickwheel. This is a wheel that a friend has let me borrow and it works great. The only problem is that it doesn't have any kind of splashpan. I use plenty of water so it was a problem. Kicking a wet flywheel is dangerous and not very productive. So I rigged up a splash pan made by cutting the bottom off of a large trash can and screwed it into place. It works fine, but I'll probably work on it a bit more.
I like to use that wheel to throw larger pots. I made this 18" bowl and also some pitchers. The pitchers aren't that large but I do like to make them on that kickwheel. I like how it slows way down as I get to the top of the pot. Normally I work on a Leach treadle wheel.
Note to Andrew: These pitchers are made from 4, 5 and 6 lbs of clay. Left to right. Here are the dimensions (left to right) Height 25 cm, width 13.5 cm. Height 29 cm, width 14.6 cm. Height 29 cm , width 16 cm. That's the height to the top of the cylinder, not the spout, and the width of the base. So maybe that will be helpful. I'm not the greatest pitcher maker by any means, but these are pretty well balanced. I'll get handles on the later.

No Pots

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I have no pottery news today as I haven't gotten to make any this week. It looks like today will be split between a visit back to the kitchen job for a couple hours and two trips to the Arts Council for meetings there. I am the vice chair of the board this year (I will be the chair next year), so I will be even more active there than I have been, (which has been quite a lot).

Anyhow if you need a little pottery eye candy you can visit Akar and see what's up there. Harlan House's $300 french fry platters are nice. I was going to order a couple but Sarah reminded me I'm supposed to be cutting back on the fried foods.

Have a good day. I promise I'm still a potter and there will be pots back on this blog soon!

Vicki Gill

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My friend Vicki Gill has started blogging. I am not sure how Vicki and I met, it was either through the Claymatters Pottery Guild or at the Treasures of the Earth Show. I guess that was about 8 or more years ago. Vicki is an excellent potter and lives about 25 miles east of here in Gastonia. There she maintains a studio and gallery named Bluegill Pottery. It's a very nice space with a gallery up front and room for classes in the back. Vicki is known for her textured and carved pots. We both love many of the same potters and both enjoy attending the NC Potter's Conference every year in Asheboro. Be sure to visit her website too.

Day 3

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I am going back to finish helping with the kitchen today. This will probably be my last day as things are winding down to the finish work. It looks really nice, the oak cabinets are beautiful. I am anxious to get back to making pots, I should be able to get a few things done before the weekend.

Work. Not Pots

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Yesterday I was over at Sarah's parent's house all day to start on the kitchen renovation. Sarah's dad and brother are doing it along with my help. We tore out the old cabinets and a small section of the floor and started hanging the new cabinetry. It was a good day of work. I got home rather late just before a big thunder storm.
I am heading back over there now.
So no potting today. I am hoping to get back in the shop tommorrow or Thursday. I also hope to get some work done on my house this weekend. Thanks for checking in.

Tomato

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I went down this morning and picked the first red tomato from my garden. For breakfast I toasted up some bread that a friend brought me over the weekend. I fried an egg and added a chiffanade of basil , also from the garden, to the slices of tomato and had a nice breakfast sandwich. A mouthful of summer.
Karma and I also had a few blackberries on our walk this morning.
As Tom would say, "Food...eat some today."

Weekend

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My Summer Sale was a great success. I had a lot of folks drive in from out of town as well as many of my locals who came by. There were some new faces and a few who have known about me but have never made it out here until now. Thanks to you all for your support and patronage. Many good pots left the showroom over the weekend and I hope they are being put to use or enjoyed in some way in their new enviroments. Now I can get busy making more and working on some new ideas. My next Home Sale is in September and then the Holiday Sale in Nov/Dec.

Today I am helping Sarah's dad and brother install some new kitchen cabinets. I'll be working on our renovation this week too. I'd like to get this drywall job wrapped up soon. Things take forever around here.

Anyhow I hope you are off to a good start on this Monday.

Summer Sale

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My Summer Sale is this weekend. I am all ready to go, I got the showroom set up yesterday and there are some really nice pots here. I have over 300 pots in stock! If you need directions you can mapquest my address 757 Wallace Grove Rd. Shelby, NC 28150 or give me a call 704.480.6046
Saturday June 23 10 am till 5 pm
Sunday June 24 Noon till 4 pm
I had a couple early birds show up yesterday morning so I am off to a good start. Hope to see you here.

More Pots

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Here are a couple more teapots.Altered vase.These bake and serves got a new shape. I got on this lobe kick while making pots for this load. I had several bakers and a few sets of bowls that were lobed. I will probably stick with it.
Here are some small lobed bowls with yellow dots. These pots are covered in a new bisque slip that I am trying, it has quite a bit of feldspar in it. I'll try and get a close up of it later, it sort of reminds me of a shino glaze in that it pinholes in a really nice way.
I made four of these tall foot bird bowls. I sold out of them at the ClayMatters sale back in May. Maybe I'll sell a few this weekend.