Is It Spring?

After years of trying to get my african violet to bloom, I have finally located a window that it likes.

Misc Projects

I haven't posted in a long time, so here is a quick update of some of the things Ron, and I accomplished this summer.


We finally put a railing on the small porch outside the office.


Put in a openable wire gate, much nicer then the one we had to crawl over.


I made a wool rug for the landing going up the stairs to my work room.


Yesterday Ron helped me put together this room divider, which is between the landing at the bottom of the stairs and the dinning room.

Four New Pots

Here are the pots that I finished up this last week. The class is almost finished, and I am rushing to get everything fired, before finals.


This is a hand built coil pot. I'm still experimenting with the added beads, but this is what it looks like right now.


This is the first pot I've made from slabs of clay.


Here is another made just like the one above, I just tipped it over.


This pot was made by rolling the slab from the inside, with dowels. You end up with a cylinder with no seams.

Newest Smoked Pots

Here are the pots, that I smoked last night.


This pot is inspired by the Tlingit legend of "Raven Stole the Sun."


This one is my idea of Pooh's honey jar.

Wrangell Garnets, Polished and Natural

After a little over a month of grinding and polishing in the vibrating tumbler the Garnets are finished and here is the results pictured against the host stone for comparison. The key to keeping them from becoming garnet dust was using plastic pellets. They still have imperfections due to the crazing inherent in the crystals from the local mine but came out with a fairly good polish. I plan on another trip to the mine sometime this spring to get some more specimens and maybe start another load in the tumbler. The garnets from our local mine are represented in the Smithsonian.

Hot out of the Kiln

I made this bowl with small coils of clay. Very time consuming and tedious, but well worth the effort.

My New Kiln

Here is my new kiln. Now I am able to fire larger pots than I could in the old bucket. It is made from an old compressor tank. I really like the way it came with it's own legs.



Here are a couple of pots that I fired in the new kiln.

Poka Dot Ball Pot

I just finished this pot, and fired it last night. I really like waking up to a shiny new pot. :)

New to Facebook/ Trip to Vegas

Yesterday Lynda and I signed up for a page on facebook under the tutelage of her mother. By the end of the day I was reconnected with classmates from high school, relatives I hadn't heard from for quite awhile, the preacher that preformed the marriage ceremony for Lynda and I as well as the best man at our wedding. Quite a walk down memory lane. I will endeavor to check in once in awhile and see how they all are doing.

Last week I was in Las Vegas for a conference with over 8,400 Physical Therapists and students to learn what is new in my field. The days were long and much was learned at the many classes I attended. I was dissappointed in the town, it seems to have lost some of its glamour or else I am not as interested in the artificial as much. Pictured is the conference center (Mandalay Bay) with the hotel I stayed in (Luxor) peeking up in the background. It rained one day there and the rest of the time was in the low 50's and windy. So much for fun in the sun. The flights were uneventful and it was good to get back home.

New Pot

Here is my newest pot. I think it looks like an acorn squash cut in half. There's not any glaze on it, instead I put a watery slip on it called terre sigillata, and that is what makes it very shinny.

Fired Pots

I fired these pots last night. They smoked and burned all night long. This morning Ron pulled them out of the ashes before I even got out of bed. I think he was too curious to wait for me. :)

Primitive Fire Pottery Class

Everyone keeps asking to see the pots that I am making. So here are some of them.


My very first pinch pots.


Here is my fancy kiln.


Tall skinny pinch pot.


A sampling of the first two firings.


I'm supposed to put texture on the surface, but I find it hard to mess with the smooth pot after I have worked so hard to get it that way. This was my first attempt.


Another smooth pinch pot.


Finally one with some texture added.

Today is a special day in our lives as Lynda and I no longer have children under the legal adult age. Yep that's right, our baby Seth turns 21 today. Happy Birthday Seth, we love you and hope you are enjoying this auspicious day.

Icicles

We have had wonderfully cold weather ever since Lynda's return from Palm Springs area. Lots of white snow and icy sidewalks. We look for rain this weekend to possibly clear things up again. The good thing with cold weather in the winter is that usually it comes with Sunshine. Saw a few minutes of sun today and it was bright. The snow in the picture is about a foot deep.