Friday Happenings

Not Much..at least for me.Rowan was the one out in the world doing stuff. She worked at the Oasis preparing for tonight's Tea Leaf reading class, then took a break to present her daughter to the crowd for Senior Night at the football game. She then returned for the class. Got all dressed up, created a fantastic mood and most unfortunately, NO ONE SHOWED UP. She was sad.

I was at home pulling handles all day. And what a lot of handles there were. I am pleased to report ALL the Webster's mugs are now made. We'll be loading the bisc kiln in the AM. I also got a good start on soup mugs. The next week will be all about finishing a few more special orders and prepping for our home studio sale. I have a lot on my list to do. Pie Plates, more Oak Leaf Platters, Pitchers, Creamers, Butter Keepers, Apple Bakers, Goblets, Tankards, Round Mugs, Small Bowls, wee bowls and Teapots. Maybe a few larger covered jars, we'll see. OH and a few vases for the Raku firing. *sigh* sounds like a lot.

Damn Rain

Makes everything dry so slowly. I managed to get the covered jars trimmed and handled today, but the mugs I threw yesterday are still too wet. I threw a bunch of soup mugs too, but they are also still too wet. Unfortunately I have plans to be out of town tomorrow, so I had to cover it all up so it wouldn't slowly dry too much while I am gone. Looks like I'll be trimming mugs and pulling handles on Friday.

Tomorrow we try to find the other teenager a car. Cath is a little harder to please when it comes to a vehicle, but she has been scouring the ads for a while and came up with a pink Sunfire at a reasonable price. We'll check it out :)

A fine fine evening of throwing

Today was taken up with all sorts of difficulties, but once things settled down I got to work and got some work done. The big accomplishment was throwing the rest of the mug order for Webster's. 30 mugs to trim, handle and medallion, then they're ready for the bisc kiln. The we'll do 2 kilns of glaze and make the delivery.

Speaking of glaze the kiln was cool enough to take a quick picture of the top, judging from what I see there I anticipate a perfect kiln.

One minute I am waking up

The next I am ready to pass out. I overslept this morning by 2 hours, not so bad considering I have/am the nicest boss in the world. I chastised myself lightly and got to work. Ro came and helped, we put handles and medallions on a bunch of Webster's mugs. Broke for lunch and came back to do some more. I was just getting ready to mix a glaze when Morgan called me, ready to purchase the new car, a bright red Paseo to replace the Neon he destroyed in an accident a month ago. So we went and took care of the paperwork. He's saved 1/2 the cost, We're financing the rest and I think he'll be getting some contributions from other family to help. He's done a good job saving for it and I'm proud of him. He's ecstatic to have his own wheels again. I just hope he continues to remember this is his senior year and school is his top priority.

After returning from the paperwork, we went back to the studio, mixed a glaze and got started on the glazing and loading. It is firing now. This kiln has the plates that were special ordered at the beginning of the faire season as well as some small plates and some other special orders. (Bob the Pirate..your other mug is in this kiln too!)
I finished up with the glazing around 11 and decided I didn't have it in me to throw anymore so I decided to wedge for tomorrow. These cat litter boxes contain the clay for 40 round mugs and 24 soup mugs all wedged and ready to go.

One of the 2lb balls I wedged didn't fit in the bucket so I quickly threw myself a new giant mug. This one is all mine and it'll probably hold about 35 oz when finished. BZZZZZZ caffeine!

The new storage shed

Today was work from morning to morning. Yes, that's right. I got up early to throw before Brian arrived from Erie to put up the shed. It's almost all up. only missing a roof. We'll have to pull down the basketball hoop before the roof goes on. It's in the way. Brian said he could come back next weekend to finish up.

Then around 4 I drove my friends to Lewistown to get the train to Lancaster, then came back to town for day one of "Gutter Trash" bowling league (175,174 and 163). THEN I came home and worked some more.

Now it is after midnight and I just want to compose this blog before passing out. I think this is enough. Check out the pictures of the shed. Brian did the work, I just held walls in place while he nailed things into place. It's going to take up a lot of the kiln pad, but we can rearrange in a way to make it work out. It will be nice to have a place to store all the stuff we normally pile into the yard and onto the concrete patio. The next shed will be one for the other concrete pad in front of the house, to be used as a sales building :)

A day off in disguise?

I didn't do too much today. I drove to the PA Renaissance Faire to drop off new work, which was desperately needed. It's about 2 hours away, so I loaded up this morning and headed out by noon. Unloaded and filled in the empty spaces on the tables. They are overflowing now :) I arrived home around 7:30 PM.

I did manage to take some quick pictures of the work as well as a few shots of the nearly empty tables at the faire.

I took the day off

Except for scrubbing bathroom and kitchen floors in preparation for the In-laws coming to celebrate Catherine's 18th Birthday

OK so I loaded a kiln too :) the glaze is cooling, the bisc is candling and all is well in my world. Going to watch a weird little animated movie called Fantastic Planet with Rowan and then get some decent sleep so I can restock the Faire tomorrow. We did take a peek in the glaze kiln and it looks amazing!

Recovered and making good work today

Last night was crappy, but today ended up OK. I trimmed the big porcelain bowls I threw last night and made another Oak Leaf Dish. Glazed the load of stuff for the PA Faire this weekend and we started loading the bisc kiln to be full of plates to take to the Faire for the final weekend. It was a very good day in the studio. Here are the pictures.

Super Crappy Night

So the answer is humor..been a while since I posted utter silliness.



Having a Bad Day????

The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill in Alaska a few years back was $80,000.
At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were being released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers.
A minute later, in full view, a killer whale ate them both.

Still think you are having a Bad Day????

Betty came home to find Jerry in the kitchen shaking frantically, almost in a dancing frenzy, with some kind of wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle.
Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood, breaking his arm in two places..
Up to that moment, he had been happily listening to his iPod.

Are Ya OK Now? - No?

Two animal rights defenders were protesting the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn, Germany.
Suddenly, all two thousand pigs broke loose and escaped through a broken fence, stampeding madly.
The two helpless protesters were trampled to death.

What?!? STILL having a Bad Day????

Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb.
It came back with 'Return to Sender' stamped on it.
Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

And Finally
In a hospital's Intensive Care Unit, patients always died in the same bed, on Sunday morning, at about11:00 am, regardless of their medical condition.
This puzzled the doctors and some even thought it had something to do with the super natural.
No one could solve the mystery as to why the deaths occurred around11:00 amSunday, so a worldwide team of experts was assembled to investigate the cause of the incidents.
The next Sunday morning, a few minutes before 11:00 am all of the doctors and nurses nervously waited outside the ward to see for themselves what the terrible phenomenon was all about.
Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer books, and other holy objects to ward off the evil spirits.
Just when the clock struck11:00, Kenneth Roberts, the part-time Sunday sweeper, entered the ward and unplugged the life support system so he could use the vacuum cleaner.


There now, Feeling Better, Are We?

Trimming plates and throwing bowls

and the unloading of kilns. Not a lot of fresh work to show you today. We spent much of this afternoon dealing with complications that have arisen from my stepdaughters concussion. A little amnesia, headaches. They've told her to keepm inactive and unstimulated, which is incredibly difficult for a teenager who is practically picking up wireless with her own brain. *sigh*

Anyway. Here are some pictures from today. Tomorrow will be a little trimming and a lot of glazing.

Another fine day

spent in the basement studio. Whine Whine Whine. Ok so it wasn't bad. I got a lot done. I trimmed all the plates, made a ginormous pile of trimmings, then got Morgan to carry out all the bags of reclaim. After a lovely coffee break I started in with throwing more small plates, and a giant pitcher and a crock and a small mug..all things for special orders. Then a big platter and a big bowl with a decorative rim. A lovely and productive time. Some days the pots throw themselves and I just guide the clay..that was the way things felt today.

End of the work, end of the week

Just kidding, I never run out of work! But this part of the cycle ended today with the trimming, handling and addition of medallions to the mugs. Ro came to help.with the medallions and then she finished loading the kiln for me. It's so nice to have her help. It took at least 1.5 hours off the time I had to spend in the studio tonight. So here are the pictures. The kiln, the stack of mugs etc drying under the fan and the next round of Webster's mugs.

The plates I threw yesterday are not yet ready to trim, but they will be in the morning. Plates are a fast and easy trim, but they make HUGE piles of trimmings. They start as 6 lbs of clay and end up as about 2 wet, then about 1.5 as they dry. But that is what it takes to keep a decent foot ring on the plate.

Another Day

Another Day comes to a close. It's 1 in the morning and I am still awake. Terminator on the TV and I wonder how the day went away so quickly. I got a lot accomplished today. I am glad we decided not to go to the Way's Fall Festival. The weather was so miserable..snow to rain and cold all day. I looked out the windows many times today and thought to myself how glad I was to be inside and warm.

I spent the early part of my workday making plates and the last part of it trimming tankards and mugs and putting on handles. I decided to go slowly with all the trimming and handles because they become so tedious. I did a few..maybe 10 or 12. I'll do more in the morning, take a break and do more in the afternoon. The plates might be ready to trim by tomorrow night, but I will probably end up throwing more mugs. I still have ones I need to make for Websters.

We'll load the bisc kiln tomorrow night and these will be ready to glaze on Tuesday and out of the glaze kiln for Friday. Then I'll deliver them to the PA Renaissance Faire and we'll have a fantastic weekend of sales :) Hopefully better than this weekend will be. UGH. I hate weeks with no pay.

Full Ware Boards

Since Elliot let me know yesterday that the PA Renaissance Faire booth was grossly understocked I have had to make a few things to get it ready for the final 2 weeks. This weekend doesn't really count in my mind because it's snowing..really. Snowing. WTF! I'm dreaming of a white HALLOWEEN! Anyway, I worked on more mugs for Webster's, more mugs for us, as well as tankards, rice bowls and oil candles for the Faire. It was hard to work this evening. I just wanted to curl up on the couch with a mug of tea and watch stupid Halloween movies but I pressed on. Ro did her part by loading all the mugs I handled yesterday into the kiln and doing some tidying in the studio as well as helping me dig out the boxes of porcelain. It really helped me push on to get the final few things made,

It seems a little damp in the studio so I think tomorrow will be more throwing. We've decided not to go to Way's for the second weekend,apparently we're in for another 3-4 inches overnight. it's not going to be above 38 all day tomorrow. I am just not that tough. I can't set up in the cold and hang out all day. My hands are aching right now. Maybe if I am lucky Ro will rub them a bit before we fall asleep. I've already had 3 ibuprofin.

Tomorrow Morgan is running off for a karate workshop with Karate legend Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. He's been researching him all week because apparently he's going to get a chance to spar with him. How cool is that? I wish him well.

The results

Another damn long day where my dreams of throwing just went out the window and romped in the snow with the dog. On the other hand I did get all the handles put on the mugs and I did clean up 2 bags of trimmings and reclaimed them and I got to unload a kiln and got my throwing priorities straight for the weekend.

It looks like we will NOT be at Way's this weekend. Despite a great desire to participate the snow and rain simply kills me. If I spend a day out in that kind of cold my hands won't be capable of squeezing clay without a double dose of ibuprofin before I even begin.

So here are the teapots and other goodies from the kiln. How do they look? All the teapots but the BIG one will be at the "Art of Tea" show at The Creative Oasis (Sorry Elliot, none for you but the one for the special order)