December Update

For the most current updates, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. It's been quite a year and I'm finding myself lucky to have time in the studio, much less time to blog about it.

In the meantime, I recently unloaded my first glaze firing in the new studio. It was not without incident as I ran into some electrical snafus in the ^6 firing cycle that did not occur in the ^04 cycle, and a couple failed partial firings may have negatively impacted some of my glazes. But the bulk of the firing was more or less successful. Hoping to have at least a small offering of updated listings on the Etsy shop this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

First fruits of the new studio. Mountains from the mountains.

Fall Work, 2012

Firing preview.

If you were super cool and followed me on Facebook or Twitter you could have seen this, like, 5 hours ago. Your loss. Overall: very good firing. Couple disappointments. 

Discovered one of my kiln shelves is completely wash-free and has been stealing bits of stoneware from the feet of my post. Hadn't really noticed it before, but it's become noticeable. 1.5" chunk pulled out of the foot of a beautiful vase, another one inch wedge pulled out of the foot of a bowl. Have never had this problem before. I guess it's time to re-wash the shelves before my next glaze firings.

Up next: sanding, pricing, packing. 

Come see me this weekend at the Pierre/Fort Pierre Zonta Holiday Craft Show & Sale.

Saturday // 11.10.2012 // 9 AM - 5 PM  ..... Sunday // 11.11.2012 // 9 AM - 3 PM

Held at the Ramkota River Centre.

And stalk me here:

Also, for those interested: Music I've been listening to heavily as of late.
1. The O.C. Supertones. Because they have a new record out today, their first in (7? 8?) years and ska is not dead.
2. sosaveme "The Garden." Because I just can't get over how great this album is. Period.
3. Vintage (or what seems to be getting close to) CCM from the likes of Audio Adrenaline and dc Talk (for example). Sometimes you just need nostalgic, feel-good music with a message, as they like to say. Shuffly mix courtesy of Apple Genius mixes provided plenty of Bleach, Pillar, Third Day and the like. Solid stuff.
4. More and more appreciative of Jack White's "Blunderbuss" the more listens I give it. Funky, experimental, enjoyable.

And of course, the usual array of eclecticism.

Y'all take care.

Throwing, Glazing, Slacking: the monthly update.

Right on schedule, time for my monthly update. I'm keeping myself busy lately which means I'm spending more time on pots and less time on posts here.  However, I have been doing a relatively decent job of sending quick updates out into cyberspace via my presence on Facebook (just pottery!) and Twitter (shenanigans of all sorts!). So if once a month is simply not enough of me for you, go ahead and give me a follow at one of these locations.

For those not interested in the social media angle (ye antisocial mediites), here's a recap: throwing. Lots of throwing. And trimming. And decorating. And firing. And glazing. And more firing. And more throwing. Rinse and repeat.

No, but seriously - I've been pretty diligent about my studio time this fall. Krystal's been having to do a lot of professional traveling, so I've had lots of time to commit guilt-free to the pots. I've been focusing on making fun pots, and not stressing about quantity or volume for my next show (November 10-11, here in Pierre). I always have more than enough work, so I shouldn't stress too much. That's my goal anyway. Also continuing to play/experiment with shape and texture in addition to my old faithful sgraffito.

Here are some snapshots:

Itty-bitty bowls.

A full bisque kiln. Had to make room on my shelves for more pots to dry!

Textures and such.

I've been commissioned to do a complete communion service for our congregation. I don't think this pair of chalices quite make the cut, but a good start.

This? This is just a steak dinner hot off the grill a couple weeks back that was quite photogenic. I'm not giving up summer that easily. I'll still be grilling when there's snow on the ground.

 This week I finally got around to glazing a load of pots and was quite thrilled with the results. Every firing is a little different and I usually try to include at least one or two experimental pieces per firing. Looking forward to finishing up more work this fall.

Final thoughts before next month (post-show summary?): Lots of great new music this fall from Mumford & Sons, The Killers, No Doubt and more, but I've been letting the iPod run on shuffle for the last couple weeks and have enjoyed happening upon such wide and varied selections as Switchfoot's 1997 debut, Led Zeppelin's 1976 live concert recording "The Song Remains the Same," older (and newer) Ben Folds (& Five), Bob Dylan, America, Jimmy Eat World, and so on and so forth. Last night Apple up and shuffled me into a jungle of Krystal's Ani Difranco selection which simply didn't last very long. I of course reserve veto rights. But it's been enjoyable to not put any thinking energies into picking my soundtrack and taking what comes my way. Within reason, of course.

Heatwave!

You know you live somewhere special when 92 degrees is a refreshingly cool midday temperature. Yesterday I didn't even have to microwave my leftovers for lunch; I just set my plate out on the deck for a couple minutes and it was ready to go.

Nothing like picking the hottest week of the year to run my kiln nonstop. While the air conditioner is also running nonstop.  I'm looking forward to this month's utility bill, that's for sure.

Unloaded the kiln this morning, loaded it back up for another firing at noon. Still have maybe 2/3 of a kiln's worth of pots to get in a third firing. I'd rather not fire it with any room to spare, but that's just the way it goes. Everything is glazed and ready to go, just waiting for the kiln to open up.

Top shelf.

Bottom Shelf.

Loaded back up and ready to go again!

Pretty!

And a little bit closer now.

And even closer.

Details.

Reds and blues.

It's all patriotic up in hurr.

So that's where we're at. Shooting to unload/reload the current/next firing(s) on Thursday which will give me a full week for sanding, pricing, inventory-ing and packing. Which is more lead time than I've ever given myself on a show, so that's great news.

Around the house and during the glazing have been playing a lot of the new House of Heroes record. Well, that and some Zeppelin. Always good to keep one foot in the classics, right?

Pots of Life

I've been absent. But present. Busy, and not so productive. Lots going on, and not much to share.

Had a wonderful visit by Krystal's mother last weekend which kept me more or less out of my studio. But not completely. Here's an illustrated guide to the past 10 days of my life. Hopefully it's interesting. 

(Spoiler alert: I unloaded a glaze kiln yesterday, so those pictures are at the bottom of this post.)

Took some time off last Friday to take the Mom-in-Law down to the Rez and visit Krystal's office. Got to see some of my own (design) handiwork on display in their offices.

Krystal's (above) nonprofit is doing some really cool things in the community. You can read all about Hunkpati Investments here.

Took some great cloud pictures. Like these.

Had to spend a day driving to the airport. Here's "what's up" at the rest areas in South Dakota.

Krystal took "rest area" a little bit too far.

I enjoyed the fresh air and scenic vistas.

Loaded a bisque firing.

Tempy helped me glaze. She's very helpful.

Took her for a walk as a reward. We found a bunny.

Glazed some more.

Loaded up the kiln.

Watched it get warmer.

Unloaded. Thrilled about the blues. The Rust Red has been giving me a lot of trouble lately, though. Grr.

And threw some more bowls.

So that's been my week. Krystal's been out on the eastern seaboard and I get her home again tonight. Might be able to squeeze in a little more throwing before her plane gets in if I try really hard.

That's it for now, I suppose.

For the record, studio listening lately has included: the latest from Beach House, Bloom; new music from Alabama Shakes, Delta Spirit, and M. Ward; and I dusted off ye olde Les Mis this week after catching this at the theatre last weekend.

Take care, y'all.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone