Audio Books

Over the years, I have found that listening to audio books as I work at the wheel  helps me to zone out and think of things other than work. This has always helped me to get through those weeks where i have to put handle s on 100+ mugs! So i was doing this again today, when I realized that my hands were not steady and that they were shaking so much I didn’t have the control I needed while throwing stems on goblets. At first I thought I may have had too much caffeine -  but then I realized the book was coming to the climax and I was so engrossed with the story (a murder trial) my heart was racing and my hands were shaking! So much for relaxation! From now on I will have to make sure that my choice of book is a little more mundane. I did listen to Atlas Shrugged at one point – it took about a month of listening – but the best I could say was that my work kept me from going to sleep on the book!

Today has also been tricky because I hadn’t realized that the relative humidity had dropped so much – drying out the pieces I had thrown on Tuesday so much that I could barely dampen them down enough to trim them. During the summer, when the RH was in the high 80’s, it would be weeks sometimes until I could get mugs to dry enough to get the handles on. It took some doing – but I was able to salvage most of the pieces.

Christmas orders

Halleluya! I’ve just finished throwing the last of the special orders for Christmas. Of course they still need lids, handles and decoration – carving and whatever – but the main work is done. We seem to be more on toop of things this year and the stress level is quite bearable.

Our ad is now on ATV and we are seeing people coming in as a result. Seems the weather has everyone duped into thinking that there’s months to go before Christmas! A month from today is Boxing Day – my personal favorite day of the year. No more stress, we’ll have 2 weeks off and there’s plenty of left overs in the fridge! This year two of our daughters will be here to celebrate – so it could only be better if all 4 were with us. I’m not complaining though – we’re very blessed.

Book launch and Open House

Whew! I actually survived our launch party – in fact it really was a lot of fun. Once my nerves settled and I could breathe again – I had several very interesting conversations with most of the guests who arrived throughout the 2 hour time span. That made it very enjoyable and relaxing. Now I’m just hoping that people who bought the book have had a chance to look through it and are enjoying what they see and read. Putting out a book is much like the first time I showed my pottery to the general public. You really are just laying yourself on the line and trusting that people will take you seriously.
Besides all the book ’stuff’ I’ve actually been able to put some handles on mugs and carve some too. The first two trays that I made (36 mugs) were too dry to add handles to them – so they have been trimmed and carved and will now be drinking glasses. These sell well too – so it’s not a total loss. I will have to make more mugs to replace them – maybe next week.

Back at the Wheel

Have made the transition from glazing and firing back to throwing on the wheel.  I found pugging the clay hard because the clay in the machine is always too hard to really work with after not being used for a while. So far I’ve thrown 72 mugs. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make the handles and then start trimming and attaching them as well as carving 36 of these mugs. No matter how many I try to make ahead – we are always short. i guess that should be a good complaint – but sometimes it doesn’t feel that way!

Changing Gears

So I have unloaded that kiln of plates and low dishes. Everything came through well – I’m quite pleased. We are finally getting somewhere with the Brushed Blue design. For the past couple of years there have been more flawed pieces than good. Not a good thing when producing (or trying to produce) dinnerware. So next week I should be aable to be back at my wheel. I have finished as many one-of-a-kind pieces that I could in the past few days – so have replenished our stock somewhat. It’s always a little daunting to change gears and start another production phase. Somehow I always think that I won’t remember how to throw. However – it is like riding a bike so I just have to jump in and start.

Nor’Easter kiln firing

Today there is a Nor’Easter blowing up one heck of a windy, rainy, snowy day. I was glad to be firing a kiln – because it warms up the studio. The kiln is so full of plates and low things – it took a full 12 hours to fire. The plan is to load just one more kiln and then be at my wheel next week.

Surprises

Pottery continually surprises me. I guess that ’s what keeps me going. I had a one-of-a-kind piece that I glazed in an unknown commercial glaze and the result was something that I just hated. However, yesterday I took out my watercolour glaze paints and did a simple tree outline and then some leaves around the rim.I fired it through the night and this morning was met with a piece that I absolutely love! Never ceases to amaze me!

Loading the Kiln

We have been glazing since mid-August and have finally air brushed the last piece!! Although I have been firing all along I still have 6 carts of ware to be fired and most of the pieces are plates – NOT GOOD! I need a mixture or tall and short pieces to make an even load. It’s going to take forever to fire the next few kiln loads – they will be very dense.