Pottery Buddy

After a few days of much needed rain, we had a beautiful sunny day. Perfect timing to prepare greenware for a bisque firing. While I was giving some pots the kitchen scrubby treatment, a green anole crawled on to the sponge holders.

He was a brave little guy and hung out with me for quite awhile.

Occasionally, if he thought I was getting a little too close, he hopped from the shelving unit to the stand that holds the bricks for the kiln door. 

I have been in North Carolina for over six years now, but I am still fascinated by these charming lizards!

EEEEK!

 I was heading out to the studio yesterday when I noticed something hanging off of the porch roof, swaying in the wind...

I got a little closer and realized it was a snake skin. A really long snake skin! I know it's just a skin, but it still creeped me out. Mostly because it means there is a rather long (close to three feet) snake around here. I am hoping that it's just a harmless black snake. The skin is hanging next to the electric kiln. Today I will get brave and knock it down with a broom. I wimped out yesterday, but I can't handle another day of seeing it hanging there. 

I will leave you with a happy photo, so that you can wipe the creepy snake skin from your brain.

Jeff had a great time playing sax at the festival in Mungyeong. He was invited to join some of the other musicians on stage. He hadn't played in a long time, but said that it all came back to him.

The Crap Shoot of Street Shows

We couldn't have asked for better weather for the pottery festival on Saturday, but we definitely could have asked for more sales. We didn't even cover our booth fee, barely paid for our gas to Greensboro. Yep... it was that bad. We had one small empty box when we packed up at the end of the day, but that was only because we did a good job re-packing! The only pots that went to new homes were a soap dispenser and a sponge holder.

I had lots (and I mean lots) of time to observe our surroundings and test out the camera on my new phone. I like the gritty textures that you find in the city. My phone camera did a pretty good job of capturing them.

On the bright side, this show was close to home, booth fee wasn't too bad, it was an easy set up, and the day was short. I also don't have to worry about not having enough work for the next show!!!

I should also mention that Jeff brought a vessel sink display and we did get three leads on special orders. If those pan out then the show was worth the time.

running water

We spent today battling the frozen water pump/pipes issue that comes along with arctic temps in a structure that wasn't designed for this kind of weather. As I looked at the dishes piling up in the sink, my mind drifted to the vessel sinks that Jeff has been making, and shipping out across this country and Canada...

Jeff's sinks are a generous size, deep and wide enough to function well. I have seen, and used, many vessel sinks that just weren't deep enough to wash your hands in without splashing water everywhere.
Clicking on the first photo will take you to Jeff's Etsy shop where you can take a look at pricing etc. We have a few sinks in stock, but most are custom ordered.

I am hoping that tomorrow we will have water and I can wash all those dishes that are piling up! In the meantime, I hope you are all fairing well in these frigid temps.

coasting along to the finish line...

Wood firing out at the farm...

No time for blogging these past few days. Jeff and I were back and forth between Seagrove and Carthage, firing with Prissy (Ouida) Newell in her big wood kiln.

Jeff fired overnight on Sunday after loading all day. The two of us took the night shift from 11:00 pm Monday till 5:30 am Tuesday. We slept a few hours at Prissy's then got up and helped with the last shift. The kiln was done and getting "clammed up" around 8:00 pm Tuesday.

Can you see one of my pigs getting roasted in there? He is on the shelf to the left. He should be nice and toasty, being right behind the firebox.

Prissy's barn/kiln shed is AMAZING! It's HUGE! The kiln is on the opposite end of these windows. On this end she has room to host workshops and during the festival that she is hosting next weekend, some artists will set up their booths inside.

antique wood stove detail

When Prissy isn't making pots, she is an antique dealer, auctioneer, and builder... hence lots of cool things to look at in her kiln shed. This chandelier is just one of many, hanging from the beams. Jeff has dubbed it the Steampunk Kiln Shed.

Jeff, side stoking

We are going to unload this big kiln during the Clay on Fire Art Festival this Saturday, June 8th. Festival goers will have the opportunity to buy warm pots, fresh from the kiln. There will be quite a few potters from Seagrove and surrounding areas, along with other craft vendors, as well.  Raku firing, pottery demos, and live music, are all part of the fun. I have all the info in the right side bar of the blog, in the events section. If you aren't too far away, come out to Carthage for the day. Heck, if you are far away, it will be worth the trip!

An army of pigs

I haven't had a whole lot of time for blogging this week. Our good friend Rob was on spring break from his college gig and stayed with us for a few days. In between visiting and cooking up some fun meals, I still had all those piggy banks to finish. It seemed like it took FOREVER. Last night I assembled and glazed piggy banks in my sleep. I woke up feeling like I did a whole night's work... but when I opened the studio door this morning, a whole lot of pig bodies were still waiting for me.

But now they are DONE and there are a few new designs in this herd of swine...

In between the swine there was a mug order to complete.

I think this week may be a little more productive.

first peek

Took down half the door tonight. The shino is looking good in the front.

My tests are sort of weird, but the bottom half of the mugs was the real test and it did what I was looking for. I can now glaze the rest of the porcelain dishes. As soon as I saw these I thought, "why didn't I glaze the top half of these mugs in tenmoku?". Live and learn. That's why they are called TESTS.

We will finish unloading tomorrow.

a week of meetings and politics

Doesn't it seem that if you belong to groups that have meetings, they will all fall during the same week... and on a week that you really don't have time for them? That was my week in a nutshell.

Each month the Co-op, that we are members of, meets to choose our work days and discuss anything else that may come up. This month one of the candidates for Lt. Governor in NC, Dan Forest, came to the meeting. He wanted to have a discussion with the local potters and it was decided that our meeting would be a good opportunity for him and us. Quite frankly, I realized last week that I have been so focused on the Presidential election, that I know nothing about the upcoming state elections and it was time to get my head out of the sand.

The first thing I needed to know was, what is a Lt. Governor? NH (where I lived up until 2 years ago) doesn't have one. I figured the position was like vice-president, and I was correct. In NC the Lt. Governor doesn't really have any power, he resided over the senate and has a vote only if there is a tie. If the governor, dies or can no longer serve, then he takes over.
That's the first think I learned this week about NC politics.

The second thing I learned is that this guy won't get my vote.

Forest was supposed to arrive shortly before 5:00 pm, and have a brief meeting prior to our Co-op meeting at 5:30. He and his campaign manager didn't arrive until nearly 6:00 pm. I don't think they even called to say they were running late! Yes, he was very articulate and did have some good ideas.
He sort of reminded me of Bill Paxton's character Bill Henrickson, on the series "Big Love".  We didn't stick around for chit chat afterwards, we were in the middle of loading the gas kiln that needed to be fired that night.

Later in the evening I went to Dan Forest's website and confirmed what I thought...

conservative christian
proponent of amendment one
pro-life

The creepiest thing that I found on his website was 'Dan TV". It was a page of videos to click on, one being a clip with Mike Huckabee endorsing him, and at the end, Forest walking in with Chik-fil-A for lunch. Weird. The creepiest one was a very short clip of him firing a pistol at a shooting range, then turning around to look at the camera. Here is a link to his media page, but this morning it seems all the videos are gone! Maybe someone told him they were in poor taste?

Dan TV

Well that's my rant for the week, and maybe the rest of the year. In the meantime I think we should all put a bird on it.