Checklist

It's as if I blinked and it was morning. Not far from the truth considering my bedtime. I just wanted to jot down a few things so that i would remember them or at least be able to refer to this post to check things off the list.

• unload bisque kiln and clean up the pots to paint
• organize the remaining pots with their respective motifs
• check glaze buckets and give a good mix
• move pottery from kiln shed "showroom"
• find more wax resist
• find Custer feldspar for tenmoku tests

If Stacey weren't already picking up my parental slack, I'd enlist her and the girls to help move some of the pots and get ready to load the kiln tomorrow. She's been awesome as I suspect she's getting used to this crazy week. It seems that I would know how to time everything by now. After 29 firings I know what it takes to get all of these ducks in a row. #30 has been particularly challenging. Working in the new studio has been a blast, but I'm still feeling my way around to get the work done. Just last night I put up more shelves! The walls are pretty much all shelves now. I am realizing how luxurious the space in Micaville was. I still could use another table...oh,

• find table for additional bisqueware

Carol Lollis, Sam taylor's wife puts the process this way:

I know I’m not that far outside but I often feel as though I am looking in on the Pottery.

Let me explain. I have gotten very used to watching the cycles and anticipating the moods that come with the life style of potter.

The down cycle starts right after the firing. Slowly the kiln cools, Sam rests, the house gets cleaned, our family life reclaimed. The next couple of weeks are filled with lots of co-parenting, dinners made when I get home and the house hold running like a well oiled machine.

Then gently I start nudging him towards the studio and he slowly begins the motions. The studio gets cleaned, tools put in order and clay readied, but mainly he wanders in circles aggravated with the need to start from nothing again.

Then as if it has never stopped things are going full force. Every extra moment is spent with the pottery, shaping, working out kinks, trimming, seeing, and making. He goes to bed late, gets up early, time goes by faster faster, until our date night. We rent a movie. I curl up on the bed and make wads while he sits in the chair and makes cone packs. It is much needed down time. Next the troops start trickling in, they load the kiln, food gets made, and play mixes with work. That is the firing. Wham, finished and it starts all over again.

So off I go, up the muddy trail to the shop to get things going again. I hope this reporting isn't gratuitous. My hope is that, if anything, you all will know what goes into making this pottery.
As always, thanks.