January 3, 2008

Back To The Well

It was time to clean up the mess left in my workshop as I fled for the kiln with decorated and glazed pots a couple of weeks ago. There was wood ash that had been washed and settled out that needed setting out to dry. There were buckets of glaze to put away. There were my brushes, my axes, put a way for a while. There were tools to get out and clay to check. There was a huge can of slaked down clay scraps that needed to be set on plaster to dry to a usable hardness. There were the books I had been pouring over during my "breaks" that needed re shelving. There were boxes, paper, packing peanuts littering the floor. There was the pile of letters that needed filing and responding to. There were other dreadfully boring details to the afternoon that I will spare ye.

I sat and looked at some of the pots from the Christmas Eve kiln-load. Some with salt glaze, some with alkaline ash glaze with slip trailed doodles. Not bad. I wondered about all the pots I still need to make to get where they need to be. The work of all my years is only as good as the last load made. There's a ways to go with the pottery. Always, it seems, there's a ways to go. The well of pottery is deep and I will draw up another bucket full. Get a taste. Then I'll lower the bucket again.

I like what I'm tasting. It's still refreshes.

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