Ramping Up: A Feat of Epic Proportion (or stubbornness)

Maybe it was a coincidence, but today, Nick Joerling came by to drop off some work we're taking up to D.C. for him. And I had the time to try to move the old Peter Pugger into the studio. Incidentally, I bought the Peter Pugger from Nick, back when I was a resident at Penland. But I failed to coerce Nick into helping out, Damn. So, as I checked the e-kiln and watched its slow climb in temperature, I had time to push, pull, and strain to get this heavy machine up the steps and into place. I tried chaining it to my truck with marginal success. The pug mill has two hard wheels, but it was almost impossible to move around on the gravel, hence the truck idea. I built a ramp out of 4 x 4's and scraps of plywood, boards, etc. and I can't tell you how much joy it brought me to use these little scraps of plywood and boards that most sane people would have burned or thrown out.

But I was still stumped on how to get the mill up the ramp. It's heavy! I felt that there must be some way I can get this up the ramp by myself, or with the truck!

;-)


I broke down and called Stacey to see if she could muscle it up the ramp with me. But she wasn't coming home for a while and I was growing impatient. I tried to think about simple physics, pulleys, winch, levers, hmmmm???

Then it came to me!! What i needed was another wheel! Duh! SO off I go to the hardware store to buy a caster for the front of the mill and made this third wheel.



What followed I don't have still images or video footage of, but first I tried to push this behemoth up the ramp and slipped a couple of times, but the adrenaline was coursing through my veins. Would I be pugging clay by the end of the day?? I stepped back and then had the sensible idea of pulling the mill up the ramp. So I pulled a chain around and through the frame and stepped up to the porch to try to pull. I was able to get the thing rolling up the ramp with all my might. But then I had to let go of one hand to re-grab the chain as I pulled it toward me. Could I do it, should I do it?? (this is where a soundtrack would come in real handy) You must be thinking that I have lost my mind, by now??

Well as you can see from the pictures below, (you'll have to take my triumphant word for it), I got the mill up to the porch level, and easily rolled it into the studio. But then I realized that I one more feat to perform. The final ramping up onto the platform that the mill sits on. No problem, thought I. And for once I was right. Just a simple ramp made with ware boards and the ubiquitous scrap pieces of 2 x 4 and 2 x 6! With a rolling start I rolled the mill into place and plugged her/him in.

The rest of the story is history. I mixed a batch of very, very sandy reclaim clay to run through to attempt to get some of the flakes of rust out, before i run my "good" clay through.

AHHH. Now I'm ready to turn some pottery!

Another Bisque Note

I wanted to put this in the blog so that I would remember...instead of unloading this pot and thinking, "what the hell is that little black blob on the glaze!??"

This cup has been painted and glazed. After that, I brushed some wax resist over the glaze and then cut through with a sharp little bitty trimming tool (that Becky Lloyd had given me a while back). Then I brushed some black slip over the cut through design of forlorn birdy. I'm curious if the slip will "float" in the glaze surface or fade into the under glaze.

[FIRING NOTE: The kiln may need a new coil or two as it's struggling to get to temperature. I have put some fiber on the lid to help it along. After all, it is 12 years old! It could be a long night of "stoking"]

GO 'TRICITY GO

Here's the exciting scene around the E-kiln! The crew is havin' a coffe break,but they've been diligent with the shoveling of coal down at the power plant. I have a couple of people keeping an eye on the line voltage and meter.

More Painted Porcelain Pots for the E Kiln

subtle

a more typical design motif by Moi
(that's french for mwaah)

Here are a few more plates that are in the electric kiln today! The white slip is barely visible in these pictures. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. You will be able to see the designs more clearly. I had a couple of these plates crack pretty badly during the bisque. Maybe they dried too fast? I don't know, but they both cracked at a sharp cut in the rim. Typical, even though I cut the foot ring first before compromising the rim by cutting it.

the designs will hopefully be more
apparent after the glaze firing.

I'm heading up to Penland to do painting a demo for Shane Mickey's class. They just built a new soda kiln and will unload it tomorrow and fire again on Thursday! They need some brush-learnin'.

Decorating and Glazing The Porcelain

porcelain cups painted with
black and white slips

I spent a few hours last night decorating/painting the porcelain I had just bisque fired (to cone 07). I am firing these pots in the electric kiln to cone 9! I'm not sure what they will look like, I did a lot of guessing. My basic strategy evolved as I went along. First, I wanted to use the amber and copper glazes with black and white slips/under glazes. One of my immediate reactions was to the whiteness of the surface. I recalled a conversation I had with an App. State student I had interviewed earlier in the day about the blank canvas. I told him that when I draw I could only begin after I had smeared charcoal over the whole surface. There's something about process and about self consciousness that made me feel uncomfortable with the blank clean paper or canvas. I had the same feeling with the clean white surface of the porcelain. So I began most of the cups with a wash of black under glaze. Sometimes I would use a sponge to smear the under glaze on the surface. I did this with some of the insides of the cups as well. Then I went in with the brushes and painted some crisp clean marks of vines and such as I am accustomed to do. I went back and forth with the black and the white slips, not sure which will dominate under the glazes. My big fear is that the designs will be too stark and lack the variation that I get in the wood kiln.

Some dots that have been smeared in several directions.
Whether or not the "tails" will remain after
the firing is anyone's guess. We'll see!

The Coffee Machine

good cup, bad cup

Since I make my coffee one cup at a time, I tend to prefer cups that follow the standard size of my little plastic coffee filter holder thingy. Maybe my current favorite is the one on the left. The cup on the right is nice and all, but it doesn't get the use it deserves because of the slightly too wide rim. And, after all, I don't want to risk scalding myself just to use a cute little cup. So to avoid scalding myself [and anybody else for that matter] it's off to the shard pile for this little cutie......unless someone wants to rescue the cup.

Stowaway

I will be evicting the little critter who has taken up behind the bats, under the wedging table.

Biscuitry

stackin'em up

I need shelves!!

There's something about running out of room and needing to fire the bisque kiln that makes me get real going(for a change) in the shop. I start getting more ideas about pots I want to make and need to make. Maybe it has something to do with the intrinsic properties of the bisque. We used to joke about the 'beauty' of the bisque firing! Oh, what a happy destination of pink loveliness. So much more appealing than it's drab beige beginnings. Ummm, not...
In the past I have raw glazed, and now do some bone dry glazing, but for the most part "I bisque most everything. It's generally easier for me to handle while I paint it and I handle it a lot while I'm painting.

Penland Easter

Here are a few pictures from the Easter gathering up at the school.


A Panoramic scene.

Eggs made from beer cans from the iron studio.

Robin Dreyer and Ellen Denker.


The bonnet contest.


Lillian and the "Blue Beaver",
a tricked out riding lawn mower
with a carriage in tow!

Seasons/Weather

a dried of goldenrod stalk that Evelyn or Lillian

brought into the shop. My daughters, my muses.

Is Spring here? Well, let me get back to you on that. After snow, cold weather, rain and, yesterday's beautiful blue skies, I guess you could say, "yes", or maybe "welcome to the mountains". It seems to be reflecting the hot and cold of Wall St. these days.

sign of Spring? or to cut the grass, or to raise the sign?