Comments are Back

As much as I hated to do it I have had to switch blogger templates so that I could restore commenting and I look forward to hearing from you!

Walking

Dan Finnegan

Our good friend, Dan Finnegan is having surgery this morning and you can help here.

New Comb

I made a new "comb" for the slipware plates. Here are a couple that I liked. Now it's time to cut some kiln wood!

(Almost) Nothing But Blue Skies

Walking

It's been really nice to take walks with Jack (the puppy) in the morning and evening. The exercise is good and it's great to explore even though we don't really go that far from the path that we're making around the edge of the woods. I'm enjoying the long views and the smells of the season and it's a great to arrive in the shop after a good walk. It's a good compliment after the morning coffee. Today I made some bowls and more 'spin-art' plates! Sorry I didn't get a studio snapshot. I promise one soon!

Bailey's Peak, our local neighborhood "Fuji"

Laundry Time!

The day began with some wood stacking and some putzing around the compound, waiting for the second cup of coffee! As I washed my hands in the clean up bucket I realized that the mosquitoes that used it for their crib all summer had all flown away and the water was really cold! I guess summer is really gone?! This time of the year we have a good covering of frost on the ground in the morning and by lunch I'm in my T shirt! I forget that it's Fall sometimes, but am always reminded when I walk into my shop in the morning to its chill. I really need to get a kettle to heat up water on the wood stove for my throwing bucket!

It's another gorgeous day and after checking yesterday's pots, I decided to get rid of the huge pile of dirty towels on the floor. After awhile these kind of things (piles) disappear and don't reappear until I'm tripping over them. Maybe there is a critical mass of clay ridden towels that one reaches.
I dedicate this line of laundry to Mr. Philbeck!

Anyway, I miss hearing your comments and hope everyone is doing great. Looks like the issue won't get resolved anytime soon, since there are pots to make and towels to dry.

Tuesday

I found this tree to have a very interesting seed?nut?bud? and
will look at trying to create a pattern in its honor!

Jack's backside on our walk

In the ongoing effort to stay caught up and not get too distracted in the endless list of projects I usually fail. Today was full of auxiliary activities and I reminded myself that all of them contribute in the final big event of the firing in a few weeks. This beautiful autumn day included cutting wood, organizing/putting away all of the random things on my tables that are in the way of the oncoming ware boards and bats full of pots.

Here are some images/impressions of the day.

thistle

bear grass, Christmas trees, and the distant Black Mtns.

oh yea, pots!

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the blog and it's internal problems in the commenting department. I'm playing around with WordPress and trying different themes and widgetry! I'm finding out how steam lined I have made this process on Blogger and to learn a new application is a little intimidating. I am pursuing the possibilities but may not have anything that I can confidently go with for a while. All this stuff takes time!

Life is Good

Today's views from the main throwing place at my Shimpo Scream! The bottom picture shows haw dirty this window can get. The other window, the clean one, is the one I most often glance out of. It also provides great light that helps me to see the profiles of my pots.

With weather like we had today I was quickly out the door after some a.m. pugging to cut wood for the rest of the afternoon. I burn the kiln with poplar so I can squeak by just a few weeks of drying, but the kiln runs like a Nascar, or should I say Formula 1 car when the wood is well seasoned!

I got to thinking how lucky I am to be doing what I do. There are times when I don't feel so lucky, but today it was a blessing to be out cutting wood for the kiln and making pots. We squeak by with our meager income, and have everything we need to be happy. I just wish I had a couple of more weeks to get ready for the next firing!

porcelain bowl, ca. 2000

This is pretty random, but as I was going through the old eMac I found this little ditty from about 1999/2000. It's evidence of pre-dirt Kline. This is from a series I did as a resident at Penland. The pattern was painted on bone dry porcelain with a can of shellac that Shawn Ireland had given me as he moved out of the Barns. The shellac was painted on and then the porcelain was reduced very carefully with an elephant ear sponge. I still own most of them they were so precious to me. I did sell a few of them , though.

I did love the translucency and the process challenged me to work with a completely different technique while still exploring the patterns I made with the brush. Some of the work had several layers of shallec that let different amounts of light through. The failure rate was pretty high. Sometimes I would just botch the pots from too much handling, sometimes cracks would appear after the salt glaze firing. The process was hard on my neck and back and eventually I gave it up. The nice thing about making things in clay and firing them is that they're around somewhere, either on the hard drive or in someone's home/life.

Here's one that lives in our living room