Finding the Time

Gas is not the only thing at a premium. Every extra second I have seems to go somewhere. I find myself saying - if I have five minutes later I will.... OR Staying up five minutes later to do x then waking up more and more exhausted day after day. The werid thing? I really enjoy it! I enjoy having more work then I could possibly do. It makes me feel useful, successful, meaningful. I love doing pottery even if it is in the extra seconds. I love teaching even if it is the center of my universe, I love teaching fencing even if I can barely move the next day. I love going to college and being a student even if all I do on Sunday is read textbooks and write papers. If you do what you love then it is not really all that big a deal that you can barely move most of the rest of the time! Cheers!

Kiln Opening

Christmas! At least that is what it feels like when you open a glaze load in your kiln. There could be huge successes and dismal failures. Today was no different. Some totally cute things like this little turtle

I was so sad at some of my new glazes though. I did not know how they would look because the jar doesn't tell you how thick to apply it. Sometimes one coat is good and then other times I have to practically bath the peice in glaze. So I am going to refire a few things. Don't know if it will work because my glazes are water based and the clay is no longer porous. We'll see. Wish me luck!

Glazes

My glazes came today! 96 different colors in 4oz jars. I have never been so excited! I was too tired from school to use them last night, but tonight is different. I will be glazing like a made women. I will post pictures with my new colors this weekend. New glazes are like getting a box of brand new crayons. The colors are exotic and unknown and currently perfect. Happy day.

More Money

It seems to me that the longer you play at a hobby the more expensive the hobby becomes. This is because you start happily playing with the materials you have. Then you see this new cool thing that you could do ten things with if you just had it. So you save up and you get it and you play around happily for a while. Then you hear or see about another cool thing that would help you get better, or make you more creative in your hobby. Before you know it your basement is full of dohickys that make you happy, but also take up more room then you have and you have to buy a new house just to have room for your growing hobby. Sigh. That is my favorite part.

Back to Work

So I am back from my vacation to Pennsic. It was wonderful. I snooped around all the pottery places in the market place and have so many new ideas to try. However, I also have to go back to work now that I am back. School starts next week and I have meetings and curriculum to write this week. So sad :-( I would much rather be home doing pottery. Especially since we have 7 shows coming up. I will post a complete list tonight. I also am going to be taking a few classes at the community collage to extent my teaching licence. Needless to say I have a lot going on this year. Always a juggling match.

Napking Rings are Beautiful

Napkin rings are so beautiful it is too bad that american families do not eat together and if they do they do not set formal tables. Including me. I eat with my husband when we are both home, but we eat in front of the tv. We do not set a formal table unless we are being romantic. We do cook for each other. I feel we (USA) have lost our glamour in our own homes. My friend comes over almost every Thursday, do I clean my house spotless? No. Suddenly it is okay for people to see the real us. To see how we live and that isn't always clean. Well forget it! I miss my napkin rings. I miss my cute placemats. I am clearing the junk off the table and moving it back to a place of power so that we will eat together with our cloth napkins and beautiful polish pottery and maybe even a centerpiece.

My First Etsy Mud Team Challenge Entry

I just completed and submitted my first Esty Mud Team Challenge Entry! The challenge was to create a serving piece. Pretty easy right? Well.. I found it very hard. I do not throw and I really wanted to have a bowl. My first idea was to take an old bowl and lay clay over it and let it set up. Then I would clean it up and decorate it. What a disaster! The bowl was uneven and very wrinkled. When I tried to fit it the bowl became worse and worse till finally in a fit of furry I ..... threw it across the room. Oops.

After a husband imposed time out my next idea was better. I used an old pot for the form. I covered it in thin plastic so clay wouldn't stick to the old pot. Then I rolled out a slab and used a cookie cutter to cut out round shaped. I layered the circles until I had covered the entire pot. Using my hands I pressed down on all sides and "squished" the clay together into one attached form. Four little legs were added. When it was tough enough to flip over I was delighted. The weird pattern of layered circles and the scalloped top hid the unevenness and wrinkles! So I decorated it and woala! Yeah!