Magic Words

Despite all of this years happy dances, I felt like this was a year spent getting used to falling just short...

Like a lot of us, I couldn't keep the momentum going needed to balance everything out, life just seems to keep getting off center.

 Dispite the effort... It's not always enough to stay as optimistic, sometimes it's a good time to find something else to keep busy with... My golden lining this year was the hundreds and hundreds of hours spent playing my violin. I'm not allowed to practice within earshot of the house, so I ended up obsessively practicing on local street corners and in the parks of our neighborhood. (I've since learned that someone enthusiastically playing, how-ever-badly, is someone that can make a good amount of people smile. It's the counter-productive effort that people relate to and that is a very good thing.)

  The other really big change lately has been creating a bit of breathing space by  pulling on my garden boots. Reluctantly it's time to knuckle under and invest the effort needed to make the changes that need to be made this new year to keep projects moving forward.

Woof... this is going to be a whole lot of work, most of which won't fit nicely into the "glory" category. Honestly I'm expecting another bumpy year. No problem though... this year is ending on a positive note...we've got a handle on hard wiring the loaner kiln!
The magic words for the new year are " High amperage screw-down connector block

See you in the New Year! 
Licks, Love, and Luck!
-Zygote-

Bwahhh haahha ahahahahah! The new year is going to be so much fun!

Dew Rag (by Galactic)

and for something a bit more mellow...

Doo Rag

Woof...During the 90's, Abbe and I used to find these 2 playing in a back alley venue once or twice a year in Phoenix.  This was the stuff man! They were a fantastic lead into an all night binge of Crash Worship.



Thanks for the link Tim!

Quick Thought...

It would nice to be noted for my work, but I would happily take easily referenced.

Staying Neutral

Ok... let's see...

the manual says there are 2 hots, a ground and a neutral... Huh?

 

Ground and neutral are ganged up on a pole. The manual says that isn't a winning combination (won't necessarily burn the house down, but 2 out of 4 coils won't be lighting up.)
Sure enough, a quick call to the trusting soul that let me borrow this little beauty confirmed that an electrical engineer had put a new male plug on to match their wall socket.
Yep...
Now it's time to figure-out how to install a 4 prong outlet and plug and call in an electrician...
Hey! I cook for volunteers.

UOP Soda Kiln Part 2

A week ago I posted my view through the fence of the soda kiln at UOP. Well I blinked and now it's gone. The hazmats came through, smashed the beast down to the frame and packaged everything up to be shipped off as hazardous waste.

My timing seems to be a bit off lately...

Dave Brubeck - Take Five - 1966

Plan #9

This looks pretty sloppy, but it’s actually perfect for this experiment.

I’ve got 12 bowls that have been slip stenciled with a stiff basic slip made out of my standard Cone 6 clay body (Laguna B-Mix). The stencils in this case are cut from a plastic contact paper sheet. Unlike the newsprint that I usually use, these won’t lay flush against the clay and the slip seeps underneath when and where it can…  

What these plastic stencils do have is a bit of weight to them, so over most of the design, the thickness of the plastic gives a very distinct sharp transition between slip and the thrown clay body.

Perfect…

Now when the bowls are given their final coat of studio Crackle Glaze, the crazing that grows in the surface will incorporate the transitions into shear lines and reveal the design. After firing, the design should be a ghost in the crazing of the glaze… well that’s the jib…, that’s the plan anyway, but we’ll see … 

Winter Bowling

Whew! I have a 10 day seasonal reprieve from my new job on the UOP grounds. High time to get a whole butt load of bowls into the pipe for this years Annual TideWater Souper Supper. As tradition has it... I'm using the opportunity to work a few ideas out to see what happens.

StayTuned!

UOP Soda Kiln

Pulled another Wile E Coyote moment.
I worked so hard to get this close and they are knocking it down on the 28th of this month!

See'n Stuff Go

Sometimes it just seems not fair... so much of the good stuff just seems to disappear. I don't get to hold anything long enough...

Cheers Mate!

 

Love is an amazing thing...

Dude, I knew you are giving me horns.

Leaf-Herder in Training

Busy busy busy…

I’ve been overly occupied with tying-up old loose ends and setting up new pins…
A few weeks ago I was surprised with an request to apply for a local job opening. It was an opportunity to do something I’ve always dreamed of getting to do… work as a grounds keeper and gardener for an Ivy League campus, one of the most beautiful in North America to boot, the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

 Score!

Now it looks like I’ll be holding a very high powered leaf blower for the next few months while I get to know the campus and it's big o’l soda kiln. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge… Anyone see where this is going?