Monday, March 30, 2015

Yesterdays


Each evening over the past year, your hand has found mine as we stroll away from home.
I can feel your hand in mine as I write this.
You've filled my year as you have filled my heart...
with laughs, woofs and giggles.
Joy, hunger, contentment, compassion, and release...
You've help me come to better understand myself by accepting me for who I am and not for what others (including myself) choose to expect me to be.
And for reasons I still can not really understand, you allow me to Love you.
My cup overflows...
Thank you for our yesterdays.




Friday, March 20, 2015

"Blizzard" Test Tiles

I ended up pushing through the small electric kiln a batch of cups used to test the stability of a new base clear glaze. Its been selected to be used in combination with the studio Crackle and Crawl glaze.

This particular batch is tests using the clear under the Crawl glaze and the effects on varying the thickness of the crawl glaze.


The first example is a medium/heavy thickness application of the base clear glaze under the Crawl glaze. 



Process
Clear base glaze (blue hares fur without oxides)
rim and foot dipped in clear
Interior glazed
body dipped rim down in clear
dried over night
body dipped in crawl


The second example is a much lighter application of the base clear.



Both worked very well and stabilized the crawl glaze beautifully, but the readability of the cobalt design became more subdued. The results are very nice either way. I need to up the cobalt carbonate and see how brightening up the blue affects the over all design.

Verdict... thumbs up

Monday, March 16, 2015

BoneOrchard

I'm sure a few people were wondering what was with the flowery bullshit that I posted a few days ago.
Well, quite frankly, this is the kind of flowery bullshit that dribbles out of my head while I mow and hoe my baseball field.
It's a bit of a quite life.



A fantastic... quite life.
Granted, I may not get to be in my studio 8 to 10 hours a day like I'd prefer, making work, filling orders, you know, doing all the glory work...


But I do get to spend a wonderful day living a full life in my own head, daydreaming about making my daydreams real...


Working in the studio,
Sitting on the porch playing my fiddle,
cooking a good meal with my kids,
Loving my partner..

I know full well, daydreams can be made real.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Assessing Missteps

It's not a big leap for a personal Allegory 


Extraordinary happens when I find myself at my own edge


Stepping off


Leaning into my failures

 


Finding myself in a place I never knew I wanted to be.


Embracing the path that leads away from where I was before.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Honored Awesomeness

WoW
No really... WOW!
Having someone say something nice about my work feels good.
Really, really good.
But having someone celebrate a piece that's landed on their doorstep with one of their own secret talents in this fashion is a mirror 've never found held up to my own work before.


Linda... You really know how to make a person smile.

Yep


Just opening a kiln and seeing test pieces like this come out is really rewarding.
Not sellable, but rewarding...

Just Because

  


Made Right

ArtExpressions
Thank you for reaching out and trying to make things right.
It really does make a difference.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

5 O'Clock Shadow


Here's a peek into the strange little world we inhabit.

5 in the morning
dark
cruising on my daughter's bike
pumping the pedals through the back streets
fog, old trees, and quite streets
geriatric neighborhoods mixed with rundown tenant housing
on the way to bump the kiln
the hospital is my que to turn
passing a bus stop
two people in canvass body bags are leaned against its walls
seated, napping? feet crossed and sticking out
shrug... Stockton California