Flow

 Finished 07/11 (I think?) for Mania and JP.

30in X 21in

30in X 21in

Mock-up of hang

75 platters

Used a total of 680lbs of clay. This is about 200.

A New Constellation

Marge Piercy

We go intertwined, him and you

and me, her and him, you and her,

each the center of our own circle

of attraction and compulsion and gravity.

What a constellation we make : I call it

the Matrix. I call it the dancing

family. I call it wheels inside wheels.

Ezekiel did not know he was seeing

the pattern for enduring relationship

in the late twentieth century.

All the rings shine gold as wedding bands

but they are the hoops magicians use

that seem solid and unbroken, yet can slip

into chains of other rings and out.

They are strong enough to hang houses on,

strong enough to serve as cranes, yet

they are open. We fall through each other,

we catch each other, we cling, we flip on.

No one is at the center, but each

is her own center, no one controls 

the jangling swing and bounce and merry-

go-round lurching intertangle of this mobile.

We pass through each other trembling

and we pass through each other shrieking

and we pass through each other shimmering.

The circle is neither unbroken

nor broken but living, a molecule attracting

atoms that wants to be a protein,

complex, mortal, able to sustain life,

able to reproduce itself inexactly,

learn and grow.

These platters will be used to serve up the food of Stephen Beaumier family style. The location is every changing as he and Katy Oursler host dinners in a variety of outdoor venues, stressing the importance of farm fresh meals that connect you to the land.

To get a sense of what they do, check out a similar company Outstanding in the Field.

And I did it all without one drop of coffee!!

Glug Jugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oak Gall

 

Oak Galls are fascinating! A lovely lady from Felton gave me 3 Oak Galls she had collected while tending to 
her property. They surprisingly made these beautiful and stone like marks. I also found out a bit more about what these weird looking balls are.

When a wasp lays eggs in the bark of an Oak we get an Oak Gall. It is a defense mechanism which the Oak grows but also serves the baby wasp for shelter after they hatch. They are a source for tanning and dye material and now for my pots. They are rich in tannins and apparently are the most astringent vegetable compound in the world. I now want to throw anything that is high in tannins on some pots.

Roll Tumblers

Poettry

The half-formed cup cries out in agony,
The lump of clay suffers a silent pain.
I heard the cup, though, full of feeling, say
"O clay be true, O clay keep constant to
Your need to take, again and once again,
This pounding from your mad creator who
Only stops hurting when he's hurting you."

What will I then have left behind me?  Over
The years I have originated some
Glazes that wear away at what they cover
And weep for what they never can become.
My Deadware, widely imitated; blue
Skyware of an amazing lightness; tired
Hopewear that I abandoned for my own
Good reasons; Hereware; Thereware; ware that grew
Weary of everything that earth desired;
Hellware that dances while it's being fired,
Noware that vanishes while being thrown.

Exerpt from "The Mad Potter"  by John Hollander

2nd Soda

Our second soda firing with work by Bolton, Lilly, Justin and Tom. Had a little easier time taming the beast and got much better coverage with our new sprayer

Thoughts for the next one....

Half the soda? Soda Ash and Soda Bicarb mix?

If you want dryer spots, you have to spray more controlled or in other words, no hook shots.

We lost some re-fire pieces to thermal shock. Perhaps a new rule should be that pots can only come out with an un-gloved bare hand. That's gonna be a hard one!