New York, New York

Here is the play bill for Talk Radio, the play we saw starring Liev Schreiber!
New York, New York!!!
New York, New York!!

Here I am in front of a sculpture I have known almost all my life because growing up in New York State in the 70's, the symbol was everywhere to promote tourism. I really regret I didn't get one of those I LOVE NY t-shirts that are on every corner because, of course I always need t-shirts and two, I do love NY.

New York, New York!!!
This is one of those huge TV screens in Time Square where they had all these cool M&M images!

We're back! It was a good trip and we can not wait to go again. I hadn't been to NY in almost 15 years and I felt like I was new to it all. The walking, all the places, the crowds, looking up at all the buildings, wanting to see it all!!We had our moments of getting turned around, not finding the right place to eat and deciding what we were going to go see in the frenzy of the 1/2 price ticket line. We decided we would never make it on that reality show "The Amazing Race" because we could never decide on who would be in charge. It was great to get away, see great sights and have no where really to be. We needed that.
Quick over view of the highlight and later I'll talk more about each -

* We saw the play " Talk Radio", which was very good but a little heavy. The lead was great!

* We had a great time in the Museum of Modern Art. Museums are always fantastic in my book!

* We went to a craft show in front of Lincoln Center that had some pretty good stuff in it. I even found a potter from Sparta NC and another girl who I really liked her stuff ( she was from the city)


*And finally, I learned a lot of foot wear and what kind of shoes to travel with and what kind not to. I was quietly obsessed with what kind of shoes all the women where wearing and how Podiatrists must make a mint in NY.

Clay maginzines

I got both my Clay Times and Ceramics Monthly this week. Like most people I just love to sit down right when they come and look through them. I was just telling someone the other day that lately I like Clay Times a bit better than Ceramics Monthly because Clay Times just has more...well pots in it. I do appreciate all the sculpture Ceramics Monthly has in it, but for me that magazine has changed in the last 10 years.

This issue I'm sorry to say kind of got the "gruff" up on my back and I angry about it all night; here is why. It had all these short articles on studio potters making a living for themselves and how they go about there work day, sales and general life. I was very excited to read these but as soon as I breezed through the pages and saw the people who where interviewed, I realized that only one of them was a parents and of course....it was a male who had a wife to help him.( Now I am not sure that Ken does not do a lot of domestic duties around the house but if he's making a living supporting his family and making pots, I kind of bet his wife is dealing a lot with the children..but it could be wrong). Anyways..back to my rant. They seem to have hit all the other type of life styles that most potters have. There was the husband and wife team with no kids. The young female/male pretty fresh out of grad school and so on and so forth. I'm sorry to bring this up all the time but it really bugs me that there are hardly ever any women potters who are trying to raise a family mentioned in the magazines. If it hadn't of been for Lana Wilsons articles (Mud Mama's) I don't think I could count on my fingers how many times this demographic has even been talked about. And yes, I do know we are a very small group in the world of ceramics and I know why. All those people pretty much talked about how they live there career. Pottery is there life and they never venture away from it...they live it. I think Ken Sedberry, the only parent in the article mentioned that he liked coaching his sons soccer team, everyone else I think said or implied they where pretty selfish about there work. We pottery mom's live and breath ceramics too, we just have to put it on the back burning a bit more and I really wish Ceramics Monthly had asked someone like Ellan Shankin or Lisa Orr for there business advice on being successful at doing both. Ok......I got that off my chest.
Onto Clay Times this month. They had some really great articles :
*Going Green" and how potters can help the environment.
*Pete Pinnell said his two sense worth on how rude some people are at NCECA....and I agreed!
* They had some great shows advertised that I can not wait to apply for and see on the web.
And my favorite ( by Lana again) was an interview with Nick Joeling ,which next week I think I put some quotes by him on my blog. Some of his advise I could really use!
I guess Clay Times won once again this month with my vote!

Thurseday news

Today was a good day. I had class and we had a great time while I did a demo on these boxes. One of my students told me today that the proper name for these is "Parisian boxes". It took a while for me to put them together but we had so much fun laughing about various things while I worked, the time went fast. They are a funny crowd and I will miss them in the fall when its time for me to move onto another class. Sometimes you get really attached to students but you realize you have taught them all you can and they need to learn from someone else. I wish sometimes it was mandatory that the students there have to take from all the instructors at clayworks so they get a taste of everyone. I know there are some students there that have never taken my class I'm sure because they don't care for my work and visa versa with some of my students that won't go to other classes. Anyways, class was good.

Tomorrow we leave on our trip. Joey is very nervous about flying these days even though I don't seem to recall a major US plane going down any time lately( besides 911). I do not like to fly either but for the fact I get really bad motion sickness and then I just feel sick for days after. Of course I'm sure they have some sort of pill for that but I really don't like taking a whole lot of medicine so I just rather whine. ( Lucky Joey!)

I spent some time blowing bubbles with the girls today/playing outdoors and gardening a bit. That kind of ended abruptly because I stepped on a rack which in turn knocked me in the head. It was a regular Tom and Jerry cartoon. The kids where trying to doctor me the rest of the afternoon while I layed in bed with an ice pack on my head. So...I'll be going on my trip with a big goose egg on my forehead!

Boxes and birthdays

Monday the 28th is my birthday and for my 40th birthday this year my husband saved up money for us to take our first real vacation since our honeymoon. We are going to NY City and can't wait. Vacations are so important I've decided. Its like the importance of playing for kids, adults need to as well. We have done a few shows together that have gotten us away from the kids and of course family vacations but not one with just the two of us having fun for the last 7 years. So...my brain has been getting ready for that this week and I guess since its my birthday I have been transfixed on making boxes in my studio! My intermediate class asked to do boxes this session and we have explored many. The last one they wanted to see are those really labor intensive boxes that Micheal Simon makes. They are square, thrown in two pieces, cut with a flange added and than they have paddled feet. I own a little one by him that is very plain, no slip work and paid $75 for it. At the time I thought I paid what I did for it because, well he was Micheal Simon but now that I've been making them I see why you need to charge so much for them. I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to sell them for what I need to price them at, but its been a good exercise for me and I've enjoyed it. I'll get some photo's of those and some others that I made this week up on the blog soon.

Weekend review

Most exciting thing!

Quaid learned to ride his bike this weekend we all where cheering him on the entire weekend.

Clayworks Sale.

Friday nights opening was a bit slow and I can't say my pots where flying out the door. I still have not figured out the buying crowd there. I did see a lot of students and they do buy a good amount work. In fact, I think all the stuff I sold was to my students that night. I think I have figured out that since I don't have my mailing list hooked up to the studio's mailing list, my customers are most likely...not there. This could be the problem with low sales!!!!!!! I have to admit I enjoy hanging out and seeing everyone and the food is always great.

Studio work.

I did get a good amount of time in the studio this weekend. I trimmed big bowls, started on some boxes and threw some big fish dishes,which are big oval, bakers. Tomorrow in the morning my mothers helper is coming to play with the girls so I can get more work time in since we will be out of town next weekend and I can't afford to lose work time with a big show around the corner. I'm thinking even more about really utilizing my stacking space in the kiln and looking at what I have on my shelves that need "partners". An example of this is cream and sugars with no trays or a salt shaker that its twin did not come out. In other words make the most of what I have grow. I'm even useing a ruler to match the height of my big thing to heights of whatever I make small to fit in the spaces around in.

My husband was great this weekend a built a wonderful addition to my table space in my kiln shed so I can hook my new pug mill up this week. What a treat that will be! I need to get in there this week and clean, re-arrange while mixing up some glazes before the next kiln load. My elements are really slowing down and I hope I can get these last fireing in for the Larkspur show before they totally go out on me. I hate changing elements more than anything!

On the kiln front.

Well....that is still in limbo. My super kiln friend Ron is still helping me decide on what kind of kiln I need. I did finally get a quote on getting a propane tank set up and that was more than I thought it would be so like I figured, this adventure will be costly even with the grant money and that is something that I don't like to think about when we struggle to keep things a float. I'll keep you updated on that evant!

Kids books

A few entries back I had spoken about how much I love the illustrations in kids book. The other day while I was waiting in the car-pool line I grabbed a magic marker and started to just quickly draw some of the images I remembered out of one of the girls books. I thought these where really quick and fun and I have no idea whether I'll use them in any way but I just felt like putting them up in my studio to spark some idea's. I've been doing a lot of incising lately on my pots with an exzacto blade and I really enjoy doing the drawing. Its something a bit different than my brush work and I can see it branching out in more things other than leaf images. Years ago in school when I was playing around with low fire work especially Majolica, I did these dishes that had what I called "chicken fish" on them. They where pretty wacky fish with legs, tongues and eyes that looked like they where on ...well crazy I guess. People really liked them and I enjoyed doing them but my professors kind of frowned upon them in a crit so I stopped doing them. ( That is a whole other topic in titled "grad school and crits!!". I could on for hours about that.) So.....we'll see if "The chicken-fish" comes back sometime soon after looking at these fish everyday while I throw. The girls keep asking me why I have these drawing hanging up and if they can color them!

Books

When I was doing the workshop with Julia Galloway, she had a great set of historical slides that I always wish I had for teaching. She gave me a list of historical books I could get some images from and I thought I would share these with everyone. I have yet to purchase any of them so I'm not even sure how easy they are to find but maybe if you get a chance to find some before me, let me know where you found them!

*History of World Pottery by Emmanuel Cooper
*3000 years of world pottery ( no author named)
* Art speak/ Art spoke by Atkins
* Color and Fire by Lauria
* World Ceramics by Hugo Munsterberg

This evening I'll be at Clayworks for our spring show. It is always a good time because all of us that sell for the show ( instructors, resident artists and associates ) all make great food for the event and we usually have a good band. I have to admit I haven't connected as much with the customer crowd there as I have with the crowd that I usually see at all the shows I do around here, so tonight I'm going to try and make an effort to remember names and faces more. It can get pretty crazy at the register so I'm sure that is why I haven't had this connection.
Tomorrow we plan on building a table for my new pug mixer...very exciting! I'll let you know how it goes.

Always playing catch up

Its Thursday and tonight I got back into my usual work pattern. Last night I had to pack pots for the Clayworks sale this weekend and clean up my studio so I only got to throw three big bowls. I usually start a new throwing cycle with small things first ( mugs, soup bowls) but at the sale last weekend I didn't really sell those small items so I have a lot of those leftover. Yesterday I just decided to go for the gusto and start the big work right off the bat. I like to make all my big stuff that takes so long to dry first and I save the small stuff or things I have learned to assemble quickly till last. So..last night and this evening my shelves got full of big rolled rims bowls ( always fun to throw as well). The next show I am doing only has 5 other potters so I have to think about what items they will be making and how I can tap into my own market with different things. I wonder if other people think this way when they are doing a show with little variety but the quality is all good. We really all do really different work so it really is never a issue but I still like to really show the things I feel I do really well if I know another potters is better at lets say teapots than I am. ( I'm just thinking out loud......)

As for the catch up, I'm pretty much referring to my house and family stuff. After every show I always need to catch up on the house stuff I put to the side the week before the show and I feel guilty for all the time I've lost with the kids. So what I do is make up for it the beginning of the new work cycle. This week was the girls last week of school and unfortunately I had to miss there final little program they put on for the parents. I could not take off another day of teaching so Joey played Mr. Mom and went in my place. We did spend a lot of time playing the beginning of the week and now the summer will soon be here ( Quiad gets done the end of the month .) and I'll come up with all sorts of fun things to do during the week to keep thing interesting for all four of us. Tomorrow we are all going to Quaid's school for a "Teddy Bear" picnic to introduce the girls to there new school for next year. They are very excited to be going to the same school as there brother. I too am excited because I will have every morning free to work next fall and that means maybe I can finally go to bed at a decant hour! The older I get the better I think my brains work in the morning studio wise plus I won't have to freeze at night once winter hits!( We'll see!)

Monday

Just got back from teaching my beginning class. I've got a good small group of beginners so the class has been very layed back and enjoyable to teach. My friend Julie , who teaches with me and is in the Circle of Eight with me, just got back from helping out a huge pottery sale put on by The Minnesota Potters. Linda Christensen is one of the potters in this group and of course I would love to have been in Julie's shoes and been able to visit with her. Julie was lucky enough to be asked to help by Suzi Lindsey, who she has become good friends with and is a guest potter at the sale. I think this group had a great idea of asking others potters around the country to do there sale with them. It shows such a great example of community and also maybe sets a trend for craft people to not have to rely on the ACC or Rosen show to sell there work. Those venues cost so much for a crafts person that it seems almost impossible to make a really good amount of money for it to count. Of course those sales are more about getting your work in galleries I think other than selling to the public ( but I could be wrong). The great thing about doing home sales is that you get to meet your customers and have time to visit with them. The more I do show the more I enjoy this which surprises me because I am not a sales person at all. Anyways, back to Julie, she brought back some great looking pots and I even snuck her a little bit of money to get me a Kurt Lyttle piece which I can't wait to see.

As for Jennifer Mecca pottery this week, I most likely won't get back up and throwing until Wednesday night. Tomorrow I have to clean and re-price and pack pots for the sale at Clayworks this weekend and I have my last book club of the year that I need to go to. This weekend I'll be able to start a new on stuff for my favorite show all year round, Larkspur garden show in Raleigh Nc. I'll talk more about this show in some future posts.

(Ps.Once again my Tec guy refreshed my memory on linking the names of things to sites, so you can check out this things I've spoken about. Have a good beginning of week!) Also the first pot shown is by Kurt and the second is by Linda.

Report on the show

Just a quick note about the day. Today was the Clay guild show and it went pretty well. I was so organized last night in getting all my stuff packed up that I felt really good this morning. On the way to the show there was this amazing sun rise that made me feel like it was going to be a good day. ( The sun was the color of red fire..it was really awesome!) Anyways, the morning was pretty busy at the sale but around 1 this black cloud loomed over us and everyone became antsy about the weather so pretty much all my sales dropped off after lunch, which was kind of a bummer. For the most part I keep selling in the afternoon because I think I spend more time talking to people. (The morning rush crowd usually knows what they want and just pick it up.) But at least I made some much needed cash for our trip to NewYork in a few weeks and that made me feel good. Here are some photo's of my booth and the big vases I had taken photo's of green. I didn't sell any of these today but I was still pretty darn proud that they all came out in the kiln. I love this one because its my honey glaze and it just looks like carmel on this piece.

Prep. for the Clay Matters guild show

The last kiln is loaded and I plan on unloading it tomorrow night. I think that I have finally worked out a good cycle for getting thing accomplished before a show. I mark days on my calendar of what needs to get done and I try not to over do it , as I have in the past. I use to just try to throw as much as I could and then I would rush my pots, loss of bunch and be worn out. I know how to tell myself to stop these days and I still manage to have inventory to fill my booth. Thursday I always have my one of my "mother's helpers" come and this allows me to start packing and start glazing early if I need to do that. So tomorrow I can pack the rest while the girls play and load the truck in the evening. The weather man is calling for on and off showers but I'm hoping that will hit in the evening so we can all have a successful show. I enjoy this show because I get to do it with my friends and its in this huge old barn that a very prominent family in Charlotte still own and refuse to have a developer take it down. There was the huge Raccoon sleeping in the rafters during the show one year and all of us below didn't even seem to faze him.
On the mom front I went to see Quaids kindergarten class put on a play this morning and then they fed us brunch. Quaid got to have a little part in the play, not much but of course I was beaming. Nothing is better than being proud of your kid and seeing there little faces light up when they see you. Seeing your kid dressed up with some funny paper animal hat, singing a silly song makes up for all the trials and tribulation the comes with parenthood.

Update

Yesterday morning I glazed and loaded the kiln. I peeked in today and those three big vases look great. I'll try to get a photo of them up in the next day or so. I was kind of in a fog all day yesterday so I am thankful for today. I've said before...I love Wednesday at my home.
TUESDAYS EVENTS
Of course I taught Monday night and than got home at 10:30 and worked a bit more in my studio. On Tuesday morning I had to do the car-pool thing, up and back to Gastonia - an hour out of the day than get the girls to school, glaze like a mad women before they get out at 12:00, get them home , feed them and spen ometime with them reading and such then clean up the bomb that went off in the house the night before. Usually Joey gets home at 5:30 and we have dinner but yesterday I had to get all the kids dressed up and ready for a coral concert at Quaids school. So..everyone gets baths, cloths get pulled out and pressed (even my husbands) I throw some dinner together and listen to the "Yucks and I don't like this" for 20 minutes while I try to get dressed. We finally race out the door at 5:30 for the concert. I did manage to see Quiad sing, which was great but as always there is always one little girl who does not want to sit still so I spent the majority of the time out in the lobby entertaining McKenna. By 8, of course all the kids where worn out and pretty much whined the whole way home. ( Mental note, put in school suggestion box do concerts for lower school children on a Saturday in the afternoon!) We got home at 8:30, got everyone settled down and I was back out working at 9 until 11:30 finishing up stuff for my next kiln load. Today the girls and I are taking it easy. We went to the park with a friend of mine and her child and did some grocery shopping. I'm looking forward to seeing Joey at 5:30 for some dinner and then I'll be unloading and loading a bisque for tonight. Tomorrow is my last glaze kiln for the show on Saturday.
Boy.....that was some update!

No where to hide

So I go out into my studio at 5:30, Joey tries to keep everyone semi entertained for awhile but about 6:30 ( like clockwork ) and little body is out wanting to "help me". I have tried many times to work with the kids in my studio but for anyone who has tried to do this, it really only makes things complicated because for every 5 minutes you can work there is another 5 minutes of interruptions weathers your answering all sorts of questions or picking things up and helping with there projects. When I'm in " stress..got to get this done mode" I kind of freak out when the door opens and a voice says " Hi Mommy!". So , yesterday here I am trying to keep my cool decorating a huge vase, enjoying my music and having my soon to be 4 year old Mckenna right there with me. ( Notice her bear who has joined us also in the back). Joey got a kick out of this because he knew what I was thinking and took a photo of it.Today I think I'm going to give them some clay in the kitchen in sit in there with them and make a bunch of sprigs for the things I threw last night to save time tomorrow. I need to also stain 3 more pots today at sometime and get a bisque going. After car pool at 3, its off to my beginning class.

Weekend update

Quick post today - its Sunday and I'm on a time crunch of free time..lots of need to get myself out to the studio since I have free time from now until bedtime. I had a busy weekend because it was my mom's birthday and my sister and I planned a girls weekend for her so yesterday was spent shopping and just hanging out with my mom, sister and my niece. Joey and took my niece to see Spider Man last night so I was on bedtime duty and couldn't get back out to work until 9. Today is really my last day to make things because the next two evening are for teaching and a concert Quaid is singing in at his school. Tomorrow I'm going to try and be creative and figure out how I can maybe do some work in my studio and keep the twins happy. If it is a nice warm day usually the pool can occupy them for a good hour or so. Now that I've taken the plastic off my studio so I can see the whole backyard it makes it easy to just let them play and I can work more in short periods of time. We'll see how that goes. I don't think I'll get all my list of things made that I wanted to. In fact, I decide to try some small planters with herbs in them for the sale coming up this weekend for mothers day. I like making planters but they only seem to sell at certain times so we'll see if this is a good gift idea. Yes...kind of a sell-out item but sometimes you need to try stuff like this I think.
Hope your weekend was a good one!

They Don't make them like they use to.

Joey and I joined Netflixs a few months ago because we watch so many movies that blockbuster and other video stores just seemed like a waste of money. We both have loved the selection on Netflixs and I have really loved finding all sorts of good things to rent for the kids. Of course most of them are all from my childhood. There is just so much crap out there for kids to watch I'm amazed by it. I rented Free To Be You and Me and I was so moved by the message it sends to kids and also how having this record when I was little maybe had an impact on how I view things as an adult. I don't understand why at a day and age when all the religious Conservative right goes on and on about how our American values are in the garbage ( and we all know they blame it on the liberals) that we have things like "The Brats and Sponge Bob" for our kids to watch. Do we think it was all liberals who came up with that stuff???I was spewing off to Joey the other night how odd it was that programs like this one and The Electric Company, Sesame Street and even Fat Albert where put out in the early 70's when there where Republicans in the white house but public TV and the main stream seemed to accept these programs. But here we are today wiser and more into Tradition values and everything geared towards kids is horrible. ( Of course public TV still tries but I'm not seeing the progression in equality and reversals of male/female roles lately with them either. We still have mommy at home and Daddy going to work) What happened? Maybe like all people when they have kids , I just think things where better when I was little. I liked hearing how it was Ok for boys to cry and that Mommy's can be fireman if they want to be and little girls did not have to grow up and always get married. Now instead I have to see my girls watch big breasted teenage cartoon girls always wanting to look pretty and Bugs Bunny in a space suit shooting lazer guns instead of a pop-gun. OK, enough political talk for the month. At least you know what ticket I'll be supporting in 08'. (And once again, these are just my opions, I don't mean to offend anyone.)( And Joseph...you are not allowed to comment just to get a rise out of me!)

Vases

Here are the tall vases I made yesterday. Those handles that I pull off of them have a tendency to split so keep you fingers crossed. I never had this issues years ago when I used that same clay body but for some reason in the last 2 years my small pulled handles off of vases and casseroles just love to crack. So I'm really watching these like a hawk this week. I think as far as form goes, the one in the middle works best. I like this form because it has some attitude to it. The handles look like arms and hands of a mother who is about to say, "what are you doing??"
This evening I threw the bakers I wanted to try and I played with some darting in them for awhile but I'm not sure if I totally resolved what I was looking for. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I also threw some small milk/syrup pitchers. I love breakfast when I can really sit down and relax with my cup of coffee, my meal for the morning and the paper. This of course only happens on the weekends if that. So I thought a cute little pitcher for milk or syrup would be nice. I'll get a photo of the finished ones up when they are done.

On the mom front, today I took care of another soon to be 4 year old girl for a friend of mine. The three girls had fun together dressing up and going on a "bear hunts" together. ( I guess I was suppose to be the bear but that is kind of hard to do when your up to your eyeballs in laundry.) We went to the library and they played in the kiddy pool while I mowed the lawn. Mowing the grass is another high up on my list of things I love almost as much as breakfast. I love the smell of it, its great exercise and I just like to see all the grass shooting out of the side of the mower. We had a good bit of lawn and Joey always wants to get a riding lawn mower but thank goodness we never have the extra cash to spend on something like that because it would be one thing I would really miss.
Off to class tomorrow morning!

Thinking pots

I realised today as I was drinking my coffee and getting an anxious mental photo of what I needed to do in the studio this morning, that this firing being so close to my last show needed "more bang for the buck". In other words I really needed to think hard about what I wanted to make, sizes that fit well together in the kiln and what would sell for mother day. This is how I start every Tuesday morning....brain storming.

This morning I was able to get the girls to school and instead of walking in the front door and being bum-barded with all the mess in the house that pulls me away from work, I walked to the back door to just start working. ( This proved to be a good new plan I need to in force with myself because I can take an hour away from my work time and justify how much house work I need to do to keep my sanity.) Anyways, I realised I needed to make some bigger things because I had a lot of small fill-ins from the last show. When I think of all my big work I also take into consideration the spaces around these pots for little things. I loved my new salt and pepper sets from the last load of pots but many of the trays I made did not fit the shakers so I have trays that need bodies and bodies that need bigger trays.This will be a good filler. I've also been wanting to make small lidded milk pitchers so they are also on the list.

Today I threw some big two part vases. I haven't done these in a long time but showed my class how to did one a few sessions ago and I liked the way the pots came out so I thought I'd make some. Since they are so tall I'm also going to make some tall candle sticks to fill in the holes. The last new piece I want to try is a darted serving dish. If you've read this months Ceramic Monthly , Gay Smith is featured and she has these wonderful darted bowls in there that I think are new for her. She inspired me to try a new forms so we'll see how it goes.

In "Life" today, I had to go to the dentist..(something I hate more than anything) because I had some cracks in my back teeth that needed to be looked at. She managed to save one of them and put a new filling in but the other will need a $900 crown. Thank goodness we do have insurance that will cover a good bit of that. Boy the cost of teeth care has really shot up! I haven't had a filling in so long ( and the last was a bad experience) that I got some laughing gas to take the edge off. I swear she left me in the room alone with that mask on for 1/2 hour to make sure my whole face was pretty numb. Finally she did come back and worked on my teeth but I the sound of the drill still freaked me out. All I can think about is the act of my tooth being chips away. As I was sitting there thinking about all this I came to the conclusion that when you are a pretty visual person, situations like this just do us in because our imagination runs wild.

Location

I thought it would be a good idea to show where I plan to put this kiln I'm building. Here is my packing shed that I also share with the lawn mower and some very active mice! On the other side to the right is my glaze shed and where my electric kiln lives. I choose this spot because no one can see the kiln from the road and thought that when we think about building a kiln shelter perhaps it can hook onto the roof of this shed in some way. We plan on pouring a concrete slab and when we finally decide to move , perhaps whoever comes looks at the house will like the pad in front of the barn for parking there lawnmower. ( Just a thought! How else does one sell a concrete slab out in the middle of nowhere.) All the woods behind this area are in the process of getting cleared out by the new owner next door and he already knows about the kiln. In fact he's a contractor so he's going to help us with the slab. So, the trees will not be a issue either. Today the girls and I went to the gym and just got back indoors from doing all sorts of things around the yard. I was digging up a lot of my plants that I have to much of for the Plant exchange that I'm going to this weekend. I really love my gardens and can't wait to get some new plants free! Tonight I have my beginning class at Clayworks. They all did a great job at the first class. Everyone seemed to center well and where started to pull up! Tomorrow morning I'll be back in the studio...yeah.

The Kiln!!

When I worked at Cedar Creek Gallery many years ago one of my favorite potters to order work from was Ann Riggs. She was always so helpful and nice on the phone and when she delivered her work. She made very nice famine pots that where pretty popular by our customers. She lived( and still does) in Greenville NC which is where East Carolina is and I ended up going to school for pottery. I did keep up with Ann through school with invites to my crits and I would visit her on occasions at her home sales. When I graduated and was pregnant with Quaid , her and her husband moved to a new house away from the campus and she constructed a brand new kiln and studio. The sort of sad part of the story is that she never made any more pots after they moved. She got very interested in her gardens and just decided that it was time to retire from making pots.

So.... I have kept in touch with her over the years and finally last Christmas asked her if she'd ever think of selling her equipment and if so could I make payments on some stuff I knew I would use down the line. She said yes and soon after that I received my grant to build my salt kiln.

Ok,I told you that story to explain the photo's above. Here is Ann's kiln that has never been fired. When she moved the kiln she numbered all her bricks so they could take it down easily and put it back to together with no problem. I bought her burners and all her shelves plus a sweet pug mill. My dilemma now is should I just buy the whole kiln and move it here or draw up plans for my own? I want a soft brick salt kiln( which I will coat the inside )- I don't want anything to big, Ann's is 22 cubic feet. I was going to build about a 15cubic feet kiln. Let me know what you think! Isn't that door awesome!!

Sunday Catch-up

I tried get on here this weekend but Blogger changed the way you sign in and for the life of me, I could not figure it out.( Which is not rare.) Joey went out of town on Friday night to deliver pots to the "11 To Watch" show that I'm in and pick up my kiln equipment, so my tec help was gone. He is now back and figured out my password so I am back!

So, this Friday I did finally get back to throwing. Boy it felt good. I made mugs and some olive dishes. Yesterday was a no studio day because I was the lone parent and had soccer games and house work to do. Last night we had a fund raising event at Clayworks where I teach called All Fired Up. The instructors did what we called "an extreme demo" which pretty much consisted of a huge form that we all threw parts for. I'll have to get a photo of it when I go to work tomarrow night. Its a basket totally out of the scope of what I had envisioned from the start of the adventure but I guess that is the fun of a bunch of people making something. The people who payed to come to the event, which included dinner, wine, great music, door prizes and an auction, seemed to be having fun. I guess it was a success from what everyone said so hopefully Clayworks will be able to generate some more income for a new facility. I think we have one of the nicest studio's in Charlotte and the best students.

Sunday.....ahhhh today I got to work for most of the day. I pulled handles, made sprigs, finished up the olive dishes and threw some big bowls. It was great. I also realised that I have only a week in a half before I'm firing again for the spring Clay guild show in Charlotte! I need to use any spare time I have to be in my studio. Since the warm weather is here I think I can safely take my three-ply plastic off the screens on my porch and enjoy watching the kids play in the yard while I work. ( Right now all I can see if little blobs through the plastic and lots of screaming!) Also all my plants are blooming outside and I really enjoy seeing all the iris open up and enjoy the sun. Hope you had a good weekend!

Children's books

Every Wednesday the girls and I go to the library for "Reading time" and a craft. They usually run to one section of the children's books which is all holiday stuff but this week I got them to look in some other stacks and we found some really creative books. I of course love children's books but for once I was looking more at the illustrations thinking how wonderful they would be on pots. As like everything else I think a new trend starting on people's work is drawing a lot of imagery of animals and such. All are pretty playful and I was thinking of maybe doing some of that as well. I use to play with that when I was in school but got away from it. Again today while I was at the girls doctor's office, in the bathroom there was some wonderfully fun images on the walls of snails and fairies that I just had to draw them on the back of my check book. We'll see if anything comes from these thought or if I'll just keep going with my leaf motif.

Joey is off to Greenville to drop off pots and pick up my kiln parts. Very exciting for me!!! The girls both have strep so I've been playing nurse maid. They are feeling so bad that they of course are more whiny and irritable than usually and fighting like crazy. Today I had to remind myself every second that they didn't feel good or else I was going to lose my cool. Little girls can be very nasty to each other. I hear the constant threat from each of them that " I'm not going to be your sister anymore!" or "So and So won't play with me........whaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!It really is enough to make you go hide until the storm passes. Such is siblings.
Tomorrow night I am going to throw, throw , throw!!!!

11 to Watch

I'm getting ready to send pots off for this show that I am in " 11 to watch" at City Art Gallery in Greenville NC. It looks like there are some nice painters in the show. I wish I could get down there for the opening but that would be a little tuff.

I got some exciting news today in the mail. I finally have been accepted to my first big indoor show this Thanksgiving coming up. Its called "The CDC" or Carolina Designer Craftsmen. This is very exciting for me and it was the first time I applied so that was even more cool!

I'm cleaning and packing up pots this evening to go here and there. I love to clean out my studio and get rid of pots I've been looking at all month so I can make some new ones. I hope I get some time to throw a few mugs tonight....oh how I love to make a mug!

Taking Care of my Domestic Goddess duties

I still have not gotten back into my studio since the show Saturday. There are boxes everywhere, dirt and clay on the floor, recycled clay drying and pots that need to get made. Its amazing how after a show I"m always playing catch up with the house, yard and kids. Really the break from stress and pressure is pretty nice. If I could get a graph on here to show my stress level from after a show to the next one, it would most of the time be a straight up mountain. This time was'nt to bad but with all the glaze dripping I had, that was a bit disappointing. I was able to put it in the back of my head and just go on and than after having good sales at the show it has all been forgotten and those pots have made it into my shard pile.
It pretty much took me until Monday morning to get caught up on sleep and then last night Joey was out of town and I had to teach so we all spent the night at my parents. For some reason both the girls had nightmares the whole night and I was up and down with them at least 6 times and ended sleeping on the floor because they took over my bed. This morning is usually my studio time since everyone is in school and once again, I had to play catch-up on the sleep I lost last night. One of my girls ( McKenna) just crawled into her bed after school and has not woken up yet so that tells you what kind of night it was. Aydan and I got to spend some one and one time together and made a fudge pie for my book club meeting this evening. I have to admit this is some pie we made. We cut out little hearts for forming the whole top of the crust! ( Martha has nothing on us!) My book club is made up of a group of mothers that I've gotten to know since we have been in York. It took awhile for them to understand sort of what I do and how committed I am to it. They are very supportive of me and have bugged me for years to be in there book club so I finally joined and have actually made time to read some of the books. The book tonight is " I Know Why Cow girls Get the Blues". Pretty good book but if you saw the movie with Uma Thurman in it, I have to admit her thumbs, which are a big part of the story, gave me the creeps.
Well, I'm off to the car pool line. Tomarrow night I will be in my studio!

Spring Sale for the "Circle of Eight"

Yesterday was a wonderful day for an outside sale and I think once again we had a pretty good response. I'm not sure if we had as much traffic as our fall sale but everyone who came did buy something from one of us and some people even got work from each of us which was really great. Its so nice spending a day with all my pottery buddies while also being able to "earn my keep" as my mother would say. It was also Sandy's 38th birthday so I had a great excuse to make cupcakes and put a smile on everyone faces!

I did about as well as last time but this go around I raised my prices and sold some bigger things which was very encouraging to me. Actually the first piece I sold was one of my flower blocks( I'll have to go down and look at all those fancy names again the Judi sent me).Anyways...selling thoses was very exciting!

I also really enjoyed having a quest potter show with us. It always nice to have some new to talk to and in that kind of setting I feel more comfortable getting to know someone. Her work was very nice and colorful so I loved it. I really wanted to buy a piece from her but couldn't splurge because I have school tuition coming up for the kids and need to be a bit tight with my purse strings. Anyways, I hope we can all agree to do this again because I think it just emphasises the community of potters and how we all need to support each other in this field.

Here are some photo's from the sale. I didn't do a great job of taking pictures because I guess I was just so excited to sell, sell, sell. Next time I'll be a bit better at this. Here is Ron and Greg out side of Ron's booth. Julie and Kelly ( our guest is next) fallowed by the shot of Adrienne and Greg's booth.

Work update

Well, its almost midnight and I have one more turn up on my kiln before calling it a night. Today I had such a burst of energy and I just have been going all day. I'm pretty surprised I finished glazing tonight at early as I did. Last night I was still putting stain designs on my pieces at 12:30 and just longing for some sleep. The bisque came out fine and I started glazing about 6:30 this evening and really took my time trying and hoping that my glazes go on not to thin or to thick. NO FUSED BOXES this time I hope, I hope! I even put a kiln god on my kiln this time. Quaid had made some little figures that I bisque for him so I used one of those and said a little kiln blessing.

The week has flown by with studio work, and taking care or children. Usually my friends with children are always helping me out with free babysitting for my kids. They always offer to take them for me ( a play date) when they know I have a lot of work. Since I am always working I feel like I have so few opportunities to help them out with there children and give them a break. This week I did get to help a friend out with her little girl for two days and it felt good, plus the twins had a new playmate for two days. This all has made the week fly by!

Viginia Tec

Like everyone I guess I feel the need to say something about what happened at Virginia Tec. Of course like everyone I was very sad about the whole thing. I kind of feel a real bond to the state of Virgina because I went to school in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University and I loved living there. I would give anything to go back to Virginia. I think it is a wonderful state, great place to visit,good schools and I always loved the diversity of the people. I went to school with people from many different countries and all kind of ethnic backgrounds and I really enjoyed this. When I went back to school at East Carolina it was so strange to me that the student body was either white or black. At VCU there was a mix of everyone...it was so cool! So, I feel for all who live in the state of Virginia and those who knew someone effected by what happened.

I've been thinking all week about my girl friends and I when we were in college and times that we run into people who where a bit off kilter but and just ignore them. I think if a guy came up to one of us in a bar and acted aggressive in some way, we were all the type to take him on. How foolish we were and know how dangerous that could be. You just never know how really disturbed someone is and when you are in your early 20's you feel like nothing can hurt you.

Like most Americans I think the guy who killed those students/faculty fell through the cracks and 32 people and there families payed the price for it. Hopefully we have learned something from this but like Columbine I'm sure this will not be the last mass shooting to happen in a school setting. We are so numb as a nation to disturbing things and its effecting the brains of our kids and us as adults. I wonder if anything will ever change this.

How many months till I get my salt kiln built?

Here is my favorite fused box, I'll have to try this one again because I thought the carving ,finial and color worked well together. ( To bad this lid will not come off!!!!)

Ok, so I fired my kiln load. I unloaded it yesterday and 4 of my cool boxes fused together...yes, gone. AHHHHHH glaze. I love my amber glaze and since the last firing it was to thin I double dipped it but I guess to much because it ran like mad and the form allowed for this fast run as well. Very disappointing but I have moved on and over that disappointment. All you can do it make more, learn and keep working. I'm at that antsy stage before a show- I've got one more glaze load to go so I'm getting everything ready for one more bisque and than the whole glaze process starts again and my fingers are crossed. You know, I shouldn't be such a ordeal but for the last 7 years now since I've been with-out a salt kiln I've been dealing with this. I have so much admiration for those successful potters who are wonderful at glazing because it is no picnic. I know when I get my kiln built I'll have all sort of issues to deal with than but at the moment that atmosphere stuff is looking like a piece of cake...there is nothing better than slip!

Good Sunday

Today was yet another strange weather day. ( I just heard that the mountain may get snow!) It was a beautiful day, sunny, warm ( not hot) and breezy. I got to sleep in this morning and then we tackled the house that seems to get trashed in no time flat by the five of us. (Our house is only 1900 sq. feet so it is easily trashed.) Than it was studio time for me but first Quaid and I decided to take a little run together around the block. Let me assure you that jogging with a six year old can or can not give you some exercise. Most of the time he wants to race me but today he was to busy finding bugs so our jog/walk was interrupted a lot.

Finally we did make it back home and I quickly got out back to glaze. By late afternoon I finally finished just in time to watch the kids plant a little garden with there dad out back. Back to the weather.....the wind started to pick up and the temp. dropped really quickly. It reminded me of this great movie I saw years ago called "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Its based on a Ray Bradberry book for children and I think it is one of my favorite movies. Anyways, this evening after super I was able to go out and throw trays for my salt and pepper sets and some other odds and ends. I still would like to make some teapots before the show but I am running out of drying time and it does look like damp weather is still ahead for some of the week. Very productive day for me and that makes me feel good!

Here is a photo of Quaid and Aydan planting getting there little garden started with there dad. Don't ask me how the fiery costume got involved with planting a garden but I do think in Aydan mind the two where connected.

PITCHERS ( that for you Ron) and Plants

Today was a great day; it felt just like fall. Hasn't the weather everywhere been really odd this spring? At the moment we are getting a huge thunderstorm so I'm all ready to hop into bed and listen to it lull me to sleep. Two things I can always count on right before a show is rain, so my pots that I need to have dry quickly don't and Joey usually has to go out of town so there is one night of very important studio time that I have to give up because he is not here to get the kids cleaned up and in bed. I am happy to report that at the moment I'm feeling on schedule with my work so these little interuption hopefully won't put my in a freezy next week. ( well loseing studio time may make me a little antsy.)

Today I spent most of my time outdoors with the kids and doing yard work. I love to work in my flower gardens and also cut the grass. In the spring an summer I have to admit I have a little addiction to buying plants. I love to see what will pop up in my garden that I planted a year ago. Here is a photo of an Iris that I have been waiting 3 years to finally bloom. I was already to move them this year because I just thought they didn't like this spot but today I found this bloom. Very exciting!

In the studio I got a bisque going with some tests and I threw a lot of soup bowls to fill space around a bunch of larger bowls in the kiln. I usually try to make a variety of stuff so I can use all the space in my kiln but the other lazy thing about loading and firing an electric kiln is that you don't really have to fret so much about an even firing. This will all change with the salt because its important to have various sizes so your shelves are well balanced and the flame can travel in a good path around the kiln.

Also here is a photo of a group of pitchers I made. The shape in different for me and also the handle. I tried to thin them out a bit because I thought my old handles where a bit to chunky for my form. We'll see if the public likes them next weekend. Look at all that great surface to play with!

Dyslexia

If everyone hasn't noticed by now, I am super Dyslexic with some ADD thrown in there as well. If I had a top 10 list of things I could change about myself, this would be one of them right at number #1. I've said before that something good I think always comes out of something bad and my learning issues ring true for this as well. I'm sure if I hadn't had to prove myself so much growing up and had to work so hard I wouldn't have such a will to work so hard and push to succeed. I have no idea if I'll ever get to the place I'm reaching for but at least no-one can say that I didn't try.

There are some very successful potters who are dyslexic. Micheal Sherrill and Sylvia Granitelli to name two. I think actually there are most likely a lot of creative people who suffer from this. I guess when learning fails in a school setting you tend to be encouraged in those elective classes. My parents encouraged art with me early on because they knew I enjoyed it and possibly thought it was my best chance at a career. I did get my first degree in Interior Design. This was an art occupation that actually would allow me to provide for myself. A real job with steady money, benefits and all that and through all 4 years of undergrad, I hated it. I did do an internship in an architectural firm my senior year and just knew it was not for me. On down that line when I was a manager of a craft gallery I realise that I really enjoyed pottery and took a class. I got hooked and decided I would go back and get another undergrad and graduate degree in fine art so I could teach and be a studio potter.

Back to the dyslexia and ADD, the older I get the more I relies how differently my mind works than other people. All day long I have to remind myself to stay on one task at a time and finish it. I never realised this before about a year ago how much I jump around from project to project. This shows up a lot in my pieces I think. My work is always changing and I'm always doing new things. This has pluses and minuses. At the moment I'm trying to marry the two by staying with 5 basic surface colors and patterns but allowing myself to try new forms. Its hard to do this. Of course the dyslexia is apparent in my writing and speech. I often use the wrong words to describe something I'm trying to say. It also makes me interrupt people a lot when they are talking because I've had a thought that I need to blurt out at that moment or its gone from my thinking pattern. I've recognize a lot of these traits because I had so much tutoring growing up and read so much about the problem. Now that I'm a mom I'm quick to find signs of it in my children. Quaid I think has escaped it, which is rare for boys because they tend to inherit it more than females. The girls I'm not so sure about yet until they start school. One thing is for sure, with all that I have gone through with it and learned about trying to deal with it, I'll be able to help my kids deal with it also.

The weekends around the corner!

I love Thursday nights because I know tomorrow is Friday. Its been a good week but I'm ready for everyone to be back in school. The girls had spring break this week and not having that extra time in my studio has made me a bit jittery with thinking about all I need to get done. I have a on going list in my head of what items I need to throw but when I get in my studio to make stuff I get side tracked on other things I didn't have any intention of making. This evening I was going to make "fish dishes" and instead I made this just huge leaf looking container. Its cool and all but not what I needed to focus on. I did manage to throw a bunch of pitchers last night and trim some cake plates. Hopefully tomorrow night I can get myself back on track.

I have the Circle of Eight show coming up next weekend but after that I've been invited to be in a show called 10 to Watch . This show is in Greenville NC at a gallery that I've shown at on and off since grad school. Its a very nice gallery run by two women with great taste. They sell a lot of really nice painting and blown glass. They called me a few months ago and asked if I wanted to be one of the spotlighted people in the show since I hadn't had work there in awhile; of course I said yes. I really wish I could be there for the opening but I have another show that weekend here in Charlotte. Anyways, its a gallery called City Art Gallery and the show opens the first weekend in May. ( I also just learned how to link what I talk about so you can actually click on there name and for once on my blog you can check something out!!!! ) ( My tec guy was just teasing me about how obsolete my computer skills are...what can I say.) I finally got on there website to see what was listed on there and they had some really old work of mine. Wow, what an opener for me! ( I think I need to call them and get some of that stuff back for I can have a little smashing session.......) At least, I have moved on and hopefully in the right direction.

Today I got back to teaching. I really enjoy my group at Clayworks ( I just did it again!!!) Anyways, it was good to get back into the swing of teaching and getting out of the house and away from motherhood for awhile. The girls have been really good this week. We have gone to the library, made paper frogs, blown bubbles, read lots of books and played with friends. I don't even think they realised there was no school this week. I can not believe they are going to be 4 in June. Every time they grow a little more I want to keep them at the last age they where just at. I guess every mothers feels this way about her last child ( in my case last children).

Well, off to bed.

Let the game begin!

I went to my final meeting with the zoning board this evening and I'm all approved to start on my kiln. YAHHHHHHH. It was kind of nerve racking to go before a crowd and state my case but all the questions where pretty lame so I breezed through it. Next step - pick up my burners and pipes from my friend Ann Riggs, and get the gas company out here. I'll keep you posted.

Trying to limit

I spoke a few entries down about using only black for the next set of pots I made. So far, besides one special order, I'm sticking to that claim. I'm also doing some tests with my orange stain to see if I can get it to flux out more in the firing without anything on top of it, sort of like a flashing slip in the salt kiln. I have seen this effect on other electric fired work so I know it can be done. I'm not sure if Terra Sig. gets this or adding more flux to a stain or slip so...I'm going to try some things. My thoughts behind all this is that when I get my soda/salt kiln I want to be able to use a flashing slip, like on my grad work along with part of the white clay body showing, black accents and my usual bright glazes. I thought that if I start to make a smooth transition with my electric work than my customers and galleries wouldn't be so thrown off when I start selling the work out of the new kiln. These are my thoughts, now we know I can change my mind quicker than anythings so we'll see.

My class wanted to work on some boxes this session so I've been throwing some simple one's just to get in the swing of things with them. I love clay boxes. Once again like tea bowls I think really only other potter appreciate what goes into a clay box. In the photo above I've only used the resist technique and my black stain on these. I also have some square one's that I'm keeping under plastic until I get my tests out of the orange. I'd like to have some of these new "orange pots" for our circle of eight spring show. We'll see if I have enough time to pull that off.

This week the girls are on spring break so my normal Tues - Thursday morning work time will be gone. Today I took the kids roller skating and they had a blast. Next weekend I have to start wrapping up all my throwing for the show. Last night I threw some olive dishes, small squared off trivets and more large cake platters. I still need teapots, pitchers and trays for my salt/pepper sets. We'll see if I can pull all that off this week. Wish me luck!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a good Easter. We did the usual activities, church, Easter baskets, big meal, egg hunt and than the kids had meltdowns from all the excitement by the end of that day. My family was here this year and we had a nice time together. Joey cooked a spectacular meal, as he always does and it was fun seeing the kids all excited. ( Plus lots a free candy hanging around for my sugar fixes during the week!)

I love to set a pretty table when I have a occasion too. I learned this from my grandmother and my mother and I think that is why I like to make "fancy" pots. Here is "flower block #2" with flowers for the Easter dinner. This is the one I made for NCECA but did not come out. I had trouble not getting the rim to crack. This design I am going to work on more because I love how the flowers fan out in this one.

Happy Easter everyone. Hope your bunny brought you lots of good stuff too!

Productive time

I just wanted to stop in with a quick hello. Joey just left with the girls for the afternoon and Quaid is at my parents so I've got to "make use of this time", as my husband likes to say. So,I'm getting ready to dash outside. I might have to put my heater on today because it is so cold here for Easter weekend.

The Circle or Eight got to together last night for a meeting. We're getting ready for our up coming Spring sale the weekend of April 21st. We are really now the Circle of seven because Dale Duncan decide to go back on his own and do his own thing which we all understood. So now we are minus one and just waiting for the right person to come along. I'm not to worried about filling the spot because I know that everything in life usually comes together in some way or another. Its seems whenever Joey and I are fretting about money, some pops up from somewhere ( well, most of the time.) When something kind of bad happens I think it is always countered balanced by something good. You many not be able to see it at the time, but I think it does.
Ok.....time to get out of my thoughts and into my studio!

If you got to have a cupcake everyday, life would be good!

In Mom-land today I had one of two Easter eggs hunts I have to attend for my children. Today's was for my son and was hosted by a lady who pretty much lives in a mansion. All the kids where dressed to the hilt, the food was great and the whole evant seemed like something out of Southern living. This lady even owns her own snow cone machine( not the cheap plastic kind you buy at Target) but a huge snow cone machine for her kids. Does that say wealth or what to a 6 year old. Quaid brains where exploding by the time we left the party. And the cupcakes...wow. All the other mom's where either being really good and acting like they didn't want any dessert or they where partaking in an adult dessert of strawberries and angle food cake. I took one look at the cupcakes and thought wow, I want the bright yellow one that looks like it has a mound of frosting on it. ( Of course I refrained and watched Quaid devourer a orange one with a ton of sprinkles. I could tell he enjoyed every bit of it!)
Tonight I had to make a dozen cupcakes for the girls party tomorrow. I had so much fun making them into little bunny rabbits and of course I could not help but nibble here and there.....(ahhhhhh cupcakes, they just talk to you.) I know when the girls see them they will light up like little Christmas trees. Doesn't everyone need a cupcake a day to make life just a little better?

Flower Blocks

I've been back working on my flower block design. This one is number #3! I do still like the other one's I did but both had issues to still be worked out and I guess at the moment I was eager to get more made and not sure how to work out the kinks in the others at the moment. Plus I'm trying to have a little more continuity to my work, if that is possible. I thought this shape went with my boxes a bit better. Who knows, I'm sure I'll change that thought next week.

I really started being fascinated with flower blocks about two years ago at the Utilitarian conference at Arrowmount. They had all the invited artists to get up and talk about there most favorite pot that they owned. I loved this! Suzi Lindsey held up this elaborate flower block made by....(well, the name escapes me know but I'll look her up). Anyways, this seemed so cool to me that I started looking at some in books. They of course where very popular at the turn of the century when flower and decorating was really in vogue. I saw alot of flower blocks at NCECA so I guess they are now the popular thing. I was remembering back in grad school how spice jar set where really in. I haven't seen a one in years now. After that it was condiment containers and cruet sets. Funny how everything has its in and out cycle. If you have any thoughts about these please feel free to let me know. I love any kind of feedback.

Mother Wren

I had a mother Wren make her nest in my studio last week. I should of kept the door closed as soon as I saw her starting her project but I forgot to shut it and 5 little eggs where laid. I worried for a few days how to handle this bird and her little flock in my studio especially since I have one very nimble cat who can catch about anything. I hate finding dead animals in my studio but birds are the worst. They really freak me out when I find one somewhere that has met its demise.

Anyways, I knew that birds do not like humans touching there nest but I made Jeoy move it because I thought the cat might have a feast of the whole family and at least I could save the Mama bird. We did move the nest to a nearby tree but she has not been back to sit on her eggs. She did sit in a tree the rest of the day and yelled at us in bird language. I could tell she was very upset. I watched her from my kitchen window fly in and out of the studio looking for her nest that had disappeared on her. Joey keeps asking me if she's been back for her eggs...we both feel bad. I took a little photo of them because they are so perfect with little flecks of pink on them.

Cups

Look at all these great cups!

I was searching my usual gallery "haunts" last night and ran across a good cup show at AKAR Design Gallery. I copied a bunch of cups that caught my eye. When you see all of them you can tell I kind of like them because they are either very embellished or altered in some way. It is a fabulous collection of cups so if you get a chance go look on the web site.

Today I also met with the City Historic board about my kiln and it was approved. My next hoop to jump through is the Zoning board. I have a friend on the Historic board who made the motion to tell the zoning board that the Historic Board thought having artists in our community and downtown was an asset to the community, so I think by next week I should be in the clear to pour my slab and get going on the kiln!