Ring it in!

Happy New Year!

2012.....happy to see you and let's get this party started.
Cheers!
M&M

A note about camera and know that pots are coming back soon!

Oh, thank you for the information on cameras, here and email.
I ordered one.
I was going the bidding route on a certain site we all know well abcd--- take me to the ocean and let us sit by the b#Y... but I really am not that person who can sit and watch and things get out bid and snatched right out from under you. Like the camera I really wanted that I had the hid bid  on with 5 days to go and it was just removed. No explanation at all, just removed.
Grrrr
So I put in another search and came up with a site that had a new in the box camera that was a step up from what I had at a good price.
Buy!
I am still in the bid for two cameras but don't really expect those to stay at my current bid of 21.25 and 31.00. If they do I will have 3 cameras to keep up with.
Meanwhile we opted for some down time at home rather than taking off to Va. I am going to leaving some baby chasing up to my Sister Leslie today and since she is up checking on the Mother I am cleaning closets and preparing to head into 2012 with a lighter heart than the last year.
Throwing things away, filing and maybe some paint action going on.
And lunch with the my favorite son today.
My first born asked what I wanted for my birthday and I wanted to have lunch with just him.
We are due.
So cheers and all that!
M

2012- may life take you forward and be as simple as picking up a stick and as light as the heart of a child.

What's a girl to do?

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the new year of 2012.
Good heavens it just seems like yesterday we embarked on this clay adventure and now it has hit me that we have been doing this dance for 30 years.
30 years!
Some days, as I sit here and picture myself as brown headed and younger, I think we are still those young whipper-snappers who just blindly walked into this as a business, pulling two young kids behind them.
Then again mirrors and drivers license do not lie.
There are days now that I really feel those over 50 muscles and think what are we doing still here.
And, yet, there are many potters who make pots well into their...70's, 80's dare I say 90's.
Is it possible, who really knows, but we are not ready to stop now. There are still pots in us so we carry on.
Now about Christmas, we had a great time being with our two, their spouses, the new puppy and the grand daughter. I was going to torture you all with lots and lots of picture of family, but I have a confession to make.
I had a moment and a moment that was so stupid that it goes in my book of stupid moves that shall not be made again, ever, really!
On Christmas day we took the young one to the park, me, her mother and dad.
I took lots of pictures as this fearless 20 month old as she went down every slide from small to large shouting, fun, wheeeeeeeee, fun, wheeeee.
And then as we left I placed my camera on the hood of the car, yea, I know, slap me now I know better!
3 hours later I look for the camera and of course it is gone, long gone.
And since I am the taker of the pictures the pictures are long gone as well.
If I could just get the pictures back they can have the camera.
Well truth be told I want the camera back too she and I were tied at the hip.
I am at a loss without her.
I went out the next day and bought a small camera not to let the holidays go with out some record so I could show you this:

This child is never more happy then when she is outside with rock, leaves and sticks.
and this.

The new grand puppy, 7 months and a great puppy! She rings bells on the door when she needs to go out.
I did take some more  like this:

Happiness!
I am working some eBay bids trying desperately to replace my camera- I looked for two days at others and found some finally found some used ones that are like the one I had.
I decided that I did not like the one I bought. It is just too hard to hold and if I lost one that was bigger you know I will lose this one.
I will take suggestions on good cameras if you have any, but I am sure I am going to go after one like I had. It worked for me.
And somewhere I will try to put a note in my feeble brain to never put it on the hood of a car.
Cheers and all that,
M

Merry Christmas

Still working and another family birthday

We reluctantly went into the studio yesterday and finished making more samples for a project we are working on.
One that I am not ready to reveal yet, but I will write about later.
The pots we are making are to the specs for someone else.
Many of them are familiar and, yet, are shapes that we would take one step further or add lines, stamps and some carving.
It has been interesting and an act of discipline to stay within the guidelines.
As I am throwing I will notice an area that I would usually add a line, or two or three. My eye will hit it and then I want to reach for a tool to add said line... no, I have to tell myself.
It is like I have gone from driving a straight gear over to an automatic.
Don't shift!
Then again it is  a challenge to figure all this out.
Below there are two ginger jars with two bottles that will fill out the pots that Mark made last week.

Yes- there are two carved jars below- rejects are great for carving!

Mark is working on a second line with lots of egg shapes from 4 inches up to about 12 inches.

Some of these will be kept and some....well, like I said we are working out the details.

And if you made it all the way to the bottom of the page- here is a treat.
I was on Jim's Etsy shop the other day and I just had had to have one of Jim's pieces.
I hit the buy button.
I know you can see why.
Right now Jim is keeping company with a couple of other guys you should all know.

I see some wine in our future.
And today is my Birthday, the day after my sweet girl.
No moaning, no begrudging another year.
Instead I am thankful.
So my birthday wish is that you all go out and tell someone you care about them, or take a tea/coffee with a friend, call someone, email, send a card, reach out and care.
Breath!
Life is good,
M

Hold on it's a family moment!

Happy Birthday to my girl!
You were the best Christmas/Birthday present ever!

The past year and 1/2 have been a joy to watch you as you mother your own daughter.

The fun has just begun,
Ma and Pa

Light and the end of a day

Ever since we were pottery students we were taught to clean your area because there was someone coming behind you.
So these are Mark's tools at the end of the day.
All ready for use.
Now where are mine?
I am not as good as he is in the department and I am sometimes taken by surprise at the mess I leave behind me. I tend to walk in and think who was on my wheel last night while I was sleeping?
Darn elves.....

There was the best light after the rain last week.
I love that fresh light look that it gives everything.
It looks like promises yet to come.

The path down the drive from the house...follow me it begs, let's see where we can go and what we can see.
Ever since I was a kid I have loved the promise of a good path...

Christmas is coming and I am still packing.
Best get to it.
M

The shape of things to come

Mark has been working on some shapes for one of those new sticks in the fire...
Even after making pots for 30 years it takes some practice to duplicate a shape for someone else. These shapes are pretty simple, but simple is never as simple as one thinks.
It still takes some skill to hit the shape right on for the customer.

Ah- rebellion- I see a carved vase there..

It will be hard not to stamp or carve...that vase is just begging me to knock it about a bit.

Double dog dare me?
M

Wandering the backroads home

Wandering the back roads home from Tracey's last Sunday Mark took me off to travel over one of the few state maintained fords.
This is the only one in our county.

One trip  was enough for me it was bumpy and a bit deeper than I thought it would be.
Apparently the guys use to go there on the "beer" run... wonder how many times they went back and forth??!!
It was interesting, but I think I would like a bridge better.
Off to ford the studio and paer work.
Cheers,
M

I would love to tell you that I am throwing pots but I am chained to the desk to sort out some paper work. ( help!)
It is the end of the year and I do need to shuffle through some of the piles while I can.
We have put some sticks in a few new fires for next year and if it all works out we will be able to just stay here and work.
No more running off to other jobs.
Now that would be a great, would it not??!!
Now to make it happen.
And to make it happen paper work has to be done... buggers!

Mark has been working on Lamps- vases with a thrown cap.

and who does not need a smile?
This picture makes me wonder why people spend so much money on toys when there are leaves and sticks and dirt just out in your yard.

This child has her mother's smile!
Leaves = happiness.....
Go out and play in your yard!
Cheers,
M

Slow Sundays and Blue skies makes one want to

travel even if it is just up the road.
When I woke up this morning I asked Mark what he wanted to do today, a much needed day off, and he said what do you want to do?
I say I want to go here.

and I want to see Tracey...

and I want to see her work and buy a few gifts.

It was as much fun as a new puppy!
Only better!
Love you and we loved our trip to your neck of the woods.
M

Good grief

And Mark said to me, "you are not taking more pictures of me are you"?

No, I said......

I am such a liar....



On another note I wanted to know what others folks do with their "spare"  time, not that I am checking on on you or anything. I always thought since I played in clay all day that was enough to keep the mind busy and hands and back, but lately I have been sewing. I have a room upstairs that I finally set up to sew in. Call ahead if you need the bed I have it covered right now.
I am enjoying the different fabrics and for now I am working out this one bag. I figure if I can get that down I might move on to a bigger one. They are fun with a quilt like piece on the front and fully lined. They are suppose to be a make-up bag, but I have found that folks are using them for different purposes.
Right now I am playing with adding rings and I have plans for a new strap..

The other night I figured out that I should call these my good grief bags.
Grief has a funny way of working out of the body and this has worked for me.
It is better than bags of cookies, which is where I was heading.
I just mailed one to a friend who is going through Cancer treatments in hope that she can fill it with a few things to take along with her on treatment days. I used a fabric with a lot of images of  that could take your mind away...like I said, "good grief...."

Happy Saturday,
M

Winter comes to Whynot

What is it they say about weather.
If you don't like it well wait 24 hours.
Well I liked it, but we all knew it had to end and yesterday end it did.
There was a rain and heavy wind front that came in and took us down a notch or two. It is a tad chilly this morning. I was so sure it was cooler earlier this week that I kept overdressing for the studio.
This is that time of year that finding the right combo of warmth for working in water becomes difficult. I find several layer help and that old ratty vest are a must.
A good old ratty vest will help keep your core warm while freeing up your arms.
Too many layers on the arms makes for awkward throwing.

I also took advantage of the cloudy days to shoot some pictures outside.
I have found that I can do better outside and I like the natural backgrounds that we have. I use this rock and once I have the piece set on the rock I walk around the rock rather than moving the piece. This really seems to save time. I do crop some and some I don't.
I was reading King Creek's blog and she has been doing some experimented with natural and "the cube".
Do we all have one of these cubes? I know we bought one as well and it will soon be set up again in the basement closer to the computer so I can try, yet again, to get some pictures inside that thing.... I too have had mixed results and oh, look! Dust! Oh, Look at that little hair or.... some days me and the cube just don't get along.
But I do like the rock.

I do have to be careful because as you can see the rock is not flat on top so the piece can look as if it is crooked. But, hey, aren't we all a bit off...

We really are back working and I took some pictures of the ever reclusive Mark at his sit down/stand up wheel. He bites when I do this so I have to be very quiet and sneak up on him....
He starts his larger pots on this wheel while sitting and then stands to finish them as he pulls taller.
Seems to work well.

Production in the making, think small then move to large.

Here she is winter-ta da!

Time to find some layers, clay is calling,
M

It is December, don't you know?

The weather here the past week has been a great reminder of why we live in the south.
We have been having 70 degree days.
How can you beat that!?
I know a change is coming and winter will be on us soon , but it is hard to beat these days of still warm days or as I love to call the , "the flue days".
We have been catching up on other things besides pottery, but are getting back in the swing of things pottery wise as well.
The bisque kiln was loaded yesterday, after a trip to buy a new microwave and put the car in the shop, and today we are back on the wheel.
It always seems that December is a month where we catch up on all things ignored.
The car goes in the shop.
A closet gets cleaned out.
I pay attention to the dust and the corners in the house.
I look at the pile, I mean really look, of the year's worth of paper work.
You all know what I mean.
We all tend to shove this stuff aside while we are busy and then the next think you know it crawls out like a forgotten long lost cousin that you always knew was there but no one wants to talk about.
Now I still need to finish fixing the blog, catch up on the piles and corners and figure out what is happening for next year.
And don't even say Christmas shopping...
There it is out there as well.
We find that we are so busy making sure that our customers have their gift shopping done that we get a bit behind...and the family after 30 years does not want more, or sure they do---pottery?!

I did go do something fun Sunday and went off with a group to make a wreath.

I had never done anything like this before and it was fun to just lose myself  in the process.
I did not think I just did.
It was relaxing and there was hot chocolate and nibbles... Mark stayed home to fish and watch football.
I bet he would pay real money to send me off again.
Hummm
Well pots are calling.
M

a few pots got listed on the etsy shop- our favorite mugs.
It was great to see one being used by Tracey at her end of the day, blow out weekend.
Note to self- change her blog feed to The Fifth Floor.....

It was late

It was late and I was messing with my baby computer looking at new templates and designs when I hit the apply to button.

Really was my thought- did you just do that?
I had it way back in the deep part of my brain to revise the blog site but at a quarter to late last night was not the time.
With a blurry brain and mind I went to bed to face it today.
So just keep in mind that I will be dancing all over rearranging the furniture , trying on dresses and shoes, cleaning out the closet as I figure out how I want the new "do" to look.
It might be awhile so just talk among yourselves while I get this figured out.
Meanwhile- pots are being made- one cart full 3 more to go and we are, as usual, open for business.

Oh- and a new name change is coming.
Last year Lee and I had planned a line of tiles- I am going ahead with that and will be adding the name we picked to the Whynot Pottery name.
try this out for size.
Whynot Pottery and Acacia Art Tile.
Cheers!