Friday, July 10, 2015

Hot days

Here we are and it is fully summer.
 Summer, like its cousin winter, comes around once a year no matter how hard you might try to hold it back.
Our words changed to, " hot enough for you"? To which I always think, "heck yeah."
Or I think, it has been hotter.
We had a week or two that hit 105 back a few summers ago. In my mind the 90's are hot enough and I and thankful for the less than 100.

I have found that with the teaching comes hours away from the studio and here. I have such good intentions on keeping the blog up to date. But we know where those go on a given day.

  My mind is full of so many thoughts that by the time I sit down here I feel as if my plate is too full.

We have made many trips to Norfolk and back emptying my mother's house to get it on the market.
This last trip Mark and I rode mostly in silence. We both are so talked out about all that needs to be done that we just pack a bag and go.
That seems to be slowing down.

We have been working on making enough pots to fire. I have taken some red clay on some of my days at school and worked it up to see what it does at cone 6. It is interesting,soft, and a bit sticky compared to the stoneware I thrown here. There are things I like about it and things that stump me, such as glazing them.

I am still working on that.

 We are enjoying the fresh veggies and fruits that come with summer.
Last night was eggplant.
So sweet and creamy.

We are working on a load to glaze and I had better turn my attention to work here before the days slip away on me and I am back at the school.

Call me- let's do lunch!
M

7 comments:

smartcat said...

It sounds like you are fast reaching the point where you need some down time. Emptying a loved one's house is always difficult in oh so many ways.
I'm with you regarding summer. It never lasts long enough!
Lovely pots, as usual. It will be interesting to see what you come up with for the red clay.
If I lived closer I would bring you lunch!

Lori Buff said...

Red clay always looks pretty and tempting to me, then I think about how to glaze it and I stick with stoneware.

Linda Starr said...

I use some of the same glazes on white stoneware that I do on the red, it turns out completely different. I even glaze a red clay vase with a translucent lavender and that was the first vase someone bought one day, it was more earthy looking. It's been a lot hotter here this summer.

Dennis Allen said...

Thanks for the update. There seems to be no end to cleaning out someone else's house and getting it ready to sell.For a ^ 6 glaze on red clay, I love the green on that little cup I gave you. It is pretty close to foolproof. Send me a FB message if you want it.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Fully grown veggies and 90s to 100? Goodness, we have had a very wet and mild summer and the tomato plants might rot, dangitall. I always love the look of red clay too, but my white stoneware is so easy to use in comparison....

cookingwithgas said...

Suzi, I would love to have lunch with you all. Let's pick a date! ;)

Dennis, I might just look at your glaze.
As usual, I'm hunting for that perfect glaze.

Happy summer to you all.

Chantay said...

I recently ran a bunch of glazes test on red clay. In a day or two I plan to post the results on face book on the page for John Britt's, Complete Guide To Midrange Glazes. His book has many wonderful glaze recipes, some on red clay. I got some good results with Albany Slip glazes too.