This

 I am not sure how I should title this post.
A man and his kiln.
Changes.
New beginnings.

We are letting go of our large kiln that we built in 1986. We fired many good pots, and many questionable pots in this kiln. It was designed by Mark and built with my help. We used soft brick and dry stacked it, cutting the soft brick as needed to make it fit. We talked about the dry stacking as opposed to the method of mortar. We had seen how difficult it was to take apart a kiln with mortar, our decision was to dry stack in case we needed to take it down or rebuild it. Our thoughts when we built Ms. B was to rebuild this one as a smaller kiln.
Then life changed a bit for us, we found we like working in a smaller kiln, and, I am making more and more tile.
The last time we fired this kiln was January 2016.
Mark told me one day that he was ready to let it go and let it go while the brick could still be used.
We sold the brick and we sold it for a song.
I am sure people will think we were crazy, but behind crazy you can find reason.

 We had our reasons.
We wanted to find someone who would be dedicated to removing the brick from the kiln, and putting that brick back to use, building a new kiln, youth, we were looking for youth, and they found us.
A young couple are in the process of removing the brick and taking it home with them to now plan a new wood fired kiln. They were planning a small kiln, this is going to allow them to build a larger kiln.
There are times in your life that you are helped, we were, and we know it. We built this kiln with help from my parents. Back in the day getting a loan for an art based business was difficult to say the least. They co-signed for us. This was a big investment for us. 5,000.00 . But, if you take that and divide it over 30 years that is 166.67 per year or closer to 200.00 if we are thinking of interest. What we did was pay this off as quick as possible.
As we watched the bricks being stacked in the back of trailers and pickup trucks it is bittersweet.

the patenia of many years of shoes with the local red dirt.

 With bitter is the sweetness of knowing this will be a start for a young potter. It is not always about the dollars, yes, we could have asked more money for the brick, but why? I think we all got what we needed. We are pretty happy watching it go away. We are not leaving it to Rot away and maybe have no use later. Over the past few years I have watched people hang on to things that they think are important. My thoughts is it has no life unless you give it such.
This kiln will have a new life.
 We have new space.
What's next?
Not sure
Stay tune.
M

Look at the marks the burners made, arches. 

a little here

 and a little there.
There are no groceries in the house, but I am getting some work done.

It seems as if there are just not enough days in my weeks right now. I am going to work on some tiles and just not think about it.
After all the sun is out today, and that, is a good thing.

Up to old tricks

 Yesterday was the last day we had to get the kiln loaded and fired in time for the show this weekend.

It was cold yesterday, with no wind, that made it easier to get it all loaded. We both added a extra layer or two. Mark checked the weather for today and did not like the forecast of wind and thunderstorms. With the no winds to continue overnight, Mark decided that this would be a good time to light up the kiln and pull an all nighter.
He just rolled in to bed as I rolled out . I am off to work this morning as he sleeps.

Here is the kiln load--------back

---------middle

front---------------------------------


















Tree---------

Unloading coming up in a few days.
M

A spider a day keeps the flies away.

 Not really since there are no flies out right now.
I just made that up, but I am sure you had already figured that out.

I moved some of Mark's vases down to the bisque room to dry while I am waxing and planning the gas load that is still in the works. This spider has already moved in and taken over the space. How quick she was to move in a claim this as hers.
I hate to break it to her but if she stays it will be into the bisque kiln that she will be going.

I have a load of pots in the kiln that are ready for a bisque firing tomorrow and I have 16 shelves all waxed and ready for glazing to begin in the morning. I am big on starting tomorrow.
I always loved the lines from Gone with the wind.
Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind):
"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."
or
Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind):
"After all ... tomorrow is another day."

 I think those lines have stayed with me since I was 15. That and "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".
Wow, talk about racy. 

So tomorrow it is since I need to breathe between the waxing and the glazing just to clear my head from step one over to step two, or is this step 3?
Frankly my dear...


I have been enjoying the daffodils that are in the yard. This group of flowers were the ones that were being mowed down for years until I discovered they were there and stopped the mowing. Mark put some good mulch and fertilizer around them last year and look at them now.
They are fabulous.
I usually will clip a few for the house but I can not even think about cutting any of these sine they are so pretty where they are. Plus I see them everyday on the walk from the house to the studio and back again.

 Yellow and green, does make you think that spring is here even though it is still a few weeks away.

I was lucky enough to spot the Bald Eagle just as it flew low over the pond yesterday and disturbed the geese that have been swimming around trying to claim it as theirs. I noticed the geese moved on. We are not the best place for geese to raise a family anyway since the turtles think that the wee ones are tasty. We have tried to tell the geese that the babies just become turtle bait but they try year after year to have some little ones on the pond.

Maybe the Eagle talks their language.

I had a rambling thought the last few days and I was thinking about how many folks have other jobs and then like to spend their days off in the studio getting some pots made.
Mark and I find that we need a few days off not making pots and are working really hard to have at least one day a week where we do not even walk through the studio door.
I know if we walk in the door there will be something that has to be done and the next thing you know there goes our day off.

So if you make pots all the time what do you do to relax and recharge?
Yesterday he "cooked" a batch of beer while I made bread, granola, marinated a chicken and some vegetables for later when some friends came for dinner, beer and laughs. I sat outside and read while he fished, made some things on my sewing machine and we took an hour to walk in the sun.
Then today, since it was a tomorrow's yesterday, we were ready to go back to work.
What is a good day off for you?
M