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. 

Loading up the workhorse

 We loaded up the kiln on Saturday and then had our very own Mother's day firing.
Mark was up early to light the burners and get things going.
I always think I am going to sleep in but find myself awake around 4:30.
The kiln fired well as far as we could tell.
I always marvel that we do this again and again without really knowing what is really behind the door until it is opened.

The unknown.
It's a bit like jumping off a cliff at times, or stepping off the deep end, you just do it.

Things that get done during cool down.
Cleaning the house, paying of the bills, watching a movie, pinching some babies, reflecting on life, you know, the usual.

Tune back in around Wednesday when the doors come down.
M

Glazing pots, getting ready for a late October fire

Yesterday we spent most of the day working together to get many of the production pots and Christmas orders glazed.
Mark does the base and I pick up the top glazing.
When we do this, I can look back at the end of the day with some sense of satisfaction seeing all the work that is ready for the kiln.

 Today we both have some fussy pots to work on.
That means a bit more thought and a bit more work.
It will go slower.....

I don't know if you can see my writing on the pots, but I usually take a pencil and put a little code on the pieces. If I do this ahead then I don't have to think about them one by one later.
blk/walts
blk/wop
red/wop
blk/2ash

 Those pumpkins are going to tax my brain since I am still not sure about how I am going to do them.
Hummmm
later....
Lamp bases in blk/2ash.

 Mark has been working on tall lamps for the last 3 kiln loads.
 It is great to have them in the store when someone is ready for one or two right on the spot.
He, of course, will still take orders for custom sizes.
I don't know what his decision on these will be maybe red/wop.

 
Mark and I have become committed to walking in the mornings.
We have at least 3 different places we can go depending on the amount of time we can put in.
We find on the days that we are walking we need to get up a bit earlier in order to slam a coffee before we head out.
I am finding the morning darkness a bit harder on my mental abilities to go.
It is a test to go out while it is still dark to walk.
When we started this morning walking it was light before 6, then 6:30 and now it is not even light at 7.

You know it is easier to hide under the coves in the winter when it is cold and dark outside, this will be a challenge.

  I am collected seed heads off the volunteer marigolds.
These are amazing, so full and pretty. I think they grew better in the yard than they did in the raised bed last year. Of course this is what a wet, wet, wet spring and summer will get you.

 Its show time!
See ya'
M

Oh those summer nights.

Night before I last I had to walk over to check pots and as I walked out the door I was blown away by the sky.
 I could not remember the last time I saw such color.
Spectacular!
This is just a taste of what I saw.

Then last night Mark comes in to tell me that Mrs. Spider has laid her eggs and is now not as fat as she was. Like a tire going flat.
I know you wanted to see what was going on.

The eggs.

Plus, there was another great sky going on .
I don't know if this has anything to do with storms that could be coming, but wow, just wow.
(far out...)

Mark is out there glazing right now and I need to go join him for our glazing fest we have going on here.
Here is a good start on a bottle he made.

And what is happening with my future butterflies?
I am watching and they are now resting, that means soon they will go into stage 2.
I really want to see if I can catch them changing.

I was able to get a few shots of them.

Future butterfly 1

and number 2

Lunch and then work.
Enjoy this fabulous day.
M

Yawn...excuse me, but I am a wee bit

tired.
It has been a really busy week getting the kiln unloaded and sorted.
Some pots went in the store.
Some pots went in boxes and were shipped away.
Some pots go to Raven Pottery for the store in Southern Pines.
And, some go to the Co-op in Seagrove.
Almost done.
Almost.

Some days that big kiln makes for some big work when all the pots come out. They need to be sorted otherwise where would we put the next round?

back stack- lots of blue going on..

We are nearly finished up and then next week it is back to the wet work.
We are already making mental, need to get them to paper, notes of what we want to go in the next load.

On the home front we had rain. Luscious wonderful rain. A bit much rain the other day, but rain non the less. The heat was so bad that the flowers I had started from seed and watch them get big enough to think they would produce were dying one by one. One a day, another a day and another. I finally have blooms on the ones left and I plan to enjoy everyone of them.
Then there are these eggplants. These are dinner tonight, finally! I have been watching them for weeks and give them some real rain and they double in size overnight.
Swiss chard, climbing spinach, green beans have made it through, but the tomatoes really suffered and may not recover. I am lucky to get some from friends and neighbors but my plants were dropping blooms in the heat and now too much water, they still are not happy.
Even just a small vegetable garden can be work and heartbreak.
Although, I planted some gourds, what was I thinking, and they are like weeds climbing and grabbing everything around to climb up as far as they can. Mark, with my help, put together some bamboo very high and we tied twine back and forth to give them a real boast up so they would, I hope, quit attaching to everything else in the garden. It was one of those wonder what these will do here moments. Oh, I should thin those out. Oh, I should string those up. Oh, good grief those gourds are taking over.

Just a few move pots to sort and we will bore you all with pictures of pots.
Well, really, if I can get to it, I will shoot more that came out of the kiln.
Have a great day.
Tea time,
M

Saturday firing, jelly, books and naps

We had so enjoyed our time visiting with new friends but as we all know work calls and we needed to get back to it.
 It was still so hot we paced ourselves loading by putting in the back stack one day and then finishing up the whole thing on Friday.

Mark would creep out of bed in the wee hours of the morning Saturday to light the fire for the kiln even though the temperatures were to hit 100 plus.
The fact that we have a/c makes this a bit easier. There was a time when we were younger that we did not have a/c and summer firings were all about fans and lots of fluids.
We realized at some point if we were going to make pots in the summer we had to cool things off for ourselves. We tried working from 6 am until 2 pm and going back in the evenings as things cooled off, but really, this was getting old.
So we went for a/c and it sure does make it easier than baking away as the day goes on.
This allows Mark to cool off between turn ups.
On firing days we tend to go our separate ways.
He fires, reading, playing his guitar, listening to music while I wait customers, read, clean, maybe do bookwork or something in the kitchen.

I rarely leave while Mark is firing, you just never know when something will come up and we will both need to be here.
I spent some time messing around making jelly from blackberry and blueberry juice.
I call this my bruiseberry jelly, black and blue. The tartness of the blackberries is set off by the undertones of the blueberries. Believe me you it is tasty.

 I have found I can not read even a good book without taking a little cat nap or two.
Mark loaded my small netbook with a kindle app and I am learning how to borrow books on line.
It's different but at the same time I like having a book there I can read. The only draw back is it is not so cozy in bed and if I nod off it might just give me a good knock on the head.

The kiln is cooling and from what I hear so are the temperatures.  I am sitting here in the basement and the door is open, the birds having been singing and it has a quiet feel.
We noticed with the 100 degree days even the bugs and frogs were laying low.
I would love to think that is it for the highs but summer is no where near over.
Cheers for now!
M

Tuesday, Right?

No, it's Wednesday I just looked on my little calendar on the right hand side of my computer.
Do you think that could possible be correct?
Maybe I have jumped a time zone.

As you can see I am behind on my duties to pass on the award.
I am still thinking about it, not.
Really I am thinking it is just a really busy week for us.
Last week I followed Mark up to the corner so he could bush hog the pasture where the corner sign is for all the potters who live on our road.

When we opened in 1982 we were the only ones down here. Then as others opened we realized it would be beneficial to have a group sign. So we did.

In the 30 years we have been through two designs for the sign.
One held just 4 of us and we all had a space side by side 2 on one side 2 on the other... I wish I had a picture, that looked good.
Then we had more potters, some have closed now, and some new ones have taken their place, and we needed a bigger sign.
A few years back, about 4, the owner of the property past away and we were waiting to see who might buy the property.
We finally decided to go ahead and talk with the lawyer who is handling the property and get permission to repair and replace.
And that is where Tuesday morning went.

 I painted the bottom while Mark did all the top work.
Next we need everyone to order new signs to replace the old, gun shot ones.
( they are too tempting...not to be shot at at least once, if not twice..)

We are also glazing for the big kiln and you know how much work that is.
If you remember the last round we had a batch of cold wax, Forbes, that did not work for us and we ended up setting some pots aside.
Well here is what they looked like today:

No, this post is not wearing a skirt

See how nice the bottle next to me is with the right wax?

The plan is to dry scrub off the glaze and wax, glaze the bottoms again and then using the good wax, wax before we top glaze with the wood ash.
A bit of work but less work then is we washed the pots and allowed them to dry. We did that with the smaller pieces.
But- we did not want to risk trying to wash these and have something happen to them, like bumping them wrong.

On that note, Tracey, I had a pot I was holding and sanding, yes, I was wearing a mask, and while I was admiring the new stamping pattern  I had used and was thinking about how to glaze it I just dropped it.
( insert *&%%##$ your own word here)
Gone so quick I hardly had time to think about it.
Made me almost laugh, almost!
It did make me think about Tracey's theory on pots you really like and how they know it so they blow up or jump right out of your hand.
Again forgive me the 10 bloggers I just have to get back to you on that.
Cheers,
M

June firing and setting the record straight

We were happy with the firing.
 A few bumps, but compared to the last firing in the small gas kiln, Ms. B, this one in our big boy kiln was much better.
Mark wasted no niceties on the turns up and just cranked the kiln up at a pretty quick pace and the glazes responded very well.
A look in at the front stack.
 

a peek into the middle stack.

And the teapots- not glued to the shelf.
Thank goodness we were both getting teapot shy.
They are too much work for the loss we were getting.
I might even go back to making some cruets.

And let me say this.
We did not start the pottery while we lived in the teepee.
It would take a move to Va, and a move to NC, 2 kids, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs, goats and sheep before we added pottery to the mix.
It has been 30 years since we opened in October of 1982.
Sorry to disappoint.
We did live in a teepee, but it was a life time ago.
It was fun and you would have to stop in and bring wine to get the stories.

Later!
M

Sweet bottles

Thank you all for our anniversary wishes we both find it hard to believe that we have been together so long.
 Tom Starland suggested we could add a few years for the aggravation it takes to work together as well.
But, we have found a good dose of ADD adds to the fact that we rarely remember what we are fighting about.
 That and a good wine makes life a bit better.
 For our special day the throwing continues with bottles to go along with the vases.
 And, since we have to fill the whole kiln why not (whynot) make more?

This one has that fresh look to it.

Makes one want to take a bite.





Then when I was taking this picture below I just liked how the two showed up together.

Mark has a few more in the works while I am working the planning, tile firing, filler throwing end of things.

We are planning a small kiln for this month and the big kiln for next month.

Wee bottles 1/2 pound- take that Mark with your 10 pounders!

I think it is time for a feet up break.
Cheers,
M

The ups and downs and somewhere in between

Firing day started off a bit windy and then, this never happens, the wind settled down and the day was perfect for a gas firing.  Mark was chugging along and I was out the door at 5 for a meeting with our local Seagrove Potters' Association.
I had left Mark some food since I would be gone for a bit, you know meetings can run long, and this one did.
I fully expected him to be wrapping things up when I got home.
Instead the kitchen looked like a quick run through with food that was close to burnt, not a good sign.
The kiln, almost at the very time I left, hung up.
It would not gain the final temperature, the pressure had dropped to the burners and it was as if the tank was freezing up.
Puzzled Mark did all he could plus calling the gas guys on a Sunday night.
The kiln was hanging at cone 9 and the cone for 10 was still standing, now we are worried, its been too long.
Do you shut the whole thing off a cone early or wait.
We waited and the 10 started to bend.
We waited some more and once the 10 was bent enough we shut it down figuring that the glazes had sat long enough to get hot.
We never look in the kiln the day after a fire because the glazes usually need a good 24 hours or more to really develop their color. Looking sometimes means seeing mud instead of the the true color of the glaze. We could both tell one thing, the fire was hot.
Tucking our tails between our legs we are working on what we think happened with the kiln.
The kiln is 26 years old this fall, the regulator that regulates gas to the kiln seems to have a problem.
After 26 years and many firings it may be just worn out or there could be some trash that has clogged  something up.
This is where I fall short and Mark could explain better.
But explain or not we are out to unload this morning.
There were more looks yesterday and we saw hot glaze, but good color with a bit more run on the ash. I can see one pot that has a run to the shelf and I am hoping that is the only one ( I hear you laughing..)
Mark has just headed out to take down the door and I need to follow.
More with pictures later, but whatever is out there we will deal and carry on.
We always do-
M

Come on over we are taking down the door..

There will be more to come....

Out to the kiln with you! Come on, we could use your help! M

Who's gonna keep your feet warm?

The bed was empty and cold this morning as I rolled over and with one eyed looked at the clock it read 3:30.
I figured Mark must have gotten out of bed quite early to light the kiln.
The past week had been full of glorious fall days as you can read from my post below.
There was not even a stir of wind in the air on many of those days until a cold front moved in.
Yesterday as we loaded the kiln we bulked up for a cold day with layers.
With afternoon wind force between 1 and 2 there were times it felt like winter, but it was nowhere near some other November firings that I can remember when we were loading in 20 degrees or rain or sleet or dark...
It made me think of a job poster for potters:
Wanted people who will give up the following.
4 day work weeks, or even 5
Warmth and comfort
Week ends
Families
and a social life.
If you are willing to give it all up for long hours and plenty of days of frustration please apply.
Now we all know that really we have had a good life making pots and that we all give up something for our jobs, but there are times when I could be lured away with the promise of a 5 days a week from 9-5. Throw in a few benefits and weeks ends with paid vacation and I could be yours.

The kiln is firing, we have draped the biggest tarp we have around the open side and that will keep the wind off the burners. All that we need to do is reach a good temperature with a good chimney draw before any winds show up this afternoon.
We once had wind so strong it was pulling down the chimney- I handed Mark bricks as he piled them high enough to get past the wind- that was fun.

One of the posters for the show.

Cool down Sunday and Monday and then the unloading begins Tuesday.
I have lots to take care of since this was our year of no shows, not no shows, but no shows in that we did no shows this year not that we did not show up.
Anyway- we need the list of all those things that must go with you to a show.
Time to put the rusty thinking cap on.
On another note if you have not been for awhile or have never been plan on tripping down to or up to Seagrove next weekend and spending the day.
Leslie and I will be at the cannery while Mark holds down the home front here.
Here is a link to the potters who will be there.
Cheers!
M

1-2-3 or lock and load baby-lock and load!

It was a long day over here in Whynot getting the last of the pots glazed and then loading the kiln.
No matter how we do it loading takes about 5 hours and after the week we had last week that was a long 5 hours.
We had the back in right after lunch and then took a break about 2:30-3.
Then had the next two stacks in by 6 pm.
We took another break and then went back about 7.
Done.... Mark is firing now.
It seems a good day to fire ever though the heat is going back up the winds are to be calm.
We can deal with the heat since we do have A/C in the building.

Backstack

middle stack

and thank goodness...front stack...

Next up- clean up and get ready to do it all again.
Cheers,
M

It was hot and humid with low breeze

which made the conditions very good for firing the kiln.
We had one of those kiln loads that you wish for anytime you are firing.
The Pots glazed, loaded and the weather.
The weather was just right for a gas firing.
Hot, yet not too hot.
Humid, but not too humid.
Breeze, slight very slight.
The cones top to bottom, close within a hair of one another.
Unloading to continue.

Back with more later,
M