We are still here

 And still working, wear a mask and keep safe as we see where we are next year.

There is so much going on

I am making this quick because I am heading to the kitchen.
It seems that cooking, even for two, takes up a good part of my time.
So what's cooking at your house?
If you have something good to share I am looking forward to that.
Hope you are well,
M

New raised beds and Ms. B

 In July I was clearing out the raised bed that sat in front of the shop. The bed needed to be dug out and replaced. Mark talked me into trying a tall raised bed there. It was a great idea and rather than plant it with flowers we decided to make it a bed for lettuce, chard and collards.
So far it has worked really well and we have enjoyed eating our greens we are growing.
I think getting those beds up might be a great way to grow more next summer.

 This week we are on to a small gas firing in Ms. B. Most of it is glazed we are just waiting for a bisque to cool that will fill in the gaps.
There are some really wonderful flattened bottles in this load. Mark has also been playing with some new brushes.
We are interested in seeing the results.
I hope many of you are enjoying pleasant weather. I know we are. A/C off and windows open.
Although last night I heard the call of a very loud bird on the pond.
I do love the crickets and the last of the summer bugs as they quiet down for the fall to come.

 Find a little joy where you can.
M

It was time

 It was time to get down to some dusting in the shop. We live on a long dirt road and if you know dirt roads you know they can be dusty. We have had a lot of rain the past week which can bring down the dust making it a good time to spruce things up.
Our sales shop, "gallery", is not really big, but even a small space needs to get a dusting now and again.
I don't even want to tell you about chasing out the spiders.
It looked nice, shiny, and clean enough to share.
I am back on tiles while Mark is throwing pots to help fill out the kiln.
Tomorrow I am back in the classroom my one day a week at the college. I did enjoy the summer off, it gave me more days of focus, time to put in a flower garden, and time to chase some butterflies.
Fall is coming, come out and see us!
Cheers!

The slow thaw

 It's cold, it is very cold this winter. We have been lucky the past few years to have had some wonderful mild winters, making it easy to get back in the studio to work.
When it is this cold that last thing we want to do is plunge our hands in the water all day long.
We have methods to heat water for throwing, but the water does not stay warm long and the hands protest. Then there is the feet thing. I think I am complaining.
I am gearing myself up this week to spend some time in the studio and think about spring. The carrot on the end of the stick. No matter the weather you still have to make the pots you will need for spring.

A few years back I really enjoyed the flowers that were coming up in the yard.
It made me pull some pottery out and snap a few pictures of the pots with the blooming flowers.
There is nothing better than a vase full of flowers to enjoy. Then there are flowers that don't hold up as well after picking, those just called for the company of a good pot.

I have always enjoyed the details that Mark adds to his work. The mark of the potter to me is what you do with your work after you have figure out the skills.
As we work through the list I hope to see a few of these on the list. Those pots that call for just the right spot in someone's home.

Below is a walk in the woods. It was my plan to try and walk everyday the weather was good this month. I am here to say that walking in 6 degree weather is not pulling me out the door so fast.  Maybe this week we can warm up enough to get out.
Stay warm , be safe and think warm thoughts.
Spring will be here before we know it.

Hi!

 It seems that I had forgotten to post pictures of the firing. It looked very good from top to bottom.

We had some good results and plan to carry out some of the newer glazes.
Stop in the weather has been great.

We live in

 interesting times.
When life is filled with so much controversy and you fill as if you will explode from all the news of the day, it's time for a car trip. Yeah, I know you don't think you have the time, but when better to just get away and clear out your head.
So just do it, pack a bag, grab a map and make a plan.
Ready?
No thought, just go.

Remember when folks hit the road for the unusual locations? When we travel we like to look for what is off the highway. Interstate travel is fast and made to get a person from point a to point b. The backroads of travel are made for a slower pace of life, just meandering the roads, following the new and unexpected to find the gems of the backroads.
We are one of those places that is a destination, you need to come off the highway to find us.
If you do you would not be disappointed, we have rolling hills, it's hay cutting time, cows, goats, chickens, and a lot of pottery shops. At the end of the day look for places to stay in Asheboro, Southern Pines, or even locally in a B&B.

 Food, we have several local restaurants in our area.  If you need a bit a night life, head to Asheboro for a beer at Four Saints, a glass of wine at  Lumina, dinner at Bia's Hardware. There are other places to eat that you can look up, these are just our favorites.
So, pack a bag, grab your car keys and get out, it's good for the soul. Call us, email us, let us know you are coming.

 Just a few pots from the last kiln load. I took the black vase outside and spent a few minutes trying to get a picture and noticed that the black glaze picked up the red from the building and the green from a tree. I like those elements even though I know it is just a reflection.

Happy Thursday!
M

Ms. B is back again

Let us all hope that she does not have any tricks up her sleeve.
I did take these pictures with my phone because my camera's batteries had died on me.

 I went and bought batteries today and we should all hope for better pictures.

We are still learning things about this kiln.
Sometimes I think I don't want to learn anything new and different. I just want it to work.
Laughable, right?
How hard could this stuff be to make?
It's easy, right?

Cool down in progress, results later.
M

Ms. B Just in time for more summer fun

 More good than bad, only two real ugly ones.
 We are encouraged to continue working with Ms. B.

Talk about some winners.
There were some real winners.
Happy 4th!

What I am doing on my Spring Break

 This is my plan for the week.
How about you all?
Beach?
Mountains?
Or, Seagove?
 Whynot come on over.


I will try real words soon.

It's pretty busy around here.

Pots are getting glaze!

Time to get out there.

Let's talk

I know, it's been awhile.
Life does that to a person, it just pops up and becomes something all on it's own that takes the days and the nights out of you.
My mother fell.
She is in her 80's and a broken bone is a broken bone.
So we went.
She is fine and recovering.
Time will tell.
Meanwhile it was back to school and pot making time.

And, the beauty of fall is all around us.
The drive to school and back is breath taking.
I take a route in the morning that winds through the back roads and as I round the curves and climb the foot hills there are some fabulous trees full of color.
The reds are here.
I love all the colors, but the reds just break my heart with their scream of color.
Every year we say, this is the best fall ever, well, maybe it is.
I'll check back in later.
Peace,
M

The moon was full,

  the ring that ran full circle around it was red and bright, soon the circle disappeared as a darkness began to take small bites out of the left side of the moon, slowly covering it all as it went from light to darkness, then as the sun rose, it was gone.
Amazing to be there up early, with my coffee; me and nature at her best.
Last night the moon rose bright over the pond. I had to go down for a few minutes to the pond and watch as it reflected off the water, fullness, heavy, bright, amazing.


Mark wired up many of the lamps that came out of the kiln. There is nothing like a handmade lamp to set off a room. We have just finished painting the guest bedroom and I have been tempted to go lamp shopping in the store. I really think the one with the great runs to the right would be nice in the bedroom.

 These lamps, even with the different blues and the creaminess of the glaze, look really good against the yellows that we used.
I am enjoying the color of the bedroom, it is a cool and quiet color.
Now I am thinking about curtains, bed spread, you know the drill... the other stuff.

Mark is back at the wheel while I am making the ride to school.
This week I put in a request for a wet/dry vacuum, I am so excited to be getting this. Cleaning is an issue when you have that many students and the clay and glazing that happens. I did not know how much I missed ours until I did not have one.
I found myself yesterday trying to clean out a kiln, the vacuum would have made short work of the issue. Not having one leaves me to be inventive and clever. I ended up taking a roll of masking tape, folding over an end and picking up the chunks of broken clay and glaze off the soft brick on the bottom of the kiln. It was slow work, but did the trick.

 It's time for me to move on, things to do.

Tiles to start loading in a kiln.
Cheers!
M

Testing out Ms. B

We are still working on the ends and outs and all abouts of the small gas kiln, Ms. B
She has her moments and produces some decent pots in and around the kiln. In fact there are more good ones than bad ones.
The questions is, "what is a bad pot?'
The very bottom shelf just does not reach the same temperature as the rest of the kiln. Mark is able to get a good 10 at the top, but no more then an 8 at the bottom. With that in mind we went for some test in the bottom of the kiln just to see how that would do.

This test was a cone 10 glaze with a six used together to see how the two would work. There are properties that I like about this and possibilities to work through. We plan to do some research into cone 8 glazes to see what we can come up with.

On the top of the kiln we had some of the new vases that I have been carving. These are in B-mix, a nice white stoneware. I see possibilities to explore with these as well. They still look like some really fancy drinking vessels and I guess that would be alright too. I do like the way Mark has cut the feet on these.

Just more things to expore all the time.

On the teaching front.
I had my last day for the summer session on Monday. Kilns fired, unloaded, students picking up work, clean up and paperwork.
I have been asked to stay while they are hiring the new instructor. I said yes. I'm looking forward to continuing with the students from the summer session, along with the new students that will be enrolling.  
I have some time off before I go back for the fall and the routine of being here, catching up, seeing family and working on my own pots will be a priority.

There are more pictures coming from Ms. B, we'll let you be the judge on results.