The other day it turned fallish

 Fall is in the air.
The last few times we have gone to walk it has been so cool that I am pulling on a sweatshirt and happy to have it.
We are still making a round at the zoo when we get the chance.
Last week things were tight for us with tree trimming and all so we made some walking time closer to home.

We have a great walk that we can do just out

 the front door.
We did that twice last week and then made one day out to our local park.
We have found tha the park has a bit too much red mud for us and it all tends to hang on to the bottom of our shoes.
The walk here is better, quicker and less mess.

The sassafras trees are starting to turn this week. The red of the leaves is so pretty.
Inside many of those leaves I am still finding some  caterpillars of the Spicebush butterfly.

 I check them everyday hoping that I can see one in the pupa stage.
No luck.
You can see that the one on the leaf below is changing from green to a yellow.
The more yellow it becomes, the more ready it is for the next stage.
This one has been hanging out for a few days. I  hope that it will hang around somewhere close and let me watch it become a butterfly.

I know you all think I have lost my brain to bugs.
I am thinking the same.
Then I listen to a program on the sense of wonder.
It talked about how we should never give up the wonders that are around us everyday. The flowers, trees, bugs and anything that makes us think.
Maybe the bugs are my sense of wonder.

A friend gave me a butterfly book today and I have been looking through it off and on. I am looking at the butterflies that I have not spotted here.
And, I am looking up some new ones that I have spotted and did not know who they were.
Knowledge and a sense of wonder.


I really thought I would hang these wall vases up together and take their picture, but it just did not happen.
With the morning walks back in place I am finding that it is replacing some of the time I was using for other things.
Not that this is a bad thing, since making pottery can keep a person in one place for a long period of time.
We all have our stress points with our jobs.
I find that the more I move the better off I am.

About these wall vases.
Mark put this finial on as a way to finish off the ends .
I thought at first that this was just a tad over the top, but now that they are fired I find it does finish off the piece very nicely.
Below is a smaller vase with just a close base.
What do you think?
Do you think it makes a difference one way or the other?

Time to get ready to get horizontal .
Cheers,
M

Cat got your tounge?

Hey- do you every have those days when you feel you have nothing to really talk about, but a lot to think about.
I want to tell you what a great day we had yesterday.

We had good customers in the store, who liked our work and took home some pots.
We enjoyed seeing some regulars and meeting some new customers as well.
We had two ladies in who had hear about us from a friend in Wisconsin.
If you are going to Seagrove you have to go to Whynot.
Then a visiting potter from Washington State, who was a pleasure to meet, along with his friend from Brevard NC.
Then the last group of the day were great fun.
A couple from Winston-Salem, with her Mom and two friends.
I bet we took 3-4 groups through the newly rebuilt workshop.
It was one of those magic days.
Good conversations and pots being packed to go to good homes.

I ran off to pick up eggs and deliver some good organic garlic to a friend. While I was gone Mark sold two of the pillow pots.
You know when you make something new you just don't know how they will be received. Mark said the woman who bought them was so excited over them.
That just made my day.

There was a man in who shared a great story with me.
He came to find us just to tell us about his father.
His father bought a pitcher, vase and one coffee mug from us about 20 years ago.
His son told us that his father drank his coffee out of that mug every day until the day he passed away.
He said his mother would try to take it to put in the dishwasher and his father would want it.
So the ritual began in which he would carefully wash and dry the mug and set it aside to be ready anytime he wanted to use it.
The son says it sits on a shelf now and they can not take it down or use it yet. It reminds then so much of the father and how much he enjoyed the mug.
The son said maybe the next visit home he would be able to take it and bring it home with him. He would like to have it to remind him of his father.
I was so pleased that he shared this family story with me and that we were part of this man's daily life.
When I see our work used, or I hear about how a coffee mug can enrich someones life everyday, I think, this is why we do this. This is why I want to make pots. I do like that we touch people in a good place. Give them something to hold and enjoy. Nourishment for the soul, for that place it can take you, if only for a little while.

Red Clay

When it is the end of the week and the end of a throwing/firing cycle we sometimes find ourselves not ready for "wheel work" but in need of doing something with the clay.
Now that we have a dedicated space for the slab roller one of us can get in there and make something.
Mark has not really had the time to play with the slab roller since the fire last July.
He spent Thursday and Friday working out some large wall vases.
He enjoys working on these and enjoys the "zone" of making the slabs and the stamping designs.
He puts so much detail in each vase.

These are made from Highwater's Red Stone clay body and will be fired in the electric kiln along with my tiles and some hump trays and bowls.
We have not used the new electric kiln for a glaze fire and by making these it will speed things along for me to fire the new kiln.
I bought this kiln last year just for tiles and flat ware. It is not as deep as our other electric kilns, but the width is the same.
I wanted to be able to use our same kiln shelves.
We should have enough pots after the next bisque to fire.