Big News

I have joined Buffalo Creek Gallery!!!  

This is big news in my world and I am very excited.  I must give credit where it is due here, so there's a list of people that I must thank.  Get comfortable...

Thank you, Allen Griffin, for everything.  (The list of specifics is so long, I'll save it for another post.)

Thank you, Katie Earl, for asking me if I was interested in joining and for answering all my questions even while you were on vacation with your family.

Thank you, Jeff Jones, for being willing to work my days in the gallery.  I believe the exact words were, "That sounds like exactly the kind of thing a retired man can do."  

Thank you, Ron Philbeck, for teaching that awesome pottery class last spring.  I learned a lot about making pots, made some new friends (including you and Katie), and learned that stepping outside my comfort zone is a good thing.  Thank you also for cheerfully providing a reference to include in my application for membership in the gallery.

Thank you, Martha Moore, for providing a reference for me and for being excited that I was applying.

Just so you guys realize how cool Ron and Martha are, let me explain about the references.  I realized on Monday that I was required to provide references with my application for membership and that I really needed them at the gallery by Tuesday night.  Ron and Martha didn't hesitate and I hope that they both know how much that means to me.

I'm going over there later this week to take a look at the space that will be given to me so that I can figure out what pottery I need to take for my display.  In the near future Jeff and I will get trained in how to work the gallery.  I will share pictures when I have them.

Canisters, a Platter, and Big Bowls

First they were lumps of clay... 

Then they were cylinders and bowls...

And finally, three days later, a set of canisters.  

I also made a big platter.  Later I attached this rim to a slab for the bottom.  

I needed a big bowl last weekend and didn't have one, so I made 3 of these this week.  Maybe they will turn out nice and maybe I'll even keep one.  Inside my head, I've been hearing Sir Mix-A-Lot, "I like big bowls and I cannot lie, You other brothers can't deny..."  And yes, I am ashamed.  Very ashamed.  

Summer Gets Shorter Every Year

It's been a while since I last logged in here...two months goes by in the blink of an eye.  Here I am with only one week left before I return to work on July 14.  As usual, I've been gone a lot.  I took a trip to Pennsylvania to see my sister, a trip to Kansas City to grade Advanced Placement Calculus exams, and a trip to the beach with the family and my summer is gone.  In between trips, I did make a little bit of pottery, but I was less than disciplined about photographing it and I sure didn't want to turn on the computer.

Today I actually remembered to grab my phone and snap a couple of pictures of what I was working on.  I think I remembered because it was something I'd never done before...GOBLETS.  Why goblets you ask?  Because Allen made some and I thought they looked really cool.  So I decided that I needed to see if I could do it too.

I started by throwing the cups and stems separately.  I used about a pound and a half for each cup and a pound for each stem.  

Next I trimmed the cups so that they fit inside the top of the stems, and then joined them.

You have to make sure that they are level.  

And there we are.  Three goblets that may or may not survive the drying/firing process.

They were pretty dry when I got back to them this morning, so I'm a little worried about the joints coming apart.  I also cracked the rim of one of the cups when I put on on the wheel to trim the bottom, so that one might not live.  

Since this was the first time I'd ever done this, I made NO EFFORT at all to make pieces that match.  This exercise was about figuring out if I could do this.  And I can...and it was fun.  It will be interesting to see what size they end up when they are finished. Right now, they are good sized, but they will shrink a good bit.