Good Bye, Allen

I thought that I wouldn't be writing about this for a while. On Sunday when the phone rang, I expected it to be Prissy calling it arrange for our next visit - we'd been trying to work that out for a couple of weeks.  It wasn't.

I think I first met Allen at the gym.  We both worked out at the same place with the same trainer.  I didn't talk to him much more than to just say hello.  I don't go to the gym to talk.  Somehow I learned that he was the guy who had opened the pottery studio uptown.  I remember being kind of in awe of that.  

I stopped in the shop a few times over the years.  I'd always stop if I saw that there was a sale.  Sometimes Mom and I would fight over who was going to get the piece that we both wanted.  I bought a good bit of pottery.  

Then, Catherine Ware talked me into going up there for lessons. I wasn't sure that I had time for that, but I thought I'd give it a try for a month and see how it went.  Allen became my teacher.  He started me out the first night with trying to center a pound of clay. We made a cup. To be fair, he mostly made the cup, but I did touch it a time or two. I discovered that making pottery was very, very frustrating.  I remember one time, I'd worked and worked to get a ball of clay centered and finally had. Allen was sitting there on his stool watching and coaching. I sat back so proud that I'd finally done it and he hit it and knocked it off center.  I wanted to kill him.

Allen became my friend.  My good friend.  It was so hard to know that he was sick.  While I am glad that he didn't suffer any longer than he did, I am so selfish and sad that he's not here anymore.  I want him here dammit! I wasn't ready to say good bye.  I didn't get to say good bye.  I didn't get to say thank you.

These pictures aren't great...

This is Arts on the Square from 8 years ago and my first attempt to sell pottery. Allen had to talk me into doing this.  He had explained that if I was going to keep making pots, I needed to start selling pots, but I was pretty sure that nothing I made was good enough to sell.  He offered to share a booth with me so I'd have the guts to do it. He took the pictures of my work to send in with our application.  Then he loaded up his van with tables, shelves, and pots and drove one block down Lafayette Street from his studio to the court square.  Through it all, he was explaining what to do...load the pots in first and put tables and shelves on top of them.  That way when you unload, you have the things you need first out first.

Last week, I signed up to do Arts on the Square again.  It won't be the same.  

Here Allen is at his wheel in the studio...working and I'm sure talking.  I've spent a good bit of time over the past eight and a half years standing where I was to take this picture.  From this spot I could see what his hands were doing as he worked.  

And this.

This was the last time Allen was able to make it to his studio and the last time that I got to see him.

 I keep thinking that soon I should be cried out and I'll run out of tears.  So far that hasn't happened and I fear that it won't for a long while.

Thank you for everything, Allen.  I love you.

Results

As promised, here are pictures of the things of mine that came out of the last kiln load.  

Mugs. Seems like I'm always making mugs.  This batch is all textured.

With blue rims.

With brownish red rims.

With green rims.

With red rims.

Anyone notice that they are all different sizes?  That's because not everyone likes a big mug.  Yes. I do this on purpose.  The varying sizes has nothing to do with my inability right now to make things that actually match.

Different texture. There are 3 more that will "match" these that will get fired next time.

A smallish vase in this green that I LOVE.

Tan and blue similar to the mugs.

Tall lidded jar in blue.

And one in white.

And textured with brownish red on top.

I had such a good time making those jars.  I can't wait to do some more.

Then there were soup bowls.  These are tan and blue.

And tan and green with a different handle.

These bowls were made while I was working with my Aunt Marilyn to help her figure out what shape and handle she wanted on the bowls that she asked me to make.  I had a really good time making these too.  

Marilyn's bowls will be on white clay and will be glazed in blue and red. They are pictured below in various stages of the drying process.  These too will be in the next firing.  

Then, because I'm always making mugs, here are 8 more that I made last weekend.

What's Been Happening Lately

I came to the realization yesterday that I either have time to make pots or I have time to take pictures and write about pots.  I'm having a very difficult time doing both.  

Last weekend it was time to glaze and fire.

Thursday afternoon I prepared for glazing.

Friday was glazing day.

Then on Saturday, I loaded up the kiln.  Before I could do that, there was a little bit of work that needed doing.  Periodically, the shelves need to be scraped and a new layer of kiln wash applied. It takes a little bit of time but isn't hard to do.

 The shelves dried while I finished up the last little bit of glazing. 

I came back on Monday morning and unloaded.  The kiln is acting a little bit funny, so I was anxious to see what kind of results we would get.  I took the following pictures as I unloaded so that I could remember what was at the top, middle, and bottom of the load in case anything looked funny.

Top layer...soup bowls on one side and tall things on the other.

Second layer...soup bowls.

Third layer...that's a lot of mugs.

Fourth layer...flat things on one side and some bowls and mugs.

And the bottom...bowls, vases, and the occasional mug.

The kiln continues to fire about an hour longer that what we expect, but once again, the results were OK.  I was very pleased with my things.  I'll share some pictures in my next post.