Nice Balance

On Saturday, I had the perfect balance of customers coming in and alone time so I could get work done.  It was wonderful.  The only negative thing that I can say about my day on Saturday was that I forgot half of the things that I normally pack for eating and drinking, so I was kind of hungry.  Well, I also couldn't keep up with my running partner earlier that morning.  That was kind of annoying but I should have expected it - he's about 20 years younger than I am and I had completed a leg workout before we went running.  So I'm claiming the points for being willing to run under those circumstances and moving on.  See?  This is me not dwelling on the fact that I got my butt kicked.  (How am I doing so far?)  Once I recovered from the trying to not collapse from heat and exhaustion, I enjoyed some pretty nice endorphins the rest of the morning.

Back to the pottery - there was more than one person who stopped in who said they were just visiting Shelby.  I've mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating.  Shelby is a place that people come to explore and visit for the day.  How cool is that?  One customer told me that Shelby seemed exactly like what she imagined a friendly small southern town should be. She noted that everyone that she passed on the street smiled and said hello to her. AWESOME!  They had come that morning especially to go to Lee Furniture and were delighted with the town that they discovered. I think those folks will be back and I hope that they drop in the studio again.  I enjoy meeting these visitors so much!

I also had a visit from a new co-worker and her family.  Actually, she had stopped in earlier in the week when I was not there.  Her remark to me the next day after that visit was that she loved it and it seemed like such a happy place.  A happy place!  Perfect. She bought a couple of Allen's pieces.  One for a gift and one for her office at work.  It will make me very happy to see that wall sconce with the face every day when I pass her office.

In my happy place this week, I actually made some things again.  It felt so good.  Thursday after work I threw twelve soup bowls.  I've gotten another commission for soup bowls.  Ten this time. I'll make twelve to be sure that I get ten that are good.  Allen called the extras "insurance pieces."  I was tired from the week and kind of didn't feel like starting on that large a project.  Once I got going, it was OK.

Those twelve bowls got trimmed and handles attached on Friday afternoon.  On Friday I wondered at the wisdom of making twelve bowls at once at the end of a full work week.  It took significantly longer to attach all those handles than it did to make the bowls.

I also threw six mugs on Friday.  I delivered mugs to Hannah's Coffee House Friday and noticed that they seemed just a little bit smaller than I wanted.  The focus of these new mugs was to get more out of the pound and a half of clay that I am using.  Right now, they feel big.  It will be interesting to see how big they are after firing.

The mugs got handles and "Hannah's Coffee House" inscribed on them on Saturday.

In the background of this picture, there are three pitchers. I managed to not take a picture of the pitchers before I left Saturday afternoon.  (Say that five times fast - picture of the pitchers.) Don't know how I did that.  I had them all lined up on the table together and had my phone in my hand.  Oh well.  I made the pitchers start to finish on Saturday.  This can be done on a hot, sunny day when I'm at the studio for an extended period of time.  I'll try to get a picture of them for you later.

Last Glaze Fire

Completed butter dishes.  I'm pretty happy with these.

Ever seen a bacon cooker before? 

Drape the slices over the center "cup" and microwave. The grease collects in the bottom and you can pour it out. Pretty cool, huh?

Mugs. Almost always mugs.

Leaf trays.  I won't be able to make these this winter.

Reminds me, I need to collect some more leaves...

Proud Moment

This is not my work, but I got permission to share the pictures because I am so proud of this.  I'm proud of my friend for trying something new.  "Closing up" is not an easy skill...and she did it!  I'll leave her name out for now.  She can decide if she wants to go public or not. 

Then she cut the top off, and trimmed everything up so it fit nicely.  I have to tell you, I didn't try this until about 2 years ago. 

I'm also proud of myself a little bit.  I showed her how to do this.  I taught someone something that they didn't know before. This is big.

I still haven't made any pots of my own, so for now I'll enjoy someone else's work.

Great Big Zero

Know how many pots I made this week? NONE.  I think I'm suffering withdrawal.  It feels a bit like guilt.  I know that's nuts. There are only 24 hours in a day and the past week has been full - back to the real job, a triathlon, and volunteering for the American Legion World Series.  Still, it feels very strange and not so good that I didn't get any studio time in the past week. In fact, I didn't get to do any of those things as well as I would have liked because I'm spread too thin.

There were some things that I forgot to share before, so this is a catch up on some of that.

I did this...

My attempt to make this...

If you read this blog regularly (thank you!), you'll remember that I shared some pictures of my first try...that was on white clay.  That didn't do so well and ended with me throwing the clay across the studio.  I felt much better after that and tried again. 

We had a glaze fire and I don't think I showed you any pictures. Here's all my things

And a few close ups...

Blue casserole

Multi colored casserole

Utensil holder or vase

I think there will be enough work for a bisque fire soon.  Maybe even this week.

It Feels Like Goodbye

Good bye, Summer.  I go back to work this week.  It is August, so it's time, but I am still a little sad about the end of having as much time for pottery as I wanted.  Over the past few months, I've spent more time in the studio than ever before. I've learned a few things in the process.  I've shared a lot about what I've learned, but here are a few more items.

First, wear good shoes.  I'd gotten in the habit of wearing whatever worn out, old shoes I had.  The shoe progression has gone like this in the past - running shoes become go-to-the-gym shoes become pottery shoes.  Not anymore!  Standing on those concrete floors is tough on legs and feet.  The days that I lifted (especially leg day), ran, and then worked on pottery for several hours were the hardest. It was hard to do, but I ended up giving myself permission to wear a pair of my "work" shoes to do pottery and my legs and feet were much happier. Keens worked out pretty well for summer time, and I've got an older pair of Danskos that may end up being the winter time go-to shoes.

Second, being the "Uptown Potter" is pretty cool.  You meet the nicest people!  I have really enjoyed giving people directions to the license tag office (after looking it up because I didn't know where it was either), to the nearest branch of the State Employees Credit Union (oh wow, you aren't even close), and to highway 74 bypass (turn left just in front of Wendy's to go west).  People from out of town make day trips to explore Shelby now.  How cool is that??  Seriously though, my location is AWESOME and I am so grateful for the chance to be where I am.  I'm going to miss being there during the day on a regular basis.

Sometimes you re-meet the nicest people too.  I have to share this story because it is too good.  On Saturday, a man came in and asked if it would be ok if he parked a car in the parking lot so it would be easier on his elderly aunt and uncle to get to Shelby Cafe (the street was blocked off from my intersection to the court square for a festival).  He was so thoughtful to ask and seemed like a nice guy taking care of his aunt and uncle, so of course my answer was yes.  Then he introduced himself...I bet hadn't seen Phil Harden since I was about 13.  He was one of the big kids on the swim team when I was a little kid.  Then he helped coach some (I think) when he was in college and I was a not quite as little a kid.  It was a real treat to get to see him again and to get caught up.

Allen called his pottery studio "a happy, busy place" one time.  I am happy to report that it has been just that for me this summer.  Now it's time to figure out how to keep the happy, busy place going while I go back to my "real" job.

Here's what I did when I wasn't visiting with new/old friends this week...

This is the last of the cone 10 clay.

I decided to try "throwing off the hump." When making numerous small pieces, it is a time saver if you can make them out of a single larger lump of clay rather than centering all the little individual pieces.  I tried to make some small bowls.

Centered and opened.

Bowl shape.  The hard part for me is cutting it off the big mound of clay.

Managed to get the first one off OK.  This is what was left.

I got 3 bowls...

And 4 things that didn't make it.  

Clearly that didn't go very well.  I was quite frustrated, so I quit trying.  I know it will take practice, so I'll try again...sometime.  To make myself feel better about things, I ended the week with some pieces that I CAN make relatively consistently.