On The Road Again

The last time I made egg separators, I noticed that they were all smiling at me.  I decided then that the next group would also get some eyes to go with those smiles. 

On Friday, I went to the Life Enrichment Center in Kings Mountain and did a presentation on pottery for the participants.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Life Enrichment Center is an adult day care center.  They provide care for adults (of all ages) who for various reasons are unable to be alone while their family members work.  I did a similar presentation at the Shelby facility back in November.  

This time I got smart and took hand trucks to make it easier to get my stuff inside.  

I took several pieces of finished work so I could talk about the different shapes and glazes.  I also took some tools and some pieces that were leather hard.  I showed them how a handle is attached to a mug and I cut out the mouths and put eyes on a couple of the egg separators pictured above. It always feels kind of weird to try to do a pottery demonstration with out a wheel since that's where I'm most comfortable and what I think is most interesting to watch.  But I guess things went ok.

Mugs are still a focus for me in the studio this week.  I think the weekly total ended up being 13.  Number 14 died a quick death when I threw it across the studio because I tried twice (unsuccessfully) to get a handle it. Sometimes you just have to pitch a little fit and then things get better.

I also sanded a lot of things I'd made in the past couple of weeks.  Bacon cookers, pie plates, cake plates, and various cups all got finished up and put in the bisque fire.  I try to do most of the smoothing out when pieces are still wet or leather hard , but sometimes a little steele wool is necessary.  Sanding pots kicks up a good bit of dust.  Dust is not good to breathe.  The mask is not my favorite thing, but I'm glad that I've got it for when it's needed.

One careless move when loading the kiln yesterday and I killed this big bowl.  If you whack the green ware with a 2 by 4, it will crack almost every time.  As disappointing as it is to break something, I'm just glad it was my piece and not someone else's.  That would have made me really sad.  It was a bummer though.  This bowl was pretty nice.  Looking on the bright side, it did give me a chance to check out the wall thickness.  I'm pretty pleased with what I found.  Certainly not perfect, but relatively even all around.  Go me!