Long bowl

White earthenware with a black terra sig and sgraffito floral decoration.  I wasn't sure if I should call this a deep platter or a bowl, but I think it would work well as a serving bowl.  It's an unusual shape, which made the sgraffito work a bit difficult in places, but I like it.

Where were you...?

Where were you the first week of February, 1987, and what were you doing?  If you can't remember, it's not surprising... as far as I know, nothing earth-shattering occurred that week.  Twenty five years ago, this past week, I was on the road with our band playing in Billings, Montana.  I was 28 years old and had been playing music for a living for several years.  It was just another gig in another city, and I probably wouldn't have remembered much of anything about it either, except that I wrote letters to Pam & Patricia when they couldn't go out with us.  I was going through some of my old band stuff today, and I came across a couple of letters dated February 3rd and 5th, 1987.  With all of the letters I've saved over the years, what are the odds that I would come across one that was written 25 years ago... to the day.  I thought that was kinda cool.  
A brief glimpse into the wild life of a band on the road (ha!)

At that time, the band consisted of Rick Toombs (guitar, sax & vocals), Vinny Luciani (lead guitar & vocals), Dane Ward (keys and lead vocals), Ronald Wesley (bass guitar, keys and vocals), Becky Davich (lead vocals) and me on drums.  We also had a lighting tech named Kerry Williams (who had been with us since the early 80s) and our sound guy, Darrel Sanders.  We were living in Colorado Springs at the time, and had just finished a week in Durango, Colorado.  Then we headed north to Montana.  Our story begins on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 3rd, 1987.

Dear Pam and Patricia,
Hi - I love you!  I'm sitting here all by myself in our room #9 at the world famous Stardust Motel, at 3621 Montana Avenue, in beautiful Billings, Montana.  I'm just plain thrilled to be here! (Hmmmmm...)  I sure do miss you two.  It's going to be a long two weeks.  After I called you last night, Wes called Joan, and then we went in search of the motel.  It didn't take long.  This is a pretty bad motel... you know, the kind where you don't know if the sheets are "clean" or not.  It's down by the railroad tracks in the seedy part of town (who would have guessed that Billings had a "seedy" part of town?  funny).  It's not real bad, like Portales, New Mexico, but I am a little concerned about getting broken into... anyway... I hope not!  It sounds like the equipment truck just pulled in, so Darrel and Vinny should be coming in any minute now.  There are three beds in our room - two regular double beds and a bed that pops out of the couch.  I'm sleeping on that one.  It's not exactly what you would call comfortable.  There are two support bars that run across it, and one of them lands just across the small of my back, if I lay out flat on it... so I ended up kinda curled up in a ball in my sleeping bag last night.  It wasn't so bad.  We went for set-up today at around 1:00 or 1:30.  So far so good.  The people aren't real friendly yet, and I just get a strange vibe around here.  I don't know what it is... ya know?  It's kinda redneck.  Maybe that's it.  The club has a few rules.  It looks like it's going to be a low volume job, but the people like rock.  Sounds like an interesting combination.  I think we will find out what works soon enough.  One guy sitting at the bar said that they don't start throwing beer bottles at the band until after 11:00 (ha!)  (ha, ha, ha.... oh boy).
It will be a little strange doing opening night without Rick.  He's supposed to fly in at 7:00pm Wednesday, I think.  The last time we played in Billings was in early 1980 at a place called Grandma's, and we stayed out at the Econo Lodge.  That was where Linda blew up her toaster oven with a can of soup.  Remember? 
Anyway... we are playing at The Casino Club in case you need to know.  I hope you can read this, it's looking kinda sloppy.  Sorry.  I'll talk to you Wednesday.  Well, I guess I better go for now.  Everybody is coming in & out and they've got the TV on, talking, etc. so... I'll see you later.  Love you both.  Take care and be careful out there.
I'll be home in no time... right?

Thursday afternoon
February 5, 1987

Dear Pam & Patricia,
Wow, only 2:00pm and we've already done so much.  We got up at around 9:45 so we could practice on the new Peter Gabriel song "Big Time".  It was hard to pull myself out of bed!  Last night after work the manager told us about this place down the street called The Golden Nugget.  They have full meals for only $1.25!!  So... Wes & Vinny and I went over there last night for breakfast.  I got a huge 3 egg omlet with ham & cheese, hash browns and toast.  It was really good.  They have some gambling here in Montana, so a lot of these places serve cheap food to get you in the door, so you will play their slot machines.  We didn't play the machines.  Got back to the motel at around 3:00 or 3:30am....

the letter continues on about a nice library I found within walking distance from the motel... some "issues" we were having with one of the members of the band... and Ron & I working on some sequenced synthesizer parts.  So... that was what I  was doing 25 years ago today.  Exciting, huh.  But beyond the mundane day-to-day stuff, we also had a lot of fun in that band.  There were aspects of that profession that could be very difficult, to say the least, but I loved it. I mean, hey... I played drums for a living! I can easily say that it was the best job I ever had.  And I do miss that life sometimes, but I really don't think I could ever go back.  Not like that. There are way too many things that I like about my life today.

Our band, Some Peoples' Kids, in the summer of 1986.  L to R: Del Thompson (me), Rick Toombs, Becky Davich, Dane Ward, Ron Wesley and Vinny Luciani.

A smallish vessel for my spirits...

 

Slab built jug made of white earthenware... leather hard.  I made some dark blue terra sig a few days ago, and I think I will use it on this bottle.  I may add some floral patterned sgraffito to it also.  I'll give it a good look once the terra sig is dry, and see if it will let me (ha).  I am discovering that you can't force a design or decoration idea onto a piece when everything is telling you it shouldn't be there.  Sometimes you just have to know when to sit it aside and leave it alone.  It may just be a blue bottle, which would be fine.  I've got more of these in the works.    

Blog?.... what blog?

Well, well... look at the time. The date on my last post was over a week ago!  That's no way to run a blog.  It has been a busy week, though.  An electrician came out a couple of weeks ago and had a look at our breaker box and the kiln.  He said it could  be done, but the kiln is so big that when all four switches are flipped and the kiln is running full on, any other heavy drains on the system (AC or heater, clothes dryer, etc.) could possibly trip the 100 amp main breaker.  He said it's the spike in power when those appliances kick on that will usually cause the problem.  I asked him what he would recommend in an ideal situation, and he said he would want to have another 100 amp breaker just for the kiln.  Which would be a pretty big ($$$) project.  We discussed some alternatives, needless to say.  Initially I had wondered if I could split the kiln in half.  It comes in two pieces, and they are wired separately; and connected to each other with a standard 50 amp plug... the kind they use on clothes dryers and stoves.  I would just remove the top half and attach the lid to the lower half.  The kiln sitter is located on the lower half, also, so that's not an issue.  He said he could wire the lower half so that I could run it using a standard clothes dryer plug-in, and mount the plug box right next to the breaker panel.  That sounds like a plan to me.  I just don't know how it will perform with the different configuration.  I asked the kiln manufacturer about it and they basically suggested the same fix.  I'm not done exploring my options right now, but in the mean time, I am still making pottery! I've managed to get a few mugs done; another large, decorated platter; a couple of plates; three really cool, spouted teapot-like things (I honestly don't know what they are, they just sort of happened, so I went with it)... and another big moonshine jug.  It's all coming along pretty well.  Our band is playing a private party tonight (but I'm pretty sure anyone can crash it... it's at an American Legion Post here in Springfield)  I've been told that they are having a fish fry before we play.  With any luck I'll be home by 1:00 or 1:30am. I should be able to get some stuff done this weekend.  Looking forward to it!  Peace.

It's a winter wonderland...

It's been snowing pretty good this morning, here in Ozark... more than they were expecting down here, I think.  As I have noted in the past, it is very pretty, but I'm glad I'm not out in it.  It's been coming down steadily since a little before 7:00 this morning.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but we've probably received an inch to an inch and a half today, so far.  And yes, that sign says Hair Cut 8 dollars!  My gosh what a deal!  ;)
Anyway... back to the snow.
The front passed through last evening, with some heavy flurries overnight; and it got quite a bit colder.  The first of the snow last night melted and then refroze, so we had some ice under it, but the drive to work really wasn't bad at all; they had obviously been out salting the roads early.  And as long as it stops this afternoon and the roads are OK for the drive home, I'm good with it.  It's blowing sideways right now.  Funny... a little Ozarks blizzard.
I've been thinking I need to build some shelves downstairs in my studio area; like I don't have enough to do around the house already.  But I have enough pots made right now (with many more to come) that I am actually running out of places to put them!  That's a first for me... and very cool!  I love it.

Forever drifting...

forever drifting on a river of stars...             and apples.
Stars and apples.  Now you know.

my starry night...

serving bowl and small plate.  Red earthenware and black underglaze with ancient sgraffito stars aplenty.

What the?......

Here in southwest Missouri the weather has become very agreeable these past few days, considering that it is early January... a heavy jacket feels good, and there isn't a cloud in the sky.  As I often do, I went for a walk on my lunch break a couple of days ago, to get away from the computer for a bit.  I normally walk on the Ozark City park trails along the Finley River, not far from our office.  There is a paved trail and a wooded trail.  That day I decided to walk the paved trail, which is a little over a half mile one way. About 15 minutes into my walk I saw an elderly couple 30 yards or so up the path from me, headed my way.  As I got closer, off to my left toward the river I heard something rustling in the brush, and then the distinct sound of something running, full out, through the dry grass toward me.  There are wild critters along the trail, and my first thought was that it must be a squirrel.  But when I saw this thing running at a full gallop toward me, my mind could not process what I was seeing.  Is it a 'possum?.... a beaver?.... geeez, maybe it's a rabid bobcat!  My mind was racing at top speed, which sadly for me, is dangerously slow for survival in the wilds of the Ozarks wilderness ;)  So I'm standing there, wondering how this crazed critter is going to dismember me.  Will it go for my legs first, or leap at my face and chew my eye brows off?  Mind you, this was all happening in the span of maybe 5 to 8 seconds.  And then, a pink sweater.  What the?... the rabid beaver is wearing a pink sweater.  Then from behind me I hear "aawww he ain't gonna do nothin to ya". and in the next moment I had a very excited miniature Schnauzer running circles around me feet, wanting very much to say hello.  Cute as could be.  As I bent down to greet the little guy, the man added "now... he don't need none of yer ol' dog kisses"  I assumed he was speaking to the dog.
The mind is a funny thing.  I seriously didn't know what I was looking at as that Schnauzer ran headlong toward me... and my brain was processing everything as fast as it could.  If it really had been something dangerous, I would have been toast.  That is not a comforting thought.  I need to get out into the woods more often.  I'm getting soft, and slow... just like any rabid groundhog in a little pink sweater would want me to be.  Yup, I definitely need to get out more.

2012

Looking out at the new year ahead... and feeling kinda goofy.  And that's OK, it's 1:30 in the morning, and it was a long night.  

Our band played in Mountain Grove, Missouri last night, at a place called The Midway.  Instead of doing Auld Lang Syne at the stroke of midnight, we played You Shook Me All Night Long by ACDC.  I like that a lot better.  As the night wore down, the lights came on and the party people eventually drifted out into the beautiful early morning hours of a new year.  It was chilly out, and very windy, but this time of year if it's not sleeting or snowing on New Years eve, we consider ourselves fortunate.  As we were tearing down our equipment and getting ready to load out, I picked up this party hat and put it on to commemorate the event. I had Pam take a picture on my phone to send to all of my friends and family... most of which were probably asleep (ha).  It's Sunday morning, January 1, 2012... and as I sit here at the computer, in my jammies ;) I have a simple hope that this new year will be a healthy, happy and prosperous one for everybody.  I have some big ideas for the year ahead of us.  I guess I better get to it!  Happy New Year everyone!

and now, for something completely different...

Finished the underglaze "painting" on this one this afternoon.  I really enjoyed making it.  Really... there will be more of these.  ;)

Time...

This is what being on vacation looks like, I guess.  I finished the sgraffito decoration on this plate at around 11:30 last night.  Once the design was formed in my mind, it really didn't take very long to complete.  I've been on vacation from work this week (soooooo very nice), and that time away from all of that  has allowed me to clear away some of the clutter...  time to refocus some creativity.  And it worked, I think.  I made this plate several days ago, and once it got to the leather hard stage, I applied the underglaze, and from there the design just sort of happened.  Hopefully it will survive all of the trials to come.  I like this one.

Gold dust, maybe?....

When I got home from work this evening I was delighted to see a package resting on my front door.  My order from Big Ceramic Store had arrived!  Yippeee... just like Christmas morning (ha). 

This is my first experience with Mason Stains.  I'm thinking the main ingredient must be gold dust, because this stuff is kinda pricey.  Oh well... I've heard good things about it.  I will be using it to color earthenware slip.  I've read a few articles about how to use it, but if there are any experienced potters out there who wouldn't mind sharing a few wise words regarding this stuff, please feel free to share-away.  I would really appreciate it.  I'm like a sponge.  Thanks.

Why not now...

if we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin
Ivan Turgenev

When faced with a decision, choose the path that feeds your soul.
Dorothy Mendoza Row

Fly by Night...

Here is a new plate (or small platter) that I've been working on these past few days.  It's made of red earthenware, and slab built over a slump mold.  Once it was stable enough to safely handle (leather hard) I took it off the mold and smoothed out the edge a bit more, and then applied cut-out stencils for the moon and trees.  After that, I brushed on a generous coat of black Spectrum underglaze and then removed the stencils and allowed it to dry overnight.  This morning I went over the details of cleaning up the lines, added some extra branches to the trees, and lastly... I penciled in the bird and carved it through the underglaze.  After bisque firing it will get a clear glaze finish.  The fired platter should measure about an inch deep by 12 inches in diameter.  I'll be making several more of these plates with a similar design motif here in the next few weeks.  I will be using colored slip, instead of the commercial underglaze, for the others.

100 pounds of clay....

It doesn't look like much in this picture, but that's 100 pounds of clay sitting there on my work table.  That's the most clay I have ever bought at one time, and I am excited to get started making stuff.  I want to make enough pots here in the next couple of months (I actually have no idea how long this will take) to have a fairly full kilnload when I fire the Vulcan for the first time.  As I have noted before, my plan is to have the kiln hooked up and ready to fire before the end of the year...  And that would be a whopping three weeks away?  I'm sure that once I get it wired I'm going to be bursting to fire my first load.  But I will just have to pace myself.  It may go faster that I think, but if you've seen our kiln (there's a good look at it in my post from August 29th) you know that it is a monster.  No worries.  ;)   

they're back...

I picked up my glaze load yesterday on the way home from work.  I think it is safe to say that at this stage of my education in the making of pottery, every firing is going to be a lesson in accepting small victories, and hopefully learning what not to do next time.  ;) 

These pieces of pottery are OK, but overall I am just not very happy with the results of this glaze firing.  On every piece (almost without exception) the glaze appear thin, with long streaks of glaze dripping down in some spots.  And in other places, there are blotchy areas with almost no shine on the surface at all.  And I also had some bubbling or blistering on a couple of them.  Ugh.  The good news is, I am pretty sure I know why they turned out the way they did.  I made the mistake of thinning the glaze down this time, thinking that it was too thick last time.  Hmmmmm... It's just a guess, but everything seems to point in that direction.   Also, between the two glaze loads I've sent to L&R this year, both have had blistering; with the common factor between them being Amaco underglaze.  I used the Amaco on a few of the pieces from this load, and those were the ones that blistered.  On everything else I used Spectrum underglaze.  At any rate, these are not a total loss, but they do need to be better.  A lot better... especially if I'm going to start putting them out there for the world to see (and hopefully buy).  I will take another critical look at them, but I doubt any of these pots will make it to my Etsy site.  We'll see.  Nevertheless, every step of the way I feel like I am learning. 
Out of the dozen or so pieces from this load, these four jugs have kinda risen to the top of the heap.  Even with their flaws, I can find positive aspects in them, most certainly.  I like them, and I don't want to sound too down about all of this... I still think it's really cool.  I just need to keep moving forward with them... and try to make them better next time.

L&R Raku day 2011

I spent a good part of the day down in Nixa at L&R's 21st annual Raku Day.  It was fun.  This was my first time watching the Raku process in person.  I didn't have any bisqued ware (made from Raku clay) to fire, but L&R had pieces available for a very reasonable price... I bought a small globular vase for $5.00.  Everything else was free; the glazing and firing, and lots of good food to snack on!  You can't beat that, and it was such an enjoyable atmosphere.  You had to be patient, though.  The crowd was thick, and the process takes time.  After I selected the vase I wanted, I stood in line for a while just to get to the wax resist area.  After that, we moved on to the glaze buckets.  I chose a crackle white for the bottom half of the pot, with a turquoise blue rim.  The next step involved about a half hour (or so) of pre-warming and then waiting for a kiln to open up.  They had about half a dozen gas-fired kilns going.  The actual firing took about 20 minutes. When the vase was glowing orange hot, the top of the kiln was lifted off, and the guy working the kiln picked up my piece with tongs and moved it around in the air (and even blew on it) to cool the surface, in order to create the distinct crackle effect.  It was then placed in a metal bucket with some newspaper, and sealed for several minutes, allowing the smoke to permeate the clay body, and darken the cracks in the glaze.  It turned out really nice, I think.  I'm pretty sure that when November rolls around next year, I'll be back for the 22nd annual Raku day.  A good time was had by one and all.

Into the fire...

I took the rest of my mid-fire buff pieces to work with me this morning, and on my lunch break I drove over to Nixa and dropped them off at L&R, for bisque firing.  They should be done early next week.  As always, I'm looking forward to seeing the results.  I've got some jugs in that load that I am pretty excited about.  The plan is to have the Vulcan kiln wired and ready to fire by the time I have another load of pots ready to go.  Those will all be earthenware.  I could see that happening sometime this winter with any luck.  Right now, however, I do not have a single piece of earthenware pottery made.  Guess I better get busy.   Be the clay...... ;)

Creative momentum

Time.  Artistic pursuits require unfettered time to blossom, and grow.  Right now, my time for such things comes in fragments.  An hour here, a couple of hours there.  That's just the way it is.  I'm not complaining, but it can be very frustrating sometimes.  Many artists speak in glowing terms about creative momentum; about those times when there is no time... just you and your craft, with little or no awareness that hours are passing.  When I read articles about artists, they will occasionally make a casual comment about being so caught up in the creative process, that they forget to eat.  Funny.  I don't have that problem.

I got home from work yesterday, and after goofing around with Gabriel for a few minutes and getting some other things done around the house, I went down to the basement to get started on a piece of pottery that I've had rattling around in my head for the past couple of days.  We had band rehearsal last night, but I thought I could at least get started on my idea before I had to leave.  Unfortunately, my mind just wasn't in the game, and the slab of clay that I had neatly rolled out for my new piece of pottery, quickly turned into a mashed up pile on my work bench (with a very nice impression of my fist in the middle).  Things didn't go so well.  So much for the creative process.  There's always tomorrow.  An hour here... a couple of hours there.  Peace.

When things finally get rolling...

I need to remember this.  Some day when I'm an artist I can make a copy of it, and hang it in my studio.  That would be cool.  Some day...  ;)