All Fired Up

All Fired Up" is Clayworks' annual fundraiser fest. This year, Mother Nature graced us with a thunderstorm for the event. But it didn't dampen anybody's spirits. Strands of Christmas lights transformed classrooms into a wonderland. There was a silent auction...door prizes...music...dinner & dancing...and an Xtreme clay demonstration. Much better photos will be on the Clayworks website in the days to come, but here are a few pix my sister and I took at "All Fired Up 2008."

The photographers.  As you will see, neither of us should give up our day jobs to pursue new careers at National Geographic.  But we sure had fun snapping photos of the Clayworks instructors during the Xtreme Clay demonstration.  

Julie and Greg know what the ultimate design will be.  But we didn't.  
Ron pulls a handle.  Julie pulls a pot.  Greg collars in.  In the past, they created a giant teapot...and last year, a giant basket.  Pot after pot was thrown while guests watched and wondered what are they making?

Jen knew.  But she wasn't telling.  



While guests enjoyed dinner, they continued to throw.  Outside, Joe tended the raku kiln in the rain...  



Sherri managed the door prizes...



Fred and Greg discussed a possible upcoming project that will marry music with clay. (More on that as the project develops)



The resident artists were all smiles...



And Kit and Cinder danced.



Back in the classroom, Greg, Julie, Ron and Jen continued their Xtreme work.    

Ron looked especially dashing with his clay moustache.
 
Amy snapped pictures as the artists neared completion. 

Greg added some finishing touches, including pieces that were made by All Fired Up guests..  

Voila!  The newest addition to Clayworks' Xtreme Clay demonstrations - a stacked kiln!  I can't wait to see it once its fired.  

(And I'm sure glad I don't have to figure out how to glaze it. )   

Class, Candlesticks & Critters

Ron led a great class last night at Clayworks. I took a lot of mental notes (which probably means I’ll forget everything he demo-ed) but spent my time making candlesticks. He had some great advice on that, as did Susan, so I’m feeling a little more confident about the form. The biggest challenge for me is throwing the tops off the hump. The next time I have several hours to throw I’ll do the tops first and then bases.

After class I spent a couple of hours playing with this little gal. She’s under plastic at the moment; there are still things I need to finesse. But this is how she looked when I put her away for the night.



The babies were an afterthought but I like them. The whole point in making this was to have a tangible reminder of the day we helped rescue Mama Possum. Apparently she had been nursing two babies but there was only one when we found her. It seemed somehow fitting that both babies should be included on this little memory piece.

Another Saturday Night

Outside a gentle rain is falling. Good news for the organic lettuces and chives I planted a couple of weeks ago. They are all thriving. My iris is pleased with this too. That's iris - singular. I've been too busy to divide them as I should so I usually get just one each Spring. But when one is as lovely as "Jessie's Song" why quibble?



The weather kept me from visiting the rickety dock this evening. But I spent some time there yesterday evening after work, watching the sun set, letting the rigors of the day melt away, and feeding saltless Saltines to one lone goose. Not sure if it's a widower or simply taking a break while its mate handles nest duty. Either way, before too long we will see many a gosling navigating the placid pond.



At Clayworks, I put in some happy hours. Pulled a handle and footed this faceted mug. (Yes, Sis, it's orange stone so if you want it, it's yours!)



I also spent a lot of time trying to make some candlesticks for my niece's wedding in August. On a recent visit to Storybrook, Amy & her fiance, Scott, asked me to make two candlesticks for the candle-lighting ceremony...also a pedestal for the pillar candle, as well as a chalice for their communion and a plate to hold that chalice as well as a small loaf of bread. Well, uh, I can make a plate. But the rest? Good thing the wedding isn't until August 31st!!!!!

Last Tuesday, Ron showed me how to make a candlestick. It's the brownish one pictured to the right.,,um, the good one! I kept it beside me today while I was throwing. I'll bet Ron's is about 2 lbs lighter than the ones I threw today. And you can't beat his form. But it was a great start and I learned a lot. (ie, throwing off the hump is NOT for the faint of heart!!)

Fortune-teller says "there are many candlesticks in your future, Beckala." Yep. It will take many, many, many tries before I come up with the perfect two forms. AND the perfect glaze. But Amy & Scott are worth every throw ring!



The not so perfect ones will find a home at Storybrook. One can never have too much candlelight.

Opossums Update

I just called Pat, the ARC rehabilitator who came to the possums (and our) rescue on Sunday. And I have encouraging news.
Mama Possum and Baby Possum are doing well. As it turned out, there was only one baby. Pat kept Baby P with her at work because it needed to be fed three times a day. There was some concern that Mama P wouldn't make it. Her breathing was labored and she continued to bleed from the mouth. But Pat continued to clean the possum's mouth and kept her wrapped in a soft warm towel. Miraculously, Mama P has survived for four full days, and even followed Pat up her driveway to get the mail.

Both Mama and Baby are now in Shelby (hi Ron!) in the care of Master Possum Rehabilitator Jane. Baby P shares heating pad space with another 13 younger babies who think Baby P is their mother. As for Mama P, Pat relates that she is content to be held in Jane's arms. She's eating well - applesauce and baby food (chicken). Jane is administering subcutaneous fluids and will soon give Mama a bath. Her jaw may be broken. They're not sure yet. But Mama continues to improve, much to everyone's s amazement and relief.

There's a pic of Baby P out there somewhere. Pat has promised to email it to me next week. When she does, I'll post it here.

Rickety Dock & the End of the Day

I have no pottery pictures today. Not because I haven't been working on pottery but because I've been working on -- well, working at -- Concentrix. Plenty of pottery projects await this touch or that. But they must take a back seat to my usual M-F work schedule. Most evenings I come home from work and, directly after dinner, do something that's clay-related.

But now that the weather is warming and our light lasts longer, I take time to enjoy the day before it becomes night. Lately, I've taken to wandering down to our rickety little dock. The pond in our backyard is shared by 12 other backyards. But at our end, in the spring & summer when the trees are in full leaf, it's easy to imagine that the pond is almost ours alone.



Sitting on the rickety dock is good for calming raggedy nerves. Near the banks, in a few weeks, bream will spawn. It's easy to see their spawning circles from this vantage point. None here yet but soon there will be hollowed out craters in the mud. One lone fish will tend the "nest" until hundreds of eggs hatch. Bream are also known as sunfish. There are hundreds in the pond.



Spanky accompanies me down to the rickety dock. Eating the grass that grows beyond the fence of our yard is his greatest pleasure (next to playing ball.) "The grass is always greener" are words he lives by.



A glass of red wine and a package of saltines is de rigueur for these rickety dockside visits. The wine is for me, the crackers for any hungry geese, mallards or turtles that might be swimming by. We used to have a lot of catfish in the pond. One -- a particularly large fellow with one eye whom I called "One Eyed Jack" -- used to take crackers from my outstretched hand. Sometimes he'd let me run my palm over his back as he glided by, an entire saltine in his mouth.



The plate is a gift from co-worker/composer, Mike. He and his family recently went to Italy and brought back gifts for all of us at Concentrix. This raku plate was my gift. (So I actually do have a pottery picture in this post.) Mike took lots of pictures of pottery while he was abroad. Look for some of those here in the days to come, including some from Pompeii (which I can't wait to see!)

Heading back to the house, I had to snap a pic of one of my favourite plants here at Storybrook. This bleeding heart grows bigger every Spring and will soon outgrow its whiskey barrel home. You don't see this old-fashioned flower so much anymore. Which is why, I suppose, it's so precious to me.



The sun is setting now and everyone at Storybrook is settling in for the evening. Time spent on the rickety dock has relaxed me. Now I'm ready to play with some clay.

Thank you ARC

I was enroute to the grocery store when I noticed movement by the side of the road. Looking in the rear view mirror, I saw what looked to be an opossum moving off the asphalt into the grass. I know they move slowly but this one was moving s-l-o-w-l-y. With a sinking feeling, I turned the CRV around and went back. The possom lay on its side in the grass, breathing unevenly. There was blood on the road. My heart went out to the poor creature. I took a cautious step toward it and it lifted its head to look me directly in the eye. It didn't hiss or growl but simply regarded me, then laid its head back on the leaves.

Certain that it was a goner, I drove on to the store, crying all the way. But I couldn't get the image of that possum looking at me out of my mind. I hurried to finish my shopping and made my way back to see if the possom was no longer suffering. Much to my surprise -- and dismay -- it had moved a yard further into the woods and was still breathing.

There was rain in the forecast, a cold night ahead and I tend to fall apart when I see an animal suffering. Thank heavens, Fred is more rational than I at such times. One look at my tear-stained face and he was online & on the phone. The first call was to ARC (our area Animal Rehabilitation Center). Being a Sunday, we got the answering machine. More phone calls followed, even to out-of-state possum rehabilitators. One of them advised us to get the possum in a large cardboard box, lined with a towel and to keep a heating pad under the box.

We did. Although the possom had moved another two yards deeper into the woods and was surrounded by brambles. I only had one glove but I managed to hold them back as Fred nudged the box toward the possom who by now was growling and hissing. I could see blood around its mouth and scrapes on its ears and cheek. Fred gently laid the towel over the frightened animal and I tried to slide it as carefully as I could inside the box.

Back at home, we took it down to the storage shed. Fred went to Walgreens to buy a heating pad while I watched over the possum. It was still breathing unevenly, making no effort to escape. About 30 minutes later, an ARC rehabilitator from Shelby called and told us she would try to find someone in our area who would come to get the possum. In the meantime she said it would be fine to feed it some apple and set aside some water for it. (On their recorded message they say not to this but that, she explained, was meant for injured babies who might aspirate on food or water.) So I chopped up some tiny bits of apple and put water in a shallow bowl and we went back out to offer this to our marsupial patient.

As I was carefully positioning the water I saw movement. A small furry head poked out from the possum's belly. Babies! I quickly removed the water and apple pieces. Now it was even more urgent that the possum get care as quickly as possible. And ARC came through with the help we needed. They found a nearby rehabilitator from Matthews who met us in a Petsmart parking lot just 20 minutes from our house. On the way home, it began to thunder and the rain began to fall. I was thankful Mama and babies were now in the care of skilled & compassionate hands and not still in those woods.

I didn't wish to disturb the possums by taking a picture of them. And as a good friend says, they need their energy. So this clipart image is the best I can offer.



Hopefully we'll hear from Pat (the rehabilitator aka Angel of Mercy) and learn Mama and babies made it through their ordeal. Whatever the outcome, I'm grateful for the wonderful, generous people who make ARC what it is. It takes a special sort of person to donate their time to the care of sick, injured or orphaned wild life. Thank you, ARC.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y!

It's been a great Saturday! We had rain, which we still need badly, though I hope it didn't hurt the turnout for the Circle of Eight Spring Sale today. At Clayworks, I spent a LOT of time with the cheese slicer. (This technique is going to take some practice. ) I threw 3 cylinders, and kept the only one I could live with. Behind it is one of the pinch pots, fresh from the bisque kiln.



There was time left to work on the so-so bowl. It looked like this when I put it on my shelf on Thursday night.



Today, it underwent some changes. This time I wanted to combine some scraffito with the usual painting. Some of the parietal art in the French caves incorporate both carving and pigments. What I'll do on the backside of this is a mystery to me. I'm not sure if I should do one more animal, two or none at all. I brought the bowl home with me in case inspiration comes calling tomorrow.



We ended the day having dinner with friends and catching "Wicked" at Ovens Auditorium. Tickets are next to impossible to come by and tonight I saw why. The show is brilliant...a must-see for any "Wizard of Oz" fan. Now that it's officially Sunday morning, it's time to feed the cats and catch some dream time. I hope I don't dream about cheese-slicers.

Coming Home

Call me sappy if you will (coz' in truth I am) but that's exactly what it feels like when classes resume at Clayworks. Ron was raring to go on Tuesday. This session we'll be concentrating on faceting techniques and filling the gas kiln. No one needs to ask me twice how I feel about that! So I used up the earthen red 06 clay I had on a so-so bowl (remember it had been 4 weeks since my hands touched a wheel) and bought 25 lbs of the only clay body available besides Helios. I love Helios but I have to prep it so I opted for an orange stone instead. I'm not crazy about it but my sister is so I figured whatever decent thing I throw/facet over the next 10 weeks will go to her. (Yes, Cinder, that's a promise!)

Got off to a rocky start. Using a cheese slicer can be dicey when one isn't that skilled even using it on a block of organic cheddar. But I pressed on. The class ended with one so-so bowl on my shelf and a determination to come back on Thursday to try again.

Thursday was Jen's class. I managed to center 2.5 lbs of orange - ouch it hurts my delicate hands - stone. But I was happy that I could get it centered quickly and keep it centered. The cheese slicer sat there, intimidating me the whole time. My first cut was hardly the deepest. But Jen was most helpful and showed me how to approach the piece with intent. This is one of the things I love about Clayworks. I'm not even in Jen's class yet she was all too happy to help me. I still don't like what I ended up with, but I kept it. And then I moved on to the glazing table to play around with the so-so bowl.

I won't show that here either. Suffice it to say that I had a lot of trouble carving a nice image in the porcelain slip I'd applied earlier. In the end, thanks to Anne's suggestion, I smoothed it all away and went a little wild. More porcelain slip, yellow slip, fingerprints...and a scrub brush all came into play. Since the piece is not that important to me, I discovered it was liberating to simply poke it...caress it...assault it. After all of that, I stepped back and saw a new direction I might take. But time wasn't on my side so I covered it and came home. Tomorrow we'll see what happens.



I finished the evening creaturizing a pair of 06 porcelain pendants. Pay no attention to the gargoyle from Home Depot. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I can play for hours. The so-so bowl will need attention and I need to throw & facet, throw & facet.
Can't wait!

Enjoy your weekend!

And One More

The Daily Clay regime I set up for myself --- making something from clay every day for the 3 weeks between classes --- didn't work out quite as I'd hoped. Other commitments took priority. So I won't end up with 21 pieces when class resumes this Tuesday. I did manage to make a small hand built bowl (which I'll probably discard) and 4 stamps (which I probably won't.) Three other attempts ended up on the wedging alter. I did pinch three pots. Last night I creaturized two. Tonight I began work on the third. This one is a portion of the Feline panel in the Chauvet Cave in France.



I took some liberties. The reddish feline isn't red at all on the original painting. But I wanted some variety on this small pinch pot. May the Cave Gods forgive me. ;) And this piece is far from finished, deco-wise. We'll see where it takes me. This one I may keep aside for raku, I'm not sure.

While my Daily Clay regime didn't yield me 21 pieces to play with, I'm pretty much satisfied with the things I ended up with. Once again, they are all beginnings. New stamps for surface decoration. New clay bodies for glaze tests. New opportunities for raku.

New beginnings keep me going. I'm looking forward for class to begin again!

Friday On My Mind

(Those of you who are old enough will remember that "Friday On My Mind" was a semi-hit in the late 60s for the Easybeats. That doesn't have a thing to do with anything really...except that it IS Friday, there's a lot going on, and I LOVE the song. )

I wrapped up this week with a visit to Clayworks Spring Studio Sale. I wasn't brilliant enough to take my camera so no shots of the incredible work on display there...or the faces of the many people who make Clayworks such a special place. It was wonderful to see Elaine...and Ron...and Amy...and Greg, Adrienne and Julie. I bought some of Ron's new cups and a birdhouse Adrienne made from clay she dug out from Rutherfordton. One of these days I need to do that...and one of these days I will. But for now I buy my clay and stumble along.

Still, I came home full of inspiration. And while visiting family watched "Ratatouille" (which I've seen 3 times so far & still adore) I creaturized a couple of pinch pots I made last week. They aren't finished yet but here's what I have so far.



These are my first 06 porcelain pots. So they're test tiles once again. But I'm looking forward to seeing how the cone 6 glazes work with the underglazes.

This Friday on my mind has officially turned to Saturday so it's time to sign off. I do so hoping that your Friday was exceptional. May the rest of your weekend be the same!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I post tonight only because I haven't since Friday. And I read somewhere that if you don't post a word or two hundred on your blog, visitors might not come back. So...well, I feel compelled. I also read that artists should NEVER post pictures of their pets on their blogs. I guess that's not considered to be professional...but I can tell you that -- personally -- if I like an artist's work, pix of their pets wouldn't dissuade me at all. Au contraire. It could well seal the sale for me.

Moot point really. I don't consider myself an artist. And I sure as heck am not trying to sell any of my work at this time. If I were, I wouldn't do it here. But I'm not sure I ever want to get to that point. Because then, working in clay might become more like a job. I already have one of those. I love mine. It's creatively fulfilling in a different way. I'm not looking for another.

So that said, I present the calico couch.



Left to right, meet Mira, Onyx and Callie. They have the secret of a happy life all sewn up on plaid. S-L-E-E-P! Since I've had one of those really trying days today, I applaud their example. Time to follow the wisdom of les chats.

(I'm not sure if this is 200 words...too sleepy to count 'em. Hope you'll stay with me.)