Nothin bout nothin

Here's an impulsive little post, and then I might just disappear for another year or so again! Last postings I was applying to grad schools....uh yah....kinda went another direction for various reasons. I need a bona fide job-the kind I can pay bills and support myself with, and still have enough money left to occasionally do other stuff-like have fun or something-so I am in my last semester of school training to be a massage therapist. Can't exactly say it's a life time dream come true, but it's been pretty good. Met some great people, and I'm told I have a knack. We'll see if that translates into $$ someday! Someday soon hopefully, I will have the money, time and DEDICATION, to pursue some clay work and writing, if for nothing else than an artistic/creative pursuit. We'll see! Still peek in occasionally to see what everyone is up to, and hope all are well!

Eeez pretty dang cold in the water ...

I'm really out of touch with what's been going on with everyone's blogs. I almost never take the time to get online, despite my new computer. But, things have been good. Let's see...what is going on with me? Still working at the same job cooking, asked for a raise and got it so that makes it less painful every two weeks to see my checks. I finally went snowboarding for the first time this year last Sunday. Awesome day. Went to Shawnee Peak. Smallest mountain I've ever ridden but still a good day. I am trying to learn to surf. This is by far the most difficult physical thing I have ever tried to do. Unfortunately I just did pretty major damage to my board the other day, but until I can get it repaired my friend will let me borrow one of his boards. I'd like to say that I was on a knarly wave and wiped out, crashing my board into a reef or something, but I just dropped it onto the corner of my bookcase. It's 9'2" long so difficult to manuever. Oh well. It takes an enormous amount of upper body strength in the right places to surf and so on top of just getting out there and paddling I'm doing pushups and pullups. It's really helped with my popups (getting up on the board from laying to standing-supposed to be done in one "explosive" motion). I don't exactly explode yet but at least I don't do it like I'm pre-geriatric anymore. It's pretty cold so I have to wear a full wet suit, gloves, booties and hood. The coldest day I've gone out it was 26 degrees air, and about 43 degrees water temp. Invigorating! Well hopefully it won't be so long next time till I sign in. No potter yet, but it's rolling around in my mind. Someday.

Plastic snakes

Oh my gosh. For the hell of it I thought I would check my blog again tonight. I am at NorthStar Music Cafe. They have internet, coffee, wine, beer and music. The five essentials of life. I was quite surprised-pleasantly so-to find that my last post had been read. Funny, when you think you are dead and gone. I actually have a clay related event to write about.

They are digging up some holes out back where I work and I go outside today and all around these holes are this damp, grey-ish dirt. I'm like: that's clay! So I scooped a little up, only about a tablespoon, went inside and after adding a few drops off water and smashing it together a bit had a piece of useable clay. It was surprisingly plastic. Could bend a snake in half without so much as a crack. I think I will photograph it tomorrow and put up a photo of the little pinch pot I made with it.

So the studio is officially in storage. The house finally sold about two months ago and my Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to let me store my stuff in a spot in their furniture factory (Allen-Richardson). Really great furniture. I think when they saw the six to eight foot high, 10x12-ish space my stuff occupied when they came into the shop the next day they were probably a bit surprised. I still need to buy them some booze to thank them. Well, I'm trying to do some research so should probably go. Great to hear from everyone.

Fifty-eight degrees and 58$

I know I already posted today, but I just got back from a craft fair in Laguna called, Sawdust. I'm walking around in a t-shirt and jeans thinking I'm completely normal, and I look around and everyone is wearing sweaters, or some form of an actual winter coat. Some warmed their chilly little necks with scarves. I didn't realize it was cold out until people started telling me. No fewer than five people asked me how I could stand being in a t-shirt. Wasn't I freezing? So I kept telling them I'm from New Hampshire, which seemed to help them understand, but one person finally says to me, well okay. But that doesn't change the fact that it's 58 degrees out. I'm just like . . . uhm, that seems pretty warm to me. Fifty-eight degrees? Are they kidding? I don't even think we pull our winter jackets out until it gets down in the high thirties.

So this was a little shocking. Pottery is not, at least in this area, valued the same as it is on the East Coast. Stunned is the best word to describe my reaction to the prices. You'd have to have seen it to believe it. I finally had a conversation with this one pottter and we talked about it. She said most potters who do mainly functional work don't do well there. That the things that sell the best are things that will be used for decoration. The first pot I picked up and saw the price of was a ten dollar coffee mug. This is at a relatively high end craft fair. Large Raku pots with lids and such, around 58$. Crystalline pots, with cut altered rims for around 18$. I could go on and on. I just could not believe it. So I guess those of us who live on the East Coast have a new reason to appreciate our area. A lower cost of living, and we can sell our work for more. That's not to say I haven't walked into a couple of "art" galleries and seen way overpriced pots, but for the average gal selling the average type pot, I think I'm in a better place.

Thinking of warm and fuzzy things

Hello everybody. Still in sometimes sunny California. I heard the East had a fantastic ice storm. Adam's boss put them up in a hotel room so they wouldn't have to drive home (it's an hour drive down curvy back roads on a sunny day). He said all the trees are coated in glass. Nothing is coated in glass here. Although . . . there is the strange to me happening of wrapping Christmas lights around palm trees. I'm used to seeing lights going everywhere, snaking all over branches of real, you know, trees? It's kind of like someone wrapped lights around a paper towel roll and stuck some fluffy stuff on top. It's uh, interesting.

So I neglected to mention that the house where my father lives is on the beach. Here are a few shots from the back window. Oh the misery of it all. He keeps saying that he's going to sell the house, but he's been saying that for years. One of these days perhaps and who knows, this could be my last visit with an ocean in the backyard. I am missing my home though. Not my physical home, although it will be nice to be back in my own environment. But I think I am just a New England girl at heart. This is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't . . . oh, you know how that goes. It will be nice to see people in down jackets and some North Face gear. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it.

Lots of pictures

Okey Doke. I've got a lot of photos up here. Some for good reasons, some for bad. The creamyish glaze above, although not awful, I have decided I find a little boring. Adam says he thinks it might sell well though-to those people who kind of want things that blend in easily with their home decors. If they do, I might make more at least to run this glaze out. But they don't get me excited.

This platter came out really nice-except-if you blow it up you can see some considerable pinholing. that is the problem of the day. Pinholing. I think I may know why though. since I put the slip onto bisque, although I have managed to keep it from cracking and splitting, I still think it is shrinking enough in some parts to create little tiny fissures. some of the pinholes have little tiny linesrunnying from them which leads me to this theory. so, I am slipping all my work in the greenware state now. I will have to spray the larger pieces for now. I can't imagine holding them withought breaking them and trying to keep slip from getting on the outside. It's a big problem because this clay is HEAVILY grogged and so any wiping on the raw ware exposes a very rough surface.

I dipped a lot of the pieces aka Ayumi Horie and Ron Philbeck style. I've always felt I had to create this pristine finish, but the finger mark, and sort of record of the process has begun to grow on me and I kind of like it.

So more beads I made last night. I keep getting a lot of comments about making more, so maybe I should listen. If I'm going to be sitting there watching Futurama (yah I did last night) and the Colbert Report, I might as well make a little money at the same time.

Here is one of my salsa/dip bowls.

A photo of some of the spread. I have a considerable amount of work that I consider sellable-even the boring unexciting creamy stuff. I gotta get it out to the galleries.

My little test cups all trimmed and slipped. Often I use standing tiles, but when I am really testing hardcore-like I need to know how this stuff will look and fuction on a pot-I usually try to put the glazes on little pots. I've got a bunch of tall coffee mugs and ice coffee/ice tea tumblers in the back.


This was a nice surprise. It is a new test glaze I tried. I am looking forward to trying this out on several more test pots to see how consistent it is, and what kind of variation I can get. It looks really nice with the blue, and has a kind of earthy, manyly look to it. It's all about pleasing the men.

Production, pea and me

Judy Shreeve asked a question in her post about how we work, and I had said that I don't consider myself a production potter. I was thinking this morning though, how true or accurate that is. These photos are the last two days throwing. About two dozen mugs, eight pie plates and about ten dip dishes started. Don't forget the sixteen or so square casseroles and five bird feeders I just finished. I work like this all the time. You might notice that not only are there multiples of everything, but they are very similar to each other. So what does that mean? Am I a production potter?



I guess I don't think of myself that way because 1. I don't want to, and 2. My goal is not for the pieces to be identical. The only thing they have in common with eachother is a similar form and the weight of each piece, but the heights vary somewhat, as do the diameters of their openings. And I want them that way. I guess I think of production as precise and mechanical. Without a lot of flexibility. I'm not going to write too much more about this now, mostly because I have to get working, but it's something to think about. If anyone has any ideas on the subject it would be interesting to hear them.


So, on a more personal note, I found a great Pea jacket at the thrift store yesterday for 25$. It's in great shape and fits perfectomundo. It is navy blue. Not to be confused with my shorter, pleated in the back, girly-style, black Pea jacket you see below. I love these coats I think because they are as at home over something kind of dressed up as they are over jeans and a t-shirt. The funny thing about this though, and the reason I am posting about it, is that I found this jacket just a couple of days after I read this post from a blog (avert your eyes if you are easily offended) called "Stuff White People Like". An entire post could probably be written about the site and whether it is offensive or whatever, but I just think it's pretty funny, and strangely accurate about, well, white people. At least those living in New England.

Tag you're it

So I just read about this tagging about a day or two ago, and now I guess I have been tagged. I have Judy Shreeve to thank for this slice of heaven. Since I have read the last two taggers entries, I thought it was interesting learning about six things in their life that they might not ordinarily mention and now I am passing the joy along.

Here are the rules of tagging:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog. (this is what you're now reading.)

3. Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).

4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them. (This is only a game.)

5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

Six random things about myself.

1. I love watching movies in bed.
2. I accidentally left my door open cleaning the bird-cage and when my bird flew away I was happy for it and glad we didn't find it.
3. I eat tofu because I actually like it.
4. I'm terrified of sail boating, somewhat scared of heights, and extremely uncomfortable swimming in black water.
5. I don't wear makeup and when I try I feel silly.
6. I tell my dog she's sexy all the time.

I don't know if some these guys have already been tagged-but these are my tags.

jeffmartinceramics
Melt My Heart
MudStuffing Sketchbook
coreyackelmire
strangefragments
ang design

Who the !$@#$ is Deb Woods?

This may seem like another non-pottery related blog, but if you stick with me long enough you will see that it is indeed. These images from Maggie Taylor are from the shop calendar at the silversmiths where I work part time. I'm posting them because I think they are pretty cool. No other reason. I don't really have new pots to post because I have been either feeling like crap or working at my (day, other, paying, real, interfering--choose one) job. After work today I watched a movie named "Who the !@#$ is Jackson Pollock". It's about a woman truck driver who finds a painting at a thrift store and buys it for 5$. She hates it, the woman who she was going to give it to hates it, and it ends up in a yard sale where an art teacher tells her she might have a real Jackson Pollock on her hands to which she replies "who the !@#$ . . ." . She spends the next ten years (and still I think) trying to prove that this painting she hates is real. The art world does not believe it is real, but she is told if it is, it is worth about fifty million dollars. At some point she is offered two million dollars which she turns down; on principal she says. Mmm-hmm. Yup. Later she is offered nine million I think which she also turns down. This woman is in her seventies. But I didn't write this to talk about greedy truck drivers or arrogant art dealers.

I was thinking about all the pots I discard because I hate them, legitimately or otherwise. I have made stuff that is just butt-ugly, god-awful, I don't want anyone to know I made it, terrible. I either smash them or throw them in a bucket. I usually know, but not always, that it's really bad if Adam loves it. His taste is not quite . . . the same as mine. And I wonder how I can trust the aesthetic opinion of someone who's favorite shade of blue is more commonly known as -- tarp. No offense Adam. And I think about this painting that Pollock very possibly painted, but maybe did not love enough to put his signature on and maybe even discarded. Can it be claimed to be legitimate? Possibly. Should it be claimed to be valuable? I don't know. How fair is it to the artist and his legacy to associate him with something that he himself may not have valued. I hate the idea of someone holding up one of my pots that I despised and attributing it to me. I once let my husband take some of my seconds to use at the restaurant he was working at (he's a chef) with strict instructions to tell no one where they came from. Well anyways, it just got me thinking. But I could be a hypocrite because I have lately started selling some of my seconds. I am very conflicted about this, but money is sometimes needed. Given my opinion on this matter however, I may have to think some more and either re-evaluate my opinion or smash a little harder.

The Bomb Boule

Here is one of the two loaves I made with my new sourdough starter. This is a 100% whole wheat bread, except for the starter which I have made with unbleached white bread flour. I'm really surprised how good the flavor is with these loaves. For a new starter there is a nice tang and it did a fine job in raising the dough. If anyone is interested in pursuing sourdough bread making the BEST book that I know of to get is "Breads from the La Brea Bakery" by Nancy Silverton. If you do what she instructs you will be making bread like the kind you thought you could only buy. Another book to check out is one a friend gave me called "World Sourdoughs From Antiquity" by Ed Wood. Another book I have which I havn't used as much but like having because it's kind of an earthy baking book is "The Tassajara Bread Book" by Edward Espe Brown.

Unfortunately I am not feeling well again today. It was my intention to throw about 60-75 mugs and finish them Monday. I'm still going to try but feeling less than enthusiastic about it now. I don't usually make so many mugs at one sitting but thought I'd try. It's a lot of handles to put on the next day. Adam said if I made 60 mugs he would make me breakfast tomorrow, and if I made 100 he would take me out for breakfast. I not very gratefully told him that that didn't seem worth it to me and that I would make my own breakfast and less mugs. I'm not very nice sometimes.

Another day in paradise

Well, if you are into the sort of thing like holidays like Adam who is walking around the kitchen singing about the fourth of July, then happy fourth. If you are more like me and are growing weary of your Adam telling you to have some fun today because it's a holiday, then happy Friday.

Woo-Hoo!

Guess what? We found my keys! I had looked everywhere. I tend to be pretty routine about where I put certain things, I don't just drop them will-nilly anywhere. I was out of ideas; except one: the garbage. Oh god, I saw things in there I don't ever want to see again. Fortunately Adam had not gone to the dump in two weeks so there was a lot of possibility out there. He had the idea (I did not realize this at first) to start with the older garbage. We are picking through stuff I don't even want to dream about. I started acting like a girl and crying and saying things like I can't take this anymore and mostly watched him going through the garbage looking for MY keys. Then we got to the most recent bag and I'm like why didn't we start with this one, it's the most likely possibility? This bag was tolerable to look through, still I let him do most of the looking while I pondered other possibilities. Then I hear those beautiful words: found them! I have no idea how they ended up there except for the same reason my soymilk sometimes ends up in the cupboard. That and I really haven't been myself for the last few weeks, like six really.

Feeling good today. I think my headache has really, truly lifted. I feel a little shaky and weird though. I think I am coming down off a lot of drugs. I bought some detox tea which I've been saturating my body with and gonna make some pots!

The Melon Head

Well, so far I don't look like a melon, and really in the grand scheme of possible facial disfigurements my possible temporary facial enlargement is really nothing to worry too much about.

We usually don't have cable. I have lived without it for probably 10 years, but Adam wanted to try it and thought it would be good for my recuperation after my surgery, and I have to admit it was. I spent many hours watching things I never would have watched (like America's Top Model and What not to Wear [Thanks Stacy and Clinton for setting me straight])) and other such programs, but I quite literally did not have the physical or mental energy to expend on anything else for a couple of weeks and it probably kept me from going a little koo-koo. But now we are talking about it being time to say good-bye to cable again. I will miss the Dailey show, the Cobert Report, Next Gen., Cash Cab and a few others, but I can easily, without any residual pain, live without them. There is simply way too much to do in life.

You may be wondering why the picture of the cake. I am not too good at justifying or lying so the reason is because I havn't been making enough new pottery to photograph any. That is the sad truth. Between my operation and the headache which has taken permanent residence in my brain, not much is going on. So here is a cake to celebrate my inactivity. It is actually a birthday cake I once made for Adam, Black Forrest. But in the interest of recycling we'll use it for a second occasion. Happy not doing anything to me, happy not doing . . .

Check this out for fun

This is a link I just scoffed from another potters blog. His name is Ron Philbeck and I think his blog pottersjournal.blogspot.com is my favorite. Check it out sometime. The link to the link I stole from him is jacksonpollock.org
Move your cursor around and click your mouse to change colors.

I went to the doctor again today. Still have the headache. I'm on another round of steroids and so I think it is likely that my face will begin to resemble a melon of some variety within a few days. I can't take much more. It is really affecting my state of mind-not to mention all the other drugs ie. painkillers I've been taking, which the doctor recommends I cease and desist with because I guess they can lead to re-bound headaches or whatever which may not be helping me to kick this one. So no painkillers, but I can take anti-anxiety pills to help with the mental and physical stress of the headache because they are not an analgesic. I have about seven prescriptions in my medicine chest which I find disturbing. I can't wait to be back to as close to normal as possible. I prefer a healthy, clean mind and body. Not one with chemicals ricocheting around my mind and within my skin. Disturbing.

Pathelogical Painting Pride

This is a painting from about six years ago when I was going through a difficult time-I guess I was angst-ridden. It was helpful to put my feelings onto this canvas and probably helped me from imploding all the way. I hung it on my wall in my kitchen for a while and given the content of the work I think I was being brave. A boyfriend asked me if I thought I should really have it on my wall being that it was so personal. His comment of course had the effect of making me feel very insecure about the work (but then by the end of the relationship I felt insecure about many things-not the sign of a healthy relationship) but I left it there anyway. Some time later I came to the belief that if he was uncomfortable with the nature of my work then that said more about him really then it did about me. When I was ready (ready being when I moved in with my now-husband and decided that it might not be considerate to have this painting on the wall any longer) it came down from the wall and moved to my shed. It's now at the home of one of my son's friends who fell in love with it in while in the shed.

Happy Day!

Well this will be my first post without a photo attatched, so for your viewing pleasure I will use different colors and you can mix them up and make your own picture in your mind. I have some pretty awesome news. As of aproximately 11:30 a.m. this morning I am a member of The League Of New Hampshire Craftsmen! I am pretty excited and this has probably been one of the best days of my life. It's given me a ton of motivation to keep working really hard and I feel like this is the beginning of good things. And remember my comittment to using only four glazes for a while? A long while. Well I meant it and to remove the temptation I am giving them to another potter. He is interested in trying cone 6 electric firing and I am interested in removing all temptation to say "just a pinch"-because when it comes to glazes I am kind of like a junkie. I'm showing amazing will power actually because these are not ugly glazes. But I am starting to believe that there is such a thing as too many options. Oh, I have more good news too. My own mother, Cindy Estano, is a knitter and makes felted handbags, scarves, belts and such and she herself just juried into a league in Maine. I don't remember the name - sorry. When she has her website set up I will post it here so all of you knitting fans (myself included) can check out her work. Congratulations Mom!

Spermy spoon

I wish I had more photos to put up . . . but I just don't. What I do have is good news however. My last firing was generally REALLY GOOD. I am really excited (I wanted to use the word phyced but not sure about the spelling) about things. It is taking me FOREVER to glaze my pots, but I am finally getting some results that satisfy me. It is certainly not the end of the road, but the beginning to a good direction now. I am firing again next Monday, and promise to take some photos and put them up as soon as possible. My jury appointment is next Friday, May 9, so that is my priority now, and photos will have to wait. It is amazing to finally have work that I don't want to throw in one of my THREE junk buckets of pots. But I have a lot of shards for some mosaic work someday, so a positive there too. So long for now.

Rotten bananna

I'm really excited about my new photo set up. I've still got a bit of work to do on it, like sew the fabric panels together and resize it a little, but the gist is there. I should back up a little. As I mentioned earlier I have been photographing my pots with a light system I rigged up, and it was okay, but really frustrating to work with. Hard to get rid of highlights, not getting a good color reproduction, loosing a lot of detail, etc. So I did a little research and discovered that many products are shot in a light box. You can buy these in the size I wanted for about 150 dollars, but there are all sorts of ways to make your own, and so I did. I used cpvc pipe and a sheet and three, hundred watt bulbs and my graduated paper of course. So I get this set up in a rudimentary fashion and snap a few shots, and I'm not impressed. Then I remember reading about taking a white reading for shooting. Looked in the manual of my digital camera and did what it said, and oh my god, what a huge difference. I grabbed a few items laying around the house and just held the camera in my hand and shot to test. Unbelievable color reproduction and detail etc. from what I'm used to. The difference is drastic. So I'm looking forward to finishing the tent and shooting some pots. I think I'm going to be pretty happy with this set up. I can break it down and store it in the bag my tripod came with (which I never put my tripod in) so that's nice.

Four clay spoons with "branch" handles