Crack!!

Well, my two low stonepools have developed s-cracks on the inside. Bummer. I kinda liked them. Sooo hard to keep the faith sometimes. Working for free is not my thing. Speaking of working. I'm thinking about getting another job for a while. I need some money. Absolutely sick of not having any and would like to be able to be a little more self-reliant. I answered this ad for this production pottery in Dover. I should have checked the map first, cause it's an hour 1/2 drive from here. He said it pays really well though. The company is like 30 years old or something. Salmon Falls. I used to have a little soap pump of theirs. We'll see. Gotta go pick up the little gran-boy soon. I am noticeably improved in health today. Just a lot more of hacking up of unmentionables. I got into my studio but used the time to finish insulating. God I hate doing that. But at least it's done now. I kinda like this posting without photos thing, but, I will put some up when I have some new work. I think we're going to see the new James Bond flick tomorrow. Always good to have something to look forward to in my wretched life ... just kidding ... kind of.

Chirp, chirp, chirp

Hmmm. I thought I'd try this new format of posting photos, but it didn't quite work the way I thought it would. How does this qualify as






left? Oh well. Here are my stonepools, pretty much finished. Now they have to dry and all that jazz. Maybe within a month they will be done? I bet they'll take a month to dry actually, so probably longer. It was hard making birds at first, but I finally started to get the hang of it. I actually went to the pet store and stared at the birds for like fifteen minutes. That helped quite a bit actually. Well, the prodigal son returns today. I don't know if he's actually prodigal, I'd have to look it up to know if I used the word correctly, but it has a nice ring to it. He is coming back by bus and assuming he didn't sleep through his last transfer in NY, I should be meeting him in Concord today at 2:30. It will be nice to see him. It's been about six months he's been gone. Chow for now.

Caramel Corn

Here is the progress of my CRAZY stonepool. I had to give it a break to firm up a little, and started another one. Still working on the three large ones actually. Below are a few shots of the texture I put on the shorter, more stone-like ones.





Man, even though I think a majority of the anchors on Fox News are nutjobs, I still watch quite a bit. I flip back and forth between MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. It's always good to understand where your-I'm not sure what word to use, opposition?-is coming from. If you just immerse yourself in sources that mirror your own opinion, I think you run the risk of becoming pretty one dimensional. But man, I was just watching Anne Coultier (I know I spelled that wrong). That is a nutcase in the nth degree. She is one hostile, narrow-minded person. I actually tried reading a book of hers once and I could only get through a few chapters. It was just like this paranoid, lunatic ranting.

So, on a more tasty note, I have decided to share a recipe with you. You can't blame me though if you put on five pounds. Don't just file it away, thinking someday you might try it. Make it soon. You will be glad, or mad at me, that you did.

CARAMEL CORN

12 cups popped corn
2 cups peanuts
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (REAL butter, not margarine)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Grease a sheet pan. Put popcorn and nuts in a bowl large enough to be able to stir everything really well. Melt butter in a saucepan with high sides, add brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook for about five minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved, add salt and baking soda. This is why you need a pan with high sides. The mixture is going to get all foamy, light and thick. Mix it well and pour over popcorn and nuts. Stir really well. Put on sheet pan and bake for one hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. It is important to bake this, because that is when it will become crispy. Otherwise, you will have chewy, sticky popcorn.

Thirsty little bird

Here is as far as I got before I had to leave. The little bird is like a 60 second bird, but I wanted it in the photo for effect, I am planning to put one on the top. Still got a little work to do, but I really like this. I already have another idea for my next one. It will be CRAZY!

My grandson is so cute, when he's not being a little shit

We had my grandson Saturday night till Sunday night. did a lot of stuff. One of them was to go to a farm where they have a corn maze. I don't know if everyone knows what they are, but farmers clear patterns in the corn and you walk around and then try and find your way out. I guess I should have posted a picture of him walking in the corn, but this was so cute I couldn't resist. Went to the park, got pizza at Papa Ginos, got him a turtle costume for Halloween. Pretty groovy day.

This is a new stonepool I am working on. It will be two feet tall, since that is the max height I can fire in one piece.

It's hard to see, but I'm trying to build up texture on this one.

This texture is looking cool, but I've decided from looking at this photo, that it's not what I want for the shorter, rounder ones. They remind me of stones and this is more bark-like. so I will work on that. I put some white slip in the center of this one cause the blue glaze really pops on the white and I thought I'd try a little blue in the center, like water.

Here's my little shop buddy. I call him Lava. He keeps me from getting too lonely. I have a bunch more I'd like to write, but my dinner break is over and since I want to go to Yoga tonight at 6:30 I gotta boogie down to my studio to keep working.

Stonepools

Here are two of the bird basins I am working on. I had a third but did some stupid stuff with it and decided to trash it. My idea currently is that they sit on the ground in your garden somewhere, and they can either fill with rain, or you can put water in them, and it is kind of like a stone that has water collected in it. I might put a little bird on the edge of some of them. I am thinking about texture and whatnot. I'm also going to make some that resemble logs. I have had these ideas for a long time now and am glad I am finally trying them. I'm thinking about calling them Stonepools. If anyone has a better idea for a name to market them with, I would be very open to hearing them.

Bird bath bases and brains

I am becoming desparate to find images to post. My battery is on my camera is dead, can't find the charger and that's my predicament. Good and bad news. I woke up today and my headache is probably 90% gone. I've been playing it pretty low-key so as not to aggravate anything all day. Went to work (I work part-time as a silversmith) and doing quiet stuff, wore earplugs when I had to hammer, kept the lights off. Everyone's being really cool about working in the dark and finding low-key stuff for me to work on. I'm pretty lucky there. Unfortunately about three o'clock I felt it returning so about 4 when I realized I think it was really here I took an Aleve, half a Percocet and my last Indomethacin (it was only a three pill script). I was feeling hungry and have been told not to let myself get hungry cause it can bring on a headache. So ate an early dinner and going to go for a walk with the Daister and chill out with some yoga. Woke up at 5 this morning and was doing my yoga by 6:30 or so which I really like doing in the morning. I never thought of myself as a morning person but I'm starting to dig it, as long as I'm in bed by maybe 11:00.

Oh, the image above it the base to a bird-bath. It has not been fired yet. I am worried I already posted it but don't remember. After it is bisqued I will likely rub some oxide wash into it and wipe off the excess. It will look a lot like wood once it is high fired. The base was made in three pieces, each about 8 lbs. I threw them like a hollow tube and once they were firm enough to handle (leatherhard for the non-potters out there) I joined them really well. I already fired two and had no cracking at all. I think you just have to join them well and let them dry really slowly. I had these under plastic for probably at least 2 weeks slowly exposing them to more air the dryer they became. I apologize if my writing is a little dull, but creativity is not my strongest trait right now.

Alright, chow for now. If you tune in later sometime this week I promise to have some new deliciously wet pots made for you to see. I think I'm back baby.