Worm gears

Here's a little project I have going on. I was making bread last week and heard something snap inside my mixer, and the mixer would not work after that. So, although I could really use a new larger and more powerful mixer, I am kind of attached to this one-I've had it for like 10-12 years or something. So I found the manual online and took it apart. No easy feat this is by the way. I thought I had snapped a belt but I actually broke a couple of gears.

Trying to keep my screws and such organized.

So here's the culprit. It is called the worm gear shaft and pinion. I mangled the top plastic gear (why is this the only plastic gear in there? Hmmm?) and actually snapped a couple of teeth off the smaller metal gear on the other end. All in all, does not make for a productive mixer. The part is only 25$ though, so that's good news. If I can get it all back together then I should be golden!

Stuck in Chicago

some trinkets from a trip to Continental Clay?? (I can't remember the name-in Santa Monica I think)

Well I'm back in New Hampshire. We just got a load of snow dumped on us. The trip was nice, but it's also good to be home again. Long trip back though. I had to change planes in Chicago. I was supposed to have a two hour layover, but the plane was delayed from NY, and about five minutes after I arrived (looking like all that and then some in a new brown coat and suede boots-but that's another story) I found out that my flight, which was supposed to take off at about 6:50 p.m., wasn't even due to arrive there until 10:30. Since I arrived around 4:30ish, that meant I had around 6 hours to kill.

So after roaming around the small portion of the airport I was trapped in, trying to balance my guitar-a 1976 old Guild my father let me have which hadn't seen the light of day outside it's case in over a decade-on my rolling backpack, stumbling around on my new boots, I finally found a seat in a pub, ordered a glass of red wine, which I soon regretted as I became sleepy and got a headache, ordered a bowl of mediocre chili and killed like 45 minutes. Only five hours left to go and things were not looking good. I bought The Appeal, by John Grisham and did my best to get lost in it and and accept my fate. In another life, and if I were a little smarter, I might have been a lawyer.

Eventually the time went by and I got on the plane. We rapid-fire boarded and I was fortunate enough to have an old charming gentleman sit next to me who reeked of alcohol and had the gelatinous veined eyes of a career drinker. I was torn between genuinely liking this man, and being horrified by being trapped next to him for two hours. He talked to me non-stop, loud, animated, bouncy and rude. When I came back from the bathroom, he said to me: "well I can see everything must have come out all right!" He expressed himself at length about different colors of pee based on how much water you drink, told me that he could tell I was a white woman from central NH based on my political views, and commented on the nice breasts of the woman on the t.v. monitor. I felt elated when the plane finally landed.

Well, I have this potter whose work I greatly admire. His name is Jeff Martin, and if you haven't already checked his stuff out you can do so here. He put up a photo of this mug about a month ago, and although I really couldn't afford it, it kinda grabbed me, and so after asking Adam if he thought it was alright (a detestable state to be in, not to have one's own money) I told Jeff I thought his mug had found a new home.


It's a great size. A large cup of coffee or tea, and definitely roomy enough for a brew as well. So thanks Jeff!

I kind of have these next photos upside down, but they are bird bath basins I am working on. I want to make them look like stones or pieces of wood or something. We'll see how it goes. I'm not sure I'm approaching it the right way, but I'll learn as I go.

Here's another one. I'm working on two at a time.

These are the coils I used to build up the walls. They were made with Peter and one of the dies.

Another photo out of order. here is what I've been doing for the last two day. I am insulating my studio to try and get through the winter in a way that doesn't resemble freezing to death this year. Nasty, awful, hideous, grotesquely itchy work. Of course I did not wear a mask and so it's likely that I have fiberglass fibers permanantely impregnated in my lungs now. Oh well, at least the silica won't be lonely.

So here is the die I used to extrude the coils. They are a good start to building something if you are going large.


I'm feeling super down. And so, I went to yoga tonight, which ended up being a great class, and I can already feel myself getting stronger. I think that's class number four now. It's amazing how quickly your body adjusts and strengthens. I still needed a little more of a spirit boost afterwards though, and so I bought a bottle of wine and some cheese. You just can't go wrong with wine and cheese. It's a decadent way to spoil yourself, eating and drinking it as slowly as I can (which is pretty fast). You should see me suck down a smoothie though. So at least it's not just booze.

Peter and pans

Here is one of the bird feeders I am working on. I put some holes in the bottom as well for drainage just in case.

The top is made of three pieces, which I intend to glaze differently from each other.

Here's my mixer/pugger. It looked so nice like this I hated to get it dirty. I wish you could see this in person. I am so impressed with the quality of this thing. Every part on it is obviously chosen because it was the best they could find. There is absolutely nothing cheap or half-assed about it. Seriously, this great. I feel really lucky and grateful that it is mine.

I was able to take my scraps; some slop, leatherhard stuff and bone dry stuff, and turn it into this:


It took me just a couple of batches to get the hang of using it. I'm not sure how much I did yesterday. I'm guessing a few hundred pounds. I've been saving the plastic bags from purchased clay which worked well for storing the clay.

This last picture is for Tom Grey. He had put a post up about using cast iron pans and I told him I would put up a photo of a couple of my favorite cast iron pans. Cast iron is great. As good or better than non-stick once you get a good season on it. If you are into blackened food at all it's a must. The pan in the back on left is actually not cast iron, but it is also one of my favorite pans. It is a pressure cooker and I use it all the time for rice, soups, spaggetti sauce and most importantly dry beans. After soaking beans overnight, It takes 12 minutes to cook black beans for example and around the same time even for chickpeas. Anyone who has ever tried to cook chickpeas from scratch know that it is almost impossible to get them tender and takes HOURS.
It quite literally will cook a soup or pasta sauce in minutes, and cook it as though it has been cooking all day.

Peter's here!

It's here!!! I am so excited. My Peter Pugger has arrived! And look . . . it's all dressed up! I thought the folks at Peter Pugger were so sweet to put a bow on it for me, but then I talked to my father and found out he had asked them to. . . which is even sweeter.

So now this bad boy, dressed up in drag is out in my driveway. At 250 lbs. he's a little too hefty to drag in here myself. It's raining, and I hear thunder far away. Poor little guy, out there all alone.

My "new" wedging table

So I have this sorry looking little wedging table. It's not very big, but it's main problem is it's ugliness. I've been wanting to revamp it for a while and since while I had been feeling sick I was not feeling creative in the pot making area, I thought I would give it a go. It originally had a canvas covered, plywood top. This annoyed me because once the canvas stretched out over time, it would bunch up while I was wedging. I've taken the top off and restretched more than once. Enough is enough!


So I decided to turn it into a plaster topped table since I already had the plaster on hand. I took the top off, cut it to fit into the frame, lowered the legs and dropped the top in. I had intended on making the depth about 1 1/2" so the table wasn't too heavy to move around, but forgot to take into account the depth of the plywood, so it's really only about 1" deep. I figure as long as I don't clog dance on it, it should be fine.

I had some paint kicking around and so I didn't even need to spend any money there. The dark paint is left over from my son's room when he was still living at home. It was so bright and cheery in there. I couldn't resist the next little touch.

I hand lettered the logo, with paint leftover from the trim in our house, and I have to say it looks really awesome. I keep laughing when I look at it. We had a Brent slabroller in college, and it was a great piece of equipment. Now I have my own little piece of Brent!

Here's some mugs in the front and some bird feeders towards the back. Tomorrow my pugmill should arrive! I am so excited! I probably won't be able to get it into the house until Adam gets home, so I will spend the following day learning how to use it and recycling my clay! Peter and Brent will be so happy together.

Monkeys would use math if they could

Ben Stark asked me the other day about making the bat pin holes in the bats I made, so I thought I would show you super fast what I did. I think the entire process is easier if you start out with plywood that you have ripped into squares. Using a long straight edge, mark the center of the board.


Then, and this is important, measure out from the center the distance of your batpin holes. Measure the distance of your batpins on center. Not to point out the obvious to those who know what that means, but to those who don't, on center means from the center of the spot (in this case the bat pin) to the center of the other spot (the other bat pin). Now transfer that measurement to the wood. In my case, my bat pin holes are 10" apart on center, so I just lined the ruler up with the five inch point, and measured out five inches from there. You can see where I put my little x's.


I took a lot more photos, but then decided to skip the demos of obvious things. One photo I should have kept maybe was that I then took a compass and holding the pointy edge in the middle of my large center X, drew a nice circle inside of the square.One little tip. I found that occasionally the drill liked to drift a little when drilling the hole, so once I had one hole drilled I fitted it onto the bat head and with a hammer tapped down to mark where the other one would end up, just to make sure I hadn't drifted too much and so I could adjust the drill point if neccessary. You might ask: why not just take the circle and put it on bat head and mark the holes that way to begin with? I would answer because we are not monkeys, that's why. We can use tools and math and resort to monkey-like behavior as a last resort.

So, it's about 2:00 now. I now realize that I am not just over-tired from not sleeping, I am sick. So, I spent the morning cutting the bats and cleaning up a considerable mess (should have done it outside). My last goal of the day is to attach the bottoms to my new batch of square casseroles, put them under plastic and call it a day. I will attach the handles tomorrow. I am like a walking zombie right now. You might ask if it was safe for me to be using power tools given , my mental lethargy, and I would answer that if I can manage to seriously hurt myself with a jigsaw, then that is natural selection at it's finest.

Super-size me bats

Since I obviously don't know how to stay within the parameters of my immediate equipment, the last platter I threw was about 21" across, and even without a Masters degree (sniffle-sniffle) I knew it would not fit well for trimming onto my 21" bat-never mind the drama of trying to flip the beast over on such a small confinement. And so yesterday I drove to my neighborhood lumber yard and bought a piece of plywood. For any of you interested in such a trip, be sure to realize firsthand that just because the inside of your vehicle measures more than 48", doesn't mean that the point of entry does. Fortunately, after attempting to help load the piece into my car with my friendly lumber guy without success (when he asked me what kind of plywood I wanted, I responded "the long flat kind" to which he was amused and not annoyed) he had no problem cutting down to 24" pieces, which is the size bat I wanted to make anyway.

So I made two of them with help from Adam's manly strong hands holding the wood for me as I jigsawed, and he ran the table saw, which I am quite afraid of, to rip the remaining wood down to made smaller bats. Another pearl of wisdom: the diameter is not the same as the diagonal. I know the old adage is to measure twice and cut once. I apparently prefer to measure five or six times, and then cut twice. There's a disconnect in my brain somewhere. At least my error was on the large side, so can be fixed.

This platter isn't actually finished yet. When I took it off and flipped it over there was still way too much clay on the sides so it went back on. But there it is, 21" platter on one of my 24" bats. It took every ounce of strength and commitment to flip this over onto the bat for trimming. Factor in 25 lbs. of clay, a 16" plaster bat, and a 24", 1/2" thick bat all sandwiched together, and being held up with the strength of my left arm. It's a scary moment.

My big baby

This little beauty is about 21" across. It's quite flat, the largest flattest thing I have thrown so far. I have thrown a 24" bowl, which is a little easier I think.

These are some wood molds I made today for shaping slabs over to make square plates.

My heat gun I bought the other day, which greatly improves my ability to throw something like a 21" platter.

One of my pots from my last firing.


I had a few responses to my last post, and I found my response becoming quite long (what a surprise) and so decided that I would reply as a post. I promise not to post anything else so serious for at least one day after this. I'm not trying to contradict anything anyone said, just to write down what it got me thinking of. I am particularly interested in the idea of living for the moment, or rather treating each moment like it could be your last. I think it's a nice concept, but in the long run difficult, not to mention depressing thinking that every moment could be your last! It's a lot of pressure to put on yourself in life, because there is so much that has to be done that we really don't want to do but has to be done. Maybe some people manage to pull that off but it would be pretty hard for me. I know if I treated each moment as if it were my last, I'd never work, never clean the toilet, etc. I certainly wouldn't be sitting here typing on this computer.

I think the more do-able and equally important thing to do is to be present in every moment. It's like that bumper sticker that says: I'd rather be here now. It's something to really think about. Most of us probably perform a lot of tasks all the while wishing we could be doing something else. when I find myself rushing through something, like dishes or whatever and my mind is scattered and I'm starting to feel anxious because I'm already thinking of what I need or want to do next, I try to mentally stop, and while not exactly enjoy doing dishes, at least experience doing dishes. You can find a little Zen that way. I should say as a disclaimer here, that I desperately need to take my own advice. I'm not exactly settled most of the time. But it's something to think about-what you would do differently if you knew for sure this was it. If you told me, and I knew it to be true, that I had three days left to live I would embrace my hearts desire. I would do what I needed to do to spend those three days at peace inside. But I have to live believing I have maybe 30 years left, and that's a whole different ballgame.

Maybe I'm so cold today because my reflections are POLARized-get it?

I don't think I've put these up yet-if I have, then you get to see them twice. This handled pot is one of the only ones that came out okay.

I am reading a book my father Dennis sent me. It is called Light, Science and Magic and is by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua. It's a great book, and if you are interested in learning to photograph your own pots, then this book will likely improve your photos and the ease with which you can make them happen; I know it has already helped me a lot and I have much more still to read.

I learned an interesting thing this morning. I have been having a really difficult time photographing my black pots, like the one above. They look washed out and really difficult to control the reflections on them. Well, I think I now know why, and what I can do about it. I can't possibly explain what I have read thus far, but enough to say that there are several different kinds of light, and, interestingly enough, different types of reflections, and different ways to control them. I think the reflection I am getting off my black glaze is a polarized reflection-which is why I can't make it go away. Now, a far better photographer than myself might be able to deal with this differently-or they might do the same. What I might have to do is to put a polarizing filter over my lens and if it is indeed the type of reflection I am getting, it should solve the problem. It won't help if I am wrong-it will only solve polarized reflection issues . . . but . . . this next thing is fascinating.

You can create polarized reflections by polarizing your lightsource. For example, if I have a direct reflection on a pot, a polarized filter will not change it. However, if I were to put a polarized film over my light, the reflections the light created would then be polarized, and would then be able to be controlled by a polarized filter over my camera lens. I don't know why I would ever do that, but it is cool to know and understand. Knowledge is power!

Presumptuous tool review

Well the kiln is loaded and programmed to begin to fire at 12:30 a.m. I adjusted the firing program to coincide with what I've worked out in my test kiln these last couple of months. We'll see what happens.

(a little warning, this next passage may be long, so I promise to embellish and use poetic license as much as possible to keep you from nodding off)


So I'm sitting here having a little lunch-some risotto and fish stew of some kind that Adam brought home from work last night-and flipping through my CM mag. I came across a tool that I don't like very much, and since I have never used one or seen the mechanics of it in person, I thought I was perfect to review it. The tool is on page 31 of the Sept. 2008 issue. It is called the Quickcenter, and is made by Brent with a hefty price tag of 274$ (no disrespect to Brent, they have some good equipment). The idea of the tool is that you take this cylinder with a plunger at one end and press it into a chunk of clay, then line the tool up with a bat that has a hole in the center and after pushing the plunger, presto, a "centered" piece of clay. There are several things I find disturbing about this tool and I have no problem sharing them. I will try and address the arguments for this tool towards the end as I know there is more than one way to look at this-although I don't really embrace the other way.

Lets start with the obvious. The clay is not really centered. Putting something in the middle of the wheel barely addresses part of the process and purpose of centering the clay. The photo shows the tool being pressed into what looks like a block of clay directly from the bag. Right away, this tool encourages bypassing of a critical part of clay preparation, and that is wedging. Wedging isn't the most fun thing to do. It can be exhausting-but it can also be meditative if you get your mind right about it. Although I am stating the obvious, wedging also compacts the clay, lines up clay particles, and homogenizes the clay. I'll tell you my opinion right now and that is that if you currently just open a bag of clay and bang it into a ball to put on your wheel, you're skipping part of the process that will noticeably make your pots easier to throw. Sure, by centering your clay on the wheel you do gain some compression and particle alignment, but centering will not be as easy and the center of the clay piece that you are working on, will not receive that benefit.

Once you eject this tube of clay onto your wheel it will need additional work to truly get it centered. I can't imagine-at least I hope-that no one would think that this tool has removed all aspect of centering from throwing. Really all it has done is placed a pug of clay in the middle. Nothing more really than what I do when I sit down and bang a properly wedged piece into the center and pat it to pre-center. Now if your idea of this step is to try and 3-point shoot if onto the wheel from the other side of the room, you will definitely have better results using this tool.

Here's where I have my biggest problem with this tool. It tries to make part of the job easier that is almost the first thing you need to learn and accomplish before making a pot on the wheel. What is the saying? Anything worth learning is difficult? Something like that. Maybe that's not true, but part of learning anything using involves pushing through a wall where there is a part of you that wants to give up and you decide that instead you will go forward. Many walk away. I think why this tool really rubs me wrong, is that it is dumbing people down, or allowing them to dumb themselves down. Don't get me wrong-I LOVE TOOLS-I'm almost a tool and gadget-aholic, although I restrain myself greatly because I am also a poor-aholic. I just can't seem to stop being poor.

I have:

A Talisman Sieve (one of the greatest tools ever invented; albeit a pain to clean) a slab roller, a Giffin Grip (bought with my first pottery sale money in college-after I learned how to center a pot for trimming), an immersion blender (good for pre-mixing glazes that contain the dreaded, clumping Bentonite, before sieving) two digital scales (because one just isn't enough), multiple wire tools, needle tools, ribs, sponges, brushes, etc., a ware cart (because I don't like to walk back and forth when I don't have to), an extruder (makes rapid fire compressed coils-love it). What I don't have yet, sniffle-sniffle, is a pug/mixer mill (to help with recycling clay and de-airing freshly made clay) and a treadle wheel (because they're so purrrty). But that's due to my pooraholism.

I imagine that some might see a conflict between what I am preaching and what I am practicing as involves my using a Giffin Grip. I don't see it as the same thing. I suppose you could say that tap centering, or needle centering the pot and then taking clay coils to hold the pot to the wheel, is a crucial part of making the pot. I don't think so. If it's part of the process for you and you are kind of Zen about it, then that's great. I wasn't zen, it seemed like a lot of time spent doing something that wasn't that important to making a pot. The clay has already been wedged, centered, thrown, partially dried, and now I just need to hold it on the wheel so I can trim some excess clay off which which this tool does a great job of doing (usually).

I just think that part of mastering a craft is learning and using the process. By attempting to remove centering, this tool allows us to think that we either can't or shouldn't bother getting the clay (and our hearts and minds-"we are the world, we are the children . . .") to center, and makes the beginning part of making a pot into a paint by number enterprise (no offense to paint by number fans). So I think some of the arguments against my thinking is that this tool will be good for:

a. beginning learners
b. children
c. people with weak wrists, arms, bellybuttons, whatever
d. clay classes for the hobbyist

As far as beginning learners go, I think I've already addressed this. Learning to center is part of learning to make a pot. It's not about skipping the hard stuff to get to the fun stuff (which is still hard, and probably will be harder since you have not gotten a true feel for the clay yet). As far as kids go, I know that everyone might think I am an evil ogre, but I don't believe in dumbing kids down, and that they shouldn't learn struggle and failure . That doesn't mean they should never be helped. Of course not. But I don't think this tool will really help them much, as it will take about 10 seconds for them to get the clay off center again. I'm just not a fan of this "there are no losers, every ones a winner" culture that we try and create for our kids. It does NOT prepare them for the real world. The weak wristed-you still have to get the clay to full center and turn it into a pot-things still requiring strength, which is largely built by wedging and centering. The hobbyist in a clay class? Is there a different argument for them?

While I'm at it, there is an ad for what I think is a FANTASTIC tool on page 69 in the same mag. It is called The Bump, and made by Mudtools (Michael Sherrill). This is a throwing stick, made with a flexible neck, what looks like an easy to grip handle and a firm-centered sponge end . I have never used or seen one in person but I'm telling you it's ingenious and I gotta have one. Sometimes, you just know.

Oh, if you read this far-thanks.

Ready for the firing

Here's my little test kiln with seven cups. I purchased the test kiln at the same time I bought my larger kiln. It has been a great investment allowing me to learn a lot quickly when I need to and since I so frequently change the direction I am working that seems to be much of the time. I have probably done more firings in it than I have in my larger kiln. I could have gone really tiny, like maybe 4 or 6 inches square or so like some Paragons I was looking at, but my thinking was that by going a little larger it could function as a real useable kiln for instance if I want to use it for lustres on a few pieces or some overglaze work or whatever. It is .8 cubic feet, about 11" wide by 13'" deep. The nice thing also is that I can program it to fire exactly the same pretty much as the larger kiln. And to boot, it's kind of cute.

I have my vent set up so I switch back and forth between the two kilns. The part of the hose where it attaches to the kiln is a more heavy duty, solid type metal which swivels at the joints making it easy to move to the other kiln, which is right next to it. I had to put in a few extra washers for air spacing when I mounted a coupling onto the test kiln because I think the vent draws a little too powerfully for this smaller kiln. I also keep a roll of heat tape nearby for patching holes in the hose. If you use a kiln vent I strongly suggest, if you do not already do so on a regular basis, that when you finish reading this that you go inspect your hose really well if it's been on for a while. I am on my second hose in two years and frequently find new holes where the heat and whatever have corroded the flexible hose. I just wrap a little heat tape around and good as new. Especially check near the kiln of course, but surprisingly I find them often up close to the blower motor where the hose connects there. I first discovered this after I had been smelling fumes really strongly for several firings and was kind of pissed about the blower not working well and then when I finally checked the hose there was probably a hole at least three inches wide. So, learn from my ignorance.

Mug comparisons

So my idea is to compare some of the mugs from this round. I was going to compare handles, but I thought first I might deal with shape. Many of these look better in the photo I think. Holding them I get a different impression. Keep in mind that this is just what I am looking for in my own work, and I don't believe every successful mug should have these characteristics. I myself enjoy a huge variety of forms and styles from other potters. I'm just looking for something that works for me.

So example 1. Two mugs very similar, but different. I feel the top one is more successful. There is something about the swell of the belly that is a little more inviting and the rim dips in a little making the space feel slightly more enclosed.

Example 2. A similar form but it just sort of sweeps up. It's missing that little indentation above the foot that might give the base a little lift and no belly swell. Also the rim just flares out. It's very open and feels less comforting


Example 3. I feel like the top cup is more satisfying in shape. Again there is a nicer belly swell and a little movement also with a throwing rib.

Example 4 is very similar, but kind of dead on the outside and while there is a little swell, it's up kind of high. It's more like the pot is puffing it's cheeks out rather than taking a breath.


Example 5 is one of my favorites from the group. What do I like about it? Well again the round belly, and although it doesn't dip in a little at the rim it dips in below the rim in a decent curve and the lip has some fatness and nice undulation on the rim as well. Also nice lift at the foot.

Example 6 is missing the boat for me. I don't like the way it sweeps up so severely towards the belly and feels more like someone puffing out their chest rather than, again, taking a breath. Not much undulation, and no flaring out towards the rim. The rim has a nice fat quality, but that's about it. It's just kind of static.

I have many others I could compare today but I'll spare you the redundancy. You get the picture. I know I have been unsatisfied with many of my pots and although I can recognize a good pot it is often difficult to make that transition from my brain to the making. I read this great thing on someone's blog and I wish I remembered who, but she said something like, she was finally getting to the point where her hands matched her heart (she said it way better). I can totally understand that. I know what I am after in a vague way. It may not be an exact shape of a form, but it's a form that is successful in every way. All the parts are working as a whole.

I'll talk about my handles on my next post. I'll be glazing for a while now so won't have any new pots to put up and I don't want to run out of posts in one day!

So, several potters have stopped by to visit my blog and I just want to say hello and thank you to every one who does. I truly enjoy writing knowing you are reading.

Mold and the Art of Zen

So I'm pretty excited. Usually I pull all of my handles. It's a sloppy business and it's not my favorite thing to do. Makes the idea of making a lot of mugs at the same time seem like kind of a drag. Well, yesterday I had the idea of making the handles out of a coil of clay and hand shaping them on the table, like I do when I put a little lug on a jar or oval pot and I thought, why not the mugs? It worked fantastically! The handle looks a little large here because of the photo perspective, but it looks pretty sweet. I found that making the handles this way made the whole experience more enjoyable and little more zen-like.


This is what happens when you let your pots sit under plastic in the New England humid summer weather. These rings are all mold.

I got my new scale which almost instantly gave me the same problems with the on/off button so I exchanged it for the model on the left which is larger and more heavy duty and so really more suited to the business of weighing out clay and glaze materials for large batches. The scale on the right is for my testing. I got two because you want the scales to be as accurate as possible of course, and with digital scales, the more you go up in weight capacity (the one on the left can weigh 15 pounds while the one on the right can only weigh 2 pounds) they become slighty less accurate in the sense that the larger one is accurate to within one gram, while the smaller one is accurate to within .001 grams. One gram is not a big deal when weighing out a large batch of glaze, but could be a problem when weighing out a test batch. My tests and my large batches have always come out exactly the same I believe as a result of using two scales and the result of doing my tests in a small computer-controlled kiln and my large computer-controlled kiln. This way I can also program my small firings to fire, and more importantly COOL, very closely the same as a larger firing.

So I took the new medicine the neurologist gave me before nighty-night time like he said, and an amazing thing happened. I slept the entire night. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to most people but I don't sleep well. Four to five hours if I am lucky, and it is all interrupted. Sleep one hour, wake up, sleep another hour, lay awake for an hour, etc. So during the day I am always tired. I woke up this morning and after I rubbed the sleepies out of my eyes I am amazed at how much energy I have. Physically and mentally. I wonder if this is how other people feel all of the time? It's a very strange state for me to be in. I gotta figure out a way to make this a permanent thing. See-ya.

Oval pot construction

This will be obvious and boring to the potters out there, but to my friends or family it may be mildly entertaining, so this is how I put together an oval pot, in a very abbreviated form. Above is a pot that we will pretend doesn't have a bottom yet, because this is the wrong picture. Pretend it is just walls.

Then I flip it over and score the bottom to help it stick to the slab (sheet) of clay that I have already rolled out on my slabroller (think really big pasta machine that cost about 700$ more).

Flip the only walls pot over and set on the slab which I have sprayed with water. I carefully jiggle it down firmly onto the slab because we want it to stick really well so there will be no cracking later. After I cut around the base of the pot and smooth the outside and inside to hopefully make it look as if the pot were born this way, and not the horrid result of a really bad plastic surgeon.

Two little handles made from a coil of clay that has been flattened and shaped a little.

And like magic, the finished pot. I pre-decorated this one with some lines I drew into the clay. I made 15 of these today (threw them yesterday, but finished today) but they are not all alike. The handles vary, only half have lines drawn in them, and the general shapes are different, but all oval.

I'm really looking forward to glazing these pots. I am trying something different. I've done a lot of testing and it you look back to the post from June 16, "Electric and Lovin' it" you get an idea of the approach I will be using to glaze many if not most of these pots.