Quick update

I've got the kiln cookin' again for the second day in a row. I fired a small bisque last night and glazed the pots this evening and loaded 'em right back up and got the kiln going again. Normally I would wait to have a full kiln to fire, but my wonderful sister (who reads this blog ;) reminded me last week, or maybe the week before, that I had promised to donate a few pieces to her church's silent auction. Needless to say--I forgot. Like a looong time ago.

So I got to work making easy stuff--bowls, vases, bottles. Then I pushed them through super fast. I only had one piece not dry enough to load in the bisque, and I probably could have gotten it through, but I was worried about the lugs cracking off. I've got my first raw glazed piece in the kiln tonight--he got missed in the bisque load, so I figured I'd give it a go. If it works, I think that I'll do much more of it--at least for my smaller pots.

Genevieve is doing much, much better. She is back to her happy self now and remains the sweetest baby on the planet. We all had a great weekend watching football with friends (Gamecocks now 5-1!!!), and Sunday, we went to Magnolia Gardens and had a fantastic time. Genevieve LOVED riding in her stroller and taking it all in. She has to be the most observant baby in the world--a sure sign of high intelligence I am told ;)

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow I should have some pictures of finished pots to put up. Fingers crossed that my glazes didn't magically change after sitting up for six months. Hmmm, I probably should have sieved those instead of just mixing them up with the drill...

Feeling good!

I got my first chance tonight to really get back to throwing--well, I threw about 15 lbs or so. It was all that I had time to get to, but that's ok, it felt great! I'm used to having trouble after taking a break, but tonight, it all came back easily. I've got two bowls, a pitcher, a bottle and a vase to finish up later. I had already put the plastic on before I remembered to get a picture, so their appearance is a secret for now. Now, I just hope that I get to get back to them before they dry out.

In other news, Genevieve has ANOTHER ear infection--and a cold--and thrush from the last ear infection--and she's teething. All at the same time! The doctor put her on a different antibiotic that I hope works a little better this time. I don't think that her last ear infection totally healed.

Lindsay and I aren't getting a whole lot of sleep (not that we got a whole lot before anyway). Lindsay has missed two days of work this week, and I may have to take off tomorrow to take care of her if her cough and fever haven't gone away by tomorrow morning. She still tries so hard to be sweet, but she just can't keep herself happy all the time. We don't want to be the parents that send their sick kid to daycare to get all the other babies sick, so we really want to wait until she feels better before going back.

Well, that's all for now. With some luck, I'll have some pictures of finished pots tomorrow (or in the next couple days anyway).

Here are a few pics of the remodeled studio. I'm not quite done yet--I still need to make my new wedging table and clean up some more, but it's getting closer to what I want. I added a bunch more shelving, got a bunch of crap out of the way, and, I hope I made it a little bit easier to work in. I do wish that I would have painted first, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Here is the only pic I could find of the old setup. Not much changed as far as basic equipment layout, but my small space doesn't leave a whole lot of options. Especially since they thought it would be nice to only put ONE outlet in my garage. I have a heavy duty extension cord running to a ten outlet power strip on the other side of the garage. Hooking up more outlets--a job for another day!

Now to find the time to throw some pots! I did add some water to a couple of bags of clay that had become a bit hard. That way, I will be ready to go as soon as the moment arrives!

This weekend my long time friend Trevor is coming into town to pick up a bass boat that my dad and I are giving him. It is really in pretty good shape except for the fact that it has been sitting up for ten years! Dad and I decided that we didn't have the time (and I had no money) to fix it up which made me slightly sad because it was to be my boat, but it just wasn't in the cards either. Hopefully Trevor will have better luck--he will also have more time to use it as well.

We've got a fun day planned tomorrow--a cookout at Charlestowne Landing for my mom's birthday. And Sunday we are going out in my mom's boat to do one last day of skiing for the summer. Hope it's not too cold ;)

Maybe there will be enough time at some point this weekend to squeeze in a few pots :) Have a great weekend everybody!!

Getting back to it

I'm finally feeling like I have enough time in the evenings to get back to work in the studio. I am totally remodeling/rearranging the studio to work better for me. It's funny how one project requires another. In order to start working in the studio, Lindsay and I had to reorganize the storage shed to accommodate a lot of my tools and general crap that had accumulated in the studio. That was a half days job in itself.

I got a new (to me) work table that is built like a million times better than the one that I made for myself. The only disadvantage to it is that it has a shelf under it that prohibits some of my storage of large tools. But anyway, the remodel is coming along nicely. I'll be making my first of many trips to Lowes tomorrow night to get shelf brackets and peg board hangers among other things I'm sure. Did I mention they just built a new Lowes pretty much in my neighborhood?? Not good!

I'll try to get some pictures up of the studio in progress--now I'm wishing I had taken some before pictures because it had gotten pretty bad. When not in use, it served as a dump area for pretty much everything we couldn't find a place for. Lindsay and I had really wanted to totally paint the studio from floor to ceiling, but it is a massive job, and I wanted to start getting back to work. I have only had a few hours in the mud since Genevieve was born--and she will be SIX months old a week from today!!! That's the longest dry spell since I started in clay my senior year of high school.

Speaking of Genevieve, she is doing awesome!! Fatherhood truly is the most amazing experience of my life, and I'm loving every minute of it! Well, not EVERY minute of it--not getting a lot of sleep is not the best. She had her first ear infection and it threw her sleep cycle all out of whack, but she's getting back to it now. She is learning new things every day and is like 90% there rolling over from back to tummy. She just learned yesterday how to blow a raspberry. I never thought I would be so excited about a baby spitting everywhere, but man is it awesome!

Well, I could sit here and ramble on for days. It's like my lack of blogging has made me want to type a novel or something. I hope that happens when I get back into throwing as well. I've got so many ideas beating around in my head now that I don't really know where to start. I'll get back here soon and hopefully get back into the grove of blogging more regularly again. Heck, I may even try to reopen my Etsy shop soon.

Tea Time

Ok, so I've never been one much for coffee. I love some caffeine and my drink of choice is usually Pepsi (with or without bourbon ;), but I can't bring myself to drink soft drinks before six a.m. Since my favorite form is the teapot, I decided that I'd like to start drinking hot tea in the mornings. I particularly like the idea of making tea in my own pots. Problem is, I have no idea what I'm doing! I wanted to make loose leaf tea, but don't know where to get it so I got a box of assorted teas. I made some Earl Grey because it was the only one that I'd really heard of. Question is, I grew up on sweet iced tea, so I put some sugar in it and I'm pretty sure I ruined it. (what do you put in hot tea anyways?) I think I need some beginner tea to start on, but I'm not sure where to start. Anyway, if there are any tea drinkers out there, I'd love some input. I'm going on a google hunt, but I'd much prefer input from friends and potters :)

Some Mud Time

So, I finally got to get a little muddy on Sunday afternoon. Lindsay took Genevieve shopping and I attempted to work a little in the studio. I made ten balls of clay and got to work--I managed four cups before I got too hot to be comfortable out there. It was in the mid 90s and I was out there in the hottest part of the day. I had two fans on and it was no good--I think I've been spoiled by air conditioning. While I was already nice and toasty, I made the brilliant decision to go out and trim the hedges to get nice and super sweaty. I could only take about 20 minutes out there too.

Anyways--Sunday evening I went out to trim and found the cups already leather hard--even a little past leather hard. This was seriously only a few hours and the pots were drying ridiculously fast. I went to trimming and found three of the four had super thin bottoms and just gave up. So--I have discovered two things--that I am super rusty and it's freakin hot outside!

Genevieve had her two month checkup today and she is now in the 50th percentile for weight and height--11 lbs 10 oz. and 22-3/4" long! Ok, next time I will try to get some pictures of new pots, but for now--one more of Genevieve.

WOW! How long since I touched Clay?!

Can you get any cuter than this?? Just look a those arms!

Ha!! If you don't know this blog is about pottery, that title is freakin' hilarious!

I'm sad to say that this is really the first chance that I've had to sit down and get back to my blog. Still nothing to report on the pottery front. I did manage to pick up some clay last Saturday, but it's still in the boxes. Maybe this weekend, I'll get a chance to actually get a little muddy!

I feel almost like I'm pushing my luck sitting down and giving a little report. The past week or so, Genevieve has been super colicky (sp??) at bed time. Last night she was up from 8-12:30 and it seemed nothing worked more than a couple of minutes. Needless to say, Lindsay and I were a bit tired today. Lindsay still didn't really get any sleep after I fell asleep because Genevieve kept fussing about every 15 minutes or so. I can sleep through anything, so I didn't get the pleasure of experiencing that.

I have been wondering lately how parents ever have a second child--I mean seriously--we did this to ourselves?! I knew that sleep would be hard to come by, but seriously! I do truly love her, and couldn't image not having her--just don't ask me about another one after hours of trying to get her to lay down and get to sleep. Because Lindsay and I are not rolling in the dough, it will be a while before baby number two comes along--one in childcare at a time, don't cha know?

Anyway--I've also noticed that moms want babies to stay babies forever and dad's can't wait until they grow up some. I keep thinking, just wait--she will be able to hold her head up soon! And, one day, she will be able to actually tell me what is wrong with her--and sit on the can to do her business! But, then she will just be running around getting into everything.

I am really excited about all of this though--don't think I'm not enjoying being a new parent! Holding her on my shoulder and her rocking her head over to give me a kiss (Lindsay and I are convinced that this is on purpose!) is my new favorite thing in the world. Plus--it's funny as hell hearing her burp and fart like a man! Hehe.