From Last Week

Little Glaze and Back to Bisque

November is the cruelest month! It brings the promises of winter travels taking shape, the sorrows of turkey-less Thanksgivings, new friends, ever new experiences, and more classes, after school extra lessons, and night time classes that an angry bigfoot can shake a mulberry stick at. More specifically, November Mondays and Tuesdays are hell on this busy Bear's earth. None the less, my ceramics still manages to squeeze its way into these busy days. A few nice bowls and two big sculpture pieces came out of the kiln on Monday. The sculpture work will make it's way to these pages in the days that follow. I have more bowls about to go into the next glaze fire, and even loaded up the kiln again tonight for probably the last bisque fire of this year. More to come around on Thursday, I hope. Have a great week ya'll

Locked Out (I forgot to hit the publish button last week)

Happy Monday's (November 12, 2012) everyone. I'm back from last weeks Thursday Friday Tokyo trips, and I've spent quite a chunk of time, betwixed lessons and lesson planning, organizing a portfolio for potential post Japan (if that is indeed what's in my future) ceramics studies. A more indepth explination of that weighty statement will follow in perhaps several weeks or months, but for now it will have to exist as a tantalizing tid bit of a hint of possible futures. The studio is locked, and the key in no where to be found, nor is the ever friendly Tabe Sensei. Thustly, today has been decreed a pottery free day. Yet my weird mind wonders its way to inspirations every time I sit infront of this glowing box with keys. Todays inspirations come from http://www.mckeachiejohnstonstudios.com/gallery.shtml?0001#all http://www.hopkinspottery.com/uploads/BryanHopkinsbyGlenBrownOct12Printed.pdf

Fired / tired

Well today was just a dreary Monday like we've not had for some time. The sun never quite woke from its slumber today, and the promise of rain hung heavy about Susaki all day. The days themselves are getting shorter and shorting, and it is now no longer light at 5:30 when I return home from work. BUT! The light of a newly repaired kiln and successful bisque fire is brightening my days (along with all enumerable joys that fill all the non ceramic centered portions of life). The bisque was a success and the students work that got fired all survived ta boot! We've stated the glazing cycle and should be completing it within a week or so. I recently was informed that the gallery on the eastern side of Kochi where some of my work is on display has been selling several of my pots! So that was a pleasant surprise to overhear. Enjoy the photos and we'll see you as soon as I have more new work to post. Here's some pictures of some of the various finished works ready for glazing and some of the new work that has just reached the bone dry stage and will go in with the next bisque fire.

2/2 Make!

Well now that you know of two weeks ago's happenings, it's time for a recap of last week. So last week was midterm at Susaki High School. This meant that my time was largely dedicated to studio time. However, with the kiln on the fritz I didn't feel hugely motivated to just create, create, create. I spent a huge chunk of my week cycling through the happy step bye step of scoop from reclaim bucket, dry on plaster bricks, wait, wedge, bag, and repeat. So help me, that bucket is empty! Although, today's pottery class began the battle anew with their bowls of slip.

Tuesday was a really productive day of wheel work. I worked specifically towards honing in on a bowl shape I am rather fond of after warming up with some yunomi and smaller coffee bowls. It was one of those rare days where centering came easily, and the clay and my hands just seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Also in the good news bracket since my post this morning I have just been informed in a friendly little message that the kiln was fixed today, and the pots are firing as I type these happy words. I trimmed the pots pictured above after school, and prepped the last of the reclaim clay for the students use throughout the week. We'll be onto a glazing cycle by the end of this week, and that means the best part is only a few weeks away! Nothing's better than opening up a fresh glaze firing, and, preferably, cradling the still slightly warm pots in your hands for the first time as finished works. I love it! Here's to hoping we're back to our regularly planned life hence forth eh! Come back on Thursday for more updates. Have a great week!

The System is Down

O'hisashiburi friends and mudd enthusiasts. The nights are beginning to develop that real Autum chill, and the persimons have come into season (they are my favorite of Japanese seasonal fruits so every Fall I gobble as many as I can, while I can). I have been busy, as always, BUT the difference being my time management / or multi tasking skills seem to have lessoned since this time last year. Finding time to actually write these lovely posts, or remembering to bring my camera to school, has been . . . spotty at best. Thustly this is the first of my attempts at 2 posts in 1 day. WHAT! you may say? You read it right folks. Consider it my way of saying I'm sorry for my deplorable postings of the past weeks. There's much to cover but we'll start where I left off. Two Fridays ago I loaded up the kiln with two shelves of work, and quite a bit of student's work as well. Everyone's been excited to see how their work will bisque, but t'was not meant to be. Late Saturday night I got a message from Tabe Sensei saying that she went to check on the firing and found the kiln flashing a message that it could not fire because the cooling system was non functional. So, we're on hold here at the home front. The estimated time for the repair is about 2 weeks. Until then I'll have to keep my hands busy with cleaning the messy studio and managing the ever swelling mound of reclaim clay (seriously that bucket never empties!).

If you are a frequent checker of this blog I have a request for you! So, I majored in English in College, and love to read. Being carried away or challenged by a good book is one fo the greatest ways to relax. Unfortunately, I've not found inspiration in a book in about 2 months. So, dear readers, leave a friendly comment suggesting a book that's really entangled you in its pages recently. Sure I could look at best sellers, or any of the other interweb resources vailable to me to find books, but I find this path a tad more interesting. Suggest away, and I'll be doing better hence forth at managing my multided of tasks and loves. See you on Thursday!

What a HOOT!

Sorry for the delays in posting, Blogger was giving me some difficulties, but we've been to couples counseling and are staring to work through our issues. I've been a mix of all to busy to be in the studio, teaching my pottery course,getting the fall and winter garden in, and managing to do short bursts of good work when I can actually get my hands in the clay. In my course my students really wanted to make coffee mugs with faces on them. I've never once attempted any type of 3-d portraits or non abstract sculpting, so I took it as a bit of a personal challenge. One student was particularly interested in me showing them how to sculpt and owl's face, and being that I'd just received and e-mail from home about the newly spotted back yard bard owl of Plum Street, WV, it seemed all too perfect an opportunity to try my hands at it. The sculpting itself was fantastically fun, and really felt like a very natural process, but obviously something in my timing or technique was off because it did not dry evenly and is now marred by cracks.

I've also been continuing to try and work bigger! This vase in the most recent attempt at larger scale workings, and I am quite pleased with the way it's turned out thus far. The new firing time table is up for this term, and we are quickly heading towards a bisque firing. I'm excited and ready to get some new pots coming out of the kiln again!

Glad to be back in the posting business. We'll see ya'll on Thursday with more new work.