Bowl with Cornflower Blue Glaze

Hmmm.. I like this. The B-mix clay came out really white and I wanted to leave a bit of it revealed and rough-cut near the base. Love this pastel blue color.

Temmoku Mugs

This is a glaze that was developed in Japan and was used frequently for tea bowls there. With Marshmallow White on the rims.

New Mugs

Powder Blue and Leaches White. Bernard Leach was a famous British potter and I think this glaze was named after him.

Here are a couple of new bowls.. not crazy about the glazing results.. :( But I'm learning.

One of the first plates I made cracked because I didn't compress it enough. Compressing is the process of pressing out from the center of the plate and back in as you throw the plate, to eliminate any air pockets. If it's not compressed, the pressures caused during the drying process can destroy pots. Plates are highly susceptible to this problem. The thing is, when they crack, it's usually in an S-shape. I think these S-Shapes are pretty good looking. This plate broke in two with a nice S-shape. Then a section of the rim broke off while I was handling it post-bisque. So, with this plate I decided to Raku fire the component parts and mount them. After the Raku firing, the section you see on the bottom broke off when I put the hot plate in water to cool it. Here are the results.

Another weekend, another great hike. This trail is literally called "666", and I don't know why. The good news is that there were no recorded encounters with beelzebub. The only hellish component was the one hour steep uphill climb that you start the hike with. For the first time this season, the packed snow and ice was a factor, but it was a small one. We really enjoyed the falls 2/3rds or more of the way up. I think they were called Jasmine Falls, but there was not really a good vantage point to get pics with my (pathetic) cell phone camera.

The first round of bowls are glazed!

1. Well, this was a good week. My Dad was visiting and we got a lot of projects around the house completed, and my first round of bowls came out of the cone 5 kiln. It's great to finally have some finished pots after 5 weeks of class. Here are the pics. I used a lot of shino glaze, often with a blue double dipped, and also used some sage and sand colored glaze. I'm pretty pleased overall with the results. One more shino bowl that isn't shown here is in Dad's hands, as he is driving back to New Mexico today!

Platform Bed

I've been working on an Asian style platform bed, it's almost done. I'm using select pine for the visible spots and oak veneer plywood for the platform. Today I was putting in wood plugs over some screw holes and then managed to sand the overall surface area where they went in, which no longer matches!! May have to refinish the long runners on both sides. It's been a learning experience, and at this point I really A) like it B) just wanna finish it and get it into the house!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xGPHseCQrI

An amazing jazz tune from Dexter Gordon.

How they throw traditional Onggi pots in Korea

In Korea, before refrigeration, clay pots were put underground and used to store kimchi, soy bean paste, and a myriad of other goods. The pots used are big brown guys, called onggi pots, and this video shows the traditional way of making one. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4YSwPmB6Lk&feature=related

Hike at Blodgett Peak area with Freethinkers

On October 2nd, we took a good, challenging Freethinkers hike with a trailhead very near our home. The trailhead is about a 4 minute drive from our driveway! I look forward to going back some time.

Another day, another dollar; spent on a mechanic. I tried in vain to remove my Mitsubishi Montero steering wheel and put a new multifunction switch in. I removed the airbag, the nut, unplugged the electrics, and assembled the puller, but it would not budge. Turns out the cheapness of the tool was the culprit. I took it to my tried and true local mechanic, Bear Auto, and he was able to get it right off with his snap-on wheel puller. I think the wheel puller I was using (a loaner from pepboys) came with weak support bolts that were bending slightly as I increased the torque.

By the way, there should be no blog that doesn't have the word 'torque' in it at some point.

If this is all complete gibberish to you, sorry. If you are the type of person who is actually interested in DOING this kind of work on your own car, the old adage that the having the right tools means the job is half done was just re-proven today.

Of course the real bummer in all this is that the time it took to go to my mechanic meant I had to skip open studio at Bemis today, and so I didn't get to check in on my 6 bowls that were bisqued last night.

Hike to St Mary's Falls

Just outside Colorado Springs there's a hike that starts at about 8000 feet and takes you to St Mary's Falls at about 9500 ft. It's a great hike, especially with the Aspens turning. Hye Ryun and I hiked it with Adrian and Sylvia Won. Tough hike but worth it! This is the first snow of the fall.