Another January Day

 Here are a few pictures that showed up on the camera. Every week we get more snow, and the base just keeps getting better and better. 

 This is the beginning of the ski trail as it heads west. It is the beginning of what has become a 90 minute daily ski in the woods. Very refreshing, and good for the soul.

The ski tracks have been holding together really well. The temp has been from 20F-10F. which is ideal to keep the snow firm. 

Minnesota Ice

It's hard to post something new and interesting that happens in Minnesota in January. There is a certain sameness that takes over. I ski and make pots. It is too cold to wood fire, so there is a "Seasonal Affected Firing Disorder" that you must deal with.
This fall I was able to get my hands on a nice used Alpine gas kiln. This turned out to be the cure for SAFD. Here are some results from the last firing.
I can definitely see that the snow and winter has influenced the pots.
I hope that you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.
Make Good Pots,
~Craig

Northern Ice

I just got some porcelain out of the gas kiln. Here is a celadon, guinomi (sake cup). It references the Minnesota winter. I guess all that time spent in the woods cross country skiing is starting to show up in the pots. 

I'm excited enough that I'm glazing up some more. How great is that to still be excited after forty plus years!

Make good pots!
Cheers,
~Craig

Happy New Year

Here is wishing all a Happy New Year! 



Here is a favorite  New Year blessing from  John O'Donohue

A New Year Blessing
BEANNACHT
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life."

     
                      

Pitchers from the past

Finding empty shelves is always a good and bad problem.The bad problem is you have no pots to sell.  The good problem is that you must make more!  Lately instead of pushing forward, I seem to be regressing and making pots that I haven't made in years. Call it a second childhood, if you will. These jugs fit  into the comfortable old friend , good to see you, how have you been category.  A couple dozen got made, I really would like to keep making more of them, but other old friends are calling. 

Cheers,

Make good pots,

~Craig

realization

Snow and cross-country ski trails keep showing up on the camera. All of a sudden there was the realization that I must be spending a lot of time out in the woods, skiing, . Odd, it doesn't seem like that much. The pictures are always at the top of the hills, never at the bottom, I'm sure there is something very telling about that, maybe the light is better at the top.
Maybe some pottery pics will show up on the camera soon. We are supposed to get another 6-8 inches of snow today(it's snowing right now), so there is a chance of more snow photos.
The weather person mentioned that this will be the seventh major snow this winter. Already there is no place left to put the snow!!
When it warms up, we are thinking of making some large snow pots, or snow kilns.
Cheers,
~Craig

Kiln in Snow

The last snow fall or maybe it was the one before, they just keep coming so it becomes one big winter blur left all this snow on the kiln. The snow makes it hard to imagine that sometimes it is 2300F plus inside the kiln .

Next week I'll probably go out and brush all the snow off. I think I will leave it for awhile, as it will not get warm enough to melt. 

Ichi-go ichi-e

Ichi-go ichi-e

Some December throwing

Well the roads have been cleared of the excessive snow and I started putting some more time in at the workshop. Here are a few new jars (tsubo) that will probably go into the spring wood firing. The temp this morning was a -13F. so the spring firing seems like some dreamland far away.

Oh, here is a shot of one of the jars from the side. I really like making these jars, and I always end up with more than I need.  A really good problem to have, there is nothing more frustrating than having space in the kiln with nothing to put there. 

This is a tokkuri  (saki bottle) that I made.. it needs the cups to go with it. That will probably happen tomorrow. It's a bit of fun to alter and slice up some pots. 

Finally some beer mugs. This is a design that I haven't made in about twenty years or so. What a blast from the past.
Well,

Make good pots,

~Craig

Arctic Blast

I haven't blogged in a while. It's not like I haven't been making pots, it's either the camera needs recharging or something. I know that this blog is mainly about pottery, and that snow pictures abound. The pictures mainly are a Currier and Ives Card sort of thing that truly make you want to go and play in the snow.  This snow photo is not on that ilk. This is what yesterday looked like out the back door.   This is snow having a really bad hair day. The weather man was saying things that you never want to hear..... Arctic Blast .... Wind Chill Factor... Below Zero....no travel advised... roads impassable... blowing and drifting.
It was a great day to be inside in the studio.
Make good pots!

~Craig