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."