So, far too early tomorrow morning, I will head off to Seabeck, WA for our woodfiring.  I’ll have my iphone, so it will be my goal to post a series of small updates during the firing.  I will apologize in advance for the spelling, since the wordpress iphone app lacks any form of spell check.

Here’s a shot of some of my preparations.  I have three giant bins this size, along with a milk crate of tiny pieces.  I’ve taken to using pillow stuffing to protect some of the delicate wings of my critters.  However, in this shot, I think laziness played more of a role than prudence. They do look like they’re taking a nap in a cloud, though.

So I have a link to my brother’s site on my “connections” page, but I don’t think I’ve had a chance to talk about him here yet.  In short, he’s an awesome artist up in NYC.  While I work away in my ceramics studio, he works away with a Macintosh.  He makes beautiful, tight artwork, very influence by Victorian wallpapers.  In fact, he has made wallpapers before, beautiful ones, that a place in Brooklyn hand silkscreens.  One thing that always makes me smile about the possibility of getting a house of our own, is the fact that we could put up some of it.  Anyway, I really recommend checking out all of his work.  It’s amazing

Anyways, here’s what is causing me to make a post on Dan right now.  He’s teamed up with Geekhouse Bike to make beautiful bicycle that was inspired by Obama’s 2004 “There are no red states and blue state, only the United States” speech.  The bicycle, is beautiful done in tight paterns of red, blue, and white.  It’s presently for sale on Ebay, with all proceeds going to the Obama caimpaign.

The firing is just over a week away.  I’ve been pushing pretty hard in the studio, and am quite satisfied with what I have.  I think I should have enough pieces to supply both my galleries, and our holiday sale. I’ll just still have to keep pushing though, to finish every piece that I possibly can. Here’s another peek at my drying shelf.

Here I am, working away.

We’ll be unloading the kiln on Saturday, November 1st, and it will be my goal to have most of everything photographed by Monday the 3rd.  That means that it will be a super busy weekend, but I have to send out some slides on the 3rd, anyway.  If I’m going to be applying to something, I’d like to use my newest work, even if it does mean spending another weekend in the studio.

Oh, funny thing.  I can tell it’s starting to be winter now.  Between the colder weather and the extra time in the studio, my hand dry up and take the texture of sand paper.  It’s sort of a joke, that every potter is an expert on hand lotion.  Everyone will tell you what the best brand is (always different), and why. In my opinion, Eucerin Plus Intensive Hand Repair Cream (Not the Eucerin Plus Intensive Dry Skin Repair Cream) is truly the way to go.  Here’s my winter hands, pre-lotion.  If you want to be creeped out, check it out at full resolution.

That’s how long I prefer my fingernails.  It drives me nuts when they leave little fingernail marks in the clay. Also, if they aren’t that short, they get clay stuck under them.  I’m so used to them being like that that if they were longer I’d probably accidentally scratch my eye out or something.

For months, Florentia Clayworks (our studio), has been discussing repainting our building.  We’d shuffled paint chips, negotiated with the land lady, and talked with neighbors.  We’d talked about where to get paint, who would pay for the painting, and yet, had never made progress.   However, all that changed about two weeks ago, due to a chance meeting of studio mate Randy, our land lady, and the local muralist Ryan Henry Ward.  With in two days the walls of our drab and tagged studio blossomed into beautiful blues and purples.  Now more or less complete, our studio is covered with awesome monsters with hollow heads, and giant birds.  Neighbors who had overlooked us for months began to wander by and ask about us.

To celebrate our new look, we’ll be participating in the Fremont First Friday this week. I’ll be there from 6 to 9pm with snacks and drinks! If you’re in the area, I recommend swinging by and checking out the new look.  I won’t have any new work yet, but you’ll be allowed a sneak peak at what’s lined up for the next firing, if you want. I’ll see if I can get Ryan, the muralist, to join me for the art walk, but he might already be off working on a new building.

Getting started on the mural