An update for friends and lurkers…

Here’s a shot of the Apache pepper patch, 9×12 with five varieties (all will be medium to hot from cross-pollination), rosemary, basil, tomatoes, yellow squash and marigolds. The shadow is the stair bulkhead for the tornado shelter.

From the ceramics studio I have 6 cups and bowls ready for the first firing. Two of several things learned: trim the bottom sooner than later and do not press hard on green or bisque cups. Because of the second lesson learned I do not have either of the cups thrown my first night of class. C’est la vie…

The tornado bowl was an accident but I liked it so it stays in the collection. My instructor says there are ceramists who try to achieve this twisted collapsed style/shape. Well, okay, I seem to be able to do this as there were two others I scrapped. Here’s how: bring more clay to the top third or so of your vessel wall than green wet clay will support at the lower two thirds. Add the dynamic of the rotating wheel and, voila, physics and gravity do the rest. You could actually (try to) plan for the number of folds you wish to achieve based on: clay type (plasticity, etc.), moisture content, diameter, thickness of wall, height of wall, speed of rotation, etc. Good luck with that.

I’m working on a small furnace design for silver pours (up to 10 oz) and should have that done by the time the studio is installed in the house (2 months, 1^st wall removed from kitchen this week). I’m really excited about production from two of my sketch books and need to get started.

As of today I understand, completely, why a certain investment gambling strategy is called a “strangle”. I watched it creep up, I watched and felt the rope go on, then “achhkkkkkk…..”  Ha!

Mars out.

Hey!…

Yes, unemployment lasted only 9 days. I decided to work at The Home Depot part-time and finish working on the property, take a class, and have time to do other short term projects or part-time work.

On the duplex and home remodel front. One unit is 95% done and I’m starting on the house this week. I’ll remove two walls – one in the kitchen and have a breakfast bar furr down for recessed lighting and an open area from the dining room and the other is between two 10×11 rooms which will become a large efficiency style living/bedroom with solar tubes.

The garden…

Well, June is not the ideal time to start a garden but the philosophies I choose to live by are “Start where you are”, “No one is coming” and “I’m laughing”. The garden project actually started three weeks ago when I began to work on my roto tiller which has not been used for more than 5 years and it’s not a spring chicken to begin with. It took a week and some encouraging words to get it going and I chose an area next to a tree for the 9×12 garden plot. So, radical pruning began on this tree which quickly led to pruning all of the trees on the property then the dirt work. Turn, dig, cook, rake, turn, cook, turn, add organics and gypsum, turn, repeat, typical stuff. I bought basil, rosemary, 5 varieties of peppers and three tomato plants. I staked an area for the rose  bushes next February. It will get the best morning sun and is partially shaded in the afternoon by the concrete bulk which is the staircase to my storm shelter.

Started a ceramics class last week and aim to do well enough to throw a set of coffee cups or rice bowls, we’ll see…

onward,

Mars out.