What a load

Generally when I order clay it takes a couple months to get to my supplier's studio. I try to time ordering clay so I'm all but out when it arrives because of space constraints. This time, though, the clay came in in about a week. Surprise!

We've had a bit of a full schedule here lately though, so I wasn't able to pick the clay up till yesterday.

20 50lb boxes = 1,000 lbs:

Before I left the house Brian reminded me to back up to the basement back door, which opens to the landing of the basement stairs, so we wouldn't have as many steps to carry the clay down. The thought that the ground might be a little soft from all the rain we've had the last couple days cruised through my mind, but B said to pull right up, so I figured pffththt, it'll be ok.

Well. There were issues in the middle of the yard:

Yeah. Not going to be backing up to the door. Got stuck a good 20ft from it. Heh.

So B carried the 20 50-lb boxes (one at a time) from the jeep to the back door, where I met him on the landing and carried each box downstairs into my studio, and stacked them + the 350lbs I still had under my work table.

Even without the weight of the clay still had to put the jeep in 4-wheel to get unstuck, which left this in the yard...

Brian was standing on the deck looking at it, and I got out of the car and looked at it and looked at him, and we both started laughing. It's annoying, yah, but... we're looking at it from the point that the grass back there had issues anyway, and this will force us to do something about it.

When we got inside someone desperately wanted to be out...

Aaaaaaand he is much happier when he is out sunbathing.

Spring Events

I have a number of things coming up this spring. Actually, I have something going on every month through August. Here is info about the first few (if you click on the photo it will blow up so you can read it):

Teh kewt

Just finished pinching these out. I'll bore holes behind the ears for salt & pepper once they firm up a bit.

They make me giggle. And yes, they have tails.

Shelves, Glorious Shelves

In the beginning.... that sounds like this is going to be really profound, huh? It's really not. But it is a good family story.

When I first got my studio set up, I wasn't doing many shows, so didn't need a lot of space for pots to sit while waiting for the next step or to dry.

Before

Over the last few years I've added on more and more shows and shops and galleries, and started selling online, and wow. Space became a hot commodity, and I could only work on so many pots at a time. Which is really frustrating when I'm in serious production mode and need to crank pots out when I have time to make them.

I've been lusting after the adjustable shelves at The 577 Foundation for years, but kept forgetting to talk about them to the person who could make them happen. Which is where Brian comes in. November or December last year, my dad was asking Brian for gift ideas for my birthday, which is in January. Brian has been listening to me complain about the shelf situation for a long time, and knew that my dad would be the person to do something about it, and suggested shelving for my birthday.

I gave Dad a bunch of pics of 577's shelves, and measurements, and he went at it. Yesterday he and my mom came to set them up:

After

Each shelf board is half the depth of the shelf, so I can adjust to accommodate both height and depth. It needs to be painted, but I made good progress on that today.

Outside of a nap (I'm still sick) I spent the entire day in the basement making pots. And had a big, dopy grin on my face every time I pulled something off the wheel and put it on the shelf. SO much fun to have tools that work.

Lots of little happy dances are going on over here. Big, big thanks to my dad, for all his support and contributions to my studio. I wouldn't be anywhere near as productive without the things he has built for me.