i've been on the shelf too long........

one more week of silence would take me to a full three months since my last post here. pretty bad, i have to admit. i can say much has happened, and i have actually made a bit of progress, but surely not three months worth. blame it on modern life. this whole having a job thing sure gets in the way of what we would like to be..........

a few things i have to say before i get to pottery.

the sad fact that we lost a dear niece, Sascha "Bella" Hoffmann in a tragic accident in February has really taken the wind out of all of our sails. all i really want to say here is if you love someone, anyone, tell them right now, because everything can change forever in a flash. the lyric that keeps playing in my mind...."you're like the setting sun, you shine and you're gone". Sasha, you will be loved and missed by us all.

the saving grace of spring coming is a great healer. Will and i took a walk Saturday morning, and his delight in his first daffodil was wonderful. no picture of that, but a great memory.

i do however, have these two shots of a spring day and the pure joy of boy and dog...









and with that, spring is indeed just about here....we started cleaning the garden up a bit this weekend, another year we are already behind when we just get going. it always seems to work out fine, so no worries on that point.

the good news is that 3.7.10 marked the date of my first electric bisque load. it took much longer that i expected to fill a kiln with nothing but my own work. Robert helped me load it, and we started the cycle at just before noon that day. i checked every hour, nearly on the hour all day long. around 7 Robert called and insisted a take a beer down and watch it shut off. not only to sort of make sure i still had a studio, but to celebrate this turning point for me. a pony High Life marked the event. how my tastes have changed......
a big thank you to Robert for the help, the instruction, and for making the point i should document all of this here.

so here you go....

just before i opened up...



top shelf, note clever side positioning of bottle, a lesson from Robt.




cone 06, way past flat!!!






and the final two shots of this first bisque firing; all the work i have managed to get done in the last several weeks, an hour here, and hour there...






let the glaze testing begin!!!