Let's Fire Up Our Mazda's

I had this book/magazine once. Once is the operative word. Wish I could see that photo again. Filled with pots this group of wild?, crazy?, fun?, dangerous?, subversive?, drunk?, stoned?, sober?, pyromaniac? potters lit fire to a Mazda. Ya, ya, you heard me, used it like a kiln, fired the pots right inside the Mazda. It was a sight to behold.
I kind of like the idea of doing things like that, me, a grandma and everything.

I looked for the event recorded someplace on the Internet but found only this photo of a burnt Mazda, I don't think it's the same one but I wonder if that's what it looked like after the firing was complete.

This wasn't a Ceramics Monthly story, no, they don't look kindly upon that kind of behavior in Ceramics Monthly. You must have a studio and be serious about your "work".

How About a Nice Boat Ride?

I found a boat in my hand the other day. How did this happen? So I made a few more. Then after they were glazed I took one and played with it. My husband asked, "Does it float?" Filled the sink and yes, it floats, "It floats a little heavy," I said.

The symbolism of a boat is quite open to interpretation. Following is a list of interpretations; mainly from Internet information.
The boat:
Female
Transition from the material world to the spiritual world.
Holy Island
(Ocean being the unconscious)
Ship of the soul
A life saving shelter
Beatus (bateau): word meaning happy? Boat derived from beatus?
A divine being
Christian symbol of the church
Instrument for the souls exploration
Safe passage
Transition from one phase to another phase
Leaving safety of the known into the mystery of water
preceptors who help us to cross the ocean of Knowledge and to achieve our targets.

Hope…life of Pi; the boat being hope.

Well, isn't that nice, I think I'm going to like boat building.

Eating Flowers

After the labyrinth walk yesterday I felt pretty darned good. There were some enormous hydrangeas in bloom, (in the meditation garden) blue and beyond purple and as weird as it sounds I just walked over and stuck my head in the middle of them. Well, not really but, yeah, kind of. Maybe they were eating ME, then a huge fern reached out and kissed me. Help, I can't type, I'm laughing so hard. Honestly, that's what it seemed like. I thought I knew what my walk would reveal but I was wrong; imagine that. I always think I know where I'm going and how to get out but walking the labyrinth showed me, just keep on the path and eventually; there I go....too strange to explain. That's the problem, I don't have the words I need. That's always been a problem.

Doing The Labyrinth

Today is a special day for a friend of mine. We are going to meet soon and travel over to Burlingame and walk the labyrinth to commemorate a year of traveling out of the wilderness into the light!

Yesterday I spent the day spraying 4 pieces of pottery for the cone 10 firing. I wore a mask; it could have been a better one. Lots of copper and cobalt flying around. Yes, there was an exhaust fan and it works great....just being a drama queen.

This necklace has a bead I just adore. It's another handmade old bead. The turquoise is inland and there is also some inlaid lapis. I went to a bead show Saturday with a buddy, she loves the sparkly stuff, I like the old stuff. Different strokes for different folks, huh?

In Your Face Red Necklace!!!

I had fun making this, it is so RED, so, so, brave! Gotta have guts to wear it, but I got 'em.

Today my minigama went into the kiln for bisque firing; doing a ramp firing just to be sure it survives although I doubt I could destroy it if I tried. Like it has it's own life or will or ??? It surely has it's own space. On Monday it'll be unloaded and I'll go off to buy my charcoal and get an old hair dryer or two, tinfoil, hmmm, what am I forgetting? Well, I need to make a couple of small pots to fire, eh?

Slowly I Build

Slowly I Build
Originally uploaded by sheilasthings

I just can't do it anymore, I am letting the peepholes (whiskers) dry and will bisque fire my baby soon. I am trying to come up with a name for it. I am leaning to The Alchemist but I don't know yet if it is up to the task...
Devil Dog, no...
Flaming Bitch, no, no, no....
It is a girl or boy, hmmm, could it be a hermaphrodite?

Minigama firing

Grrr.
Somehow I deleted this from my original post about the minigama group earlier today.
Ah, another opportunity to whine....or not!

Minigama firing

A handful of people have started a Yahoo group for anyone interested in the building and/or firing of a minigama. This video is from a member across the pond from me, he posted a short utube video of his minigama spouting flames. His is so nicely constructed...I won't whine about mine drying 3/4 of the way through completion anymore, BUT it wouldn't have been as nice anyway.
OK, my goal is to finish what I can on my mini and get it bisque fired next Wednesday, July 9th. I still need to get a flue...I was reading "The Potters Handbook", I think it was published about 1934. It's by Bernard Leach and he said that the flue needs to be a certain length longer than the body of the kiln or something. Note to self: get that book again and stop quoting stuff all wrong!

Shop Local Pacifica

Whenever I can I shop local which is not always easy unless I need a new shower door or a new sliding glass door or even a new greenhouse window. They might think I tricked them into coming to look at my requested repair but I was really upfront about asking for a greenhouse window to be fixed. I am so grateful for Dial Glass in Pacifica; when there was some spare time they fixed it for me. I had asked various other people and the consensus was to put plywood or plastic over it , but no, I wanted it fixed right (nearly right anyway). It doesn't open any more but that's ok since it doesn't leak either.

I am working on some small pottery items, small feels good right now. Big, small, big, small, small, small, big.

Since I have all of this Greek leather I made myself a surfer dude bracelet.