Creative Industries Adventure

My hands, they're killing me...not a happy place for a potter to be. I managed to take my wheel apart, I'm sending in the foot pedal, the control box and the motor. A man named Tony at Creative Industries is helping me out.

I bought this wheel in about 1983 and it has been a super wheel, just right for me. When I got it the selling point was that I could upgrade when I wanted more power. Well, maybe I do want more power, I'm not sure but I most assuredly want that option even if its not offered anymore. Tony is helpful but I'm not sure about Creative Industries. Now, I'm not saying they aren't helpful but the fact that they changed the motor mountings so that they don't fit on their wheels without retrofitting is discouraging to say the least!

Old potters don't die easy and if they want their wheels buried with them then they better work and I'm thinking I'll take mine with me. I just hope that I don't end up anyplace too hot if ya know what I mean.

So, I suppose that I'll have time for my hands to rest while the folks at Creative Industries restore my relic of a wheel.

In the meantime I visited Clay Planet; well, it used to be Sherrys Western Supply but Ed Sherry is no longer with us and Clay Planet runs his place now. I am 100# heavier, a nice supply of Soldate 60 in the trunk.

I move my minigama around the garage wondering what to do with it, I have sort of lost interest; it seems like sooooo much work to fire it and I ended up not exactly finishing it anyway due to my husband becoming so ill. It dried while I played nurse and then I tried to "Mickey Mouse" it around and it ended up ugly so that I am not very proud of it. Not that I'm giving up altogether but it's pretty low on my agenda. See, the chimney never got built, I thought I'd use a stove pipe or something but when I took it to the sheet metal shop to get one built they said that they didn't have the material to withstand the temperatures I talked about...

I'm telling you, "If it's not one thing it's another".

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?

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!

Home Depot - No!

The minigama dried before finished. I had to use a drill on it to cut into the sides for the peepholes and into the top to cut a feed-chamber opening. It is so ugly. Maybe I should just start over...what a whiner I am! I'll try chimney pipe for the flue. I hope Orchard Supply Hardware has some chimney pipe the size I want because the thought of Home Depot scares me. I seem to get so out of whack when I go in there. Once I even got so out of whack that I stood in the aisle playing chicken with the big beep-beep vehicle so I could ask him where to find something, I suppose I'm lucky he stopped, or he is...either way it's a dangerous place.

There are fires in Northern California and lastnight the sun was all blurry before it sank into the Pacific; I liked the way it looked.

The photo is one of those Tibetan beads that beckon me...

Day 18

Dr. T. said that it wasn't the type of pancreatic tumor they believed it was. He studied the pathology it was a cystic type that would have become cancerous had it not been detected and removed. I feel an undercurrent that some think it didn't need to be removed, perhaps Dr. S. because I get that feeling from him. I wonder if there is something unhappy between the two.

Day 18 in the hospital is hard. Day 17 was hard too. Must be getting better, please get better..

I spent most of the day on Day 17 working on clay. Raku day, trimming day, not a throwing day. A day to eat and get centered again.

I am thinking about my minigama that I didn't complete in a timely manner for various reasons. So by now it has dried sufficiently to make it impossible to build upon. After talking to Tiffany I will create a lid using nichrome wire and firebrick or Kaowool. The flue area could be the same. Other little things to make it useable...

Life got in the way of fun. That's ok too.

The photo is my husbands grandmother and her parents. Sudie Alice Stephens and Alva Ward. We have a gorgeous wedding ring quilt made by Sudie; it hangs in the loft and I see it every day.

I Can Shop Here All Day

Buying handmade things or finding retro vintage kind of things on line can become addicting to me. Etsy is one of my favorite sites and I recently saw this fun dress; it appeals to the road trip side of my personality! And I found this hat to go with it. Would it be too much to wear these red cowgirl boots too? It would for sure but I couldn't find the perfect shoes to pair with the dress and hat.

On a more serious side I have to say how much I am drawn to this art. Her name is Caren and her shop name is Caren Loebel-Fried. On my wishlist is one of her hand painted tree of life linocuts as I have uploaded to my blog today. I need more wall space!

Ok, one more I must mention is Ferrarioriginalbeads and her Saturday nite specials or she sometimes calls them Sunday specials are really special. Her beads are even prettier in person that the camera can capture. I don't need as many pretty beads as I have but I simply can't resist! This group she has called Zen makes my heart pound! Imakefish says, "Check them out".

The work I did yesterday on my minigama should be ready to build upon so if all is right I may even almost finish it up today. Well, not all of the way, I still need to make peepholes, etc.

I was thinking about my Barbie manifesto which is how I started my blog; who knew I was so wordy and that I would still be blogging about stuff I do? I surprise myself sometimes.

Slowly I Build My Minigama

I revised the back area where the flue is. I had it so large, and why? So I cut away a lot and made it smaller. I need the clay for other areas anyway. Going to Berekely for more clay isn't on my list of favorite things to do. And who will be the strong men that will tote the minigama around for me when it becomes too heavy for me? Also, in the front I took a wooden spoon and started to beat the clay into shape, making it obey me. I saw that it was too wide so I am doing what I can to correct it. I did beat it pretty hard, this clay is amazing and stubborn, it is NOT dry or even leatherhard but it already has a mind of its own.
In the meantime I decorated a little rattle; they are much fun to make and embellish!

Wonky Looking Minigama

It's good to take photographs as I go along; I didn't see just how wonky this minigama was looking. I read The Girl With the Pearl Earring and how he took photos of his work to see them with new eyes. My husband helped me today too since I couldn't decide how big some things should be and was it time to start building inward??? I see I made some pretty big errors but they won't affect the performance of the kiln - just wasted space. As I look at the picture here it makes me sort of worried that it will fail somehow.
I plan to bisque fire it first to cone 04 and then it should be ready to use. I hope to fire a small item in the chamber using either charcoal or wood or possibly a combination of the two. I'll get some cinder blocks to place it on and fire it with some friends while we are doing a raku firing probably.
I can see the flue area in the back is just waaaaay too big and that I made the front of the kiln too large too. As heavy as it is going to be.....I cannot dream of ever leaving in behind if I should move. Never say never, but OMG - I hope that *someone* would fire it and at the very least take pictures for me to see. Josh, who has left a couple of comments in the previous post said he did this. Nearly makes me cry to think of it!

My Minigama Continues

My Minigama Continues
Originally uploaded by sheilasthings

The walls are still growing. I've decided that I am making the walls too thick. What made me think they should be super thick? So, I am thinning them out as much as I can. My progress is so slow, the weather is chilly and overcast. It feels like a supreme effort to go outside and work in the cold. Oh, to have a studio. Wait a minute, I do have one it just looks like a greenhouse and the heat isn't turned on....
I am thinking about how I'll finish the outside, this should be fun!

The teapot exhibit at the de Young Museum was outstanding, outstanding, outstanding!!! What talent; I was in awe. One process I am always drawn to is unglazed porcelain decorated with black underglazes; as if it was used as a sheet of paper and the black looks like charcoal....there was a teapot there that had been decorated like that. Mmmm, nice. And I am a real sucker for the workhorse type of teapot, big and sturdy, no nonsense kind of guys. There were a couple of them too.

Minigama 1

I have now used 25# of clay and I will open the next bag soon. Today is cold and my greenhouse hasn't warmed up enough to refine my walls but I did want to use the end of that bag of clay. Coil building isn't my favorite method of handbuilding - not much instant gratification there. But so it goes...

I am impatient so this can be my exercise in patience.

I didn't have my little minigama book with me and I busily built up wall when I realized I must create a flue in the back. I can't make the kiln any longer than it is right now since I plan to fire it in an electric kiln and I must be sure it fits into it. So I will add a wall inside of the first wall and cut the flue out later.

Off to the de Young museum to see the teapot collection!

Let The Minigama Begin!!!

MyMinigama 002
Originally uploaded by sheilasthings

Yesterday I started to make my minigama. It will be a little wood (or charcoal) fired kiln; big enough for just one sake cup. I think a sake cup must be the size of a wine goblet. I purchased a book that was translated from Japanese to English by a nice Japanese person that I think speaks English as a second language. But I have always had trouble following directions anyway. Thank goodness the pictures that have been drawn explain it - well, most of it.
The book begins by letting me know right away that the dimensions are approximate; whew for that!!! I am wondering if the firebox area is going to be too big - will the fire draw properly......
This clay I am using is amazing, I am not dainty and it just loves me back anyway. I don't remember how to spell it but it is something like Tokie Raku Sculpture Clay from Leslie Ceramics in Berkeley. Tiffany Schmerier said it would be the best clay for what I am attempting. Er, not attempting - what I am making (who was that power of positive thinking guy?).