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.

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...

Revisiting Longview Washington

So... the last time I was in Longview I was not in my "happy place" as my granddaughter says! Not that I was joyous at this visit but it was very nice and pleasant. I walked to the post office and I had my camera. Battery running low of course! I did come up with a few 1/2 way decent photos of the post office.

The Longview Main Post Office is an integral part of the Longview Civic Center. The building is classically influenced, Art Deco in style and faced in red brick and sandstone. Like the other buildings facing the Park, it is compatible in scale, featuring classical aspects of organization, form and elements of entry. The parapet end gables and slate roof of its frontal wing are similar to the library. The interior features a double-height lobby with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, red and black inlaid marble floors, and walnut paneled walls inset with a gold leaf pattern. Constructed as a Depression Era Public Works project, the Post Office was built to aid the local economy during a period of national emergency.

Good to know it hasn't been torn down or redecorated!

Summer To-Do List 2008

I love to make lists...my list for this summer includes the following:

1. Make a tile mural for the wall behind the stove.

2. Make a set of squat vases for someones wedding party - using Shino glaze, yum!

3. Make some 3-D fish for multi media display...twisted roots, rocks and the like.

4. Handbuilt ice cream dishes in happy primary colors.

5. A tray with this image I have in my head that involves a Jacob's Ladder with stars, eyes, etc.

6. Some of those heat/cold therapy neck wraps (I will offer them for sale at the Johnston Holiday House in the fall and they are nice little last minute gifts too.)

7. I had it in my head once and now I lost it but I think it involved making a tray using a sort of patchwork style...fish in the patches, various colors with a pitcher and some tumblers too.

Can a person look at one more dragonfly on a piece of pottery? This little guy is such a nice size, maybe some mints or nuts would be good in it.