Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

Ok, actually today I have to pay attention to the man behind the curtain because one day the wizard is going to expect me to remember all these things he told me 20 years earlier...

Today started with an early Christmas gift!  Seems like I've heard somewhere you are supposed to give gifts like you'd want yourself...enter the brand new Skutt Kiln. (Thanks dad...I will love it as much as you will!) 

And as with most other visits...dad's obsession with his impending demise and morbidity created an educational visit where I learned how to make the sausages, (so to speak) 

Step #1 - run the scraps of clay through the hammer mill...(engineered for corn, but works well with clay) 

Step #2 - Put the now "powder-like" substance in the giant mixer, along with a baby formula can full of bentonite (it's been a couple of years since I drank bottles, so apparently even 37 year old formula containers are acceptable measuring devices) 

Step #3 - Add water...using an equally specific tool for measurement as step #2, a 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's filled to the middle line of the E stamped on the bucket. (Who am I to judge? If it works...) 

Step #4 - Take heaping handfuls of muddy mess and drop it in the Pug Mill (no puppies were harmed in the making of this clay) 

Step #5 - Extrude it from the pug mill, cut off stacks and bag it.  After a little settling it's ready to go!  

Whew! That's a lot of work, but really cool to be a part of the process.  I didn't get any pots turned today, but managed to also learn how to mix and apply kiln wash to a few new shelves for the new kiln!  (Now I just need a few pieces to fire!) ha!  

I know one day I'll look back on these days and cherish them...because I already enjoy them so much right now.  Love you dad! (and thanks again for the Christmas Kiln!) 

Feeling Muggy...

  It's the 19th of September, and it is still 89 degrees!  Not to mention there's enough humidity to keep you from breathing!  Speaking of feeling muggy...

  With less than a month till the 12th Annual Hilton Homeplace Sale, this is the last chance I have to make anything...maybe the weather inspired me, maybe it was all the social media requests for coffee mugs with words stamped in them. 

  What's the opposite of a baker's dozen?  Eleven mugs in one day is a pretty big step for me!  They don't look like each other, unless you consider that they all are a little crooked, ha!  It's nice to sit down and things go well, it happens rarely for me.  Dad was making fun of me because I refused to change the "lucky bat" and kept using the pot lifters to move on to the next mug.

  Up next is jewelry time again!  With a box full of parts, let's hope some of them work out!  

Sometimes you're a baker...

Sometimes you're a baker...rolling out clay like Grandma used to when she made biscuits.  

Sometimes you even have to add a little corn starch so it doesn't stick to everything...

But most often, at least in my case...I'm a carpenter...steel wool is my best friend, and as my father would tell you...it hides a multitude of sins! Ha!  

A little steel wool on the edges of my pieces makes sure there's nothing sharp to grab you...it also covers you and everything around you in dust...(like find it the next day after you've showered kind of covered! Ha!) And it's EVERYWHERE!  No chance of the shop ever being clean.

I joke with dad that if the place burns down we will have the most gorgeous floor ever just in the amount of glaze that has spilled in the floor over the years!  

Well, with only a few weeks left till this year's show I guess I'd better get to sanding! Ha!  

Today's vocabulary lesson...

  Today's vocabulary lesson is about rain...specifically those who love it.  That's right folks, I'm a weirdo...but you already knew that!   I am a pluviophile. 

For me, there's nothing more peaceful and calming than a dark stormy day...I am genuinely happy when I wake up to a grey tint on the sky and that smell of rain in the air.  What should I do with this awesome rainy day?  Why not try to make pottery? 

  With the heavenly sound of rain pounding on the tin roof of the studio I tuned out the stress of the week and settled into a rhythm of turning...

(Photo courtesy of my own personal paparazzi Dawn Crouse) 

  It's nice when things come out the way you planned, and even better when it happens over and over all in a row!  I managed to make quite a few pieces that (fingers crossed) will make it to the fall show.  

  You know there are other benefits to the rain besides just my mood...it's almost a bearable temperature when the breeze passes through the shop...and the humidity makes the pots dry so much slower.  For you non-potters that means my handles and sprig mold appliqués are less likely to fall off! Ha!  

And I got to visit with a large bulk of the Hilton Homeplace crew!  With only 7 short weeks until the fall show, I had better kick it into high gear!  Maybe a few more of these rainy weekends and I'll be ready!  

Wait, what? How long?

  Seriously where did July go?  Actually where did June and July go? It's already August...1/2 way through August at that! And 8 very short weeks until the Fall Hilton Homeplace show.  

  For SOME of us there is a full time job that can get in the way of pottery...but for OTHERS (who shall remain nameless, but clearly retired again a few weeks ago) there seems to be endless amounts of time to play in the mud.  

Really?  You made so many pots that there aren't any drying shelves left?  Ugh...

  Nothing like a deadline and an "in your face" example of how much dad can do in a week versus what I can do in a weekend...no pressure...

(You expected a photo here of all the things I made right?  Well...no go, I'm too busy freaking out about 8 weeks left until the show!)

  I did get a few things made this weekend, and as long as they live through their battle with their evil nemesis  (the kiln) I will have a few things to add to those drying racks (assuming I can find a square inch of space to place them) 

  I joke about dad making me look like a slacker...but the truth is I'm really happy to see him in the shop again and being so productive.  I think retirement is treating him well, and I always enjoy being able to share a little bit of it with him.  Gotta run...October will be here before you know it! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

  Ok, so technically it's still July, but Christmas will be here before you know it!  So today I spent the better part of my afternoon glazing Christmas ornaments for the fall show.  (Yes, that's a wire dipping trick to glaze 5 at a time)

Other than the ornaments I did my first couple of tests on the coffee cups with words pressed in them.  Hopefully the underglaze will pop and the clear insides will work out well.  I had to hand paint the exteriors of the cups because I couldn't dip them.  Dad got these really awesome fan brushes and I have to say they are pretty fabulous! 

I'm also toying with the idea of a few pottery necklaces and maybe bracelets, so I had to try a few new glaze colors and was forced to take photos to help me remember which glaze was used on which piece!  Fingers crossed that trick works!  

All in all I think it was a pretty productive day, and those are always good!  

Father's Day...

  Today was Father's Day, so no better time to spend with my dad than today!  I went to play in the mud this weekend and it was really nice...not very productive, but the company was great.  

  

  I can't help but think about the history that dad's shop has seen.  For over 100 years there have been Hilton potters turning pieces on family farms, and for 50 years there's been a Hilton turning pottery in this very shop.  There's a good side and a bad side to that...

The good side:  Every tool you could ever need for any shape you could ever turn is in that building.

The bad side:  Things that haven't been used in 30+ years are sometimes harder to find...

  I know that these days and these times together will always be some of my very favorite with dad.  I'm sure he has those same memories with his dad (or to me Poppie).  On this Father's Day, I know we weren't alone, we both had a pottery angel smiling down on us and snickering every time one of those "tools" comes in handy.  

  What a great way to connect...through clay...with this generation and those who came before it.  I guess that's really what it has always been about for me...So until next time...Happy Father's Day! 

Her final escape...

  Today was a somber day in the studio.  I guess I've been feeling a little heavier than usual...the "real world" placing a few more things on my mind.  I was inspired to make a few coffee mugs that reminded me of someone who has been a big part of my "real world" for the past couple of years.  Having worked on a few coffee mugs yesterday, I came back to place handles on each of the mugs.  

  It is true that pottery can be therapeutic, as turning and creating lightened the load my mind was carrying just a little...that is until I was forced to say goodbye to a furry little friend.  

  You may have read some of the encounters previously experienced with our resident shop cat "Hairy Houdini" so named for her ability to get into (or out of) any place she wanted.  It is with a heavy heart I tell you we had to say goodbye to Hairy Houdini today.  She made her final escape and has gone on to wriggle her way past a set of pearly gates.  She will be missed...We love you Hairy! 

As the world turns...

Not that my life resembles any soap opera...you would turn the channel pretty quickly if you didn't fall asleep first.  But it is a wonderful life!  

So as the rest of the world turns pottery, I am happily hand building a few things.  I had to ease my way back into this...I haven't even been in the pottery shop since before last October's show.  

Ok, ok...I'll try to turn a few things...but not without my assistant "Hairy" who has decided she is actually a wild huntress, and keeps bringing "gifts" of various sizes and amounts of fur or beak...um, no thank you, I'm okay without those "special gifts". 

So after a few failed attempts...Eureka!  I have turned a pie plate!  Wow, I am so proud! Way to go Heather!  (Cue dramatic music) That is until dad says, "oh I think I will turn a few pie plates as well..." (and sits his real pie plate next to mine) talk about a reality check...my pie plate turned into a quiche dish, ha!  The student hath not surpassed the master...

Oh well maybe next time...or we can call this a pie plate for two! As Tam would say, "it's portion control" ha ha!