Heading North, again

This is our 15th summer vaca. at Mt. Desert Island!


Acadia National Park-  hiking, biking, the pure beauty of the landscape there- I love it. Something about the granite...(I stopped questioning the attraction!)

Our first hike is always the Beehive, followed by lounging at Sand Beach....ahhhh!

 The tent peeking through the trees~

Rainy days and Mondays do not get us down in Maine...unless it's rained for more than three days in a row- then we eat, and shop, and eat, and go to the movies.

Back in two weeks~ rested and rejuvenated for the kiln delivery.

Glazes~ How Many is Too Many?

I spent yesterday glazing- a huge ordeal- it occurred to me that I really have too many glazes....

I counted.

18...really, 18??









All are hand mixed, most of my own recipe...though a few from books. I categorized them:

• Goldenrod, Indian Lake, Carmel Cream, Caribbean Seas, Turquoise, and Stony Blue are currently primary glazes.

• Clouds, Leach White, and Kings Creek Blue are "accent" colors

• Sun Valley Rutile, 8 o'clock, Autumn Leaf, Maize and Battenkill I use occasionally

• Denim, Copperwash, Ken's Blue and Oatmeal I plan to phase out.

Oh, and I recently made two shinos to use in the wood fire, but consider them special event glazes...(do I count them too?!)

Am I neurotic, hard to please, fickle??  Uh, YEAH~

I just found two more...Kelly's Black and Persimmon. It's out of control.


How many glazes do you use?

Hazy, Hot, and Humid

 View from the back field

  Dusty raking

 
Garden is parched, but the solar panels are loving it!

Mr. Pucker is puckered out with the sheep

  Too hot to shop~

The F-ing S crack strikes again!

I have been working on pedestal bowls- a new form for me...

 I am making them to thick at the bottom. A few have worked out. Frustrating summer weather- drying too fast- then drying too slow...very challenging.

I watched Kristen Kieffer's DVD...can you tell?! (I highly recommend it).

So far, so good on this bowl...

Camping with Springers

We planned a little outdoor time during the weekend of the 4th and thought it would be great to bring the dogs with us.

Nice campfire...

Peaceful budda...

What could possibly go wrong?

Two springers, they look so nice and harmless, don't they? Don't let them fool you, they are ALERT and ON GUARD for every noise in the night....and consequently they BARK, BARK, BARK!

 

At least it was a beautiful, even though we did not get much sleep ~

Making Shino

I had a big list of things to do this weekend in the studio: trim pedestal bowls, trim pasta bowls, make casseroles, make two shino glazes for the next wood firing in Charlton (scheduled for early August) and make pots for the wood fire.

Behold: the triple beam balance~

The kiln in the background is filled with green-ware ready to fire overnight- during a heat wave, of course...












Self portrait of a glaze mixer. I hate my respirator; I hate mixing glazes...

After the measuring, mixing, and adding water comes the sieving...thank goodness they were small batches (unlike the monster batch in the grey "bucket" to the back left- did that one a couple of weeks ago). 

It wasn't until the end of the day that I remembered to take a photo of the pots for this post...so they are under wraps~ (sorry)

I used a bag of B-Mix which was delightful to throw with. I really like the way it picks up the soft altering. I might have to add this clay to my regular throwing routine, in addition to the Laguna 900 that I currently use.