Freedom?

I was reminded yesterday of the word 'Freedom'. In particular the idea of not being subject to or affected by a particular undesirable thing. 

I get to do what I want for a living, it's what makes me wake up each day with a smile on my face with thoughts cruising through my head about what to make and how to make it. Everything else is.....well it's important too.

Thursdays are a day of payment for me. A day when I re-pay my gracious hostess with labor and often company as we weave through the farm attending to various chores. Yesterday was a particularly nice sunny spring day which made for an enjoyable afternoon. And yet I cannot help wonder what my life would be like if I were only to do what I wanted to do. What if I spent that day in the studio like the previous days? What if I just payed money to sustain my accommodations?

Time away from something you love is equally as important to the time you spend with the thing you love. For many reasons this is true.........as much as I might desire it to be false. It gives me pause to reflect on the objects I am making. I think about the curves, the texture, the colors, and it's purpose, all the while I am toiling away with my hands in the ground and the sun (or rain) on my back.

So I ask myself, what is freedom? Freedom from what? From the things I don't like? What if I was completely free? I couldn't even begin to answer these questions.

And so I settle into my routine. I try to find the pleasure in the things that others may find oppressive. There is good in these things too. There are lessons to be learned wherever I turn my head.

I remind myself of the things I am free from; city noise, cigarette smoke, traffic lights, crowds of people, concrete, an obnoxious boss, a time clock........

Living on Lopez Island is a wonderful experience. I am surrounded by amazing people who look at you in the eye, ask how you are doing, and are truly concerned about your well being. How much more freedom do I need?

It might be good to question our ideas of freedom from time to time. For me it comes every week, on Thursdays.

More fermentation

I've been working on open style fermentation crocks for a couple of years. Here is the results. They are very simple. I have two sizes: 1/2-3/4 gallon and 1- 1 1/2 gallon. Here is the smaller crock. They are hand built from a slab of clay and once assembled a ring for the top is thrown on the wheel and attached to the top. This acts as the handle as well.

The texture I have chosen is from an old carved wooden table, most likely from India. I took a plaster mold of a small section and use it like a stamp on the clay before assembly.

I also make a clay follower for pressing down the ferment. Due to the fact that the walls of the crock are straight I do not need to split the follower.

One more from the top.

I love this simple little crock. However I would love to be able to make a nice slip cast fermenting crock with a water ring for the lid. It makes fermenting absolutely fool proof! 

Personally I find nothing wrong with a little mold growing on the top of the water, it's been done this way for many generations. There are those who want a bit more cleanliness with their rotting :) 

Here is a link to a very fine example that a friend forwarded to me yesterday. Prepare yourself for a bit of sticker shock (although quite worth it I might add).

http://www.quitokeeto.com/products/fermentation-crock-matte-white-fog

On a different note the sun came out the other day and My boy Noah had a play date. So I mixed up a batch of impromptu industrial strength bubble magic! Here was our recipe:

1 cup liquid dish soap

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 cups water

2 tablespoons Glycerin ( I would have added more but thats all we had)

This recipe worked well enough but I would reduce the syrup slightly or add a bit more water.

Here is our home made bubble wand. Two wooden dowels and some cotton string with a small weight at the end.

The size of the bubbles will blow your mind! I might add that there are many, many videos on Youtube about this subject. 

Sunny day in the studio

It was a day of glazing and slip making in the studio. I always sort of dread doing it but once I get into it I enjoy it. Besides, who doesn't like unloading a batch of glazed ware! I had a bunch of alphabet cups to glaze, some plate sets, and a few crocks to glaze.

I spray all my wares with iron oxide. Sometimes I glaze over the whole thing and sometimes just the inside and lip.

The plates are sprayed with iron oxide and the texture is wiped off leaving it heavier where the texture is recessed. Same with the cups.

Here are the alphabet cups ready for the kiln. They will fire to ∆6 in a computer controlled L&L. 

As you can see the plates are completely glazed while the small bowl has exposed iron oxide which will vitrify at ∆6 and make a nice smooth durable finish all on its own. 

Slip casting is great. It allows me to design pieces and later just go through the motions of making without thinking about it too much. It fits my personality very well. Making slip from recycled clay on the other hand is tedious and back breaking. I mix up 120#'s of clay at a time and add 60#'s of water and a couple of deflocculants, soda ash and sodium silicate. This batch has been sitting for the past week waiting for me to have the time to sieve it. Since the recycled clay is made up of many different clay bodies so there is sometimes grog and sand I want to remove. A Talisman sieve does the trick.

I use a corded drill with a paint stirring attachment to mix my slip.

Here is the talisman sieve. I use an 60 mesh screen. It kind of works like a giant food mill.

Properly deflocculated slip. 

A clean shot of the sieve. They are made in New Zealand and are available a most pottery supply houses. 

It was rough being in the studio today due to it being such a beautifully sunny day out! But we had the doors open and felt the warmth of the sun! Aw spring!

When I got home my boy Noah and one of his friends were out chasing the goats around in the sunshine! It was a good day. Tomorrow we are going off island to get clay in Seattle and other supplies.