I have been going through old pictures lately ... here is an organic carrot grown
here in Vernon B.C.
It is cold- ice-lantern making weather- Sue is working on her
english assignments, Jasper is home with a sick stomach,I am putzing about
doing housework and making a new birdhouse for the dining room.
No pots yet- the studio can be made warm enough but there always seems to
be something alse to do- I guess it is not my straight ahead focus. Today I began reading about the life and death of Crazy Horse - trying to figure in where my ancestors were in around those times...also a book about the Metis, the marriages of Hudson Bay workers with the Native woman so many years ago (again, twice in my family tree).
There have been christmas concerts of the kids and shopping about for the gifts requested by them...with me grudgingly participating. I always struggle with this season.
I read a lot of Christopher Alexanders books this autumn- amazing books on building and designing in "a living way". Very influential to me. There is a move to design the future of Vernons downtown district and I would like to participate but think my thoughts and process would be too radical to be of assistance.. though I tried to talk it up a bit with the ones in charge of the process a few weeks back.
I have to drain and distribute the ice lanterns soon- started a dozen the other night with the kids helping in a minus 20 spell- they have been out for a few days now and are about right.
I will post pics when I get a camera handy.. I broke our camera this fall when I was bumped and dropped it....oops!
Probably why I am going thru old pictures!

AXEL EBRING-VERNON POTTER

Well, Here is a photo of Axel Ebring- British Columbia's first production potter. He came from a town calledUppsala-in Sweden -when he "was just so high" ( I'm assuming he meant how tall he was) and began making pottery, which he had learned in Sweden.
He started up at Notch Hill area and then moved here to Vernon where he lived at the west end of what is now called "POTTERY ROAD"... after him of course. The road itself cuts through the local glacial earthenware clay- a gray- green gumbo that takes a lot of grog to bring to a usable state.
I made some pots years ago with this clay, a couple survive. Burt Cohen tried for quite some time to do so ... after some time he switched. Problems with scummy glazes and lime pops I suppose.
But it was fun trying, and I thjink I will do so again with the children at Beairsto this year.And we plan to do a mural of this photograph for the halls. When Alex died he left his money to crippled children, I have readthis in an article written by Bob Kingsmill some years ago.
Alex's grave is in the old part of the Pleasany Valley cemetary- in amongst the tall Ponderosa Pines. It is an unmarked grave as of yet.
I used to park there with my children sleeping in the car-and we gathered pine cones together when they woke up.
Alex died when I was born- 1954
His pottery is still around- in houses and the Vernon museum has quite a collection.

to be continued...

It has been awhile since I have written anythig- I even forgot my passwords and etc's..so I have to practise at this again and will get at it

SNOW LOAD

Time for the winter hike to the cabin and kiln-the driveway was ice under a few inches of snow,but we got up to the fork and walked the rest.
We had fun just walking,the snow was aver our knees and we kept breaking thru the crust. (Well,I had snow shoes on...)
The tarp shed has not come down much more than before, the "mushroon of tubes and satellite dish had fallen over, the front door was blocked by the roof load coming down and the front sliding doors were just barely openable half way- as the house has changed shape somewhat...
(note to self-the posts need to be replaced)
But it was fine to get out and get some fresgh air and see the cabin, it is a beautifull place... we were getting cabin fever in town!
Now comes more cold and then mud season!
Years ago I used to go to the family cabin at chestermere lake in the winter...to check on it... drive on the ice, get stuck in the snow, hang out with grandma Dowler...see the lake low -watch the ice move in the spring.. see it slowly slide up the rocks at the south end...waiting for summer to come.

DRUM MAKING

Someone asked me awhile back why I had not made pottery for many years, likebetween1991 and 2008! For a while, I couldn't really remember actually- but then it came back to me...
I had gotten into music . I had already been studying Sarod and Tabla..but when I moved to Vernon I became involved in the wave of drummers that had begun coming to give workshops. Dido from vancouver, David Thiaw as well. It came naturally to me, and I enjoyed it for many years..and made a few drums and other instruments as well.
I drummed for dance classes in Vernon and Calgary too,and lots of drum circles. After awhile I became interested in cello and slide guitar. .. as I wanted more tonality and melody.
The other day I wanted to get a drum for the kids, and I found an unused Djembe shell that I sanded up and varnished. Then I put a new head on, a thin see-through one ( I think it was a spare Sarod head I had ) and it sounds great.
I love making things! CRAFTIVISM!
The last 2 days I drummed with the kids classes at school,that was fun- they have a great bunch of drums but need to learn how to use them.
I remember my first set of drums was some kind of cardboard and paper kit a relative had passed along to me..and then my mom had put me into a bagpipe band,playing the tenor tom drum in parades around Alberta
and the Okanagan!

STARK INSTITUTE OF PRESEARCH

Well, I have been re-arranging shelves and making new ones.... there was a grey of sunshine the other day, and as the real warm stuff shone on some of the pots from last fall ,it was like seeing them for the first time. It has been grey valley fog for weeks.
And I discovered that I could salvage a lot of the Anagamas ' slightly underfired work by refiring, sometimes with a glaze added.
This has been good by and large- a couple pieces I wish I had left as they were...but many tea-bowls have been saved for future dispersion....
It is time to get back to wet work and making-just have to clear out a space on the table...I need a "store-room", which for the moment will be apple boxes in the loft. Whether I am ready for the spring firing is always a bit iffy... but I still have hope.
Right now I am learning to use a" knitting knobby" so I can show my daughter...

THE CANADA BIKE

This photo was taken in Calgary,in Kensington.It is called THE CANADA BIKE...
and I remember it was invented for year-round riding, and deliveries.
I found one to fix up here in Vernon... there have been some improvements in the years since.

THE REVERSE TRIKE EFFECT

I have enjoyed this bike for about 5 years now-riding year-round. It is called a "reverse" tricycle because it has only one wheel in the rear, and two in the front. I tried the typical Trike and I can tell you that they are definetly un-ridable in even slightly slippery conditions. This is because only one of the rear wheels is being driven by the chain, and therefore it has only half the tractiont..and even less when the trike wiggles from side to side..so it just slips all the time. And when one gets off to push, the rear wheel bumps on your legs as you push up the hill that you couldn't ride up either!
The two wheels in front and the driving wheel in the rear completely changes this-it becomes like a snow mobile withFANTASTIC traction- I find it less slippery than walking.
And you can carry lots of stuff, and the trike doesn't fall over when you get off. no hassles with stands. It will also pull a trailer easily. Going up a hill is easier than on two wheels- because you can go slow and won't fall over.
www.feetz.nl is a company that makes a folding one that could go right into a store like a shopping cart- or stroller.
I am trying to find a way to test ride one of those ones.
Years ago in 1972 someone invented one in Calgary and called it "The Canada Bike", for winter /year round riding...it took me 30 years to understand that by having the experience myself. I wish I could just give these away to folks around town...

Category Archive for ‘Blogs’ at Sweetpea Bicycles

BICYCLE LOVE-NO HELMETS!

this picture fits in the previous page...

This is the front of the kilni I loaded well up into the area where the stokes land, and some pieces were...pieces!
However, some had some interesting heat cracks and fine color- but mostly on the undersides-not the ash covered tops!














Everything out now,under the tent














people have already taken some work home..
and so again I do not have a record of all that happened
- nor did I" add up" how many pieces were in there!
Which doesn't really matter to me, but people always ask and I don't know.
I don't know how large the interior is either- it is a catenary to calculate- if you know let me in on it!











unfortuneatly I did not get the tent taken down before the snow ..
. and so it waits till the spring to be straightened up again.

after firing , Steves pots are made of a dark clay














Isaos teapot on left , some of reg's cone 6 laguna sculptures on the right














after firing, the plate on top came out well,
it was wadded against the shelf














this was the front of the kiln,
see the ash line from the previous firing on the floor

after firing- cones 89 and 10 still standing














before firing , I am packing tighter now














after, cone 9 down















the next - a refire of Jims' jug

These are the before and after pictures of the Anagama firing
from the Thanksgiving weekend firing last year. It had been
16 years since the last firing! I took 4 days to load, with Kai glazing and
passing pots to me.
My knees were killin' me! Next time I plan to build a mock-up of the kiln interior
so that I can pre-plan the load by putting the work on wood shelves outside the
actual kiln, allowing time to think about it all... and get things placed better so that
the actual loading would go quicker I think.

At the back of the kiln a shelf stands on a single brick,
wedging against the kiln walls.
The pots are placed on shells that are filled with wadding.
some of Kais' tiles are on the floor, and Isaos' pots standing.
Some of these have Dons' ashes wedged into the clay.
It fires cooler back here- there are some mountain clay
pots here,and some shino that may fire blue.
After firing, ther are some blues,
although they weren't hot enough really...
and are too rough.
Before firing, we tried some straw from Michelles pampas grass...
it was a bit messy, should have been trimmed says Rikio.
It felt like I was not filling the space well,
just getting the hang of it again.

Dag

Here's Dag shovelling the driveway

snow shooing

After not being able to get to the cabin for awhile... I finally got the car from the shop and went up, just before the snow gets real heavy with a warm spell January 6 .
The tent at the kiln was half collapsed- but I was able to get Isaos' teapot out and save it for a refire in April. That's the plan sam, three months to pot up a load.
Dag was shovelling the driveway down between the two forks..enjoying the snow gym.
The snow going up was over my knees,but at the cabin I found my snow shoes and poles and with them on...it was till just below my knees- but even then it was easier to hike back down. I was tired from the hike, and didn't bother to shovel any of the white stuff... I wish I had of got up there sooner and taken the tarps off.
I am cleaning up the studio- I have to just put pots away as I have no room to even look at it in there- in spring I will set up tables outside and see what I have.

ICE POTTERY

It' s a New Year and I woke up thinking about all the things I half done, and then what I half to do I guess...

My latest Ice lantern style is to use ...(here comes the secret) balloons for molds. Nice big ones from the party stores-or dollar stores, where I found some 4 foot diameter ones which I may give a go in the next big chill.

Minus 10 is nice -it makes the cold more intetesting..