"things As they Are" Pottery

Matisse and his birds...

2011-01-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

Always liked this photo- first saw it years ago. I think it might be by Henri Cartier Bresson- a favorite photographer who later tuook to painting instead. I found it recently in Cristopher Alexanders book- "THE PROCESS OF CREATING LIFE", which is number 2 of the series. I think they are some of the best books I have come across in my life. Strange to find that so many years later we have 4 of the same doves and two cages like the square and domed one in the picture...
winter and time to ....?
I shovelled snow today.
later...

2010-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

These are little cups I threw from 1/2 lbs of clay-and later stamped with an assortment of stamps. Made some wire baskets to hold 6 at a time, great for picnics and patios.

The Appearance of Blue

2010-07-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

well- I did some blue-ish pots...for a workshop on a theater piece for RUNAWAY MOON THEATER in Grindrod. The clay for the workshop turned out if the bnox very soft and when i fely I should make something larger i thre 1/2 boxes of the clay as large as I could and sliced off the facets- passed them to Rosa Stubbington who drew on them with a water themed mind.
They are for putting the inverted water bottles on top of. Burt Cohen helped with the super Brass spigots.
The plate was a special order for a firend on Facebook- my first social-networking type request that I posted/offered on Caetani House's page..for the art/craft sale in the summer. One more to come August 14th- I should ask again!
Mostly pre-occupied picking and processing our Apricots from our tree these last days- 35 degrees in the hot part of the day so the work is in the morning. This weekend is the Komasket music festival- I volunteer so the kids can go and have fun

MOTHERS DAY 2010

2010-05-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Mothers Day Project for the kids classes- took my wheel to school and spent a few days helping the two classes my kids are in throw some pots for Mothers Day. I throw them basically and let them modify them to suit themselves- love the part where I center and then , with my hands covered in slip, I shake hands with each one and say "WELCOME TO THE CLAY CLUB!" Love their reactions. Told them about Axel Ebring from Upsala Sweden who came here and made pots out oif the local gumbo clay and made history with his hands...showed them his photo..and that he left his money for the "crippled children" in town. Touching story- Axel in an un-marked grave.
Am now glazing serving bowls and getting ready for an"Artists Walk"tour of studios on the weekend.
cleaning out the studio so it looks good and is safe......

Silver Star

2010-03-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

WINTER SUMMATION

2010-03-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it will be an early spring in a couple of days- winter has passed in a bizarre hardly any snow kind of way and the snow-pack water situation looks pretty bad for fire season. I do not have any pots for a spring firing however, so I won't be risking any torch-off of Siver Star mountain... though it could use one! I have been able to drive up to the cabin and kiln a month earlier than usual because of the lack of snow and warm weather. So I plan to fire in the fall !! I am thinking to have an "open cabin" drop-in workshop this summer for people to make pots...if any reader is interested let me know....

2009-12-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T23:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

BICYCLE LOVE-NO HELMETS!

2009-01-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

this picture fits in the previous page...

2009-01-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

Here's Dag shovelling the driveway

snow shooing

2009-01-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

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..

ICE LANTERNS

2008-12-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

A cold snap gives me the chance to make ice lanterns- I like to do this in the cold, dark time of the year.

They are very beautifull outside with a candle at night.

1-It has to be cold, minus 10 celcius I would say.

2-Fill a big 5 gallon bucket with water-just short of the top because ice gets "bigger" than water.

3-Let it freeze, at 10 below it will take 24 hours or so for the ice to grow a couple inches thick..and you will see that it grows inward from the outside walls-as well as downwards from the top of the bucket.

4-When you thinkthe ice is thick enough to be a lantern, I drill a hole the size of a candle in the ice at the top of the bucket... ( which will become the bottom soon)

5-Drain the inside water into a spare container,when it is drained- take it inside to melt the bucket loose.

6- Remove the bucket, keep the shell frozen ..clear out a hole in the ice now at the top (which was the bottom of the bucket and does not freeze so thick)

7-Put a candle in the hole drilled and enjoy it change as the days and nights go by.

2008-12-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

2008-12-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a busy week, I went to Izas' class and did pinch pots with the kids... and of course the range of what they do is amazing. I did not want them to do anything besides a little pinch bowl...and some had a hard time doing this, just not able to focus on the simplicity of it and wondering if it was the best or second best or other such qualitative comparison making...
Meanwhile a very quiet girl asked if I would help her make a spout,which I did...and then before I knew it she had added a handle and a lid ! A very shy girl, almost silent towards me.
And then another friend wanted to have a little lesson with her visiting friend from Netherlands, so okay..
Along with a bunch of bowls that did not fit the anagama last Thanksgiving- I loaded the electric kiln and easily fired a cone 6 load which I was very happy with..a glaze made with local clay looks as nice as a Hagi (cone10) that I have favored for years. And it was so easy..it was a revelation and reminder how easy it can be, and how I want it to be.
I had glazed and refired some anagama tea bowls with success too.
Nice to have some pots for gifting.

2008-12-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

December, heavy rain last night and I am thinking that I should get up to the Anagama and tarp up the chimney before the damp washes down into the kiln area...this has been the thing I have been doing every winter since 1991 when I built it...and did not keep building enough to relax about this aspect of things. I need a big shed there, and a better cover over the kiln. Oh well. I'd like lots of things,and it is becoming more and more apparent that I have spread myself too thin...just as the economy goes, I see I am operating a deficit of energy and attention- and it is slowly imploding. I am being buried in my interests and struggling to clear up my life.
Frost is on the rain barrel at the kiln- that is the photo above,taken during the loading in September. The picture looks three dimensional as the blue water recedes next to the needles.
The family is playing a table game, with their aunt visiting...there is talk of a christmas tree,I am lobbying to cut one from the cabin meadow- while sue would like to go to a tree farm in lumby.

2008-12-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

2008-12-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

I will describe my 'TILT-O-WHEEL'- a simple ball mill, or a pot tumbler,or a glaze material grinder.
I take a bucket,drill two holes and with longer screws than the usual bat pins,I attach it to the wheel head (use some washers too).
then,I put another bucket nestled inside-for interchangability ,and also then I don't have to fill the bolt holes.
then I simply TILT the wheel!
Put water, rocks and gravel-or porcelain balls- and set the wheel so the rocks tumble.
If grinding glaze materials,I have some pieces of steel or some old cannon balls or...
put the lid on for quietness-maybe line it with rubber,and let it roll.
Pots become nice and smooth to the hand, but don't appear much different in a picture.

2008-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

SIMPLE WATER SAVER

2008-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

I thought I would put this photo in of my water saver-it took only a few minutes to install a piece of plastic hose 20 inches long (up the pipe...) and when the toilet is flushed the refill water is redirected up the pipe and then is used to wash the hands and goes into the tank and then the tank fill and shuts off just like it always does...
This is the first one I made- toilets in Japan have built in ones, but I thought it could easily be made here. It doesn't have to be a fancy sink or faucet...

Ikkyus' Poems, Earth Clock, Tilt-O-Wheel

2008-12-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

A sixteenth century zen monk named Ikkyu used to write a poem a day, and throw it away. Complex stuff, classic chinese rhymes full of inuendo-with his exquisite brushed calligraphy. A thousand poems were collected by his "followers'...(was he a 16th century blogger?) and he is thought to be the instigator of tea wabi-sabi aesthetics-Rikkyu was one he influenced.
Rikkyu is the one given credit, but I think Ikkyu is so fascinating- could be a Hollywood movie!
Tomorrow I am making pots with my daughters first grade class, might be fun time!...get their pots fired by the gift season.
In the studio, my" TILT-O-WHEEL " turns and tumbles a tea bowl,taking off the roughness of the ash. Can't see it in a photo, but it can be felt with the hands. I will post some photos of the "gizmo" in a day or two.
Years ago, in a sleepless night-(1975 ) I concieved a "clock" that consisted of a night and day, always lit image of the earth from space,with the North Pole at the center and the earth turning counter-clockwise once every 24 hours. I thought this ,with it showing them the seasonally varied sunlit and darkened sphere of the earth much like it is ,would give such a wonderfull intuitive understanding of what time and season and night and day and dawn and sunset and...etc
Anyway,I always collected little pieces of the prototype, and talked to friends about the idea in an attempt to make one...until recently when I saw Google Earth coming so close... and then yesterday I found Google Earth had added the exact thing I was trying to create, the sun and the shadow on the earth!
Without the countries borders it would be hard to see where ones town is, I wanted to have a little light that went around...perhaps I can get it set up like that in a bit. It also helps every one see what time of the day or night it is in other parts of the world-where friends and family and news is happening....when it is getting light or dark-check it out, I think it is an upgrade available for free now. I still would like one on the wall, like a digital photo frame with the earth turning in real time...a frame could alternate with pictures of friends and family and places...
I loaded some file folders today, and shuffed a few decades of National Geographics into rubbermaids in the back of the trailer to take to the cabin,
Tidying up!

2008-12-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

Testing testing,1,2,3....(squeal of a microphone...) I am not yet certain how to do this,so ..here goes.....
It is the second of december,I have bought 50 legal file folders and am somehow determined to file my mountain of papers the right way-after spending the weekend looking for a 110 year old grocery receipt from Sam Livingston...and being buried in my trash collection.
I collect trash, grocery receipts most often.. bits of scribbles I find on the road and sidewalk and shopping store floors and carts. I could find about 300 other receipts,but not Sams'-my oldest. It was for Jaspers family history study at school.I did a family tree for him and had over 100 of his ancestors on it. In the course of that I went through all my family history books and files and basically piles in my map drawer.... and,again-a huge weighty feeling of needing to clear it up and make it organized...so, today I got at that again.
If I find that 85 dollar receipt,I will post it !
daniel