Finishing Off A Bottle. Video and Thoughts

Hi.  Thanks for dropping by.  It's been a good Tuesday.  I had a low key day in the studio mainly finishing off pots that I threw yesterday.  It's been very damp out so things aren't drying very fast.  I'm just waiting for the pots.  That's the way it is a lot of the time.  Waiting on the pots.  Things can be rushed along sometimes but really it's best for me just to go with the flow.  Pots will dry, I can flip them over, cover them with a sheet or some plastic, work on other pots.  What's the hurry?  I'll get there.  

I showed some bottles in my last post.  I enjoyed making those and seeing them finished so I decided to make more.  I want to get in the habit of working on some pots that take a bit more time and effort.  Well, it all takes time and effort.  But I guess I mean I want to make some pots that aren't mugs and bowls and general crockery.  These pots are more decorative, a bit larger in scale than what I usually have come out of the kiln.  More of a 'show pot' or exhibition pot'.  So for me that means things like these bottles, nicer jars, maybe pitchers that could be used but may also go up on the mantle.  Some very wide platters would be nice as well.

I thought I'd show how I finish off these bottles by adding a coil and throwing the top.  It's a good way for me to do it and get a nice looking pot.  This pot will also get a foot cut on it.  I don't usually cut feet on bottles but I have been looking at some very nice English pots and they have inspired me.  And of course some Japanese and Korean ones as well.

Here's the video

I'm going to try and make some bottles that are squared off as well.  I'm having to figure the steps out on how to do that.  I did get some tips today from a potter in Shropshire, England.  His name is Mark Griffiths and he makes some super nice pots.  Visit his website HERE.
 

Ok.  I guess that's all for today.  I'm enjoying shooting these videos and I hope they are informative and maybe a little entertaining.  See ya again soon.
 

Some Pots from the Week. And Another Video (Cutting Feet on Yunomi)

I thought I'd jump on here and share some of the pots I made this week.  I also have another video to share and I'll put that down at the bottom of the post. 

I somehow got in the mood to make some larger than normal (for me) pots.  These three bottles are set to be slipped and decorated on Sunday.

I also made this biggish jar.  This sort of pot really isn't something I'm very good at.  Every now an then I like to give it a go.

I think it turned out pretty good.  I like the form and the paddled decoration.  It's gonna take up a lot of room in the kiln though.  

I really love this bottle by Shoji Hamada.  I like that it is footed and I love the direct faceting and the belly on the pot.  The top is super nice too.  I wanted to try to make one like it.

Below is my version.  Not quite as lively but not bad for a first try.  I'm definitely gonna have another couple of goes at it next week.

These two little pitchers have some nice action going on.  Sometimes I feel like if I really get something right that it doesn't need any additional decoration or mark making.

And here's the video.  This was shot live with Periscope early in the week.  As you may know Periscope videos only stay up for 24 hours.  There is a site called Katch where you can archive your videos but who the hell has ever heard of that??  I hadn't.  Anyway so I decided to save my video to the more popular and easily accessible YouTube.  You can't see any of the comments that came up during my Periscope so sorry if it seems I'm a bit loopy just talking to people here.  Also it's a little longer than I like to shoot so feel free to fast forward.  I do think there's some good technique shown here that may be helpful to some.  Any how, thanks for watching and for looking at the blog.  Cheers.

Monday. And a Video

Hey.  Sorry for the break.  I don't know what happened last week but I finally got all my stuff sorted and I'm feeling better now.  I've been getting some pots made and I think this kiln load is going to come together pretty quickly.

I've been invited to send 5 pots to AKAR for their annual yunomi show.  That will be in March.  This will be my third year in the show and I am so honored to be asked.  I shot a short video showing the making of a yunomi so here it is:

I love making pots on my treadle wheel.  The combination of using that wheel and soft clay helps give the pots the energy that I look for in my work.  Also, not over-working each pot is important.  I try to make the pot in as few movements as possible.  It's hard to do on some pots but it's what I strive for.  I really want the look of the throwing to show through in the finished pot.  I want the clay wall to have some motion and the pot look like it's rising up or moving out or breathing.  I feel the pots are at their best when they come off the wheel.  For them to have some energy and life after the firing is one of the crucial things I want to achieve.  

Here they are after being footed and decorated:

I made 11 more today.  I don't know how I ended up with 9 to begin with.  I wanted 20 for the firing so hopefully out of those I'll get 5 good ones.

So that's all I have for now.  Tomorrow I've got another video to post and I'll try to get some content up as the week goes on.  Thanks for checking me out.  

Cracked Pots

Hey. It's been a very busy week and I feel like I've been high strung and emotional for the better part of it.  I am feeling overwhelmed with all the pots in the studio again, now finished pots instead of pots in process.  I need to get it all cleaned up, priced and moved into the showroom.  It's certainly a good problem to have a lot of inventory but I am ready for some of these pots to go to new homes.

All the Valentine's Day Heart mugs sold.  That was very nice.  It was cool to see that folks liked them so much.  I also sold one of the Love Bird dishes but there are still a few in the Etsy Shop.

I mentioned that I was having some problems with cracking in bowls so I thought I'd put up a few images.  Any ideas on this would be welcome.  I'll tell you that this is Loafer's Glory clay.  No grog or anything.  I throw these bowls very soft and a bit thick in the bottom so I can have a nice footring.  My thoughts are that there is an uncompressed area here that is opening up in the firing.  A 'soft area' from the making.  I don't know for sure.  I don't really like this clay.  But I like the way it fires out and interacts with my slips and soda glaze.

I highlighted the crack with Sharpie.

Here's the cross section after I hammered it.  I had to hold the pieces together.  Maybe the floor is a bit too thick.  I may just need to trim these pots thinner.  I've also tried compressing the wall around the foot after trimming.  (which I hate doing just on principle).

Above is a different bowl with crack higher up in the wall.  Grrrrr. So damn frustrating.

Ok. Well I'll end there for now as I need to get myself off to work.  Happy Friday.  See ya again soon.

New Pots!! Video! Yay!

Hi. Happy February 1st!  I'm feeling rather good today.  The sun is out.  It's relatively warm and I just had a very nice firing in my soda kiln.  I unloaded late yesterday and shot a very short video of the front of the kiln with the door down.  Then this morning I shot a bit more video and I've stitched it together here in a little YouTube video for you all.  Have a look.  I'll write a few comments down below.

Right. So as you can see a nice firing.  I am pleased with the colors of the slips and the varied application of the soda glaze throughout the kiln.  The pitchers and bottles were in the back top of the kiln and really got some good color.  I had left the top a bit more openly stacked this time which allowed me to spray soda all the way from the front top to the back top of the kiln.  I'm finding that I need to leave some open space in this kiln to get the coverage of soda glaze that I want.  In my salt kiln I could pack rather tightly.  But the soda needs some room.  

I am continuing to put more actual glaze on the pots than I ever have.  The cobalt blue and copper green glazes are what I'm most interested in.  I like them both to a certain degree but not too much of either.  I'm finding that I like the color to only go on part of the pot or as a liner.  The pots that are completely covered in blue or green do not really interest me so much.  So I'll continue to work that out.  The pots with panels of texture and panels of color are nice.  Also I inlayed some of the stamped dots with glaze this time and I liked that as well.

The Valentine's Day pots will go up in the Etsy shop as soon as I can get them photographed and listed.  If you see anything on here you are interested in you can always send me an email.

On the down side I continue to experience some cracking problems around the feet on bowls. I'm pretty irritated with this issue.  I feel like it's a problem with the clay I use.  I am using Loafer's Glory, which is a white stoneware.  It has no grog or mullite or anything like that in it.  I love the way my slips look on it.   Otherwise I am not attached to it at all.   I am pretty sure I'll be testing some new clays this year.  

Ok.  I'll try and post some more still images later in the week or direct you to the pots on the Etsy page where there will be photos.

Loaded and Ready to Fire

I got the kiln loaded today.  It's a good feeling to be firing the first kiln load of pots for the year.  And it's right on schedule.  I really like to try and fire once a month.  That's a nice cycle for me.  I can get enough pots made in a few weeks, then glaze, then fire.  

Working in this cyclical way is appealing to me.  Over the month I get to do a variety of things in the studio.  The making list is always a bit different so I never really feel like I am in too much of a production type mode.  It's always amazing to me when loading how I've made just the right pots for kiln.  Of course this isn't entirely by chance.  I do know I need a variety of shapes and sizes and I know when I've reached capacity by the number of boards of pots I have on the racks.  But this is something that I don't really think hard about each time.  Over the years it's come about that I just know what to do.  And that's a pretty cool place to be.

Of all the pots in the image above all went in the kiln except for about a dozen.  I'll light the kiln around 2 am and I should finish up around 4pm tomorrow.  I have some special pots for Valentine's Day that will go in my Etsy shop if they come out well.

Pouring Glaze with a Ladle for Decoration

As requested by my pal Scott Cooper here is a video showing how to do the glaze pours for my Toyko pattern.  Enjoy.

The finished colors on this piece will be similar to this yunomi.

I hope you'll give it a try.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

Ron

Gratitude

Hey there.  I hope everyone is well out there where ever you happen to be in the world.  I am fine.  Thanks for asking.  I will say right off that I've been meaning to do a post but really didn't know what to say and thinking to myself, 'it's gotta be something good, so just wait and post when you have something good.'  Well, I don't really have anything really good.  But who cares.  I mean if we wait for the perfect thing or whatever then who the hell knows when we'd get anything done?  Never. Ok?  Ok.  I think I just want to use this space to write and be less judgmental about it.  I've been reading some things online that are really well written.  God I wish I could write like some people out there.  But I am me and not them and this will have to do.

I have been reading some things about gratitude lately.  How it's good to be grateful and how by practicing gratitude then your life will be better, blah, blah, blah.  I don't mention the blah, blah, in a negative way.  Just that I don't want to go into the details.  You get it right?  Be grateful.  Enough said.  Do it!  That's what I tell myself.  And I've been practicing.  I write some things down in my journal every day.  And sometimes at night when I can't sleep I do the alphabet backwards and for each letter I think of something I am thankful for.  Z. Zippers, I am thankful for zippers.  Y. My big Yard of grass that I love to mow in the summer time.  X.  Ah, X.  Skip.  It's okay to skip.  And so on.  And then I am asleep.

Yes, it snowed.  Here in Shelby people go crazy when it snows.  It's so funny.  I don't know how much snow we got but it wasn't a ton like further north.  But you'd have thought Armageddon was coming.  I was just outside sitting on the porch.  The blues and grays and whites of the sky and landscape are so beautiful.  And then I came in to write and looked out the window and saw how the sky in the west was turning pink so I had to run out and have a look at that.  I'm so thankful to be able to take a moment to see the beauty of the sunset.

I am really hoping to fire this week.  I have a bisque kiln cooling tonight.  I got a little jump on the loading by pre-wadding all the pots I could today.  Maybe tomorrow I can glaze what's in the bisque and load the last bisque which will consist of tall pots I couldn't get in this load.  I made a few special pots for Valentine's Day so I better get on the ball if I'm to have them fired in time.

I guess that's about all I have for now.  I am feeling good and looking forward to the days ahead.  What a good life I have.  I am so thankful for  it all.  No kidding.  I'm feeling a bit mushy and I think maybe I should delete that but I know that there are days when I feel sorry for myself or I think my work sucks because I didn't get invited to some show or don't have a lot of money.  (That's a huge run-on sentence and if I was a better writer I'd fix that!).  He he.  Ok.  Yes, in this moment...things are perfect.

Thanks for checking in.  Cheers.  ~Ron

Coming to the End of a Cycle

I'm at the end of this cycle of making pots and it feels like it's just in time.  I felt a relief today as I knew I had just a couple boards of pots to finish up and then it was on to waxing and glazing.  I'll have one more bisque to fire before I can load the soda kiln.  Hopefully things will dry out over the next few days enough for me to do a slow bisque before the weekend.

Waxing out areas on pots is one of the more time consuming things I have to do.  It's pretty straightforward though.  I don't do this sort of thing on every pot but I do enjoy having some areas that are glazed against the slipped surfaces.  Combined with any texture this is even better I think.

It's pretty ugly in this state.  I add some green food coloring to my wax resist so I can see where I am putting it.  Working with wax is great until you get it somewhere it doesn't belong.  I'll have to bisque the cup below to burn off all the wax since I dropped a big blob right in the middle of the panel that is to be glazed. 

I took a few photos of the area beside the treadle wheel to give you an idea of what tools I mainly use.  I have most everything I need for throwing within arms reach. 

The ceramic bird was made by Peter Rose and it's sitting on a sagger from Bill Gordy's kiln.  I don't really use a lot of different tools and honestly I could get rid of more than half of this and still do just fine making pots.

Tomorrow I'll get on with glazing what pots I have left.  

Podcast and Clean Wheel

A little over a year ago I was interviewed by Michael Kline for his podcast.  I was thinking about it today and how I enjoyed telling my story about how I came to make pots.  

Maybe you'd be interested in listening.  If so here's a link to Episode 7 of the Sawdust and Dirt Podcast featuring ME.  :)

Click HERE to go to the podcast.

I've been feeling overwhelmed in my studio.  I don't know what 's going on but I can't seem to focus on anything for very long in there.  I have a feeling I'm just getting a bit crazy with winter and I want to be outside more.  It's also gotten sort of cluttered in my studio and I feel like I need to clear out.  My wheel pan had 3" of water in it so I cleaned  it out.

That's much better.  Now to tackle the rest of the room.  Maybe tomorrow I'll clean off some shelves.  

I really don't have much to blog about today.  So I won't take up any more of your time.

See ya.

I'm in Business

Let's see....here are the two pitchers I forgot to photograph yesterday.  Both have a flashing slip and I went with some small sprigs on one.  Liking this shape.

Music in the studio today was Pixies, Husker Du, Duran Duran and Rush.  Rush has become what I listen to when I really need to jam on some pots.  I've loved Rush since I was a teenager.  Neil Peart is my drummer hero.  Trying to take advantage of our Amazon Prime membership, there is loads of great music on there.  I did feel a bit guilty abandoning KEXP for the day but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

I made this pitcher to finish off the day.  It's nice and tall, about 14 1/2".  Oh I wish pots didn't shrink so much when they dry and get fired.  

So I've been in business as a potter since 1997.  Well today I finally went to the bank and opened a business account.  Ha!  Sarah made me.  She's getting us all organized.  We are also starting to use Quick Books this year.  I guess my pencil and ledgers will go the way of the dinosaur.

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by so much beauty when I step outside my studio door.  I've been enjoying the clouds and blue sky lately.  We've had lots of pink sunsets.  This evening I caught the moon as it was going down in the west.

Peace.  (Ah. I accidentally typed Peach!)

An Emotional Day

It's almost my bed time but I thought I'd knock out this post.  What a crazy day.  I woke to find that David Bowie had died.  I was shocked.  I had spent Friday in the studio listening to KEXP's tribute to him.  He was turning 69 and released his new album, Blackstar.  Little did anyone know he had been battling cancer for 18 months and this album was to be his parting gift to his fans.  So today KEXP (my very favorite radio station in the world, that I stream everyday) played more Bowie and I found myself overwhelmed with emotion.  Standing at my wheel crying as I put handles on cups.  Crazy!!  I'm not a mega Bowie fan, but I think it was just knowing how incredibly full his life was that got to me.  He was a true artist, always growing, changing, evolving, giving.  Wow.  Anyhow, I was moved and inspired, sad and joyful. And it was just weird, I think so many people were impacted.  Maybe some energy was moving through the air, connecting us, or maybe it was just those songs.  

Ok. Pots!  Yes!  I tackled some plastic today and got pots finished.  

Those double love bird dishes will get fired before Valentine's Day and go up on the Etsy site.

I forgot to take images of my pitchers but I'll do that tomorrow.  And I made plans for the fat pots.  Ha.  God, they are still under plastic, out of sight.  But I know what I'm gonna do to each one so I'm not stressed.  I really just want to get all this finished up, make a few more boards of pots and fire.  I'm ready.

Ok.  That's it for this dude.  Catch ya later!

Finishing Up The Week

The last few days in the studio have been weird.  Almost everyday around 3pm I found myself in some sort of funk.  I had thoughts of not knowing what to make next, critically judging what I HAD made, worrying about cracking, or some other stupid thing that brought me to a halt and left me standing around or sitting on a bucket with my head in my hands.  

I was happy to see the end of the day Friday.  I ended on a good note making a couple pitchers that I will get handled over the weekend.

I think mainly the problem was that nothing has been drying in the studio.  Pots were piling up on boards and tables and I was just a bit overwhelmed.  To add to that I had made those pots on Wednesday that were sort of out of my norm and I had no idea what to do with them after I got them finished.

Speaking of which here they are with the necks on and the bottoms trimmed up.

They look ok.  What to do for decoration is the dilemma that I struggled with every time I looked at them after this point.  Ha.  So I covered them with plastic to get them out of sight!  I guess with new pots it's hard to figure out what to do.  These are pretty typical shapes but not something I ordinarily make.  So I was pressuring myself to 'get it right Ron', 'don't mess them up now'.  Oh well.  It will be fine.  I'll put some slip on them.  Do some combing on a couple and leave the others bare.  I just have to make more if I want to know what all the options will look like.  I hate when I get myself all worked up over something like this.  Heck, they are just pots and I can make more.

Here's a shot of how I attach a doughnut of clay that I then throw for the top.

You can see that chuck in the background.  That's what I used to trim them all on.

And here are some of the things I have to finish up over the weekend.  Hopefully all will go well and I'll throw some more on Monday.  I'm getting pretty close to having a kiln load of pots!  I'm more than ready to fire and see some new finished work.

Throw a Curve

Hey.  Ah.  Today was nice.  A big block of time in the studio.  A 30-min workout on the front porch.  Lunch, short nap and more time in the studio.  Life is good.  And there was tea and some chocolate as well.  

Over the years I've not really made the sort of pot that has a big, rounded belly.  These forms are beautiful and plentiful throughout ceramic history and contemporary wares.  I have for some reason avoided them.  I think mainly because I didn't feel like I made a very nice curve or that these pots really weren't in some of my teachers repertoire.  Today I felt like giving it a go so I made a few rounded pots.

These aren't really finished yet.  They will get some necks added to them tomorrow and I'll trim the bottoms to make the shape a bit better.  It's funny now to me to admit that I'm going to trim them.  I used to have this worry that the Pottery Police were gonna come and get me if I did something so sacrilegious as to trim a pot like this.  But guess what?  I don't give a crap any more.  I can't exactly throw these things up like some super potters can.  So I do what I have to.  Yay Me! 

I also threw some bowls that will get some birds attached.  I am thinking of these for Valentine's Day.  These will each get 2 birds. So sort of the love bird idea.  Maybe a good gift.  We'll see.  I made two sizes, big and small, just in case folks have a budget or maybe commitment issue or something.  

I'm loving the feet on those deep bowls and I even threw some curves in those mugs.  

Thanks for checking in.  

Ramen at Futo Buta

I had to go to Charlotte today for an appointment and to pick up some shipping supplies.  I was over in Southend so there was no way I was missing lunch at Futo Buta Ramen House.  Oh man, it's soooooo freaking good.  Even better today since it was terribly cold outside.

I usually get the Tonkotsu but today I had the Fire and Ice.  

What makes this all the more special is that the ramen is served in hand made bowls by Will Baker.  It's such a perfect pairing.

Here's the ramen page of the menu.  You can see full menu HERE.

I'm telling ya.  If you are near Charlotte, NC you gotta try this place out.  All the food there looks amazing.  I sat at the bar today and had a great view of the kitchen.  I saw some small plates come out that made me want to try something new.  Next time I'm gonna order the Brussel Sprouts and maybe the Shishito Peppers.  Wow.  I'm hungry again just thinking about it.

Here is my big score of shipping supplies that I purchased at Box It Up after lunch.  I should be set for a while!!  Bring on the Etsy orders!

Monday. Time to Get Some Pots Finished!

Today was a major catch up day.  With tons of pots under plastic all weekend I had a super day as I cut feet, decorated, attached handles, and slipped pots.  I came away feeling very happy with the time in the studio this first Monday of 2016.

I textured a dozen cups today.  You can see from the image below that I use a tool I made from cord. I have several of these in different sizes and patterns.  I try to catch the pot when it is just right to receive the texture.  Sort of medium leather hard is about right.  These particular cups had some very nice throwing marks and I wanted to preserve those.  To do that I rolled the cord up to the lines and then skipped over to the next low spot.  This is better to me than just rolling over the whole surface and destroying those beautiful marks that were made in the throwing.

You can see what I am talking about a bit better in the next image I think.  Also I've added stamped decoration in the smooth panels.

After I finished the roping and stamping each cup they all got handled and then slipped.  

It was a beautiful and brisk day.  I enjoyed stepping outside as the day passed to enjoy the blue sky, green field, and clouds that were passing overhead.

Just Like Old Times

When Sarah and I were first married we both worked at home as artists.  I made pots and Sarah was a jeweler.  We did this for about 8 years.  Then Sarah went back to school to get her Masters in counseling and became a full time therapist.  Her jewelry studio was eventually dismantled and that area was turned into a guest room.  Well, in the past couple months she expressed wanting to get her jewelers bench set back up.  So we made some space in the guest room and she got all her tools out and this week for the first time in about 4 years she made some jewelry!!

Sarah took this week off from her therapy job so it's been just like old times.  We are both here all day long working at our crafts, eating meals together, and having tea.  It's great!  I am so happy to see her working at her bench again and I know it's really good for her to be getting some time to nurture her creative side.

I've been making a bunch of pots this week.  It's been super rainy today though and nothing is drying. It's hard for me to keep making stuff when I have 60 pots sitting in the studio in a damp state.  I'll play hell getting them all finished once they all get ready for footing, handling, slipping and what not.  So today I worked for awhile and then just decided to do some computer stuff.  

That said, it's nice to have a good jump on the next kiln.  I expect I'll fire in mid January if all goes well.  

Just a Few Plates. And 2 Cups. And Videos.

I did get in the studio and make some plates this week.  I think that pretty much satisfied my need to be productive and I can move on now and enjoy Christmas.

I generally just slip the fronts of my plates.  I do that by pouring the slip on the pot while rotating it over the bucket of slip.

This next video shows how I am using the foot of the plate to hold and spin the plate.  It takes a bit of practice.  The excess slip is wiped away with a very damp sponge.

Energy

I like the drawings of Quentin Blake.  They seem alive and about to move around or off the page.  I think I remember reading Blake saying that the drawings should show 'action' or the 'anticipation of action'.  I like that.  And I think it's hard to pull off.  Blake's illustrations feel scratchy and twitchy to me.  They have a great energy that keeps me engaged and interested.

As a potter I want to make pots that have energy about them. I want them to maintain some of the action that was present during the making.  I like marking the pot with the tool as the pot spins on the wheel.  The relationship between the speed of the turning pot and the raising tool, or hand/finger, can impart all sorts of information on the pot. Personally, I like a bit of asymmetry, a slow wheel and fast movement of the throwing rib.  A wobble in the line around the rim.  Those things, for me, keep the pot in motion.  An anticipation of action remains in the pot even after the firing.

I throw pots on a treadle wheel.  It's a machine that puts me at a disadvantage the minute I sit down at it.  I have to sit sort of cock-eyed on a narrow seat and I'm kicking continuously with my left leg.  So I'm off balance in some way at all times.  But I love it.  And I love the way the pots come off that wheel.  I have to use soft clay to make the pots on the treadle.  The flywheel is light and the crook in the bar makes me feel sort of like I am whipping around.  Whoom, whoom.  (Kind of like the bass groove in The Humpty Dance.)  Well, maybe that's stretching it but for some reason I thought of that.  Anyhow, working in this manner, soft clay, kicking, off balance, whoom, whoom, my body moving, the clay spinning, all that is energy right?  And that energy can show up in the pot if I allow it to.

Another thing Blake says about drawing is that 'you have to know when to stop'.  That's really important with pots too. I don't want to work the pot to it's death.  Or 'cat lick' it as John Leach has been known to say.  The way I work, with the soft clay and the treadle wheel I am forced into an economy of movement and time.  For one thing, the clay is soft and will collapse if I just keep adding water to it.  And the other is that I don't want to be up there kicking on one pot for ages and ages!  So I try to make my statement and move on to the next pot.  

It's been a few weeks since I've made any pots.  I had to finish up all the work and clean the studio for the Holiday Sale.  Now it's time to get back in there and make a few boards of pots.  I'm a bit hesitant to start up right now during Christmas week.  But I'm feeling the urge to get my hands dirty and to make a few cups and some plates.  So today I'll at least do that.  I like having a nice easy start and then moving on through the making list.

Wake Up Smiling

In his book Peace is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about how it is good to start the day with a smile.  I often remember to do this even before I open my eyes for the day.  I wake up and smile.  Thich says that smiling affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy.  I think that is true.  I automatically feel good when I smile.  Even for just a moment.  And the moment is all we really have.

Another time when I practice smiling is when I am driving.  Man, I see a lot of angry, sad, or irritated people behind the wheels of their cars.  I try to smile.  Maybe if someone sees me they think, what is that idiot smiling at?  Ha.  Or maybe they smile too.  Smiling seems to help me be in the moment and to know that in that moment things are ok.

I started on my Make List for the next kiln.  I haven't gotten very far yet.

I was going to wait until after Christmas to get back on the wheel.  But I'm feeling the urge to be back in the studio so I could get started this week.  I'm not sure.  I also want to do some drawing but I'm not really sure how to get that going.   Just start I guess.  The main problem with my drawing is that I don't really have the discipline to sit and work on something very long.  I get kinda antsy after about 15 min.  Hum.  I'll see what I can do about that.