Thursday, April 15, 2010

Transitioning from Vacation Brain to Whatever Brain I create with...

Jay and I joined several of our close friends on Grand Oasis, a chartered trimaran, for 7 days a couple of weeks ago. In no way can I describe how gorgeous the British Virgin Islands are. My photos cannot do them justice. You've got to go! My friend Jan will be guest blogging about the trip since she kept a travel journal of our adventures.

When we returned, I was exhausted. It took several days to regain my land legs. I'm sure it was pretty comical to see me swaying as I stood still. The kids were on Spring Break the week after we got back, so I didn't have to jump right back into work, but poor Jay did. He took a day off midweek to sleep and try to snap out of it. We rarely take a vacation, so it really knocked us for a loop. Are you feeling sorry for me yet?

Anyway, I'm back in the studio this week and feeling great. And we had an awesome Clay Club meeting last night hosted by Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts. It's been a long, hard winter and seeing old faces and meeting new clay artists was just what the spirit called for. Even with gorgeous weather outside, I'm itching to get into some new work.

I'm reorganizing the gallery and collecting work for the Toe River Craft Shop when it reopens May 1st. I'm going to try to get 3 kilns fired before Jay leaves for his TAT trip in May. I've got about 1/2 a kiln of work I need to refire plus one big basket that couldn't fit into my last kilnload of 2009.

My other dilemma is that I need to move the Bailey. It sits in an enclosed carport attached to my house, with attic space above. The ceiling is wood and the burners are no more than 24" from the plywood wall behind the kiln. John Britt has seen it and when I asked him how hard it is to move a kiln, he said I could have it moved with a forklift. I might even be able to get it out the door without knocking out a wall.

I have to decide where to move it, and then build some sort of shelter overhead. I'm not sure how much it will cost, but I suppose it's better than living in a Yurt for the rest of my life after my house burns down and my insurance doesn't cover it.

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