Media Whore

Giving GIMP A Try

I have really missed blogging. Our computer sits in our dining room, and with the kids home snow day after snow day, there is simply too much competition for computer time. I gave up. Alas, we have had two good weather days, so I have been catching up with old blogging friends over a nice cup of tea. I decided to figure out how to put some photos with this post.

We had our January Clay Club meeting last night at Elizabeth Westveer's studio. We discussed ideas for this year's meetings and John Britt videoed a few demos (including mine). He'll post them to the Clay Club blog and You Tube later in the week.

One demonstrator was Patty Bilbro. She demonstrated centering two large lumps of clay one on top of the other, rather than trying to center one huge lump. I took a few photos.





Hooray! We have a photo!


The other demonstrator was Doc Welty, who showed us how to create raised surfaces with shellac resist.

I needed Brian's blog post as well as GIMP's online tutorial to walk me through how to resize the images for the web. I ran into a snag after finishing and saving the picture of Patty. The second photo I tried to resize was instead "layered' onto the first, as well as cropped to show only Doc's face. The only way I could figure out how to get rid of the first image and bring up the second one without the cropping was to close GIMP and restart it.

It seems that GIMP offers a lot more then I need in a photo program. I don't manipulate images or even really crop them much. I don't change anything in the photos of my pottery except sizing. And since the forecast is calling for snow tonight, I'm going to congratulate myself on this baby GIMP step, and turn the computer over to the kids again.

I can always tackle GIMP in the spring.

MIA For Too Long

Happy New Year! Our computer survived its ordeal last month. I'm not sure I did though. Or my family for that matter. Blogging is an outlet for me. Without it...well, let's just say, I've had a lot to say.

One thing that didn't survive was my photo software, you know the one: an archaic version of HP Photo Something-Or-Other, origins unknown. Not sure if it was a good or not, but I knew how to use it. Quite some time ago, I posted about trying to use Piknik or something for Call for Entry. Brian Fields was kind enough to email me about Gimp, so I am finally going to try it.

For now my photos are safe on CDs, and I've been taking more and more. We've had some beautiful snow up here and are expecting more in the next day or so.

Since having the kids in school is tenuous this time of year, I am racing to catch up on household chores, so I can get back into the studio by next week. I was unhappy with two of my cone 6 R glazes this last firing, so I need to make some work and loads of test tiles.

$4.95 Etsy Shipping Sale

We still don't have our new modem, so I'm typing at light speed since my connection could drop at any moment. UPS hasn't been able to deliver because of "Emergency Conditions" which I think means the trucks couldn't get around at the beginning of the week, so they are so overloaded and behind schedule that they can't get to us residential customers.

Due to those same weather conditions, which by the way have not been all that bad, local sales have been dreadfully slow. So, I'm having a shipping sale until Tuesday December 21st. It's a win-win-win. I sell some pottery, you save on shipping, and my local Postmaster gets more business which he desperately wants!

Happy Holidays!

All Systems Down

Ugh...last week we started noticing a lot of static on our phone line. Jay diagnosed the trouble back to our modem. We're still waiting for the new one to arrive.

In the meantime, Jay thought it would be an ideal time to clean up our computer. The speed has been ever-so-slowly decreasing over the past few months. After attempting to reboot upon finding two viruses and various other computer meanies, the old girl refused to boot up.

Jay was able to find another operating system, and so I have temporary and fleeting internet access until the weekend, when we'll have time to recover all of our necessary files and wipe the hard drive. What a pain in the ass.

On the positive side, I received my Generosity Chain box from Tracey (thanks Tracey! I'll thank you properly with photos next week!), and at last night's Clay Club meeting, I got a Michael Kline mug in the holiday swap.

Hopefully, I'll be back online next week. So until then, I'm really not ignoring you.

Latest Cone 6 Firing and TRAC Studio Tour

Occasionally I can find myself feeling a bit smug when my carefully laid plans fall into place. I scheduled a cone 6 firing the week of Thanksgiving so that if anything went wrong (or I had too much work), I would have time to refire before the TRAC Studio Tour.

The kiln was packed tight and towards the end of the firing I found cone 7 flat on the bottom, but 6 barely budging on top. I was playing around with the damper when I noticed that my right burner was OUT! I couldn't get the pilot to stay lit, and after realizing that the remaining burner couldn't do the job, I just shut the whole thing down, grateful that I had left myself enough time to refire.

To my delight and surprise, when I opened the kiln the next day (and remember with cone 6 you can open sooner), the pots which I had feared underfired looked quite nice. In fact, my yellow glaze looked marvelous. I believe the kiln gods were sending me a message: you're overfiring!

Jump to this week, home from our annual Thanksgiving trek to the Outer Banks, and it was time to spruce up the gallery for the Studio Tour. I had all these new pots to visit with, shelves to move and, ahem, a bit more glaze clean up to do. Two sick children wiped my smug grin off of my face in a hurry, one kid at the start of the week, the other coming down with the same bug yesterday. Then my phone line is full of static and the internet keeps going out. I had several phone conversations yesterday outside at the phone box. Fortunately, the dryer vent empties right there and kept my feet warm.

All's well that ends well though. I managed most of my "to do" list. I had the good sense to recognize my own limitations though, put away the butter and flour, and called Jay to buy cookies on his way home. They're pretty tasty, too. I did make some Amber Ale Cheese spread.

If you find yourself in the WNC mountains this weekend, plan on visiting with some of the world-class artists who live and work up here. Or come to the artist reception Friday night 5-8 at the Spruce Pine TRAC Gallery.

What the Heck Are These For?

A couple of days ago, I decided I needed to revisit an idea from a customer which required some slab work. I could have used the slab roller, but I need the slabs large and round, so I just used the giant rolling pin. I'm not sure why I was surprised to wake up with a sore shoulder. I've had tendonitis in both of my shoulders at various times in the past. Just another dumbass move.

I know it doesn't look like much yet.

So while I nurse my shoulder for another day, I'm mixing some test glazes. Before I can do that, I have to organize and label the test tiles from last fall so as not to retest something. I would have labelled them sooner, but I've been engrossed in a book about procrastination. If anyone has any cone 6 reduction recipes, please share. I'm also going to try Val Cushing's method of converting a cone 10 glaze to cone 6. Has anyone had any luck with this?

As you know, my studio came equipped with lots of extras, including glaze ingredients. I have Ilmenite, Granular Rutile and Iron Chromate. Does anyone have a recipe that uses any of these? Would you just sprinkle the granular rutile on the shoulder of a pot?

I also have a small blue trash can with little baggies of a white material. I know what you're thinking. I suppose the studio would be a grand hiding place, but who would leave something so valuable behind? Anyway, John Britt did a cone 10 melt test for me, but couldn't determine what it was. It looked like it melted, but then balled back up into little bits. I'm going to do a cone 6 melt test.

Meanwhile, the bisque is firing, and I'm set to load a cone 6 load Sunday.