Archive for May 21st, 2008

Studio Clean Up

I went into the studio yesterday to work, only I couldn’t find anything I needed including tools, boards, rulers etc. This was a clear sign that my studio space needed to be thoroughly cleaned. I made good progress and hated to stop, but stop I had to in order to make it to my last kid’s clay class of the school year. I loved teaching it - but I am looking forward to more time to make my own work this summer without the extra demands of teaching. Plus, the last 2 kiln loads resulted in exploded pots despite my best efforts of pre-heating the kiln and firing slowly.

The kids always took news of exploded pots stoically, like a badge of honor. Funny thing is, there was one kid in class who always purposely tried to construct his work so that his would explode. When we made rattles, he made a rattle shaped and designed like a grenade. Ironically, it was always the other kid’s work that exploded - not his.

I’m not exactly done teaching for the summer. I’ll be teaching 3 week long kid’s workshops at the Art Student’s League of Denver and 1 kid’s workshop at Anderson Ranch Arts Center this summer - but all 4 will take place at their studios so I won’t be hauling things back and forth to mine.

Many of you know that I don’t have running water in my humble garagio. I need to show my handy father in law photos of the Cink! Not having running water is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it forces me to conserve and a curse because well, running water would make clean up so much easier.

As I started cleaning up my space yesterday, there was no water in my “sink”. My sink is basically a large rubber tub and when the clay sludge gets close to the top of the water line, it’s time to start fresh. I spied an empty bag of dog chow and had an aha moment. The bags are water proof and this one even came with a zipper at the top. I emptied the sludge into the bag and put it outside where I hope it will dry in the next week so that I can dispose of it.

If you’re a clay person who has no running water, what do you do with your sludge? I do recycle my clay - but this stuff is all residue from cleaning up, glazing, sanding and contains both low, mid and high fire ingredients.

Milestones

On Monday, my husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that it’s been that long. I met him in high school in Stuttgart, Germany where both of our fathers were stationed at the time. We got married when I was 23 in 1989. In a sense, we have sort of grown up together which is a cool thing. There’s not a lot I don’t know about him.

On April 28th, I missed my blog’s 2 year anniversary. How did that happen? Last year, I celebrated in grand style and did a giveaway. There’s always next year! I’ve enjoyed blogging tremendously over the past 2 years. It’s become a part of my routine to both write posts and to read other people’s blogs. I love how the network of blogs allows for the possibility of new connections and interests by simply clicking on another’s links. What did I do before I discovered blogs? Well, I had more time for one - but I wouldn’t trade more time in exchange for giving up blogging. I enjoy it.

That’s all for this morning,

~Cynthia

P.S. I have exciting news about a possible new gallery - stay tuned…