Bags-o-clay

I swung by the guild on Monday to clean. It is a bit cruel that I haven’t been taking advantage of the guild’s studio space, yet since we’re a co-op, I’m still required to clean about every 4 months or so. I know – who’s fault is that? No need to rub it in. Anyway…while I was there, another member was using the electric slab roller (what a luxury) to create slabs to take home where she is going to work at her leisure. She had quite the system in place, boards, plastic wrap, etc. etc. and it got me thinking about whether I might like to do the same. I love hand building, and have hand rolled my slabs in the past – something I actually enjoy doing. At any rate, I decided not to use the electric slab roller, but I did bring home yet another 25# bag of clay – this time a white ^10 stoneware called “Dover” which is now sitting unopened next to the bag of ^6 porcelain. I might as well start working at ^10 for some work since the guild has 2 large gas car kilns.

I do have a plan. It’s just taken me awhile to arrive at a course of action. Making a decision is probably my weakest skill – I tend to deliberate and then deliberate my deliberations before I can move forward. Once I make a decision, I rarely look back. So here’s my dilemma – I need a fairly unobtrusive, comfortable and convenient place to work. Last weekend, my husband asked me when I was finally going to open the clay I brought home a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned using the laundry room in the basement as a quasi temporary/permanent space where I can leave work in progress out and to work during the winter months. It’s warm, has running water, has shelving, counter space and it’s not precious, so it won’t matter if I get clay on the floor/walls etc. I think I might even bring my wheel inside which is going to require a little extra muscle power.

The laundry room isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s a start. I had planned to get it all set up yesterday and then…I got a small job offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’m updating/adding content to a WordPress website this week. Who would have thought that by teaching myself how to use and customize WordPress for my website out of financial necessity a few years ago, that I could actually earn a little extra income on the side? So, clay is going to have to wait for the weekend. But, I had better not wait too long – my last semester of school starts on Tuesday.