an excellent organization asking us to vote!
love -C
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
good credit, good loam
"In return for its infusion of new money to bolster bank balance sheets, Treasury will get preferred shares paying a 5 percent return initially and warrants to purchase common shares, allowing taxpayers to benefit once the banks' recover. However, Treasury does not get any voting rights with its ownership stake and will not be able to have a say in choosing the bank's board of directors.
Treasury has also given the go-ahead for stronger banks to use the money it receives in the rescue program to acquire weaker banks, drawing criticism from those who say the government should not be financing the consolidation of the banking system _ in effect helping to choose winners and losers." huff pots
so I am educating myself. and I don't have time to write a lot, but I'm reading more about how everything is going to hell BUT, within this mayhem, any good news is great news, so they mention it when they might not have before-- they mention today that there was a slight increase in single-family home sales in sepember, assisted by so and so deal on new construction whatever, and of course that was before the worst of the crunch crunched but it got me back to this place- ok, everything slows down if not grinds to a halt. that means people stay where they are and make do. maybe they make do by stealing my truck (scrap metal on wheels), or maybe they realize that we've all got to pool our resources to pull ourselves out of this mess- what did Mark Twain say? "buy land, they're not making any more of it"
I'm thinking of a community garden. yes I know this is an absurd amount of work. I've been doing this kind of work on rental property for years now- might as well do it on a piece of my own land. but more than that- how are we going to start reshaping our vision of a healthy future? SOIL! nutrients in the soil. education of the children.
I really have to get back to work- more later
Saturday, October 25, 2008
OPEC slashes production of oil, has little effect
"This slowdown in demand is serving to exacerbate the situation in a market which has been oversupplied with crude for some time." (OPEC statement)
the news was not well-greeted by the white house, as one might imagine."It has always been our view that the value of commodities, including oil, should be determined in open, competitive markets, and not by these kinds of anti-market production decisions," -don't get me started, you panderers to the monopolies
so OPEC shows its stripes, if we had not noticed before. but slowing production will only postpone awareness of peak oil. the lifeblood of easy global consumerism (and commuter culture) is cheap plentiful oil. .I wonder how long and in how many ways we will resist the inevitable. we must scale down, buy local. it is not difficult but it is far outside of our paradigm. thank holy god for Obama- oh, I know, he isn't a magician, reality still applies, but I tell you right now, I will be dancing in the fucking streets on election night! I may even invest my hard-won dollars in alternate energy and engineering geniuses- genii- genies-- we got to get some clay minerals back into the roots of the system.
In other news, I'm a little dizzy. Immediately after the firing, some potter friends and i drove up to Seattle to the Seward Park Art center to meet and hear the tales of Mister Al Tennant, who lives on Bainbridge Island and used to teach at the university of Alaska. man, did he have some doozies. I mean, I've heard some good stories in my day... -- get this visual- those of you who work in school clay studios know that there always seems to be a plethora of (unfinished student pots) bisq-ware at the end of each term. One evening Al and his TA had a mite too much whiskey and played baseball with the bisqware, havign taken precautionary measures beforehand. namely, duck-taping a bowl over their heads in order to protect themselves from the projectiles. Al managed to remove his helmet before passing out in his office. the TA snoozed on the table. in the morning, the janitor nearly called the police until she saw the TA's feet. I tell ya- they just don't make schools like they used to. - sigh -
Then I unloaded the kiln, and you know all about how that went. I must apologize for any horrified gasps you may have emitted upon reading that I lost most of the load. A large proportion died. however, I was able to re-fire the serviceware in a kiln at Mt Hoodie (!thank you again, Stephen Mickmaster!), in a soda kiln, so they are pretty close to the look I'm going for. I have decided to abandon the reduce- cooling for the next firing. The dishes got messed up because I relied on an old standby glaze that I used in Utah- wrong answer. it was fine in reduce-cool there, but not here. odd. I will focus for the moment on a good soda-fire, since my interest is more towards functional work. So inbetween weekends of that studio tour, I re-fired. which involved propping open a back door and dodging security so that I could sleep in the warm classroom and wake up every two hours to baby through the first part of the firing. this is just after I got some great press, so thank god, I was able to salvage a good bit of the load and have more confidence in presenting my work to the public. It was really excellent to welcome people to my studio. Here there is context, people see the intention of the maker and her space. My action is evident all around me, so I can simply gesture in a direction instead of stringing together a mess of shy words.
With the seconds of the firing, I made an installation among the delicate money-plants that volunteer to rattle in the wind under the stately fir trees:
.
At the end of the last day, we dismantled the installation and the people who had lingered over it returned to collect larger pots for their garden. I am delighted to have met so many of the people who came to visit- from potters to shrinks to mathematicians, this is truly the stuff of the good life.
And Mama came to town after that. We went out to the ocean, and along the Gorge. We had fresh oysters and sweet dungeness, and shoe shopping. she's a good egg, my mama. my biggest fan, and loving patronesse. what would I do without her--
so next up is a workshop with Lindsay Oesterriter, a fellow grad of Utah State. I have to say, of all the people with whome I went to school, Lindsay is top on my list of those I want to see again. she is high- energy, big love. and talented too. we'll be firing the small anagama at Mt Hood. reduce cooling, of course.
and? Halloween. my favorite ruckus.
hope all are well. I'm going to Japan for a month over xmas. any suggestions?
the news was not well-greeted by the white house, as one might imagine."It has always been our view that the value of commodities, including oil, should be determined in open, competitive markets, and not by these kinds of anti-market production decisions," -don't get me started, you panderers to the monopolies
so OPEC shows its stripes, if we had not noticed before. but slowing production will only postpone awareness of peak oil. the lifeblood of easy global consumerism (and commuter culture) is cheap plentiful oil. .I wonder how long and in how many ways we will resist the inevitable. we must scale down, buy local. it is not difficult but it is far outside of our paradigm. thank holy god for Obama- oh, I know, he isn't a magician, reality still applies, but I tell you right now, I will be dancing in the fucking streets on election night! I may even invest my hard-won dollars in alternate energy and engineering geniuses- genii- genies-- we got to get some clay minerals back into the roots of the system.
In other news, I'm a little dizzy. Immediately after the firing, some potter friends and i drove up to Seattle to the Seward Park Art center to meet and hear the tales of Mister Al Tennant, who lives on Bainbridge Island and used to teach at the university of Alaska. man, did he have some doozies. I mean, I've heard some good stories in my day... -- get this visual- those of you who work in school clay studios know that there always seems to be a plethora of (unfinished student pots) bisq-ware at the end of each term. One evening Al and his TA had a mite too much whiskey and played baseball with the bisqware, havign taken precautionary measures beforehand. namely, duck-taping a bowl over their heads in order to protect themselves from the projectiles. Al managed to remove his helmet before passing out in his office. the TA snoozed on the table. in the morning, the janitor nearly called the police until she saw the TA's feet. I tell ya- they just don't make schools like they used to. - sigh -
Then I unloaded the kiln, and you know all about how that went. I must apologize for any horrified gasps you may have emitted upon reading that I lost most of the load. A large proportion died. however, I was able to re-fire the serviceware in a kiln at Mt Hoodie (!thank you again, Stephen Mickmaster!), in a soda kiln, so they are pretty close to the look I'm going for. I have decided to abandon the reduce- cooling for the next firing. The dishes got messed up because I relied on an old standby glaze that I used in Utah- wrong answer. it was fine in reduce-cool there, but not here. odd. I will focus for the moment on a good soda-fire, since my interest is more towards functional work. So inbetween weekends of that studio tour, I re-fired. which involved propping open a back door and dodging security so that I could sleep in the warm classroom and wake up every two hours to baby through the first part of the firing. this is just after I got some great press, so thank god, I was able to salvage a good bit of the load and have more confidence in presenting my work to the public. It was really excellent to welcome people to my studio. Here there is context, people see the intention of the maker and her space. My action is evident all around me, so I can simply gesture in a direction instead of stringing together a mess of shy words.
With the seconds of the firing, I made an installation among the delicate money-plants that volunteer to rattle in the wind under the stately fir trees:
.
At the end of the last day, we dismantled the installation and the people who had lingered over it returned to collect larger pots for their garden. I am delighted to have met so many of the people who came to visit- from potters to shrinks to mathematicians, this is truly the stuff of the good life.
And Mama came to town after that. We went out to the ocean, and along the Gorge. We had fresh oysters and sweet dungeness, and shoe shopping. she's a good egg, my mama. my biggest fan, and loving patronesse. what would I do without her--
so next up is a workshop with Lindsay Oesterriter, a fellow grad of Utah State. I have to say, of all the people with whome I went to school, Lindsay is top on my list of those I want to see again. she is high- energy, big love. and talented too. we'll be firing the small anagama at Mt Hood. reduce cooling, of course.
and? Halloween. my favorite ruckus.
hope all are well. I'm going to Japan for a month over xmas. any suggestions?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Second Firing Results
I just lost about four thousand dollars. no, not in the market crash, just trying to make real things, for chrissake. I made a lot of mistakes for this firing, simple ones like trusting a new idea, gambling ones like praying a trusted glaze will react well with different color, stupid ones like not washing plates before glazing them, but I felt confident that the big pots would be all right. Tested clay, well-constructed, no glaze, all that. My dear friend and firing partner took them out at about 500* by suddenly going 200* an hour. Every single fucking one has the surface stress cracks that might look great on the craggy pots that get hammered in long woodfire but on my simple forms- unacceptable. I am sick about it. They were going to go to the only gallery that sells my work- a good one in the art district.
There's nothing to do but let go. It is all gambling, the first few firings of a new kiln, we're firing greenware, and cooling in reduction, there are many places where it could all go to hell. It is life on the high road.
The most important thing is that not only does the kiln fire BEAUTIFULLY but that Tin Man out there just lavishes affection all over the bare clay. I am delighted to report that the scum problem seems to have been solved by Joe at Clay Art Center by re-pugging the whole ton of it in Barium water. Thank you, Joe! Really, the kiln is a great pleasure to fire, most of the excitement of woodfire with a fraction of the work. You don't experience the wild intensity of stoking the front of an anagama, it's more like side-stoking, but it's lots of fun. Basically, we figured out in the first firing that the coals built up in the first part of the firing, done this time in little bourry-boxes, get shoved into the heart of the long firebox and act as a wick for the oil. With the pyrometer reading about 1000* this time, I turned on the oil and kept the coal bed healthy by side-stoking. The oil droplets sprayed into the coals and it was quite simple to find the right balance of oil, air, and amount of wood. It helped a lot to have the coal bed good and hot, though. To experiment, this firing, I established a good fire in one half of the kiln first, good hot coals, but then on the other side, I pushed in a few paltry coals and turned on the oil just to see if it would catch. It did catch but not very well. That side limped along for a while, the oil burning poorly with an acrid smell. I was worried about too much reduction, actually, but of all the problems, carbon core doesn't seem to be among them. I will rebuild the bourry-boxes a little smaller and with a proper door now that we've figured out how big they don't need to be...
As far as even heat goes, the back is still cooler by a few cones. This time I built a trick brick in the flue so that I could open it more. At cone 7 in the hottest spot, I pulled it but I think it was too little too late. Next firing I will have air openings in the back of the floor only, none towards the front. And as far as reduction-cooling goes, I think it effected a small area of the kiln, the front, and closest to the firebox, even though I had flames reaching through all upper parts of the kiln and few low places in front. The celadons show a surface puckering only there, and the same eggshell glaze that I used with success in grad school foamed in the front of the kiln but not the back. (even on the inside of boxes, interestingly). I think I do definetly need to tune clays to this kind of firing- Timmy had some gorgeous test tiles showing the black and iridescence with yellow and red reflashing that I remember from my best firings at school. I put a large bowl of "coot" clay in also, and it showed the same potential.
What else to say? I'm going to refire the dishes in a soda kiln. Pdx open studios is coming up this weekend. I got written up in the Portland Tribune, the article will come out in a few days. ironic, eh? well, with my sick sense of humor, I popped a bottle of champagne last night and shared it with Jack and April.
and the world keeps turning.
There's nothing to do but let go. It is all gambling, the first few firings of a new kiln, we're firing greenware, and cooling in reduction, there are many places where it could all go to hell. It is life on the high road.
The most important thing is that not only does the kiln fire BEAUTIFULLY but that Tin Man out there just lavishes affection all over the bare clay. I am delighted to report that the scum problem seems to have been solved by Joe at Clay Art Center by re-pugging the whole ton of it in Barium water. Thank you, Joe! Really, the kiln is a great pleasure to fire, most of the excitement of woodfire with a fraction of the work. You don't experience the wild intensity of stoking the front of an anagama, it's more like side-stoking, but it's lots of fun. Basically, we figured out in the first firing that the coals built up in the first part of the firing, done this time in little bourry-boxes, get shoved into the heart of the long firebox and act as a wick for the oil. With the pyrometer reading about 1000* this time, I turned on the oil and kept the coal bed healthy by side-stoking. The oil droplets sprayed into the coals and it was quite simple to find the right balance of oil, air, and amount of wood. It helped a lot to have the coal bed good and hot, though. To experiment, this firing, I established a good fire in one half of the kiln first, good hot coals, but then on the other side, I pushed in a few paltry coals and turned on the oil just to see if it would catch. It did catch but not very well. That side limped along for a while, the oil burning poorly with an acrid smell. I was worried about too much reduction, actually, but of all the problems, carbon core doesn't seem to be among them. I will rebuild the bourry-boxes a little smaller and with a proper door now that we've figured out how big they don't need to be...
As far as even heat goes, the back is still cooler by a few cones. This time I built a trick brick in the flue so that I could open it more. At cone 7 in the hottest spot, I pulled it but I think it was too little too late. Next firing I will have air openings in the back of the floor only, none towards the front. And as far as reduction-cooling goes, I think it effected a small area of the kiln, the front, and closest to the firebox, even though I had flames reaching through all upper parts of the kiln and few low places in front. The celadons show a surface puckering only there, and the same eggshell glaze that I used with success in grad school foamed in the front of the kiln but not the back. (even on the inside of boxes, interestingly). I think I do definetly need to tune clays to this kind of firing- Timmy had some gorgeous test tiles showing the black and iridescence with yellow and red reflashing that I remember from my best firings at school. I put a large bowl of "coot" clay in also, and it showed the same potential.
What else to say? I'm going to refire the dishes in a soda kiln. Pdx open studios is coming up this weekend. I got written up in the Portland Tribune, the article will come out in a few days. ironic, eh? well, with my sick sense of humor, I popped a bottle of champagne last night and shared it with Jack and April.
and the world keeps turning.
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