08 January 2014

Dan Finnegan - Dumb Ass

Another good title for this would be "Pride goeth before the Fall"
My studio is a fairly primitive place...no running water and no electricity (I run my wheel on a generator) and the littlest gas heater I can get away with. This is mostly by choice, both environmentally and financially motivated and a wee bit dictated by location. I am overly proud of my self regarding this and I've paid a price this week that has put me back in my place. 
I thought that this color enhanced the icy cold feeling!
When I leave the studio in the evening I turn my little heater off. This means it can be very cool the next morning...38 degrees F is not unusual. But Monday night's big chill should have made me reconsider...and I didn't. I discovered several big pots ruined by freezing the next morning. That hurt a bit, but I got over it quickly and then filled the studio with 8 pound bowls planning to leave the heat on all night. Which I did. But the gas ran out. And the bowls froze even worse than the previous day's jars! I lost heart and left early (after buying more gas and leaving the heater on....again!), But not to worry, I'll be back tomorrow and get back on the wheel. But I do hate work that's gone to waste. 
 Even a tough day is improved by wildlife encounters. Today I came across at least 40 turkeys feeding on winter wheat in a field near the studio! I've never seen so many in one spot before and I got to watch them for a while. That lifted my spirits!

11 comments:

Hannah said...

Arghhhh!

Dennis Allen said...

What a disappointment. Spring will come again. I did learn from this that you use lay out lines for your lugs. That might explain part of why yours look so even and mine look like somebody eyeballed them.

Liberty Stoneware said...

Oh no! I remember one winter working at another potter's place and a wicked wind whipped into the studio through a wee crack and wiped out some monstrous dishes we had made the previous day. I'm glad the turkeys lifted your spirits and know you'll get back to the wheel!

cookingwithgas said...

Ouch, but this is what we do.
We just get back on that wheel.

smartcat said...

I sympathize with the freezes and running out of gas. As Dennis said spring will come....someday.
I lived for years with my power coming off a generator. I used an Amaco treadle wheel and fired with a friend, I kept my clay in the house by the wood stove but never did figure out how to keep just made stuff from freezing.

Tony Clennell said...

That'll teach you for being some prolific this early in the year and shaming many of us back to work. t

gz said...

I remember seeing my first teapot craze and crumble. It is humbling

Barbara Rogers said...

gobble gobble...love wildlife which lifts our spirits!

Jeff Abney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff Abney said...

Finnegan begin-again :)

Really like your work!

Liberty Stoneware said...

I have to tell you- I told my other half about this happening to you because we are plotting the heating arrangements for our future barn/workshop- and when I described the "flakies" that formed (which I demonstrated by flinging my fingers upright), he totally got the picture and had a painful expression on his face when he said, "oh, no." I hope this extended coldness has not wreaked havoc on your studio, hopefully we're almost out of it!