More Uses for Cone Box Foam

A couple of days ago Michael Kline wrote a post about reusing the foam from a cone box....

It reminded me that we used to entertain ourselves around the wood kiln in western Maryland by coming up with overly obvious tips for Ceramics Monthly's "Suggestions from Readers" column. 

I offer you these photos in that same spirit...  

Emergency Kneepads

Sweat Band

Photography Backdrop

Neck Warmer

New Blog by a New Friend

(This is my new teaball...a genius idea and totally unconnected to the following post...)

I want to introduce you to Brenda Hornsby Heindl and her exciting new blog. libertystoneware.blogspot.com 

I met Brenda last March at the Colonial Williamsburg conference on 18th c. salt glazed stoneware. She attended Berea College in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky where she got a good foundation in making useful pots. She is also a graduate of  the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Her academic interest in historic pottery is a big influence on her own work. Brenda recently moved to North Carolina with her husband to set up their own businesses. I hope that our North Carolina bretheren will give her a particularly warm welcome!  

Enough With the Birds, Already!

    As the temperature and humidity drop, my energy rises and it just might be the leading edge of autumn that we are experiencing. Thank goodness. It is always a bit of an interesting adjustment, returning home after significant time away, but throw in the tail end of a virginia summer and I find that I am not overly motivated. Momentum is needed and there's nothing like picking a firing date to increase the pace of work. I will set that date soon, but it's easier to stay relaxed until I do. 

    And I need to get this bird obsession out of my system...but each time I make one I think of two new wrinkles to introduce for the next. Years ago I made a series of pots I called 'Flounder' pots because of their narrow profile. It seemed obvious to turn a couple into birds. Here are two I finished building today. I might have to set a moratorium on more photos until I have some proper pots to show...maybe even a 12x12 morning to break the spell. 

trying a more wing-like wing here on the right...

On the left is 'Ulswater' and on the right, 'Victor'.
(not many good "U" names)

Traveling Remnants

    Toff and I stopped by Winchcombe on the way to the coach station which took me to the plane station and eventually home. We spoke with Ray for a while, getting his critique of the recent salt firing. Way back in 1978/79 we three spent lots of time doing much the same thing. 

    We were there as Ray was exploring salt glazing for the first time. That was the most intense learning experience I ever got as a young potter. Ray has always held Toff's opinion in great regard, particularly when building and firing kilns is concerned, and while I provided all the young muscle I got to be a part of the give and take between them as they analyzed and theorized and made further plans as they figured it out.

               We are all three STILL trying to figure it out. 

Toff Milway and Ray Finch

Three more reasons to visit the Cotswolds...
(L to R) Linda, moi-self, Jane and Carol

Just before I left Toff and Georgie's I made this bird with a toffmilway fish in it's mouth. I found it difficult to get a good angle for photographing it. The bird is about 14" tall.

British Cavalcade

Hannah, Paul and CAKE!

    You might want to avert your eyes from this post (Caution: contains 22 photos. That's 22,000 words if each is worth a thousand!) So, I'm back at my desk on Winchester Street in the good ol' US of A. I've been back home for a week now and I'm just now getting my bearings. So much to digest from my travels and so much to get underway here AND trying to get some momentum in the studio takes a bit of aimless wandering at first.

    But the fog is lifting and all systems are go. Before I move any further I need to put this 5 weeks of adventure and conviviality on record. It is short of all the stories that should accompany them, but you'll need to track me down in person for all the inside scoop. 

This is the view down into Ulswater.

To pick up where my last real blog left off... I left Jan and co. in Blairgowrie and headed west to visit Hannah in Dumfries.

Her wee studio

...and her wee self!

Inner Sanctum


From Hannah's I drove  down to the Cotswold, loaded up the van  and drove back north to Penrith for a great Pottery Festival. We also visited the Lake district for a day. Way too brief a visit.
(The photos keep jumping out of order, so I'm sorry about that. I thought it was my old computer. Maybe it's a flaw in Mr. Google's system?)

These delightful fellows provided the Dixieland music!

Only in England...

Lots of British potters make animals and birds, much more that in the US. And many of them are wonderful.

Inside the walled garden at Hutton-in-the-Forest. This is the site of the festival!

More Hutton

This is Ashraf Hanna with me. There will be a prize for the best caption!

Ulswater, in the Lake District

I had my first proper English beer here in the winter if 1978. It is still my favorite...SBA, please?! 

The old hearth in the pub

Cousin Vernon's cider works, brewed in used bourbon barrels! My highest recommendation...

Toff's stand at Hutton.

Choosing between ancient standing stones and the history of pencils, I took the pencil history and that has made all the difference. Maybe I'll tell you more about it one day

Ray Finch in his greenhouse, fretting over his tomatoes. He always does. Kind of like his pots...never quite satisfied.

I always take pictures of the old bottle kiln. I'm sorry that I never got the chance to fire it.

This is where I learned to throw lots of pots. A shot of the showroom.

I love a good stone wall.

And, of course, a few English birds!

If your still with me, what's up with photos that run off the page. Have I pushed it too far with too many photos?

Blog Neglect

    Parry the Parrot here has been a better correspondent than I these past 5 weeks! I have been on the run the whole time and when I sit down at the Milway's PC I grow quickly frustrated. I'm heading home on Tuesday and I will shortly purchase a new Apple computer, at which time I will write a proper synopsis of this year's adventures in Britain. It has been wonderful and exhausting and anyone who thinks I come here to sit in the hammock and eat plums is just plain crazy.

    I am extraordinarily fortunate to have such a rich community here, and I am always a bit torn between my two homes back in Virginia and here in the Cotswolds. I often say that I am the richest person I know...and I mean it. See you on the other side of the Atlantic!

Edinburgh

We had a lovely day in the capitol city of Scotland. Edinburgh is located on the Firth of Forth (I love saying that!) and has been a political and cultural center since Roman times and has, like everywhere you travel in Brtiain, a long and sometimes bloody history. It is home to Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood (the Queens official residence in Scotland.). It is sometimes known as the Athens of the north because of it's concentration of intellectuals, writers and inventers. Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and William McGonagall ("The only truly memorable bad poet in our language"!) all spent time here. One of my favorite contemporary  fictional characters is Inspector Rebus, who prowls the city solving crimes and nipping into the Oxford Bar for a pint of Deuchers. Good writing continues to be an important feature of the city, with a fantastic Literature festival. Just now 'The Fringe Festival' is in full swing, with music, theatre and comedy performances in every nook and cranny of the city. The Edinburgh Tattoo is a huge assembly of bagpipers who perform each day during the festival. I'd love to hear/feel those pipes in all their glory one day! The tall tower is called the 'Gothic Rocket'. The pub called 'Finnegan's Wake' was irresistible, so are Jan, Pippa and Phoebe, enjoying a drink with the ghost of Rebus. Thanks for the great company, ladies!

Next: west to Dumfries and the studio/home of a world famous blogger...

Bloggus Interruptus

Almost three weeks of travelling (and over 1,000 miles) and enjoying myself means that I have been  moving too fast to keep you up to date, gentle reader. I couldn't possibly fill you in on all the fun I've been having, but I'll begin in Scotland.

    I flew into Edinburgh and was met by Jan Farquhar, one of my oldest friends here in the UK. We took the scenic route to her family's home in Blairgowrie which took us along the coastal edge of county Fife through St. Andrew's, where the British Open had just finished. It made me wish that I was a golfer! The golf museum had this crazy group of bronzes, capturing the 'grips' of a bunch of famous golfers. The disembodied hands are very odd. We crossed the Firth of Tay through Dundee on the way to her home. 

    Jan and Derek and their two gorgeous daughters ( well done on those exam results, Pippa!) live in a beautiful manse overlooking the town and they treated me with great generosity, excellent home cooking and numerous cups of tea. I'm looking forward to a return visit. Soon! I can't forget to mention Finn, their excellent canine companion!  

    Blairgowrie used to be a serious mill town, producing linen from flax. Now it is known for what the British call 'soft fruits' - raspberries etc. That's what all those white tunnels are about with the wind farm in the background. We  took  a beautiful drive around Tummel Loch past towns whose names are poetry themselves..no wonder Scotland produced such fine poets. There is music in the language when the Scots speak.

    Toff and Georgie left for Orkney yesterday and I'm now in charge for a couple of weeks. Plenty of time to write about more of my travels and make some new birds in the studio.Tomorrow...Edinburgh.