The Adventures of Clementine, Teabowls in Progress, and Kiln debates

A few Months back, My darling daughter India made herself a sock monkey, as can be seen on Lizzies Yarns . I posted about India's love of monkeys and a comment came in from a fellow named Gary. It seems that Gary has a sock monkey of his own who gets into a lot of trouble!!! India has become a huge fan of Georges le Soq, and his many hijinks. Last week, Clementine saw what fun Georges was having and insisted that India take her out on the town.

So here is the evidence Clementine MacSock, touring the town of Sydney Nova Scotia....

She insisted she could drive, so I let her.

first stop, the Library, to listen to some drumming, and drop off the smaller children

she had to bum some change from me to pay for parking

she hung out in the stacks

took in some drumming

she even read stories to the toddlers

then it was of to theWentworth Perk for some java

We had to stop at the grocery store on the way home, and she nearly lost her marbles when she spotted her hero on the cover of MacLeans magazine. She insisted that she have her picture taken with the man who brought us the Gold, Mr Sidney Crosby.

It was a great adventure, and she was so tired from it all, that she let me drive home.

On the pottery front, I am experimenting with some japanese textile patterns on my pots. I am trying different methods to get the right feel for the patterning. and exploring a bit outside my comfort zone. It feels pretty good to be playing around with different stuff. As always, I am starting out with teabowls, right size, good surface area, and manageable for tests. Plus I hate having piles of tiles hanging about. They just don't say enough.

I made some handbuilt teabowls for my slip tests a few weeks back, and they all worked out pretty well. But I don't think that the colours were what I was looking for.

Last week, I threw teabowls as a demo for my students, so I am trying a few new things with them. First off the mark are these shellac resist bowls. They are looking pretty good to me, but WOW what a lot of work. My hat is off to you Jim Gottuso you are a very patient man! I am sure that there will be a VERY small run of shellac pots for me! But I have to say they are giving me the subtlety I am looking for in the surface. Here are some progress shot on the thrown teabowls.

Lastly, I need a kiln, It is a difficult choice to make, and a significant investment for me at this point. I have been window shopping for ages, and am having the damnedist time choosing. I like the tuckers, cone art kiln I use at the school, but am unsure about what size I should get. And am I limiting myself by looking at the Tucker's Kiln? is there one out there that is better for me? I do find the shelves a bit awkward at times. I love the computer controller, but is there a better one/ sigh I guess I will have to just bite the bullet and pick one.