Back to the barn

The clay has been waiting for me all summer.

It and I had to wait a little longer while I went through the PROCESS. I paid my tuition, got my "student" parking sticker, and started the "access" paperwork which gives me time in the barn outside of class. It has become essential to this girl who occasionally wants quiet and room to spread out a project.

I am way behind on the dove project* and have another couple of projects added to the list. There is a fund raiser in November (I plan some covered jars**) and I will be researching glazes this semester.

So, it is time to make a schedule to make sure all the "gottas"*** are taken care of.

A few former Belton high students were in line with me at the cashiers' office. I couldn't help myself - they got a pep talk (and I might have looked at a schedule). Talk about some lovely young men - very excited! And then it was back to the barn.

People say that a break from throwing is good. When you sit back down at the wheel you will be surprised that throwing is easier, your skills now part of "muscle memory." Um, maybe, maybe. I used "used" clay. It is sometimes harder to throw. I found chunks of something - rocks, metal, whatever - as I threw. It stopped me cold and I pulled out what I could before proceeding. There is no muscle memory for that.

I am home now. Twenty-seven doves are drying. Thirteen other doves are are waiting for me to fill the kiln. That will take some time. Two jar-ish containers are waiting for trimming and lids. So, tomorrow - lids and more birds.

NOTES:

*Details on "A Salvation of Doves" can be found here - http://artofpeacefestival.com/13.html

2015 dove, maybe. It all depends on the kiln.

25+ doves drying. I need 100.

** Last work from spring 2015:

Waiting to fire.

Small, but it was the first.

And like the first child, there are loads of photos of this one.

Not a bad start (or end, as it was).

The blue blotch - the God spot. Another piece dripped on mine in the glaze kiln.

*** DH and I have fretted over the "gottas" for 35 years. These are those nagging things you must do. No, not basic eating & sleeping, but EVERYTHING else you "gotta" do. My list is a little longer now, but I hope I will organize better. We have both spent months "doin' nuthin'." We figured we owed ourselves some time to just be. We are slowly coming out of it -- Okay. I am slowly coming out of it.

DH has been working hard clearing 25 years of HIS stuff. He has a way to go. I have just started. But in the great scheme of things, it is "barely" started.