Good news....bad news.

I teach at the Crafts Center at NCSU. The class this time is "Light it up" and we are making items that hold a candle or lamp oil. Last nights demo was outside lanterns in three parts which because of the humidity I was not able to finish......too wet. The thrown examples I gathered up and stuffed in a bag because it would be easier to just rethrow them at home. The hand build one I carefully placed in a box with plastic and nestled it in the front seat of my car. Well, it made it home safe and sound. That was the good news.

The bad news.......the first hand built lantern I was making yesterday for class was too big so I turned it into a birdhouse. I left it on the slab roller to dry till this morning. While lifting it up to place it in a safer location to dry...top shelf.....the lid tumbled off onto the floor. That meant that the base had to go as well. I'll start over.

It is pouring outside.....

I had planned to work outside today and move that pile of lumber from behind the storage building but its raining. But without the rain we wouldn't have these beautiful flowers

Art on a stick.....

It had to happen someday.

Making way........

I have had a trumpet vine growing on the side of my studio for years. I enjoyed Spring when the flowers would bloom. With my plans to build a small gallery attached to that side, the vine had to come down. I was rather sad about it until I got to the roof where I saw that the vine was infiltrating the tin and lifting it off the building to get its own purchase.

So making way for the gallery has really saved my space from destruction.

Weekend with Ellen Shankin....

Pete and I had an opportunity to take another workshop with a fabulous potter named Ellen Shankin from Floyd, Virginia. If you ever have an chance to see her work and talk about pots.....take it. She is awesome!!!

It's Official......

We have a winner! Our friend Bev Nagy came up with the name. It used to be a carport and now it:

"The ArtPort"

Leaves.........

Now that the salt kiln is toast and the reduction kiln is still in the planning stages I still have the electric kiln to fire so it's back to earthenware. I'm making parts to my bird mobiles and that means lots of leaves..........720 of the little suckers.

Salt kiln is going down....

Well, my salt kiln has fired it's last load. They have a limited life and I tried to push that limit. It is now retired and we will use what we can from the materials to build a reduction kiln. I need more relliable results and a kiln that will last longer. I will be firing my work in the electric kiln and going back to earthenware till the new kiln is build.

I will be chained to the studio to make up for all the work I lost......I have less then a month till the show.

Thank goodness that Spring is here.

Ta Da!!

Well, the shelter is finished. Whew! I even spent the day yesterday putting stripes on the end caps to make it look more artsy fartsy. You can even see Pete trimming up the trees and bushes behind it.

Salt kiln....the wait.

These are some of the pots I fired in my salt kiln yesterday. I lowered the temperature by a cone and it finished when cone 8 went down. I'm trying to conserve gas since it is so costly. It's sitll hot and I won't be able to unload till late tomorrow but I peeped into the kiln this morning and it looks promising.

Japan's relief effort

Well, we have decided to change the recipient of your fundraiser, the White Oak Pottery Spring Show and Sale, to help with the relief efforts in Japan. I don't know how much we can raise but I'm sure they can use anything they can get.

Back to the show.....

Bill Wallace is an awesome woodturner and woodturning teacher. His wife Janet is a basket maker and she also teaches at her Monessori school. They also raise cattle on their 100 acre farm. These talented and multi-tasking couple will also be at my show. Here are the two pieces that they are donating to the raffle on Saturday April 16th. Come see what else they have brought.

My children are wonderful....

Megan, Jeremy and Addy were here on Sunday to erect the shelter. My little granddaughter, Morgan, pitched in sorting screws. We got most of it done and Pete and I will be able to finish it up this week.

Ready for assembly

Our son, Jeremy, and daughter, Addywill be here on Sunday to help us put the shelter together. I marked all the pieces as we took them down so now have them laid out according to those marks. Here's hoping it goes smoothly. I still have to clean off the caulk where the two units go together to make this into one big shelter.

Another Spring show artist

One of the artists showing at the Spring Show and Sale at White Oak Pottery in April is Jennifer Mecca. She donating this beautiful vase for the raffle. You can see more of her work on her blog:

http://www.jennifermeccapottery.blogspot.com/

You can also see more about the show at:

http://www.whiteoakartworks.com/

First show under the shelter....

I haven't come up with a clever name for the shelter but we are working on it. Until then it's the shelter. The first show to be held under "the shelter" is the White Oak Pottery Spring Show and Sale on April 16th from 10am to 5pm. The artists are donating a piece of their work for a raffle and the drawing with be at the end of the day. All proceeds from the raffle will be going to the Independent Animal Rescue of Durham.

There are eight artists this year and one of them is Bev Nagy of Charlotte. Bev is an accomplished basket maker and here is an example of her work. You can see more of her wonderful baskets on her web site... http://www.bevnagy.com/

You could also meet her in person at the show.

Progress.....

Well, we have decided where to put the "shelter" that will house the artists. Luckily for us the spot is fairly level. We had thought we would put it between the studio and the garden but my next project is to add a gallery space to that side of my studio.

The shelter......

My mother in-law has given me her metal double carport. We have taken it down and our son helped us get it home and it is now in a pile behind the garden. We will be assembling it down by the Pin Oak tree toward the middle of our property. We have 4 1/2 acres that is 200 by 1000 feet that snugs up to the Eno State Park on the northwest side of Durham. We are just about 100 feet outside the city limits. The shelter...(Pete doesn't want me to call it a carport anymore.....so it's a shelter....) is 18 by 40 feet and will be used mainly for our craft shows. We can fit 8-10 exhibitors under it. We want our shows to be small.

So now that we have decided where we are going to put it it's time to erect it.

The bells are a ringin'.....

So, Bud has a 12 inch neck. I had to get him a small dog collar to put a bell around his neck. Those poor birds now have a fighting chance and my studio....knock on wood......is safe. Doesn't he look handsome in red??

Catch and release program.....

This is Bud.....sometimes Cuddle Bud.....most time Bud Hole. Bud showed up in our neighborhood 8 years ago. We took him in because if was December and very cold. Because he was feral for a while and we had another cat, Amee, he had the nasty habit of "marking" the house so we restricted him to the studio where he doesn't feel the need.
This week I have come to the studio in the morning to find feathers all over the floor, not yet dry pots on the shelves with running foot prints, other pots knocked onto the floor....non broken and a little bird still alive but FREAKED out. I think that Bud has discovered a new game. Catch a bird, bring it into the studio through the cat door and play catch and release all night.
This will stop.........today!!

Shrines

I make Memory Shrines that include recycled materials like picture frame and wall paper samples. The little vases are test tubes. The books are also my creation.

towers.....

I also make towers with little metal doors.

The work......

My work varies but my "claim to fame" are my clay boxes with metal hinges that I fabricate from wire and solder.

The work......

Gallery....

Another thing that we needed to self reliant was to have a gallery. The most economical way to do that was to transform our carport. Once we can build another detached from the house it can become our sunroom.

Pete, man of many skills.....

Pete, my husband, is a very talented and resourceful man. We met in Basic Pottery at Olympic College in Bremerton Washington 35 years ago. We got married the day before we moved North Carolina. He put pottery aside to maintain an income to support our family. He is currently a web site developer.....self taught....and very good in this field. You can check out my web site. http://www.whiteoakartworks.com/ His skills save me lots of money. He also is a budding photographer.......once again...check out my web site. All but a few of the photos were taken by him........saves me lots of money once we got him the proper equipment.

Pete is one of my most valuable assets........besides the fact that I just love him to death.