Grinding..

I've been listening to a lot of The Game lately. Especially the hit featuring an Auto-Tuned Lil' Wayne called "My Life". I suppose the part I resonate most with is really just the chorus.

"And I'm grindin till I'm tired, They say you ain't grindin till you tired.

So im grinding with my eyes wide, looking to find a way through the day,

a light through the night."

Speaking of grindin'. My friend Joseph Sand does it better than anyone I know. He ground it out through the winter and the freezing mortar and the dirty bricks. He built a monstrous kiln, fixed up a workshop and made a beautiful first load of pots. He then, with the tremendous help and support of his wife Amanda, proceeded to have an amazing SOLD OUT first kiln opening. Joseph, you are a dear friend and a fantastic potter and builder. I salute you.

After his kiln opening Joseph and fellow Peidmonster Levi Mahan came out to help bang up some arch bricks. Another aspiring your potter named Andrew Goldstein also made the trek down from Minnesota to lend a hand.

With all their help we got the sidewalls well up over the sidestokes and in the days following I laid up the base of the chimney and the arch for the flue, then butted the main arch into the flue arch and this weekend I will hopefully figure out the spine of the main arch.

I would also like to thank my mainstay, the lady who can lay a brick, miss Connie Rose. (pictured below on the beach)

and Mr Dan, who always shows up early and leaves late.

The Return

Connie and I just returned from a brief but wonderful vacation to Massachusetts. It was a good respite from all that is happening around our place. The only dissapoinment of the trip happened on the last night while trying to shuck a few oysters. I was trying to get the first one open and managed to plunge the knife into the heel of my thumb. The main problem is that it will be out of commision for a few days while the wound heels around the stitches but I have some great help coming on Monday and so we should be able to still get a few things done.

Below are some pictures of where the kiln left off.

Working from 5 till 9 . . .

That is not how the original went but it is much closer to what my days look at this present time.

Before I talk about the kiln I want to point out a very small change to the blog. You will find it on the right hand side of your screen and it is a very small link that will take you to a nice little form where you can fill out some personal information and be added to my mailing list.

If you chose to continue I will promise you this:

3 or 4 email newsletters per year, well laid out and pleasing to the eye.
2 or 3 postcards via the old snail mail, something nice and shiny to remember me by, stick on the fridge and then wish you could hop on a plane and zoom across whatever great expanse separates us and come to a kiln opening.

Yes...I will actually one day make some pottery. And hopefully, if my training serves me (and you) well it will be nice to hold, look at, use, or put on a shelf.

And so please do take a moment to sign up. I would love to have you on board.

The small news is that Dan, who is helping me out two or three days a week for a modest sum, and I just about finished the strips. We came up a little short and so tomorrow morning I will once again drive down to Lowes and buy more stuff. There is a fantastic hardware store in the town near by which I usually try and support but they do not carry 3/8 inch ply.



For the record, if I did this again I think that I would use 1/2 inch. Over such a long distance it is difficult to get every arch support to be perfect and the 3/8 or 1/4 really shows every minor dip or bulge in the forms. I think that in the end it will be ok and the bricks can be shimmed as they are laid if there are any major problems.



And finally I will leave you with a video of men at work.

A Week (or two) in Review

I have not been a diligent blogger. I actually cringe at that title. I don't consider myself a blogger. I consider myself a potter (at this exact moment in time a kiln builder) and so it is without a tremendous amount of guilt that I am bringing everyone up to date.

There has been an amazing amount of people out here as of late and we really have made some progress.


Last week Connie and I started laying out the floor and I finished the floor tiles sometime around the weekend.


Doc Welty of Leicester Valley Clay made a surprise visit on Sunday afternoon with his wife Melanie. We drank a beer or two and finished the last few things to be completed before moving onto the arch forms.


On Monday he showed back up and we hung the chain and spray painted 24 arch supports. The curve for the kiln I found by using nice little offering of Google's called Sketchup. It is a 3d modeling software, downloadable, and easy to use. I knew three important dimensions and the rest came from the curve which the software drew while hitting all three of my points. 6ft at the entrance, 6ft at the first step up from the firebox and finally 32 inches at the flue.


On Tuesday I took I worked a half day with Dan Getting the first set of Arch supports up as well as the framing that holds them and then took my lovely girlfriend on a date.



Wednesday Dan in I finished up the arch supports...


...and this morning with the help of Andrew Stephenson, his friend David, and Tom Turner we started laying the lathing.


After a lunch of corn and pasta (with everything from the garden but the pasta) we laid a few more strips and they hit the road. I worked for another hour or so before the clouds thickened even more than they already were and the thunder clapped above and the rain came in thick sheets blowing in from the north. The tin roof roared under the deluge and ran through it all to close the windows and put the chickens feed away and sit down at my desk and write this.


Coming up in blogland:
A completely new blog/website!