I've Been Led Astray

I need to be making mugs. I need to be making cereal bowls. Going to a conference, you see people making stuff like this.

So you come home and start making parts for pots you don't need. Here is the bottom

Here is the top.

Tomorrow, we'll see if they fit together and if the forms hold up when they are attached to each other. PS, I blame Tony Clennell for this. That guy is a hazard sneaking across the border just to mess with my complacency !

I want to show a piece of Steven Godfrey's work today also. I really wasn't familiar with him but he does some incredible work with porcelain and he came all the way from Anchorage Alaska to see us.

He does lovely work and seems like a nice guy too. He was a good presenter and held up his share of the stage. Not an easy task when the stage is shared with two other people.

I still need to review Sunshine Cobb and a visit to what is probably one of the best collections of contemporary pottery in the country. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

So Long Everybody

That's right. It's been so long since I posted that I think people quit looking for updates. I'm gonna fix that right now. It was a long January and February. The ankle still hurt some and I had to be careful not to get out on the ice and slip etc but it has settled to the point that If I overuse it, it hurts. If I take care of it, it feels like it did a couple of years ago. The limping seemed to screw with my back so there went another two weeks. Finally a couple of weeks ago I went for a routine check up and my doctor didn't like the way my face looked. Specifically a spot on  my face that turned out to be a minor skin cancer that comes off in a couple of weeks. They say it is nothing to worry about but then again it is not their face. All of this stuff has slowed down the pottery making this winter. I need to make Lasagna dishes, I need more mugs, I need more big bowls.  It will get done, I'll just be busy. I'll keep you posted, Honest. On the fun side of the ledger, I attended the North Carolina Potter's Conference last weekend. I have 92 pictures so I will need to space things out over a couple of weeks to go through it all.

Tony Clennell and I have been online friends for several years and this was a chance to meet up in person. I know it's not really that far to South Ontario but there are only a couple of days each year between skeeter season, blackfly season, and ice over so it has been hard to schedule a visit. Tony demonstrated his strong sense of style and distinctive line of multihandled shino glazed pots He also brought a nice selection of pots for sale and sold them all in short order. It was great to finally meet him and hang out for a while.With so many pictures, I didn't even process them so they are still raw but you can see what was going on.

In my quest to offend a wider array of people, I have still been singing a couple of times a week. Here is the latest. I'll post more from the conference in a couple of days. We're just getting started.

After 28 years, a New Companion

In 1988 I took the kids to a Student Council roller skating party. I mainly went along to make sure no one got hurt. I ended up nearly tearing my foot off. Triple ankle fracture, lots of soft tissue damage, and dislocation all rolled into a fraction of a second. It sounded like someone breaking a Louisville Slugger. I looked down at the foot dangling from my leg and knew I wasn't walking out of there. Someone called an ambulance, someone else volunteered to take care of the kids and call Tina when she got home from a meeting she was attending. ( Pre cell phone days). Actually things moved pretty smoothly and I was quickly attended to at the hospital. The Dr. took one look and said" That's what we call the Humpty Dumpty fracture" The humor was lost on me. Anyway they set it for the night and the next morning he tried to put the pieces back together. He was happy with his work but it wasn't his ankle that was hurting so bad. Without belaboring all of this, It eventually healed and after teaching for 3 months out of a wheelchair and a couple more months on crutches I could limp around without additional support. It got better but it never got right. I was told to expect arthritis and it came. Gradually the ankle stiffened and hurt more in response to activity.

Jumping ahead to December 2015. Standing most of the hay at a show and a 6 mile death march off a mountain in Tennessee ( see previous posts) finally pushed things over the edge. A month of all day and all night discomfort that ranged from an ache to me screaming assorted F-Bombs every time I moved set me to an Orthopedic and Sports Med center last week. The first response from the doctor as he looked at my X-Ray  was literally " Man that's ugly" The cartilage is worn down so thin that there is no room to get a needle into the joint for a cortisone shot. That surface that is supposed to be polished looks like the surface of the moon and there are bone spurs from arthritis all abound the edges. I was put on Prednisone for the immediate swelling and put into this brace that I will have to wear until I have something else done.

 

Next option is either an ankle fusion or a joint replacement. Good news is that the current regimen has helped and I am no longer screaming expletives each time I move. It's still sensitive and I am using a cane but it beats no foot at all. Hopefully I will be able to keep kicking the can down the road a while longer but I will probably have to do it with my left foot.

A Tip, A Tool, and a Technique.

Last month we talked a little about handles. Today I've been making casseroles and thought you might like to see how I get lids to fit. Using this method, your lids will always fit, they will fit every time, and you will be able to interchange them and make replacements at any time. You can also throw bases one day and lids later if you wish to stay " in the groove"

Theory- If you measure the same every time, you will get the same result. Some people try to do this with calipers but even if they are successful they end up with one base and one lid of an indefinite size. The answer is to make a fixed gauge that measures both the lid and the seat (groove) that it sits in. My very simple gauge measures 11 1/2 inches and allows for a very slight gap between the lid and seat. If you want yours looser, use bigger nails. I used 4 penny finishing nails .

 

 

Practice-  Always measure bases and lids at the same stage of dryness.

 

Measure the seat very carefully. You cannot change it later.

 

 



Throw a shallow bowl for the lid.

Leave it alone until things are stiff enough then trim. Add your attachments and wait.Trust your tools ! If you think the lid will be too tight, it is probably because the base and lid have dried at different rates. Everything should even out. All your lids should fit all your bases.

 

Results-

 

 

Bonus Tip- Do you poke holes with your needle tool to see how thick the bottom of your pot is or to pop air bubbles? Then do you have a hole to close up? I made this mini poker with a dowel, some tape, and a piece of guitar string. It makes a tiny hole that is easier to close.

 

 

 

Entertainment feature. Here is a song I put up on Youtube last week  

 

 







We Lived To Tell About It...

And here is the story It was the best of weekends, it was the worst of weekends. Keep reading, we'll get to that part.

The Good Part

Last week my older brother and I decided to go to Tennessee for a few days. We like to take my 4x4 utility vehicle down to the old ancestral property and bounce around the mountain. I also like to sing with the folks at the Raccoon Valley campground on Thursday night.  We left late Thursday morning and checked into our motel around four. We settled in and grabbed a sandwich on the way to the jam session. When we got there, the building was full of people having a carry-in dinner before the jam. The ham, turkey, and macaroni and cheese was a little much since we had just eaten but we did manage some coffee and a cookie or two just to be neighborly. There are a lot or old timers at this jam who are good musicians and excellent singers as well. Out of 20 pickers, I was one of the youngest at 65 and several of the guys were in their mid eighties or more. Everyone takes their turn singing two songs, everyone is ready when their turn comes around, everyone is welcome. Norris and I had a very good time and headed back to the motel a little after nine.

The Bad Part

 



If you want the background on the property in Tennessee, here is some history. http://whistlecreek.blogspot.com/2012/02/results.html  Friday we had a leisurely breakfast at the Super 8 before heading up the road to the mountain. We were staying in Caryville and the drive to Elk Valley was about 20 miles north. We got there around nine and parked alongside the road. When I started the UTV it cranked a little before it fired up but all seemed OK so we started our adventure. We start on about 2 miles of paved road then we cross Little Elk Creek and start up what used to be a road, it is very steep, deeply rutted, rocky, there is water flowing through it and steep drop offs to boot. This leg is 2 or 3 miles. At the top of this stretch is Big Wheel Gap. That is where we turn right up a trail that is still very rutted and wet but not as steep. In places the water was 10 inches deep over a mud base but the UTV went right through it. We finally got to our place and fooled around for a while before the UTV stalled on top of the mountain. Try as we might, we could not get the engine to crank. We cleaned the battery terminals to no avail and decided ( correctly) that the bounce up the mountain might have stirred up residue in my old battery and shorted out some cells. It was about this time that we realized it was 22 degrees, snowing, breezy and we had not seen a living soul all day. We had no food, no water, and nothing to start a fire. We had two viable choices, walk out or die trying. It was pretty much a coin toss but walking won. So we walked. I'm 65 with a bad ankle and Norris is 70 with a bad hip. Left foot, right foot. repeat. Again, again....The hike back to Big Wheel Gap was not that bad. It is along the top of a ridge and we had some ups some downs but pretty good footing and ways to get around the deep puddles of standing water. At the gap, we turned left and started steeply down the mountain. Before long, I had slipped and jammed my left big toe against the end of my boot and deeply bruised the base of my toenail. Every time I took another step it tried to jam again. That was on my " good foot ". The trail seemed steeper and rockier going down and we had to be careful of our footing on the wet trail. There were some creek crossings where we had to wade but good boots are a blessing. It was extremely slow going and when we got back to the pavement, it was still a couple of miles of up and down hill, keep jamming my toe walking. I was thoroughly exhausted, my legs were quivering, and I could barely raise my legs. My blood sugar was probably low as well. Left, right repeat...
Finally about 1/4 mile from the van a pickup came along and I flagged them down for what was left of the way down the mountain. Norris said he would just walk it out because he couldn't lift his feet to get up in the truck. When we finally got to the van we chatted with our benefactors for a bit. Jerry and son Chris said they would take us up the mountain Saturday morning if we got a new battery. It also turned out that we were about as distantly related as folks can be in East Tennessee. My Dad had a "cousin"  by an unmarried liaison my great great great grandfather had before the civil war. Doc and Dad were good friends and remained that way through their entire lives. Doc's son-in-law was Jerry's uncle. There you are, family ! We arranged to meet Saturday and headed back to Caryville. It had been a four hour walk down the mountain and nearly every step of it hurt.We were needing hydration and nourishment in a hurry so we stopped a Shoney's lunch buffet. It wasn't great but it was ready and there was a woman who would bring us coffee. It was a struggle to get up and shuffle back to the van but we managed. Then we drove into Jacksboro to get a battery. Walmart did not have anything close. Advance Auto had one that was smaller but should work. $139 but they would top off the charge overnight for us We were in no position to be choosy. We finally got back to the motel about 5 and collapsed. Everything hurt but if I kept my hiking stick handy I could get to the bathroom.

The Better

 

Saturday morning was colder but Jerry has an old beat up Suburban that he has modified with heavy springs, a lift kit and a big block engine with 350 or so horsepower. He also has permission to pass through some property with a private road that is better but a lot longer than the way we go up. For good luck, we took the Suburban and Chris's 4 wheel drive pick up. I cannot imagine walking back up that mountain with an automotive battery in tow but that would have been our other option had we not met these guys. Chris is in the logging business and knows the terrain of the area well. He also knows who is up to what, who you can trust and who you can't. He knew exactly where our property was and drove right to it. That is when his Suburban stalled and didn't want to start. A little shove downhill was all it took Then we piled in and went up to the knob where we left the UTV. Luckily it was still there and it only took a couple of minutes to put in the new battery and get rolling. Our new friends headed back to the shop on the long road and we headed back our way since following them would have put us on a state highway for a couple of miles. It was a difficult drive down the mountain and there was more water running in the road than the day before. By the time we got back to their shop they were there waiting for us and we talked and got better acquainted as I loaded and secured the UTV. We could not thank these two guys enough, nor could we force any money on them. If I had not flagged them down Friday , I have no idea if we would even have been able to get back up the mountain with that new battery or not. Now we are a little worse for wear but everything should feel better by Christmas. We also have two new friends who should be a big help in sorting out property lines and such. Saturday had gone so smoothly that two hours after heading up the mountain, we were driving the van up toward I-75. We took a long lunch at Sonny's BBQ and made it home about dark Saturday. Sunday involved a lot of sitting still and taking pain killers but Monday is better. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas.