Wednesday, November 4, 2009

It always happens!





I just took a jab at the coniferous trees and the beloved deciduous trees dump on me. See all those pretty leaves. Do you know what that means? It means they all have to be raked up and moved in our wheel barrow to the back of the property. Ava doesn't mind as she gets a free taxi ride. I get to ride the John Deere and wind row the leaves and my bride rakes and fills bags. Hey there is guys work and dare I say it? No, I ain't going there being that I have every intention of being a new age sensitive kinda guy. Maybe this winter is seed catalogues and next year gardening.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A few bricks





short of a load. This has been said about me in my obsession with bricks, brick yards and old pottery stuff. I live near the Welland Canal. The canal was built to take ships around Niagara Falls from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, so they could go on up the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes is one the most majestic systems of water in the world. Well if you're going to dig a canal chances are there will be an abundance of clay and in that day and age that meant lots of brick yards. I befriended an old brick yard owner that after a few drinks would spin yarns about crawling into the chimney of the big bee hive and firing a shot gun up the stack to get the draft going. He also recalled throwing tin cans in the fire box to get black bricks. Here are a couple of the bird houses he had the men make at the sewer tile yard at a time when plastic was entering the scene and he didn't want to lay the men off. I also use an old banding wheel from the old Foster Potteries in Milton for spraying my pots outside. Don't laugh at my attempt at a prairie garden in an old sagger. It is all weeds now and Sheila has given up on me as a gardener. I'd really rather have a motorcycle.
I bought this pile of bout 300 bricks from a refractory company in receivership. I had plans of building a small salt kiln or pizza oven. It ain't about to happen. If anyone out there wants them I'll sell them for a buck a piece. Hard bricks that I figured could be filled with ash or vermiculite for insulation. They interlock and are high duty.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Do shoes make the man?


It's been a few years since I made some of my big rolls for the showroom. These two 30 lb casseroles were made with exactly the same sectional process except I changed the foot. The one with the pedestal foot takes the vessel from a kitchen pot to a show piece. Not that anyone would ever use one of these or be able to lift them full of chili but they think functional and that means less money. At least that has been my experience.
If I leave them outside I have to watch out for men customers trying to pick up the lid. It's a man thing! They just have to do it!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Time Machine





I've been inspired by the medieval jug for a few decades now. Even the cup form is something I've done for years. When I came upon this site I got the cold sweats and goose pimples. I swear this work was made by me or my ancestors in another life. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/ceramics/pages/ceramics.asp
The yellow ribbed jug makes my heart stop. I love the thumbed foot and the beer barrel aesthetic. I think a Viking entered my being and I'm just here on earth to make some pots while I wait for Valhalla. Hopefully it's a while away. Have a beer and a bump ready for me will ya Eric the Red.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Those bloody boring conifers!







It's fall here in Ontario and all of my favourite glaze colours are at their peak. The skies are gloomy today but the foliage is pretty spectacular. Robin Hopper is reading this and saying why did I move to the land of those bloody boring conifers? Ok, they're big and awesome but show me the colour! That's my new motto!
A cyber friend Bill Merrill of Washington state sent me this poster of a teapot of David Shaner's. I pinned it on the wall of the studio by my wheel. I used to stare at his teapots for hours on end hoping they would enter my body by osmosis. My pottery teacher Roger Kerslake maintained you could judge a potter by their teapot. He made a good one so of course he would say that. Here is a pic of one from my latest wood firing. Shaners is simple and strong, mine is perhaps more fused over. Nice foot though!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

We were here, where were you?





The trouble with owning a mum and pop retail pottery business is ya can just never tell when the best day is to close. Invariably we stay open all day long and since nobody has come we decide to take off early and do something for ourselves. We arrive home to a note on the door "We were here, where were you!" Ouch!!! Well this past Sunday Sheila had to go see her dad in the hospital and I had a birthday lunch daughter Robin. We closed and took off for the day. I went to Toronto and rode the Red Rocket to a part of town called Leslieville which is in the heart of the film district in Toronto and very cool. You wouldn't know there is a recession on in TO as there were line ups for brunch in all the good spots. Next door to where Robin lives in The Beaches is a doggie business that sends out a streeeeeeeeeeeetch to pick up your Fifi to have it's nails clipped back at the Dog Spa. Of course just down the street is a Doggie Bakery. I might just return to this world as a dog. With my luck I'd arrive on the streets of Bejing.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Ladies day out!




and that means shopping!!! Judy, Linda and Michelle are 3 successful interior decorators that have been customers of ours for a long time. There once was a time when Linda McKinnon would contemplate her purchase over a smoke on the deck chairs under our porch. Now the ladies drop in to view what we have available, go to a fine winery/restaurant and come back for some serious shopping. We filled the trunk and half the back seat.
These 3 ladies have shrines of our work. I can't think of 3 people that would present it better.