Reconsidering Marriage

I was lying on the beach in Cuba with a rum filled coconut by my side (Coco Loco). I was a couple of days away from having unloaded the worst pots of my life from the HPG wood kiln. In this weakened state, I was reconsidering marriage.  I was thinking once again of the marriage of old and new technologies. The marriage of a guy that loves making things by hand and a partnership with the technology that is so available these days. For a decade I made a living from doing paper resist cut out leaf patterns with cobalt or a copper slip under a carbon trap shino glaze. It was a good horse to ride and had more miles of life in it but for me the horse was dead and time to get off. At that time I looked into a digital paper cutter. They were over $10,000 and out of the question for this cowboy.  So now with the popularity of cataloguing as a hobby you can buy a paper cutter for just over $200. On the beach I thought I would look into them when I got home so that I might cut vinyl images to put on bisque to resist glaze for the wood kiln.  Leave more clay showing had been my own advice to the mentees and I had not followed it. I also thought I am going to Korea, Wales and Italy this year and I am going to show my pride in Canada. Yes, the good ole maple leaf is one of the most recognizable images in the world. Yaaaaaaaaaa, Canada!  Yes, it is literal imagery but one that I can stand proud behind. The maple leaf forever! I wore a maple leaf on my back pack some 40 years ago when I hitch hiked around Europe.

So next day on a bus trip to Havana I met this guy from Hamilton, Ontario that guess what???????? He and his wife have a company that cuts vinyl digitally. Bingo! Voila! Holy shit! Hot damn!  I just rolled a 7. I’m busy getting some pots ready to fire in the big bourry box next week with 7 of my wood fire women. I read today that a mentor is more important than classes. That is a BIG responsibility. I gotta find a higher gear to shift into. They’re gaining on me.:)