The Road Not Taken
The Road
Not Taken
I walked
into town today to get some groceries past the elementary and high schools and
wondered how my life would be different if I had stayed the 30 years as a high
school teacher to get my pension. There
were some pretty nice cars in the school parking lots and I thought of how I
could have salted some big bucks away for retirement. I too could be sitting at
McDonald’s each morning with the rest of the seniors shooting the shit. Instead
I’m in the studio making work, talking to myself and whining to you about my
lack of pension.
I shall be
telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence:
Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the
one less travelled by,
And that
has made all the difference.
Robert
Frost
What is the
difference that makes a difference????- Don Pilcher
Ask that of
your pots.
Ask that of
your friendships.
Ask that of
your love.
Ask that of
your dinner.
So I ask if
I had taught high school would I be
making the pots I’m making today? The
answer is most certainly not! Most days I think that has been worth this less
travelled road.
Truth is I’m
comfortable and as long as my hands move and mind is working at more than 10%
of it’s potential I will be just fine.
Here are
some plates I fired in my cousin Brenda’s kiln. She crash cools so I don’t get
the nice rutile crystals but other than that they look pretty sexy. I prefer to
clam cool for the development of crystals. Same glaze, same firing, different
cool and voila a whole different look.
Everyone in
those days used stoney white. A matt white glaze with black heads like a
teenager’s nose. Fire the stoney and
clam you got matte with pimples. Fire it and crash and you got white
shiny. I’m in my third childhood so I
like the crystals, zits, and blackheads.
Crash: At
the end of the firing leave the burner ports, damper and peeps open and let the
kiln drop to at least 1900F before clamming up.
Clam: At
the end of the firing close the damper, the peeps and the burner ports and let
cool slowly.
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