Having Friends Over

Dana and Justin are some of the most awesome friends we know. They are wicked fun, patient, kind, literate, and know how to have a good time. They cook up a storm.

We met Dana and Justin about 2 years ago as they began planning for their wedding and asked if we could put together a wedding registry for them. Turned out to be our most enjoyable registry ever! Tons of great pots and all the people who called to purchase pottery from their wish list were fantastic folks.

So little by little, we have come to know and love Justin and Dana. They're really fun to cook with, talk about books and movies, take pictures... you name it.

Sad thing is: they're moving to California.

NO FAIR.

Before they leave though, they decided they really wanted a chance to try to make pots on the wheel.

Spring?

I keep asking.

Spring?

Humor is running amok today!

Bad touch, Bad touch!!!!

Vampires: Real ones DONT sparkle....the end.

Some days are made for laughing. This afternoon I found roflrazzi.com... and the rest of my lunch hour was GONE! It makes lolcatz seem tame.

Experiment

I am trying something new today. I found this website called Closr.it which promises to help you zoom in and enlarge your images via Java. So far it has proved to be pretty simple but I worry that it takes too long to load. Anyone else played with this yet? How does this load on your machine?

Recalcitrant Spring

Not one of those words I find a need for everyday, but recalcitrant it is. I have never been more anxious to throw off my coats and fleeces and say hello to shorts. Everytime it looks like we might just get a nice sunny warm break, the clouds open up and it pours. Then it gets cold.

The upshot of all of this weird weather is that we have had some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises. Aurora woke me up to let me know I HAD to catch some of this sunrise. I figured it wouldn't be worth it. Then I walked out the door. She was right on the money.

A Sky To Remember

When it should have been too dark to see, I looked up and saw the color just about to fade to black. Grabbed about eight frames and this was the last. Right from our front yard! Sometimes you just get lucky.

Never after dark

The view from the car as we raced home trying to catch the sunset going down just behind us!

Hard to mess with perfect

I dont use the term perfect lightly. I save it up for times when Awesome or Wicked just wont do.

Such was the case as we were driving home from Rochester last weekend. The light was falling fast as we zoomed through the Amish fields between the Fingerlakes. One look over my shoulder as we made our last big turn homeward told me that we HAD to stop and catch the sunset before it vanished. I think we got it. Just perfect.

New addition to the family

Back in the Fall, Nancy and Aurora were diligently trying to get me to sell my old kayak in hopes of finding me a newer one that would fit me better. I found a boat up at Mountainman Outfitters up in the Adirondacks...Old Forge to be precise. Huge selection and something is always on sale.

Without further adieu, here's the new boat.

Scenes from the studio

It was a busy week. Finally had a chance to make some oval pitchers and oval vases. More coming next week.

More Scenes from the Lakeside

I have been spending quite a bit of time down at the lakeside already this year. It is only the second day of April and I am already considering putting the kayak in the water. This is just way too warm for April.

The light on the other hand is perfect. We keep getting the most magical light on these sunny clear days. Today started out with a healthy dose of fog and blur... but I didnt have my camera with me. So I probably missed the best images of the month. Yeah, I know. It should be stapled to my hand, but that would get in the way of making pots. Either that or I would end up using that pricey Nikkor lens as a rib and everything I threw would be out of focus!

Meet our apprentice - Hannah

Our amazing apprentice, Hannah, has been making plates and serving trays with us for almost 3 months now. Her first month was filled with frustration as her slab trays and plates continued to warp. Each batch she would try something a little different. Each firing would produce slightly better plates. Now we're at the point where almost all the plates she makes are coming out top notch! To celebrate we decided to document her at work... what's the process look like and how do we do what we do?

Now we're getting ready to fire and glaze hundreds of plates that Hannah has made since January. They are in great big stacks just waiting for glaze. Should be fun!

Issac Button Country Potter - parts 2, 3 and 4

Views of the Lake

A quick view from the creek flowing out into Cayuga Lake.

I think this is one of those images that I need to go back to in different weather. I think I also need to shoot it with a different lens.

This panorama of Cayuga Lake was shot during my walk at Taughannock State Park last week.
I shot 13 images consecutively, then merged them in Photoshop. Definitely worth a click to see it slightly larger. Wish I knew how to make a REALLY large version come up in Blogger. Any ideas from anyone would be helpful!

It was one of those days where you think that it's going to be warm because it's sunny outside. Then you get out there with the wind and the chill and you realize that if you don't wise up, you're gonna freeze to death waiting for that sun to warm your bones.

Then a day like today comes along. Warm, mild and oh so needed. Great day to work in the garden. Not so great a day to be in the studio. There's always tomorrow for the boards of planters and pie plates.

What does it mean, when your past involves sheep

Yep, I took care of sheep as part of my workstudy job while at Hampshire College. Anyone who has ever cared to ask me knows that I think sheep are just about the dumbest critters on earth. Now sheepdogs are the best. We had a border collie on the farm who couldn't be beat. Went by the name of Flea. Mind you, she could single handedly round up a small herd and bring them to just about anywhere we might want.... if she was so inclined.

This video exemplifies that AWESOME power of a well trained border collie and their shepherds. Mind blowing really!

Driving Home from the Zoo

There are some evenings where you know the light is going to be magical. What I hate is when we're driving home instead of shooting pictures during that time. On our drive home from the zoo, we tried to capture some of the color as the light was fading from the sky.

Scenes from the zoo

Same day, same walk

One of the things I love so much about early Spring is the quality of the light. In this image, we were shooting at high noon. The play of light is still soft and easy. You start to lose that in another month or so. Aurora's little Kodak Easyshare consistently surprises me with the quality of images it produces. They aren't perfect but they sure are better than your average snapshot from the days of 110 film.

Nice day for a walk

Saturday was warm(ish) and bright out. Sunshine in our neck of the woods is a scarce commodity. Normally this time of year, our favorite trail is covered in ice and snow. The trail is usually closed to travel with all sorts of warnings about falling from the rim of the gorge, etc. Strangely enough, plenty of folks venture out on that ice and snow too early in the season and sometimes end up as casualties. It happens every year.

By the time we made our way down the trail, it was plainly obvious that plenty of folks preceded us on such a nice day.

Going Out for a Sunday drive

We got all of our chores done early Sunday morning. The day had dawned chilly and wet, replete with spitting ice. Around noon the sun broke through the clouds as Aurora and I headed north to Rochester. Along the way there and back we stopped to take some pictures. Since our destination was the zoo, I will save the zoo pics for a later post. Here's one of the first edits I did from Aurora's camera. This was shot near Seneca Falls.

Reverse Graffiti

If you haven't seen this video before, you owe it to yourself. The idea of using road grime as the canvas and medium is fantastic. Definitely drives home the message.

So how is this relevant to clay? I think all too often clay is about adding decoration. Perhaps this allows us a glimpse over the wall... perhaps seeing that things can be removed to create a form or decoration we couldn't see before.

Musical Mashup

Damn my accursed blog-rolls! I try so hard to read them all and once in a while I come across something wicked cool. Last Friday, I was trolling through Gizmodo and came across this YouTube video.

I can't even begin to understand how someone hears and sees all of this and is able to edit it all into something coherent (albeit loud and jazzy).

Now, what might be really interesting.... could this idea of a mashup be possible in clay? Oh wait... maybe everything we do in clay is some sort of mash-able?

Cross-blog dialogue about pots and feet

This morning's wake up smile came courtesy of Eva "Newfoundout Potter" over at http://stevenhilljourneyworkshopjuly2008.blogspot.com/. She and I have been having a fun dialogue about the functionality of feet. Somehow it seems very personal and yet feet seldom get discussed with the same focus one would give to say firing or glazing. Normally, when I comment on someone's blog it consists of pleasantries, greetings, perhaps an agreement or comment. Otherwise, they are generally brief. Today I rambled for a little while. Maybe I am just too asleep still to edit my thoughts, but there they are. I figured sharing them on my blog was probably also in order - seeing as how I haven't posted a clay related post in a while. (Curse you Hockey Season!)

From Newfoundout Potter's blog: My reply:

Your post today made me smile. I remember about 5 years ago when someone at a show commented on my deep footrings holding water after going through the dishwasher. They wanted me to change my bowl style to suit their dishwasher. Mind you, I believe that listening to your customers is crucial, but I have admit, I dont have a dishwasher. I wash stuff by hand. Water still collects there but it doesnt make me want to stop making deep feet.

As for mugs... I think mug feet are probably the most overlooked part of mugs. Everyone obsesses over handles, and rightfully so. But feet and lips dont get nearly as much care as they deserve.

I think if you were to anthropomorphize your average mug, its casual and oftentimes less-than-considered foot would give it a look akin to a couch potato having dinner in front of the TV. No poise, no grace. It may work, sure. Flip-flops work too. But if you're claybody looks hairy or has the visual equivalent of chipped nail polish...maybe skipping the flipflops is a good idea. Sneakers are okay. Crocs are fine. Mugs dont necessarily call for Manolo Blahniks.

I also understand that mugs are made with a sense of economy. They are the cheapest thing most of us make. Yet I also see them as something all my customers refer to... as in MY favorite mug. They love our bowls, plates, and pitchers, but mugs are so personal.

Canandaigua Tournament (Game 1 vs Boys Mites Team)

There were so many great pics from this game I had a really hard time editing down to just these.
Suffice to say, it was a blast shooting all these girls all weekend long. They worked incredibly hard.

Aurora scored her second goal with the most amazing assist I've ever seen. This is the moment after our girls finally scored their first goal of the game.

Here's a link to the entire webpage of this game:
http://www.coldspringsstudio.com/CanandaiguaGame1/index.htm

Canandaigua Tournament (Skills Competition)

Here is the link to some of the images from the Skills Competition at the Canandaigua Tournament last weekend. Everyone on our team knows we walked away with the most medals and the best scores!

So, here's the website:
http://www.coldspringsstudio.com/SkillsCan/index.htm

Skills Night

Stacia going super fast

Aurora hit the turbo button

Monday night was our "skills night" at The Rink. A chance for our girls to pull out the stops and go for broke. Talk about FAST! There was no point in trying to stop the movement, so instead I changed how I normally shoot and started to get creative with shutter speed.

Full blown webpage can be found here.

Our team is so cool

We had a chance before our first game of this weekend's tournament in Canandaigua, to catch a formal team portrait. We got that. Then I asked the girls to give me a little something more.

Mind you, this was BEFORE they had played and WON two games in a row and taken home an armful of medals in the skills competition.

Final Game vs Vermont

Just a few images from our final game against Vermont in the finals at last weekend's tournament.
And a link to the website with all the images of our girls. http://www.coldspringsstudio.com/Game4vsVT/index.htm

We Rocked the Tournament

Our girls went into Overtime in the final game of the tournament totally overjoyed that they had held the team from Vermont to a 1-1 score. We all held our collective breath through the entire game. No other teams scored against Vermont all weekend. We had lost our first game to them earlier on Saturday. So it was bittersweet when the VT team scored the winning goal minutes into overtime. Our girls played their guts out this weekend and it showed! They steamed up the ice, even taking a winning lap around the ice with trophies in hand. We may not have won the tournament, but we still came out on top. I certainly never expected this at the beginning of the season!!

I shot close to 4000 images over the course of the weekend, so it will be some time before they are all sorted and edited and put up on a separate website... but it will happen in the next couple weeks. Definitely ready before our end-of-season banquet.