a storm of calm...

Perhaps if I keep thinking I should be MORE freaked out by what I need to get done in the next week, I'll never get that freaked out, because things are still going along quite calmly. The last bisque is loaded - the picture is actually of Heather's load a couple of days ago, but I haven't had time to dig out the camera so no pictures probably till glazing begins. I forgot the camera again this morning when I went to the Very Special Arts Festival, which is a bummer as it was a lot of fun. I did take a picture with my phone of the ducks on the pond at Lake Julian, but I just learned I don't know how to get them off the phone! It's the third year I've been the guest clay artist at this festival that pairs special needs children with volunteer students from Asheville middle and high schools to experience a variety of art and performance activities, and this year was a banner year for the clay booth as we switched from using regular clay to using an air-drying clay. This is a big relief as the kids really want to take the work with them, and I'm not keen on letting raw clay go home with anyone who doesn't have a kiln. Last year we wrangled all the supporting high school art teachers to take charge of the work and bisque it, but this year was great as they each got to take their master pieces home on the spot.

Now I'm off to the glaze studio to mix glazes for the cone 10 reduction and the cone 7 oxidation firings to come, clean some shelves and start taking bisqued ware over to stash in a corner till the firing ahead of me is in the kiln (Julie & Joey right ahead of me again!).

Tomorrow I'm screaming up to Spruce Pine to see the Potter's Market dammit! It's too easy to blow off something that is essentially a treat, in particular when the gas is just coming back but is still pricey, and when there are just so many other things that need to be done. But the I don't want to miss this opportunity to see so many incredible potters in one place at one time, including friends I don't see all that often, and I'm charging my camera tonight for the event! I'm going first thing, not lingering much and screaming back (at a legal speed limit of course!) to unload the bisque and start making notes on this next firing and perhaps get the cone 7 glazing started.

Tomorrow night after Julie & Joey's kiln is loaded, I get to 'move' into the studio and set up for my own glaze party, then it's back to my studio to get what ever it is I will have forgotten before I start prepping pieces for glazing. Sunday I have open studio hours, so I'll get some throwing done for the firing I'll do with Julie just before the Resident Artist show at Odyssey and finish any cone 7 glazing, then back to the glaze studio to start the waxing and glazing. If I get just the waxing done by Sunday, I'll be in a good place, but I'm actually shooting for base glaze on at least a third of the pots BEFORE I head over to Odyssey Sunday night to help load that reduction kiln to fire for Empty Bowls. Monday we fire the Empty Bowls kiln, and if I can sneak away for a bit I'll get the rest of the base glazing done, along with sneaking back to my studio to start the cone 7 kiln, with any straggler pots that don't fit into the Odyssey cone 6 firing...and if the firing ends at a respectable hour maybe I'll go back to the glaze studio and do some wax and underglaze work. Tuesday will be all glaze, all the time! With a strong battery on my ipod and some space juggling as Julie and Joey unload their kiln, I plan to finish glazing by early evening...so if I get the kiln loaded by midnight I'll be happy.

That takes me through Tuesday night, which is plenty for the brain to ponder now (I'll gladly tell you on Tuesday, the schedule carnival in store for the rest of the week!). Off to find my respirator and some spodumene....peace.