First batch of bowls for the Miles City MT soup kitchen are ready to ship.

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My latest project has make it to bisque. I added iron oxide to the edges to bring out the details in the texture. Then I used a

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My latest pottery project for my friend, Patty. She wanted this verse illustrated on clay and she wanted a pitcher in the act of pouring. I immediately could see this in my mind. This is still in the greenware stage and drying. Email me I'd you want directions on how to build this, although you can probably figure it out by looking at it. I did use two different clays: red stone and dessert buff from High Water.

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Advice From the Pros

I spent the weekend with Cynthia Bringle and Ben Owen III. Ben is from the Seagrove area and is from a long line of potters. His name is well-known in NC. Cynthia helped establish the ceramics program at Penland, a school for the arts here in NC. I definitely want to go to Penland for a summer class or something. Anyway, the workshop I attended was held at Jeffcoat pottery in Calabash NC. I picked up a lot of information and got to know two really interesting and encouraging
people.



Above is a photo of Ben assembling a large pot. To the right, Cynthia shows us how to make a wine decanter. She says that our fingers are the best tools. I also got some tips about throwing off the hump, trimming and not trimming, and how to use chucks.

Wheel Deal

My new old Brent CXC sounds awful. When Chris heard it he took it apart and found various and sundry items inside the dust cover and motor. There were dead insects, dried clay, some wasps nests and a lot of dirt. He took the motor into a shop for new bearings. Chris used to work on motors back in the day. As he explained brushes and bearings to me, I marveled again at how God uses everything in our lives. I thank the Lord that Chris is such a great handy-man and can fix all sorts of stuff.

My used Brent Wheel should be as good as new soon. Right now, we are busy in the store (Bear Hands Pottery) making bowls for New Bern's first empty-bowls fundraiser. Our goal is 100 bowls. About 70 or so are waiting to be bisqued or glazed at this point. I'm going to sit down this weekend and throw a few more. I've recently learned to throw bowls "off the hump." It sure is fast!

Slab Roller for Christmas!

God blessed us abundantly and more than we asked for. I really did pray for a used slab roller! I told God that the new ones were just too expensive and that old ones were hard to find, but that it wouldn't be hard for HIM. I was right. A new potter just moved to the New Bern area, but she's not doing production any more and wanted to sell her slab roller. I was so jazzed when I heard this. But get this: she also had a Brent CXC to sell (I've been wanting one) and some bats (I've been short on bats) and an extra Giffin Grip (so some little pieces are missing, but we can replace them). So this amazing mass of used equipment is now ours, for a very low price. I won't tell you, because it's gauche to talk about money. O.K you twisted my arm. We got it all for $600. God is good!

I've already used the slab roller and it's wonderful. No more tiny slabs. I'm in the big time now. I'm gonna see just how big a hand-built bowl I can make. And classes for hand-building will be all the easier. I'm gonna make platters, and plates, and tiles and all kinds of big, big stuff! We put the small slab roller in my studio at home, which will be handy. I mostly throw pots at home, but occasionally I need a slab. Up till now I just got out my rolling pin, but now I won't have to. I also got a new Giffin Grip for my home studio. So I had a very merry Christmas.

We are already starting school again this week (because we take off a week earlier than everyone else). As soon as I finish our January store window, I'm starting production on my Bear Pottery for the 300th anniversary. The first thing I'm going to make is a large plate with a big bear on it. It's going on our new store display that we bought from a store that closed this month. Well, that's it for now.

On the home front: Haley is graduated from High School early. She goes to Craven Community College full time next month and next fall, she will go to Campbell University.

Chris had a little car accident the other night. He's fine. The truck doesn't look to happy. But praise God for keeping Chris safe.