Stephani Stephenson on tue 11 may 10
My dad's family is from a tiny town in Kansas.
a couple years back one of my brothers and my dad passed away within 6
weeks of each other, and i spent more time in that little town than i eve=
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r
want to again.=3D20
one bright spot for me, was going down the road a few miles to Newton and=
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visiting the studio of Conrad Snider.=3D20
He was as nice and hospitable as he could be, and frankly, my jaw droppe=
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d
at his operation.=3D20
Many of you will know him as the guy who makes Soldner mixers now.=3D20
He has taken an old feed mill and turned it into a beautiful , well desig=
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ned
workshop and living space, where he not only makes the mixers but his own=
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work.=3D20
one of the things he does is make huge vessels. he also makes damn nice t=
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ile
work and architectural work. Did I mention the place was also immaculate=
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?
The other thing he has done is make kilns suited to his work, rather than=
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trying to fit his work into an existing kiln. on his web page you will se=
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e a
tall cylindrical kiln in which he fires his tall (6 feet) cylindrical
pieces. he has figured out a way to adapt the burners so that, in this =
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6
foot tall kiln, he has only a fraction of a degree difference in temperat=
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ure
from top to bottom.
skilled intelligent and grounded. he has a good thing going.
yeah, light bulbs in my brain were going off left and right. I love it wh=
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en
i see someone who is firing on all cylinders.
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