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owls/fire in the sierras

updated sun 30 jul 00

 

Joyce Lee on sat 29 jul 00


Drat! half of my owls cracked in reduction fire..... cracked right in
two ...... these were wallhangings since I can't make a decent 3-D owl
shape at the moment. My large fish hangings also cracked in two, even
when I fired on a bed of silica ... I think maybe I'm still firing too
high .... these were all some form of shino (cracked shino, Mel's shino
and one of June's) so I took them to ^11..... maybe too high for mostly
flat forms? ... carbon trapping was nice on Mel's, however, with the
extra soda ash. Drat again.

Many of you are posting about the fires in the Sierras. Yes, they are
less than 30 miles from us now by ROAD, much closer as the raven flies.
We can smell the smoke throughout the house, and the mountains directly
west of our property are obscured by gray smoke and ash. So far, no ash
falling on us. However, as of last night, the flames were still on the
opposite side of the mountains. At night, red/yellow/orange flames can
be seen rimming the mountains just to the northwest ... if I can, I'll
get digitals tonight and if they're okay, I'll send them to any of you
who'd like to see them. The Red Cross has set up an evacuation center at
the local middle school for the 100 or so families who have homes or
summer cabins ... horses have been evacuated to our local fair grounds
.... no human lives lost but property is in serious danger ....
25,000 acres of pine trees lost so far and double that
predicted.....doubled from the night before, as a matter of fact, when
it was 12,000 acres...... sooooooo hot and dry...... those firefighters
are heros, every one of them.

Joyce
In the Mojave telling Wes Rolley that the fire is only maybe 8 miles
from the area where you and your wife toured the wildflowers...... just
over the ridge......

Cindy Strnad on sat 29 jul 00


Joyce,

How awful about the fires! I live in a heavily forested region of the Black
Hills, so I can identify fully with that sinking feeling you must be
experiencing. I'll be praying for lots of rain and no wind, and the safety
of the firefighters. It's always a very scary thing. Do send me the shots,
if you take some.

As for your plaques, you know I don't fire that high, or in reduction, but I
have one suggestion you might want to try, and that is to use a heavily
grogged sculptural body for your flat works. Either that, or add grog to
your normal clay. I'm very pleased at the difference a little grog has made
for me.

Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
earthenv@gwtc.net
www.earthenvesselssd.com