Joyce Lee on tue 25 dec 01
Persistence is a desirable quality because it works! I was ready to give =
up ever firing Hank's shino to look enough like his pictures in CM that =
I'd feel okay about sending him a picture of my work. I've been foolin' =
with it for a year .... received tons of patient suggestions from Hank =
and others ... and had come to believe that, except for test tiles, I'd =
never be up to the job. (Odd how the tests ALL ... and there were many =
... though not like one another, were each at least interesting... but =
not the pots... odd .. )Turns out that I'm even a slower learner in clay =
than I'd originally observed. I decided to fire one more small kiln =
load before calling it quits and moving on, or moving at least =
laterally. What a nice holiday gift when I opened the little Geil this =
morning!There's one bowl that I really love. (Although I recognize that =
"love" is better reserved for people and critters, sometimes I DO "love" =
claywork ..... glazes, clays, pots, equipment, tools, the feel, the =
smells, reading about clay, sharing with other claybuds, the doors .... =
the kiln doors, the studio doors .... that literally and figuratively =
have opened my mind and senses to another world .) This ONE bowl out of =
dozens ..... gives me hope that I can get where I want to go. I still =
very obviously need more practice working with the white slip (or any =
slip) but even it shows vast improvement.... has sort of the
chalcedony look that I wanted on the ironish appearing bowl and the =
porcelain slip seems to do it .... yes, Mr. Mayor, colors and texture =
that emulate the desert mountains around me ... AND on this bowl, since =
I've also been under the influence of Filley's blue and green glazes =
trying to make them work for me EVERY time... I dribbled some of her =
green ..... just a little.... which kind of fits.
Probably won't do that again, though.
Several responsibilities needing attention today so I may not be able to =
glaze another small load ..... though I'm=20
itchin' to .... Fortunately, there are a half dozen or so brown clay =
bisqued pots waiting as I post. I want to start working with Hank's =
other shino glaze from the CM article .... but there's Kurt's =
salt-fuming waiting ..... and the new "ice" clay from Laguna that I'm =
not throwing well at all, but am now thinkin' maybe if I =
persist.............
This has been a glorious day already and it's only 9 a.m. Wonder what =
I'd be doing in retirement if it weren't for Clayart and claybuds?? I =
shudder just contemplating such a life.....
Joyce
In the Mojave recalling this morning a small girl child who received a =
new rolypoly white ball of fluff of a Christmas puppy many years ago =
...... and insisted on naming her puppy "Jesus"..... her Mama who was =
sort of a Part-Time Fundamentalist Christian (verrry confusing to a =
small child) must have been appalled imagining the summons of "Jesus, =
come home..... here, Jesus, here Jesus" ringing through the very =
Fulltime Fundamentalist neighborhood. (They didn't know that Jesus was a =
name commonly given to male children in Hispanic countries, and if they =
had heard such, wouldn't have recognized the sound of "Hay-sus" as =
being "Jesus," anyway) To the Mama's credit, she gently suggested that =
Our Jesus was female and maybe another name would be more appropriate =
.... maybe "Gloria" ....... but, no, the small girl, very much impressed =
with the Baby Jesus stories she was hearing in Big Girl Sunday School, =
insisted that Jesus would LIKE having HIS dog, which either He or His =
Daddy had created, named after him. Sooo the Wise Mama said, "How about =
giving such a wonderful puppy TWO given names.... just like everybody =
else in the family has?" The little girl thought that was a grand idea, =
and cries of "Millie Jesus" occasionally rang out in the neighborhood, =
but most of the time it was just "Millie".......
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