A Potter and Her Clay (and Poodles)

The Raspberries are almost Ripe!

 If our posting has been a bit spotty lately, it's because our time in the pottery has been sporadic, too. Joe has been busy with a variety of jobs at Red Beard Woodworks, and I've been working at the salon, preparing and planting the summer garden, and running. I am still digesting my earthenware results and trying to decide how to move forward from last month's firing, as well.

Today, though, I had the day off from the salon, the garden didn't need anything beyond a little water, and I didn't run to save my energy for a half-marathon on Sunday.  So I spent a few uninterrupted hours with one of my less-favorite studio duties--sieving clay. 

Since we no longer live in North Carolina, we don't have easy access to local and regional ceramic materials from folks with backhoes or our friends at StarWorks Ceramics. We also have to get all of our materials for the whole year processed during the summer. This afternoon it was raw clay from Iowa, a sieve, a few buckets, and me. And my awesome mud boots.

(And my Little House on the Prairie Dress)

This clay was full of fun stuff!

 

I ended the with almost two troughs of clay, which should be plenty for another round of testing for earthenware and stoneware glazes. Maggie ended the day by almost catching a bird.  We'll be back at it this weekend!

**c