Well thanks to ClatArter Bill Schran I'm gonna pickup 11 kiln shelves from Smith-Sharp at UP Special in Iron Mountain today. I was thinking of going to Minneapolis to catch Lee and Mel's shows if gas was 50¢ cheaper but it went up enough to make paying shipping worth it. Besides, I didn't have to sit driving for 7 hours each way which is tough on the lower back.
Now I remember I need new cones too so I better order them from somewhere soon so I can start loading the Hobagama. I found a few ^06, ^01, ^5, ^6, ^8, & ^9 Dart gave me so I could probably load the tail with a ^01, ^6, ^8, & ^9 now and get some ^10, ^11, & ^13's for the front plus others next week.
Somebody mentioned they were doing a hundred tea bowls for practice so I figured a hundred coffee cups would get me into the production flow too. It ain't easy to remember all my slick moves for throwing after 20 years so I started out slow with a couple here and there till I got comfortable with single balls weighing the same...
http://public.fotki.com/GindaUP/ca/cam/rtp/ (new shots near bottom)
Then I moved on to the throwing off the hump...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V3VVLJ0hbc
... not too shabby and I don't think I'm gonna worry too much about keeping them all the same size. I notice I like a sturdy almost heavy handle, probably from all those restaurant coffees I usta have when on the bum, you know the ones, thick, white, never break. I leave them thick too because they will shrink down to just right for a couple fingers. A couple will go to the grand kids so smaller is better and Steve, Andrea, and Mom can get something larger. The remaining pieces will be available with or without a Christmas wreath on Etsy in about 4 months if they turn out OK.
Happy potting and stay in there eh!
Gary Navarre
Navarre Pottery
Navarre Enterprises
Norway, Michigan, USA
http://www.youtube.com/GindaUP
http://public.fotki.com/GindaUP/