Portable Saw Mill

So I went on a trip with my school to work with a youth group this weekend at a place called Doe River Gorge.  While I was there I saw this beast of a machine and thought it would be a sweet post.  I have never seen one of these before, but it has a huge band saw type blade that is pushed through the log to make long slabs.  

So the big engine with the saw blade and all is propelled with hydraulics down the metal track and through the log.  It was a pretty sweet thing to watch. 

After seeing this monster in action I decided that when I grow up I want to have one of these for myself.  

Really Fast Week.

Although this week has been jammed with all kinds of action with the end of the semester approaching and loads of things being due I had a great week.  The best day was without a doubt Tuesday.  I got the opportunity to go spend the day up at Penland goofing around.  I spent the day with Jeff Deihl, Phil Rogers, and Kurt Teeter who were all traveling around to see the great pottery of NC.  I had the privilege of eating lunch with Cynthia Bringle along with the rest of the group which was pretty awesome to say the least.  The picture above is of the group looking around in Cynthia's gallery before we took off to Penland for lunch.  

After spending some time at Penland we were able to go visit John Brit.  He had a mess of Turkeys he was feeding behind his studio which was really awesome to see.  Those turkeys are really amazing creatures.   He has a large number of kilns as well which was great to see.  My good friend Hal Dedmond has been taking some classes with him so it was good to meet him.  

I was then able to go see Michael Hunt's studio and pottery shop which was one of the grandest parts of the day.  His kiln is gorgeous and I took a real liking to it.  Phil and Jeff really admired his pots more than any we had seen that day because they were extremely Korean.  Jeff and Phil have both spend a good amount of time there so they had that in common.  You can check out some of Michael's work here.  Him and his wife Naomi have really sweet operation going and it was a real inspiration to a young guy who is about to dive in head first.  

Sorry the posts have been lacking a bit.  There have just been many things to do with school and the Hickory Show coming up next weekend. 

Firing and Some New Pots

I helped Hal fire his kiln this past weekend.  It was a gorgeous day to fire a kiln and all went as planned.  I got about twelve pots squeezed in with his load.  Chad is firing this weekend and I just dropped off the pots at Hals place for that one.  Chad had a group coming down to help him fire and he is gracious enough to load my pots for me while I am at the potters conference in Asheboro this weekend.  

A new clearer less runny ash glaze I tried out to show some of my trailing off.  It seems to work well and I am excited to see how it does in salt since it did not run much.  The black slip under this glaze has a subtleness I like.  

This guy turned out a little more drippy than I thought, but I like it.

The bud vase on the right is a new shino I tried out.  It came out ok, but but I think it would do a little better in a more reduced firing.  I dont have much of an eye for shinos, but I am working on it.  I am testing a few more in the kiln this weekend as well.  I will let you know how it goes.

I am very excited about the conference and am leaving tomorrow.  I will try and put up a post about it as soon as I get back. 

Dave Show and update

Tonight I went with one of my professors to the Greenville County Art Museum.  There was a talk about one of Dave's pots that was acquired by the museum. Since I just did a load of research on this guy it was a very convenient date for me.  I have looked at many of his pots in pictures lately, but I must say that it is nothing like seeing one in person.  I don't think I realized just how great this potter was until I saw one of his big pots for myself.  The pot that we looked at looked very much like this one in the picture.

The last 2 days I have been glazing like a mad man.  I have a few tests going in like a white shino, some new alkaline tests, and a new blue.  The firing should be pretty exciting and I am very excited about it overall.  I am also pretty pumped about spring break coming up next week.  I plan on doing some fishing and goofing around.  I might try to make some things as well.  No real plans I guess.  I suppose that is how some of the best spring breaks are started.