Back in the saddle again

Sent another Etsy pot off this morning. Seems this double boxing is costing more than the $9 shipping I charged. It was good to find out that the post office charges are based on the combination of box size, weight and distance.

I'm taking a "rest my back" break after trimming and waxing some pots and putting a couple of hundred pounds of Moon White through the pugmill a few times. It needed softening after sitting a few months. Soft clay, slow wheel works for me. As soon as my back goes out of spasm I'll head back to the studio to do some throwing.

It's going to take a few days for these muscles to get back in studio shape.

David Gilhooley chocolate covered frog ice cream cone

Finally got around to taking pictures of a couple of  more pots from my collection. Here's a wonderful whimsical chocolate covered frog ice cream cone by David Gilhooly. David was one of the leaders of the funk movement, initially setting up a vegetable cart in San Francisco, selling these fun ceramics.. He was one of the  artists in a gallery I started while living in Canada in  the 70's and when I sold the gallery I kept this piece. He stopped doing making pots some time ago, which is a big loss for the world of ceramics.

I've been busy this morning with taking photos and getting a batch of no knead bread started. It's on it's second rise now. This time I added more yeast and which seems to be working well. It should be ready to bake in another hour or so. In the meantime I'll check the pots I threw yesterday and see if they're ready to trim. I uncovered them at 6am,  so should be ready for trimming today.

I only threw a few small, 2 lb range bowls using the last bit of Loafers Glory. It was pretty firm, but I was very encouraged that I could wedge and center it without too much chest discomfort and the best part is that I feel good thing morning. I also added some throwing slip to the reclaim and got the mixer going for a bit and got some studio sweeping and other cleanup. It felt really good to be getting that much studio time and not feeling the worse for it!

Jim is up inBanner Elk in search of some clams, but just called to say they're out, so he's picking up mussels instead and I'll try a Carrabas clone recipe for steamed mussels in a pernod, white wine, lemon, garlic, basil sauce. That, along with the freshly baked, crunchy bread will make for a nice, light supper.