kilns, pots, classes

so, its been a steady grind since the begining of the semester. i am coming down to western piedmont community college five days a week this semester and next semester! with a 68% increase in enrollement the school probably needs me! I am wearing thin of the long commute everyday and luckily stella (my little blue saturn ion) doesnt seem to mind it, but i do. We have started the build on our salt kiln here at school for the kiln building class. what you see are two class periods of construction (@4 hours!) I thought the kiln would take forever but it may go faster than i thought, as you can see in one pic, many hands make for quick work! i just have to check and find errors as they go along. With these long days (12 hours counting driving time!) every day i have found that energy for the studio is lacking, I knew in the back of my mind this could happen, but boy, its tough!! I have managed to make a few dozen pots and have a firing scheduled in a friends soda kiln. I even refired some pots in the schools baby gas kiln as a test to see how it fires since its been unfired for some years now (wink wink). they came out very well i thought and have given me a little cushin for some up coming shows. speaking of shows i did manage to go up to blowing rock art in the park this month, but we won't talk about that, no, lets not go there! lets just say i am happy to get a great steady paycheck! well, off to punish students and discuss our production line for western piedmont's craft line that we will be selling at the appalachian potters market in marion NC in december! till next time.... DR. Mickey