Potters Life

more fun around the town

2010-09-06T20:30:00.003-04:00

well, Three weekends of work down in asheboro resulted ina finished and loaded kiln. One of the pics below (I seem to longer care about the order they appear ;P ) is of Donna inside the kiln with spectators watching on. Man she has two giant pots in there. They had to be every bit of 3.5 feet tall! It was a pleasure to help and watch the last bit of loading after i hung the stoke door. I was glad to see a local (but non local aussie) had mudded the kiln for me and did an amazing job, thanks keith! WEll I had fallen behind on some things around the studio, so last saturday, i got up, worked on pots, finished the stoke door, and then headed out for asheboro around 3 pm, got to donna's around 6 or so and after the door was up and pyrometer holes drilled, donna, susan and I had a few beers and some good conversation! I rolled for home about 11:30 pm!!! I know crazy! I then spent all day sunday prepping for a firing at western piedmonts salt kiln. The other pic of a loaded kiln is how i spent my labor day, enjoyed loading this kiln all by myself, headphones on and all! Tomorrow i will head down, fire the kiln and catch up on some grading and lecture writing. STick around mudpuppies, i will post pics of my new pots. shane

yet another back breaking brick laying adventrue

2010-08-20T20:15:00.003-04:00

well well well you blog people. yes, the lost boy of blogging is back. well not back as in i will blog everyday, but,,, well i won't even say it. So The crew (me, will baker, micah cain) drove down to asheboro to start the build for Donna Craven's new barrel arch tube kiln. This is a fairly big kiln, not a giant pot eater, but for donna and her working style i think the design and size is perfect. She currently is using a smaller version of this style thats maybe 40 inches tall inside and 3 feet wide and about 6 feet long. This new kiln is 60 inches at the crown, almost five feet wide and 10 feet long. I didn't just use regular and usual kiln dimensions on this one as far as firebox length, and firewall height because i hope that i can achieve a similar firing style to Donna's old kiln. The exit flue wall will have multiple exit flues side to side and up the wall. I even plan on putting in a couple 4.5x5 flues above the dampers! Donna crash cools her kiln which can be dangerous with really big pots. The idea is a quick cool down to 2000 degrees rather than 1800, then the kiln will still cool quickly due to the open flues. We got to the point you see in the last image. Tomorrow Evan and I will drive down early, with Ross Edwards signing on to help, work for 7 or 8 hours laying the chimney and back exit flue wall (they go up at the same time becuase they are shared up to the top of the arch) Hopefully if the roof is up by now we can go ahead and unroll the fiber on the arch. I will likely be going down the next 3 weekends to work and fire the kiln with Donna. I will post pictures of the finished kiln and possibly the firing!!! This kiln was almost the death of my kiln building career, at one point after 4 12hour days my back was so locked up i could barely walk. But never fear, Shane Mickey kiln designs is open for business, so tell your friends and neighbors. see ya round the brick yard shane

virginia car kiln

2010-02-06T10:24:00.007-05:00

Ok folks, here is the last kiln built by shane mickey kiln design services (yes it has a name and is a business). So will baker and I drove up to salem virginia to build a kiln for the powell family, seems it will be used for some classes, a little retirement fun, and by one of the sons as a distant kiln he can fire, since he lives in black mt. Trust me that is not odd to me, i have seen it more than once, potter building a kiln further away. So, I was contracted to build a three shelf car kiln, cone 10 reduction. I love building soft brick kilns, so much more fun and easier than moving a lot of hard brick. Upon arrival I noticed that the slab had been poured with a very healthy 4 inch drop for drainage, YIKES~ Since it was 14 degrees out and we only had 5 solid days to build I had to think outside the box. If you look carefully in this photo you will see the layer of brick that were cut at angles to make up for the 2.5 inch difference from side to side. I know, very lucky on that one. In this photo you can see the initial foundation, I solved the cart by using two different sized pieces of angle iron, it worked out very nicely and you can see by the two sides of the metal cart the difference in terms of the foundation, its way off, which we fixed, see above. Once we overcame that hurdle we moved into wall laying mode. Usually at this point i may send will back to the chimney to work on it, but this site already had an insulted system coming down from the roof, so will worked with me on the walls. Well about right after this pic above was taken and several hours after a killer mexican lunch (CHORIZO), I became violently ill, started vomiting around 6pm and it continued every 15 mins till 5 am. I languished in bed till around 9am. Eventually i got up and made myself go to the hardware store to get materials for the arch form and anything else we would need for the rest of the build. By the time we got back to the job site i was weak, so let will unload the truck and start on the arch layout while i went down to rest. I slept thru lunch and managed to work from around 3-5 that day, we got the arch form built and the run of bricks figured. I then let will lay all the brick but the keybrick. The next morning i was at 70% and was back at it! We managed to finish the arch, start the door and some of the small brick cuts under the arch. For the door i tried to add some more stability. Most car kiln doors, over time, will become loose if the frame is only welded together. Even if it is bolted together the wall can walk. I tried to stop this by running some rod thru the door in notched out brick, only time will tell i guess. you can see the door detail here: Ok, so I found the door to be very exciting, see when you build kilns that are very similar this business can get a bit boring. I try to add new and hopefully better design elements to every kiln i build. One thing this kiln site had that needed to be considered was overhead. The roof was only 8 feet high with two covered beams that hung down another 8 inches. The kiln was a little shorter in height than the average kiln. On top of that i decided to over insulate the arch. This kiln has three layers of ceramic fiber topped with stucco. I have to say that this was one of the best stucco jobs we have every done! I got smart and used a 2x6 wedged between the upright irons, set on top of the skewblocks, this allowed me to really work the edges of the stucco and end up with a very strong and clean edge. Here she is in all her glory: Well this kiln will go down in the books as one of the more interesting builds. When we finished the stucco at 3pm on day six we literally threw stuff in the back of bessie, grabbed a sandwich and left. We thought we would run into some snow, but we hit a helluva snow storm in southern VA. It made for a slow ride home, but a lot of time to talk business. So there you have it, the long story. I will update how she fires once the client sets a date and time for me to go back to fire her up. see ya round the blogosphere shane

cold wet snow

2010-02-05T13:51:00.003-05:00

Just jumping on here, we were supposed to get hammered by a big storm, it actually shook out to be 4-6 inches with a healthy dose of rain. Now all the snow is slushy, wet, nasty stuff! My least favorite type of snow. I chose to start the day and spend the first half the day bringing in wood for the house, noticed some recyclables in the way and thought, "hmmmm, i should just load them up in the truck!" AFter unloading tools and misc brick pieces (why i save them is beyond me!) from the last kiln build. i loaded up all the recycling. Now to drive up to the recycle center to see if its even open. I know, I know, still wondering about that car kiln post. i am working on it. be safe out there shane

back at work

2010-02-02T13:46:00.004-05:00

so, this potters life has been anything but pottery lately. I know i am giving tons of info and guidance to the potters of western piedmont CC's prof. crafts program, but i have not made pots for myself until yesterday! been a long break and it feels so good to be in the saddle again. On other fronts I the kiln business has been busy for the economic downturn. Will baker and I went up to salem Va to build a car kiln (images of that will come later!) It was a successful build even though we battled negative windchills every day, frozen wet saw, and i had either a stomach flue or food poisoning for 30 hours! WE pulled thru and still finished the kiln in 5-6 days. Upon return school started back up and the following weekend i spent at linda mcfarlings studio ripping up her floor, firebox castable and one of the door jamb walls, these are the pics you see here! The bricks in what i call the firewall had been eaten away so badly that the bagwall fell in during a firing. there are pics of a couple of these bricks, you can see how bad they were damaged. We replaced them with some andalusite brick which are high fire superduty, high alumina in content. The brick were 15" long so they made a nice replacement to the front of the floor where all the soda action takes place. After the demo and rebuild was finished i added some metal around the floor and cut a new hole since i moved the main side soda port higher. I still need to remud and add two pieces of threaded rod, but the kiln is functional, enjoy the pics. I will update the va kiln soon and some goings on at school. I need to keep this blog a rolling! happy potting the doctor

steve Abee demo

2009-10-28T21:27:00.003-04:00

Well today at school we started the day by cutting the door and building on the chimney at the same time. I actually thought we would get the door finished and the chimney up high enough to at least fire the thing(power burners!). The roof has yet to be started, guess the company that the school hired is just to busy to make money? Hell i should have put in a bid!!!! at least it would be finished. anyway, we only got half the door finished and up past the damper on the chimney, not bad. The door took longer becuase i decided since it was soft brick to let the students try their hands at some of those fancy "L" cuts i use. They enjoyed it, as they and I always do. After wards, and the real meat to this meatloaf of a blog post, was the Steve Abee demo (see pics). I have only just meet steve but find him to be a humble potter. The afternoon had discussions of old catawba valley potters, Steve's connections with Charlie Lisk and Burlon Craig, Historical potters and where we all fit in in this big ol stew pot of contemporary potters. I must say that there is nothing better than watching your students watch a fresh set of hands on the clay. Speaking of students i also had the great pleasure of watching one of our students, adam, really take off in the bigger pot department. He was working on stacking cylinders or "capping" as it is also called. He made two really big 7lb vases today, and the satisfaction on his face was unmistakeable! That is the true pleasure of teaching right there, watching it all go down, reliving those early experiences that i remember myself having. The visual affirmation of what I/ we try to impart to these students is the best reward. Well it was a good day and one i will remember for a long time. I feel like i did little physical labor today yet at the same time i am totally exhausted, mostly mentally. but thats a good thing i think. papa out

the body is fine, so is the soul

2009-10-27T12:01:00.003-04:00

well, by body i mean the new salt kiln i have been documenting, my body is not so fine lately, although my soul seems quite well. My back has started to act up which i do not like, but that just means its time to start my exercises again and maybe even try to squezze in some walking time. Studio wise i am pretty happy, i have settled into the fact that not as many pots will be finished at the end of the week, but that is ok. Work towards a november firing in linda macs soda kiln is moving along nicely. the new salt kiln at WPCC is coming along fine, we finished the body of the kiln on monday when we capped the fiber with a nice cement coating, yep, cement. Budget is tight so i had a bag of sand topping quickrete mix that had been in my studio for over 5 years. We addes some clay to it and also a little extra sand. It seems like it will take a few days to harden but it is hardening up. We will cut the door brick and work on the chimney tomorrow. then its just waiting onthe burners to arrive and mount them and plumb em up. Can't wait to fire. In other news, the students went out with local folk potter steve abee to dig some wild clay, then went back and processed it also. We are all switching over to this wild cone six clay today and plan on doing some experimental firings, as well as standard cone six firings. I will keep you posted on that. OK, i gotta go get my hands in some of this stuff! see ya round the kiln. Captian Cone pack well, by body i mean the new salt kiln i have been documenting, my body is not so fine lately although my soul f

another day in paradise?

2009-10-19T12:47:00.002-04:00

so, where do i begin??? hmmmmm. Well almost a whole month has went by and what have i accomplished! nothing in the studio, barely got any pots made and that i do not like at all.i am severely starting to miss the rhythms of daily studio life, esp when i have no pots to sell. I am still trying to work up a batch of pots,just to share a kiln with Linda mcfarling. Other than my own studio, the studio at school is busy. And as with any school setting i have some students who try very hard and work hard and those who don't really give a shit. To be totally honest i find some of the students to be down right belligerent, and whiney. I have about had it with those students! so the pictures you see are of our recent progress on the salt kiln. Evan and his mom are away for the week at the beach so i am hoping to move my office from upstairs(to make room for a walk in closet!) to downstairs and spend alot of time drinking heavily and making lots of pots. if you need me look under my pottery wheel under the pile of empty pabst blue ribbon cans. that is all, captain is out!

kilns, pots, classes

2009-09-24T13:02:00.004-04:00

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

back in the saddle

2009-08-30T14:06:00.002-04:00

just a quickie, I cleaned the studio up a bit, more a put a bunch of stuff away kinda deal, but i am back at the potting and it feels so good to be in the studio again. It has been way too long! Western Piedmont community college is back in session and i can already feel the switch to a more fall mentality for old D-Shane. WEll the picture is of the first pots off my treadle wheel, just some simple teabowls. I big shout out to June Perry for sending this wheel my way. She stated that this wheel was made by mackenzie's brother! I may have to channel some minnesota spirits :). well back at it, or maybe i will watch the end of the carolina preseason game? hmmmmmm. ahh doesn't matter, you'll never really know. I'm out, later

part duece

2009-08-02T01:41:00.005-04:00

so here we are, back at the scene of the crime! anyway i put this picture of willis brown, aka, will baker stylin my columbia straw, looking good buddy. we see the kiln with the fiber on and stucco mesh in place. A view from the back on the door side. the ever so excited client mike campbell trying to fire it up before we are finished! YOU GO MIKE! then the usual bag-wall shot. So, just look at that weird thing? what the hell is the captain doing? lets just chalk it up to finishing Cynthia's kiln on a wednesday, then leaving a couple days later to head to VA to start this kiln, so yea, way off my rocker! but i think it is fine, just crazy. Will suggested counseling i think. WEll, we did bust out a kiln and we both managed to slip in a little R&R for two days. nice job boys! So all in all pretty successful. now its time to rest, official hour count for day 5:15 am to now! omg yep nearing up for 24 hours, oooops what happen, guess i shouldn't a' started looking at the pictures off my camera! but got some nice pics of my girls printed off for the fridge. well, not really off to bed, gonna finish this dead concert and then sleepy sleep, gonna sleep in for ever!!!!!!!!!!! better holla if ya want to get me! RED beard of ocracoke out watch out

update of the last week, OMG!

2009-08-01T23:12:00.002-04:00

ok! so i am back in the land of 3-G networks, when we left off i was in culpeper virginia building mike campbell's cat wood kiln. so here we have some more progress in part one of this story. so we see the arch all alone with now wall support and then a shot of the wall going up. hey if they are out of order too bad, i aint got time to rearrange them, forget it, he he. We also see my trusty, crusty, dusty main man will baker demonstrating the fashionable nitrile dipped gloves i got at home depot (they turned out to suck big time fell apart!) the other shot is of an old ceramics store turned latino church. i love this sign, i passed it several times on my excursions into town. I went to wally world a couple times to get supplies, also to a great metal shop, they guy had some wild stuff in the yard!!! i loved the multiple 57 chevies laying amongst the large machines ranging from the early 20's to modern AC units for large buildings! great stuff. anyway, i will now move to part duex D shane

have u seen this man!?

2009-07-26T08:38:00.003-04:00

well, he is a wanted man, but only by a certain individual, if you see him, grab him and send him to counter agent aquamarine! seriously folks! anyway the kiln crew is here in virginia, busted out our first day saturday. i am out in the field gathering materials (i.e. ihop breakfast and wifi!) while my assistant is busily working, he he. you can see from the pics we had a good first day, followed by a thunderstorm of the likes i have never seen, crazy! well, gotta run before the crew gets suspicious! see u at ihop or chilis where i can get internet. D-shane

body is fine

2009-07-21T07:19:00.003-04:00

ok, so here is what the kiln looks like after the body is fully built, door finished, and irons painted. I am adding the irons painted as standard to all future soda/salt kilns, just a good idea i think. The door and some other parts of the kiln are different colors. Cynthia had a lot of various brick tucked in a variety of places on her property and i used everything that was usable and when those resources ran out i switched to the new soft bricks we had bought. Unfortunately it wasn't until the top part of the door that i got to use these new brick. I much prefer using brand new brick, just use to it i guess. Last night i i tried to work on the burner stands but something told me it wouldn't go well, and it didn't! so now i have to get new materials and start over, sheez! Friday is coming up fast, I still need to get the irons started for the next kiln and what beats all is that my truck is still in the shop. Bessie is on a little health retreat! She better not need another one for a long time, as this is gonna hurt when its all said and done. I may spend more for her spa visit then she is actually worth. oh i shouldn't put that out in public, she may read this and get mad. anyway. i have to get the day started, wish me luck. capt. cone pack, "aka bobo"

attention to detail

2009-07-19T08:38:00.003-04:00

ok, so you've been following this kiln so far and as you see i enjoy my job! but yesterday was the part of the build that i love. The detail cuts! I am a nut for cutting brick. Most folks build with whole and half brick. I build with whole, half, 6 3/4 and 2 1/4 cuts. those are the normal cuts, in the last couple of pictures i uploaded you will see one of my more "creative cuts". It is part of the door wall where the brick is normally cut into an L shape. This is how i create the patented door flange on all the Mickey kilns. This particular brick also happens to have the shape of the arch cut into it, and yes this is a super duty hard brick! so those who have cut brick know what went into that. I do use a wet saw, in fact that's about all i use these days. I use to use my old compound miter saw to grind curves into the brick,but between the dust and having an abrasive blade explode on me, i stopped using it. well the body of the kiln is finished, some finishing details such as peep brick, castable in firebox, bagwall and the door are all that are left on the kiln. Next i move onto to plumbing the gas lines and building burner stands. It seems i will get about 2-3 days to clean my tools, pack my truck and head out to culpeper virginia for the next gig! ok, maybe some day soon i will make pots again! This potters life is anything but pottery at the moment but i love kiln building and it does help pay the bills. stay tuned capt cone pack

more progress, some time off

2009-07-18T09:24:00.004-04:00

so, i am moving along on cynthia's kiln, got the kiln irons up, arch form built, arch in place as you can see! i was just starting on the complex cuts for the hardbrick that go under the arch when my blade died. I couldnt find one locally so i had to run to asheville thursday night, made a night of it. stayed at kyle carpenters place, got up and went to find a diamond blade, then visited the southern highland show and spent too much money, but got some nice stuff (no pots though). So in essence i took friday off! yippee. My old undergraduate buddy michael lease is assisting a class at penland, so him and the instructor stayed here last night. We had an amazing feast of sirloin from hickory nut gap farms, salad, broccoli, and rice. michael and i stayed up late catching up. i rounded off the night with a midnight chat session with my favorite person (WINK WINK). now its time to try to get this old train rolling again. see u people on the funny farm! D-Shane

bringling away

2009-07-15T21:17:00.003-04:00

ok, so today was one of those days that can just drag onnnnnn...... See, it all started with the welder's wire feed motor kicking off every second weld! half an hour later i would be back melting metal. this went on for a very long time. By the time i packed up the tools and materials i would need for the arch form and Kiln irons then drove to cynthia's studio it was at least 3:30! then i was missing a piece of metal, had to run into town. SHEEZ! so i got back after that trip, and raised the irons in place, then proceeded to begin to mock up the arch and build the arch form. Mocking up an arch can be frustrating when the brick are off a little and this is not uncharted territory for me (Penland salt '06) so i silently (probably singing outloud while playing air guitar) worked on laying out different patterns of brick while listening into what was coming out of my earbuds. eventually i noticed the sun had gone from the sky and was pretty happy with the arch i had layed out. I decided it was time to sleep on it and see what i think in the mornign. the pictures i posted are from this afternoon cutting and welding the irons. I felt that spark that is about to hit my head in the cutting picture, truley did. Other injuries today; back (of course, whiney bitch i am), sore toe (brick!), a blood blister on my forarm from carrying brick, this is actually not a common injury and seems like it should be? anyway, i wish all my fellow artists good luck down at the southern highland craft guild show in asheville. If you dont have plans this weekend you should go out and spend some money at this wonderful show. later taters captain cone pak

updates and such

2009-07-11T17:24:00.004-04:00

so, i have to admit, that the exciting world of old friends on facebook has held my computer time attention lately, hence, no blogging. sorry to those ofyou who do look in on occasion! anyway, after school let out, evan and i took a trip up to maryland to see some friends and family. it was nice to take about a month off from the studio, my back is feeling better some days, and continuing to do excersices helps alot. the break is over and I am itching, needing to make pots. I am nearly out of pots and what is left is a mish mash of pottery. First things first is what u see in the pictures. I am currently working on cynthia bringles new cross draft salt kiln. Me and Eric destroyed the old kiln and after about four truckloads of old useless brick going to the dump, i had the slab clean and have started to build back the new kiln. I am hoping to wrap this job up soon and prepare for mike campbell's wood kiln construction in virginia the last week of this month. i will (as i always promise) try to get back into the blogosphere especially when i get back in the studio which will hopefully be soon! and inaugust i get to take my sweetie and her daugther to the beach for much needed R@R. then back to the classroom for the fall semester. I am doing five days a week, so if you think your commute is bad, wait to hear my stories this fall. be good out there folks.

cashin in? doubt it!

2009-03-15T10:18:00.003-04:00

so its overdue for some news from me. i pushed through to the firing, for once i was 90% on time, just glazed a little on the day of loading. loading went fine i think maybe 9 hours to load. the firing as far as stoking,climbing etc went awesome. I pieced together a tank (thanks tomczak) and a burner to eliminate some unneeded ash and also the headach of the overnight candle. This rig allowed me and the crew to rest and start up bright and early. pat houston started the firing off at 7am, by 10pm we had finished off the front and started on the back section. by midnight we had finished the back. By far the best temperature we have seen in awhile, 11 down front, 10 bent in middle and 11 down in back. but, at the risk of world wide web embaresment, the cold bubble we are experiencing from the redesign is still with us, so there was some loss by participants. add to that my turqouise glaze went haywire and youget yourself one bad firing. Time to think, regroup and decide what to do. A gas kiln would make life easier but even with my current resources would still be costly. gotta think on it, but as of now a quick heatup in a loca gas kiln and then maybe some alterations to the kiln and try again, i gots tons of wood, so why not? we will see! ok now onto my images, does everyone have to upload, then go back in and arrange the html and put text where you want it? because thats what i have attempted the last post and this one and man its time consuming!!!! this little vase was near the end of my cycle, made about 12 of these, i really like where they are going, unfortunately not many came out as they were mostly glazed with my fucked up turqouise glaze! this is a shot of the loading of ron(corncakes) slagle's scultptures. they came out awesome! dont forget that commision check ronnie LOL Evan hidding behind his UB funkey, the pineapple king, dont ask! A group of small vases with my new amber, i subed out the alberta for barnard, what i got was a cross between amber and lucas, i loved it on vases but bowls etc, emmmm, NO, looks uninviting and with all that barnard probably is! The pitcher to the left was out of the very back, we got some great stuff out of the tail end this time, very uplifting after unloading the cold bubble spot! the vase on the right was from i dont know where, but i like the way the new amber breaks on the texture! sweeeet. well bringle sister blowout today, evan and i will attend that function. and onto school work and house chores. Ya know whats weird is that i have been approached lately by two graduating potters from furman and earlham for apprenticeships! crazy! Bad year for it as business will likely be slow, but when i am in full production i could use an extra set of hands. Hope one of them works out. ok gotta go. later shane

late night with the captin

2009-02-21T00:39:00.003-05:00

yhea, so this is me at midnight, loookin goooood mickey, looking good. Ladies?? a nice handle detail, love little handles...smoooooch. something about friday night after long day at the office (a little drama today!) gettin the boy to sleep and just diving into it,,,, PABST THAT IS. put some bottoms on some gnome jars tonight, slipped handles, loaded bisque, slipped mugs and teabowls. and got thru it all with some help from mothers little helper. now closin in on 1am and i am sleepy, got to shout out to maggie and freeman jones down the mt. whats up! bring them snake jugs and pine slabs OOonn man! Evan and I will have to find some trouble to get into tommorow so watch out for us. to all the peeps in the hoood..MITCHEL COUNTY REPRESENTIN BIOOOTCHS. scorpions rock! rock you like a hurricane. bobo out

school BIZ

2009-02-18T15:07:00.003-05:00

hey all, i said i wanted to post some pics of school so i quickly shot these. here we have lauren, adam, jen(obscured) loading the gas kiln, a shot of the throwing room, and then the glaze/handbuilding room with glen,phyllis,roxy and molly busily glazing to get theirs in the kiln, good luck. anyway no updates for me, just working, making pots at night, trying to keep the head above water. see ya folks.

moving along

2009-02-08T12:44:00.006-05:00

so its about time for my monthly update, sad i know but hey, i try. not really ha ha so the last time i posted i had decided on firing again, i have been chuggin along trying to squezze in studio time around school, lisa's schedule, and of course evan! its been tough at times and i have gotten a little down about my whole situation right now, but i am determined to keep my head up. I had also started to get healthy lately, mostly not snackin as much and not eating junk food, and those who know, know i love my little debbies, peanut M&M, etc. I also started walking and that has turned into jogging/walking. after about three weeks of this i am up to three- four times a week in which i walk about 3/4 mile and jog the about 1 1/4 -1.5 miles. I already notice a big difference in my energy levels! so i am determined to keep this up, also the solitude i get for that hour is just priceless. Ok onto the images i posted, they are from the last couple days. i posted some pitchers freshly thrown and then the after pics, also the single shot pitcher was my favorite of that batch. a detail of a highball cup's texture, i have started playing with variety of stampings on one cup, not ground breaking but i like getting mired down in details. This mornign evan joined me in the studio for a bit of company, but he quickly retreated to the house to continue working on his inventions, constructions etc. Well coming up for me is more school (which is gettin more an more enjoyable! and thats dangerous), firing the first weekend of march, OH April 5th -18th i will be workshopin at Penland school. I am teachign a two week soda kiln building and pottery making class, so that will be awesome! two weeks at camp penland baby! anyway i will try to update with some stuff at school soon as i have never put anything up on here about school so that is overdue. i also have an idea to start documenting my drive and what i do to pass the 1.5 hour journey three times a week, wow! thats nine hours aweek in my truck! time ya just cant get back. maybe one day i will have my dream efficiency apartment over a little neighborhood pub in downtown morganton so that sometimes i can just stay down there. time will tell. so to all the potters out there worried about hocking your wares this year in this bad recession, lets keep our heads up, and noses to the wheel, and if its gets real ugly we can all meet up and use our power of numbers to get thru this! good luck all and be sure to misbehave often love ya captain conepac

what is he thinking!!!!!

2008-12-20T23:10:00.003-05:00

yhea, those in the know, know what i am saying, you see the wood a stackin, clay will soon be slappin. Corncakes and I are gonna light it up again. but hey whats a guy to do? spring will be here eventually and i gotta have pots ready as now i dont have too much to show, so back to work. School was finished on monday, so i have been cutting stackin wood for the house hoping to get ahead of the fire now that its been warm, wet, but warm. a christmasy shot of my nieces ,nephews, mom and mack's presents preshippment. SANTA IS COMING KIDDIES! I love the holidays, more than most people realize and christmas music, OHHH SHIITT, LOVE IT! Evan is enjoying his time home since school has let out, He is showing signs of creativity so we are in for trouble. And lets not forget my girl jessie or as her nick name of late, "old bird dog".2009 is just around the corner and i think its going to be an interesting year for me. I think me and Ronnie will fire up teh kiln round mid to late feb. I think i am going to get a gas tank for the preheat this time, fuck it i aint getting any younger. itching to make some pots for sure. then in April I got the penland soda kiln class, maybe even squezze in the NC potters conference. well gotta get on to whatever i am not doing, 0h and one more thing to my local peeps, i say bring on the snow bioootchss bobo out>

tour weekend update

2008-12-08T11:30:00.003-05:00

well us folks that have a part time gig and were not officially on the tour scouted out the action to see what went down. seems most reported normal traffic but sales seemed to be down for most, that was well expected i believe. Me? well i did hang a shingle out at the bottom of the driveway, and did manage to catch a few cars over the weekend but only sold a few real pots and unloaded some pots from the seconds table, wish i could have gotten rid of it all, so if your in need of some old anagama pots or even a set of flawed bowls, look me up. I told the family unit i needed to be in the studio sunday for sales but actually only wanted to watch the sunday football games, they knew what i was up to. Evan had a sale! and was an amazing salesman, maybe to forward, but driven! the last few pics are of work out of the last firing and i just thought i'd be nice to put them up, nothing fancy though. hope all are well and behaving themselves. I for one plan to misbehave!! bobo out

at school

2008-12-05T15:15:00.002-05:00

no updates, just want to keep this active, sad i know, what have i been doing, alot of nothing probably, mostly runnin around. finished my wholesale orders back in early november, had one snobby gallery who i will refrain from outing here, said my work was not of a high enough quality, i think they were high on something! ha. one thing i have been doing is splittin wood, not for the kiln but the house, never ending as i was behind. mostly school and more precisly my art appreciation lecture class has eating up alot and i mean ALOT of my time. but next semester the lectures will be reaady since i saved them all as power point. the book is a brand new edition so hopefully i wont need to rewrite anythign for some time, just tweek it some. i love western piedmont communtiy college, we have alot of fun and get shit done. my boss courtney long is awesome and we work amazingly well together. i would like to post a picture of the whole clan before too long, we will see. Future? where next, what? well hopefully i can pull off a firing before the rosen show and go do it, money willing! then i will hopefully be busy making pots. April 5-18 i am teachintg a two week soda firing class at penland school where we will build and fire twice at least a cross draft kiln much like the one pictured here. so if your up for it come join me. well its a glaze factory in the classroom, everyone is going nuts, next week is the last full week so we got at least two cone ten firings and probably a few cone six also, fun fun. adding one more photo, rauschenberg baby!!!! Although this art apprec class was alot of work, i did enjoy rereading the textbook, its been along time. hope everyone out there is good, happy, and prosperous, hold tight folks, hold tight. daddy loves ya shane

she's back

2008-09-16T19:42:00.003-04:00

well, after a succesful mint show, and bouncing back and forth to school. i managed to fire my kiln, see above. the mint show was a blast, kyle carpenter and i stayed out the luxurious amersuites hotel chain! we stayed up drinking high quality brews and debated life, pottery, and as usual business. love ya kyle! the studients at school have been cranking. i moved into our new office for part time professional crafts instructors. and i get dizzy watching our fearless leader courtny long as she whirrrrs around the studio and school doing more stuff than one person should be able to do! she makes us all look lazy and slow. the pots have flowed very well the last three weeks managed to pump out a few hundred pots utilizing the weeeee hours of the morning for almost every night, by the time the kiln was loaded and lit i got a beer and sat in the captians chair and immediatly went to sleep! thank god for mike" the hammer" smith! he rolled in from ktown after work and stayed up all night candling all the greenware! the crew was awesom pat "the bear" houston came over thursday to load but i was still glazing, he took his time glazing and we put off loading till friday. we rocked out all day and all night playin air gitar and watching the ball game. the north mitchell all stars played tag team and the rump shaker pulled an all nighter with the hammer and i to finish the thing off at four am! our special guests were Rasta Tom, who loves to come in as an anchor,and he and mikeknow how to lay pipe! Ron "corn cakes" slagle had come up to taste the spring creek waters,he supplied pots, help and of course amazing food! so the kilnis cooling and uploaded some sneak peaks will get all the pots out on thursday, lookin forward to it bobo out

HOLY SHIT

2008-08-27T06:48:00.002-04:00

hey peeps man over twenty days without a post, well most know i am covered up, swamped, overwhelmed,etc. I decided to move my firing back to early september, just couldnt get things going. i failed to figure in fall semester starting, evans school starting, plus lisa working, and a kiln i had to build, whew... so i got the kiln built and fired for loraine middleton, its a nice sized traditional downdraft salt. the might will back, or as he is known to me, willis, Junior, rump shaker, walllace and grommet, oh the list goes on, went down the last three days to help out. well back on the homefront we have been juggling lisa's schedule, evans scheule and i forgot how much prep goes into a lecture class, at least i am using power point which i think brings me closer to the computer ageness. So now that we have settled into schools, and what not i am focusing on making pots at a break neck pace. some picutres here of a huge gypsy moth nest, i threw my bucket of throwing water/slip on them take that! plus my work lists for the studio and some pots out of linda;s last fiiring. ok so probably see you in another twenty. shane

back from philly

2008-08-06T12:34:00.002-04:00

once again, it has been awhile since i posted, so here is the scoop. i had been working on a group of pots for a firing in my kiln which turned into a firing in linda mcfarlings salt kiln, also finished up the summer session at school, then drove up to philly for the buyers market show. the trip was fun and made a new friend in jason probstein, he makes wonderful glass ornaments and other stuff. anyway the buyers were thin at the show but i believe for my first show i faired very well. most folks were very open with their figures and how they were doing, seems it was a tough show for folks. i picked up some very nice galleries and am very pleased with the rosen group! they treat you very well and take great care of their artists. i meet some wonderful folks there also. now its time to make lots and lots of pots and get the kiln fired by months end! lots to do, i will try to post my progress. shane

beach blues

2008-07-20T21:23:00.004-04:00

well back in bakersville, although i love this town, i have a bad case of the beach blues! i posted a pic of my family unit, thank god it was a big house as you can judge by the number of us in the photo. we had a great time and plan to go back in three years time to do it again. evan and i worked in the stuido today, i slipped pots and loaded the electric, evan made one of his signature scultpures. this one is called dynamite! It is inspired by the myth busters episode we watched while working where they created avalanches (with you guessed it, dynamite). busy times ahead for this salty dog, last full week of summer school, then loading linda's kiln late in the week, workshop in rock hill this weekend and all the little nuts and bolts i need to do to prep for philly buyers market which is in a little over a week. well no time to waste, gotta run. shane

day four peeps

2008-07-15T22:49:00.002-04:00

so just wanted to tell everyone that the dreaded day four has come and gone. i say that becuase that is when the freshness of all the cousins getting together has worn off and they have to actually deal with each other. so evan and nate went out with us to get provisions, fighting the whole time, came back, then they split evan stayed at the houses pool and nate and I and some others went to the beach and enjoyed the rough surf(we had a tornado warning like 50 miles south!). then after dinner lisa, holly(lil'sis) her husband stevie, nate, evan and I went out for dessert, well lets just say it went very rough! then on the way home we looked across the sound or bay whatever and were struck by the sunset! wow as we rolled slowly up to our road i snapped off a picture literally no settings just thought do it quick what teh hell, you judge the picture for yourself, i think its fucking amazing for a quick shot. anyway more tommorow. oh yhea we have all decided that MTV needs to do a reality show on our vacations, never a dull moment!

pre dinner show

2008-07-13T16:02:00.006-04:00

we had to share our beach spot with these little guys, he is hard tosee great camo! and seagull will snap them up if they are seen. i was glad to see these guys cause we are use to seeing these little sand crabs by the dozen (sounds tasty huh?) on ocracoke. here is a fine example of the little man running with a shark he just snatched out of the ocean, if you believe that i got some property down here i will sell ya! so here we have evan and his cousin nate playin onthe beach ok lisa wants to go cruise the town of duck, so off we go. maybe i can talk her into stopping by a bar. later

goodmorning

2008-07-13T07:05:00.002-04:00

wake up people! time for to hit the ocean. its 7am and i am ready but the house is quiet. gotta get going. check in later

alohaehh

2008-07-12T21:18:00.001-04:00

just a quickie folks, arrived at duck with the whole family twenty of us. great house, went to the beach tonight, its a short walk, swam and now its pbr time! will take pictures this week and post them, promise. later shane

hello folks

2008-07-08T09:30:00.002-04:00

well, justa quick jump in here. went to the saw mill with evan last night expecting to cut and load a bundle of wood, or what would fit in my truck. saw the owner drive by and gave him a call. the good news is he is still delivering but the price has went up some, thats ok and is expected. i always told him he should charge more and maybe the current gas prices finally got to him. we all love milan! our wood man! so got three large bundles ofhis driest poplar heading my way! for you local woodies, he has about six more bundles laying around and plenty of odd old boards, kline? siding? you should go look at it in the field and talk to milan. well gotta go prep the drop area and cutthe odd pieces that have been layin around for several months. i still have a bundle in a half of hickory and black gum mix, i didnt care for it the last timei fired but need to get it cleaned up. got class today, looking forward to school we are doing serving pieces for our dinnerware sets! i am making the lady a couple of cassaroles. see ya in the hood folks shane

one step closer!

2008-07-06T10:22:00.004-04:00

wow, so yesterday i built the arch form and crammed, slammed and beat the supproting arch under the main anagama arch. this is actually the way the front of an anagama should terminate. i didnt do this with the first version of the kiln and actually had a pretty loose front end after, oh i think four years of firing. i believe i fired the original kiln 9 times? i'd have to look into that. anyway, before we left for a shopping trip to asheville and a tourists baseball game i quickly cast the keystone and a litle bit of filler in and behind the supporting arch. this morning i went out and dropped the arch form to see how she looked. well in typical fashion since i am not paying myself it may not look beautiful but she is rock solid. I am happy with the structural integrity of the front now, plus the whole reason for this change was to shorten the firing, lessen the ash on the pots, and allow the kiln to be fired in a more neutral atmosphere, and finally to take away about two hundred or so pots needed to fire the beast. Our pot counts usually were around 550 for a firing with a fair number of large pieces to close to 700 for a table ware firing or mostly smallish pots. I found i didnt like firing two to three times a year. The current loading plan will take around 350- 500 pots something that me and a couple stokers can do every two to three months. well now i gotta gather some more wood, andmake pots. the kiln stillneeds some finishing touches such as the fiber and mud, and a new door built, plus the cleaning and washing of the thing since it will be salted. but those can wait, pots and wood are more important at this point. i just may be able to pull off a july firing, so those who want to get in should belly up to the bar now. off to the studio shane

going up!!!!!!!

2008-07-04T17:04:00.008-04:00

yet another day out in the smelly cat litter box! yhea the local cats have been using the sand as their personal toilet. i guess a permanant wooden door to keep them out would be well worth the time. yesterdays kiln demolition and begining of the rebuild really zapped me out, so luckily i had two able bodies assistants with me. the man in blue basically threw dirt all day and dug large holes, while his counterpart joe cool just sat there behind his shades with a blank look onhis face. really didint know what he was thinking about so i kept to myself. on a serious note i need to build thesupport arch and then do some castable to patch some holes and i will be ready to fire, except another hundred pots and wood, wadding oh god! technically i added a front buttress wall at the termination of the kiln walls, and a firebox that will accept grates and stillallow for some pots down in the coals. i wanted to rebuld the chimney and open up the exit flue a bit but may just blow that off and see how she rolls. well gotta get cleaned up for the fourth of july. take it greasy.

coming down!!!!!

2008-07-03T13:55:00.003-04:00

well here i go, started on the redesign of the anagama today, had to stop to eat and finish some pots that were drying out. i have removed the foundation rocks and the front of the foundation wall, unzipped the arch pretty far back. i found the dirt behind the brickwork very interesting and it smelled like fireworks! funny timing for that smell. i will dig out the very front stacking area and put grates there. i believe the hardest thing will be trying to tie in the new front buttress wall with supporting arch under the original arch, whew! hurts just thinking of it. i will also do the same to the back exit flue area, unzipp it and make the exit flue larger. i need to also take down the chimney, i want to taper it, make it shorter, and redo the damper slot. this will require some scaffolding as the current chimney is 15 feet tall. so far i have removed close to 300 straights and 80 arch brick, assume to get about 100-200 brick out of the chimeny, can you say gas salt kiln!? maybe we will see. ok off to get a burger then back at it. shane

potsarrazi spotted!

2008-07-03T00:34:00.003-04:00

well well well, here we have caught in the action, our residnet blogomaniac! yes folks that is the ever present michael kline! i spotted him snappin images for his blog (come on it will be there tommorow for sure!) so the potsarazzi has been razzied!??? oh my my. i followed our specimen around and shot a few other pics, but this one of him playin dad was great! really in action here. we were all up at the penland fourth celebration/ ice cream social. god bless penland for there community support and good times. evan ran around like a maniac as did all our kids, our little town is so nice and the space infront of the pines works so well for family gatherings that we just let the kids be kids. Mark peters and i hung for some time and watched the madness and discussed the finer points of pots, people,life and the difference between busch and pabst! sorry mark pabst is the blue ribbon beer! just kiddin. we did get a kick out of the fireworks and i had been waiting to try the fireworks setting on my camera, worked good till it actually got dark and the shutter speed slowed, or maybe to many pabst and bush? got home in time to square some teabowls and add some surface to them. well really really late, kiln waiting on me in the morning, later s

goins on

2008-07-02T10:02:00.004-04:00

well another week gone by in this potters life! managed to work on some pots as you can see. the teapots are the first ones to get my new surface treatments and in the group shot of various pots there is a pitcher that has been cheese cut or faceted with a cheese cutter. the other pics are of our river camping trip i only put up the pictures of jessie and nevi maybe i will add one of evan later, i suddenly feel odd putting him up on the internet? guess there is no harm but its weird. i was scheduled to start on the kiln today but our ex neighbors (across the creek) son has abandonded his pack of dogs and the shelter director had to collect the six crazy dogs. its a real shame when people do this,. i called the polica and lodged a formal complaint and am thinking of pressing charges for animal cruelty. in this county nothing is ever done about this so its probably a waste of time. now that the dogs are taken care of maybe we will just let it go. i also needed to take some pictures of gays redneck beaver damn, not that she is a redneck, but the damn is definitly country in its style. the biggest part of that is all the trash it collects, you really see how bad people still are about their trash!! well evan is itching to work in the studio, he as been making caterpillar houses and even a walle sculpture, which by the way we all went to see yesterday in asheville, if your not in the know of kids movies, WALL-E is thenew pixar movie. its about the robot that cleans up the mess left on the abandonded earth and when a newer bot comes down from the distant earth ship he falls in love,etc etc. wont give it all away, but its a great movie with a green message! i give it two thumbs up and evan said he gives it sixty hundred thousand thumbs up! WOW! thats alot of thumbs people. time to go work in clay. shane

updates people

2008-06-25T19:45:00.002-04:00

well for those who do check in from time to time, here is a update. i recently fired western piedmonts gas kiln with my students work, we unloaded today, and everyone was happy with there pots, good for me. been makin pots at night, but very slowly. i will drag my sorry ass out again tonight and actally take images of my latest pots. i moved onto gays rock work to combat the evil beaver population that is eroding her driveway, 10 tons of rocks to go peeps! wanna help? other than the usual i am knee deep in my search for the elusive 1991 geo metro convertable, well the convertable part is needed but would assure me spruce pine montessori schools car of the year since the evil klineanators awesome honda has finally passed on. seriously, the 1991 metro was rated at 43 mpg! and every year after that it got lower until it reached somewhere in the low thirties! and some believe the oil tycoons are not evil, HA! so if you know of anyone sitting on a nice 1991 five speed 1.o litre fire red convertable geo metro give them my info! well back to teh web to search

aftermath

2008-06-17T20:30:00.002-04:00

well, i posted that the tour was bad on saturday, and it was even worse on sunday, i have never done that poorly on the tour! it left me in a lurch financially and i am back to the grind of early mornig work -teaching-after teaching work, and maybe i can even get into the studio! i have taken the etsy plunge and we will see how it goes. been asking for tips from other sellers, looks like i need alot of items up and alot of relisting to do! we are getting ready to fire the reduction kiln down at western piedmont community college, i am so excited! cant wait to see how it goes. Well gotta get out to the studio and handle some pitchers, trim some pilsners, and maybe throw some pots too. have fun out there. shane

tour day one

2008-06-14T21:50:00.002-04:00

well, ran back down to ashvegas to get patio furniture, went fine got back around 11:30/ lunchish hoped for some traffic. It started off ok, but man the sky let loose around 1pm. next thing theres flash flood warnings, man. so no more visitors the rest of the day. glad i wasnt counting on this tour,(wipes tears from eyes) bye bye. bobo

week in a life

2008-06-13T08:08:00.002-04:00

well, its funny, i thought i was keepin up but now a week has almost gone by! so what has shane been up to, well as you know teaching is taking up a good chunk of each day and four days days a week, and the gas is killing me! over 300 dollars in two and half weeks! ouch. so a typical day latley has been as follows, up at 6am and out the door by seven to go do some handyman/ construction jobs, leave for western peidmont comm college by 11:30. teach from 1-4:30, then head home, the drive to school or from school to home is averaging around and hour and 20 mins. once home i do some things around the house, dishes, laundry, cut grass, dinner whatever, then if i can scrape myself off the couch i go to the studio to work usually around 8 or 9. i usually work till my eyes feel really tired, you know that feeling? sure you do. so no ohhhs or oh poor him, its a potters life, not a vetern potters life, a potters life, remember i have been making pots for over 15 years, but only six to seven years full time, so when the economy goes to shit and sales slow down i gotta reach down deep into that bag of tricks and find a way to make the benjimans roll in. not ashamed of admiting that one! after i start pulling long days like these i really start to feel better about myself, i believe i was meant to work long and hard, my father (rest in peace pops!) was a millright and let me tell you, those bastards work very hard and long hours too. i actualy wanted to join the local union he was involved in when i graduated high school, but he would have non of that, he wanted his children to go to college, i did so, but the first two years were a joke! when i had to transfer to a real college i landed at frostburg state university in western md. kickaround and eventually found the art dept. when i declard that major (second or third one!) my dad wished he had let me join the union then baby, he was pissed off. its funny though, he worked with his hand in what my opinion was a craft, as they say "engineers design it, millrights build it." think about that for a minute, when you start something out that you design to build it never goes together quite right? no extrapolate that out to a large power house turbin, or other large scale something or other. yep thats about right. lisa is upstairs waking evan up so we can run to asheville and look at patio furniture! so better run, and end this ramble. s

busy,busy busy

2008-06-08T11:48:00.002-04:00

sorry its been so long, wheww! fired of the bowls and platters last night, been running like crazy. i think i may be pushing to hard but oh well, gotta keep up with the smiths, or johnsons, whatever. no pics, but i will get some up some time, maybe after i unload the kiln. i am headng to philly buyers market so i need to start getting ready for that even though its in august, pots to make, kiln to rebuild or make fireable whichever is easier. wel just a quick post, more later

garde time

2008-05-31T18:45:00.004-04:00

well i ran out and got some bark chips for lisa's flower bed, then stopped and picked up a friends tiller, lisa is happy since she can FINALLY! get the plants she started into the garden. one of the coolest things is she is going to grow evan a sunflower hut! she planted a circle of large sunflowers and i guess will train them into a canopy. i shot a picture of the garden after i tilled it and am also including one of the deck. LOOK FOLKS, ITS A HUGE LAUNDRY DRYER! the deck still needs some little odds and ends but we like it so far. i did skimp on the lowest deck, instead of digging two more holes i just used deck blocks, it was easier. diggin holes on our property is more like digging watermelon sized rocks up. it plain sucks! just ask will baker about bertha! the 300lb rock we removed. anyway back in the studio tonight to trim platters and start pots for my july firing, yep i have to do it. i committed to he philly buyers market and now the kiln needs to be revived and pots made, no more leanin on other peoples kilns. now the hardest part of the new kiln will be which crew members get to stay on, no more crews of 8-12 with cars full of pots arriving, i now smith will be on, hell been firing together for over a decade now! mike the hammer as we call him. well,gotta get back to it. s

ramblins

2008-05-31T11:20:00.003-04:00

well, friday was one of those odd days, alot went on,but really seemed like a not alot at the same time. started teh day off trying to work out my fall schedule at western piedmont comm college, turns out that the way me and the coordinator were running the numbers was way wrong, so instead of going down five days a week and trying to make big $ i will insead go down three days a week and make less $. this is fine with me as i need those other days to make pots, and work around the house. after that am tussle, i made two large pizza's for the montessori schools beach potluck, we all went to a local lake the kids played, while all the adults breathed deep for the up coming summer! i then went to get the arts councils auction stage that had been left at the building where it was last used, ended up talking for over an hour with tracs gallery manager, kathryn is wonderful! then micheal rutkowski came in and we had a lengthy talk as well, i really like micheals pots and he truly makes alot of pots,i admire that! so off i went to collect some pay for demo and then home to cut grass, i love cutting grass, get my headphones on and go go go. i did manage to throw a couple more of the 14 platters last night and this morning after towing a friends car home for him i got back into make a couple more, i thin i am at 8 or 10 now so only four more to go! i tell you what, i normally dont make these large serving bowls or platters in such large strings, but boy you really learn alot when you sit and throw the same pot and its even more true for larger pieces. i remeber when it was considered bad as a studio potter to work in large numbers of one form, oh your a "production" potter, hell yes! more folks who dont work that way should. anyway, while i have been throwing i have been struggling with the news that evans school will have an open position for a teachers asst. i know the pay is probably low and it would kill pottery making, but man i would love to be in that school full time! such a wonderful enviornment for kids to learn. its so differnt from public schools in its basic structure, there are no long rows of desks facing forward, the kids move around so freely and help each other. its just great. anyway, gootta get back to the clay, came in for water and here i sit typing. gonna throw in some mugs, small pitchers, and a pie dish as extras in this commision firing. till later. s

short week, but tired

2008-05-29T19:39:00.002-04:00

so i finished my first week at western piedmont, feel like i got to know the students inthe class, plus the two additional auditors, so its nice, we have had stimulating conversations, and they are making good pots. so far. i am worried about overcommiting and losing steam on the pottery fronts, but we shall see. i am very tired today, between teaching, then evan/dinner while lisa has been away, then pots at night, and late night shane screwing daytime shane (lisaism!) then repeat, i think i might only work till nine or ten tonight, plus that icy cold sixer of the blue ribon variety and my little friend will likely make it a short night. so bobo's of the world, watch out, as master bobo, king bobo, captian bobo are gonna get out of control tonight. (yes i realize its only six beers, but i am getting old!) so bring the kids in, tie up the pets,. here we gooooooo.... bobo out

back in the grind

2008-05-28T07:57:00.003-04:00

again, this post title has two sides, first back in academia! taught my first class at western piedmont community college yesterday, it was fun, small class which i enjoy. the students seem great. i also saw my fall schedule and it was more than i bargined for but think i will keep it, and try the multi day commute! the other side of the title is sad in most peoples eyes, but those who know me are aware that i hide nothing when it comes to my tv addiction. one of my must sees is deadlyist catch! i have folks say, "oh, thats that reality show on discovery" i dont agree its more like a documentry, as its these folks job and its real, where as most reality tv isnt real at all. anyway the king crab season ended on the series last night, and what i have been waiting for is coming up soon the "oppi season" or ophelia crab, its really wild as i guess winter really closes in on this season, or maybe they fish further north, but it is just amazing to watch those boats go thru those heavy heavy seas. well enough ramblin about tv, got many things to do before class today, ship a big pot to the mint musuem, some prep for class, and throw a couple platters for the camp spring creek order, i will post a picture of all the serving bowls i threw the other day, the platters are taking a little longer and are more weight so i am working slowly at it. well have a great day world, see ya on the highway! shane

trying to shoot images once again

2008-05-26T08:53:00.006-04:00

so i have added some pictures i took with my new setup. i havent shot my own work since the days of film. its been at least seven years i bet. at one time i was really good with a manual 35mm camera and slide film. i am learning the technical ropes of my camera. the only glitch to work out is the compression, seems to be too much. i have started work on a commision for camp spring creek just up the road,20 serving bowls and 10 platters. we traded for one on one tutoring for evan, he has really learned alot in the past six months, alot is due to suzie his tutor, she is great. well gotta go trim th 24 big bowls i threw yesterday. later

back home

2008-05-24T14:25:00.002-04:00

so, i went yesterday morning to meet with a client for my august kiln. went well, stop ate some chinese, way to much chinese! then on to charlotte to pick up some clay. luckily the folks at carolina clay stayed open for an extra half hour. got the clay and headed home, well to loafers glory campground to do a night of camping with lisa and evan. i like this campground, the river down in loafers glory is just amazing, some of the most beautiful i have seen in this area, go check it out. spent most of today rigging up a photo setup in my studio,and now am relaxing until the opening at crimson laurel gallery for potters of the roan tonight at six pm. be there or be square. later

DEMO PICS

2008-05-21T08:54:00.004-04:00

goodmorning, i tried to post yesterday but vista has started acting like a crazy person does. i have heard about it and now those great mac comercials are even more on the money. anyway.... so i was really beat down yesterday, feeling sick, bad weather, etc. so i did absolutly nothing, except dishes. now i need to do office work, pay some bills, and order brick for an upcoming kiln. also a visit to charlotte to do a site visit for a kiln later this year, pick up some clay, and hopefully stop by and see jeffpender and his little girl. so i am posting pictures of the arts centered demo i spoke of the other day, and trying not to get sucked into the old western classic, "My darling Clemintine" love old westerns for those who dont know that. yep! gotta run, be good bobo out

arts centered demo

2008-05-17T17:17:00.002-04:00

today, a group from our local clay center in bakersville came out for a demo. I knew most of the usual suspects so it was more like alot of old friends coming out to see what i have been up to. we all had a great time. i need to snap some shots of the deck as its almost finished! well stage one, we want to add planters, benches, and whatever else lisa can dream up for my honey do list. Lisa and evan had went down the road to visit our local grist mill, jack dillinger runs the old family mill on saturdays grinding corn for locals. they went across the creek and encountered a small family of turkeys. Evan decided he was going to catch one and bring it home, a noble plan until momma turkey caught onto it. surfice to say they both ended up in the creek as momma turkey came after them! missed out on that one. well gonna lay down for a while then get back at the deck. besides spongebob is on. later

montessori day

2008-05-16T16:56:00.002-04:00

today was totally unrealated to pottery, i was a substitute at evans montessori school. again, i love being their. today i spent the afternoon in the napping room, puting kids to sleep, always a challange. feeling not so good today also, one eye swelled shut, and feel generally unhealthy, i really thought the slice of pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwich and bbq chips would make me feel better!? guess not. the eye was probably due to allergies, and hopefully isnt pink eye. well we are of to dinner, braving sallies mt. view again, hopefully lisa wont get strike three there. she hasnt had good luck with this eating establishment in the past. so away we go. smack down tonight! batista bommmbbbbb! shane

sawdust without the dirt

2008-05-14T18:59:00.003-04:00

well, kline came over this afternoon and helped with the deck, always a good visit. made nice progress today, got the lower level framed and all the deckboards on and partially screwed down, step stringers in place with no treadsm, hate when a day ends without that glorious finish, i mean to make it all the way to having the stringers up and not finish it seems crazy, but i wouldve rushed those cuts, so best to wait. speakin of waiting, evan is anxouisly awaiting his mother to call. way tired at this point i am, so i put up the pictures i said i would. good evening. S

morining ritual

2008-05-13T07:35:00.001-04:00

hey all, well 7:30 am evan is having breakfast, me coffee, been working on lisa's graduation present, a deck! at first, not excited, but now hey i like how its shapin up. lisa is off for a nclex review in asheville, locked her keys in her car again, why cant she do that up here? i will officially start the countdown of re-entering academia, 14 days till my "production sets" class meets at western piedmont community college. no pics today, but will add some soon, things to do: finish deck, run keys to asheville!, return keg(still hurtin), decide what and when to do to kiln, still sitting waiting for me to rebuild her, sorryy lady! later shane

shane is a fool

2008-05-09T21:41:00.003-04:00

so, i said i would post more, so what do yoiu get? nothing, micheal kline makes me feel like a fool with all his posts, dont get me wrong, we are fast friends, i just suck at this, so i am at least posting agian. i am also testing the image, it may work on my laptop, so crossing fingers here. today was great, i was parent helper at evans school, we went on a field trip to a local playground, and i had a blast. love being at the school, spms rocks!. then we went to pick up a keg i had ordered for lisa's graduation and they dropeed the ball, so i called the heavy hitter, mike mcfarling, he is hooking us up. then off to lisa's pinning, what a wonderful event, i cried most of the time, tears of joy! tommorow is graduation for her, then a huge party here at the house. see those who know there. off for now, got beer to drink baby. oh saw a man on the news who had his coffin made to look like a can of pabst blue ribbon! awesome

happy new year old man winter

2008-01-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

so once again a year has slid by me! wow 2008! so we started the new year off with an overnight low last night of 9 degrees, i know some had it worse but that is still bad.i finished the year off with a firing in the anagama, was pretty bad for me and a couple others, but most faired pretty well. this year is shaping up to be a kiln building year, got one in feburary in floriday and working to secure two more for the spring. Also starting to add on to the kiln shed pour a pad for my new salt kiln and start the rebuild on the anagama, in previous posts i have mentioned i dont like the size i am working with, so i am going to make the anagama one third smaller. I will likely use the salt kiln as my main workhorse and fire the smaller anagama once a year maybe twice once i get things worked out. anyway off to bath the boy, i will try to update more often this year and figure why i cant post images, the video link works so i will try that soon.\ shane

been awhile!

2007-11-20T08:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, sometimes as i work in the studio, i notice that i dont get very far, recently the work has slowed to a crawl, i have started various surface treatments, and adornments that have made a 20min session of throwing and trimming 12 pilsner glasses into over an hour! Potters always say fall is their busy time, I have always agreed, what i didnt know was that if one does not be careful, the next thing you know you have not left enough time to make work. i am two weeks aways from loading the kiln, and have only made about one third the pots i need to make, nothing big has come off the wheel since my big pot session back in june, maybe subconscioulsy i am taking it easy? I have wanted to post about whats been going on in my life and kept telling myuself you need to post, then the devil on my shoulder says, hell no one reads it, stop wasting your time. I finally realized that this is more a diary for me as a way to clear some space upstairs, the head is busy and dizzy. Alot of this time away from the blog has been do to personal issues that i hesitate to write down. the rest has been to overbooking myself. October was a wonderful month, we held our second annual spruce pine potters market, this will grow to be one of those shows folks talk about and must attend. Also in octber it was evans birthday and this year we choose to have an actual party with his whole class, it was a blast. So on to pottery, right now i am teaching tuesday nights at the odyssey center in asheville, running a woodfire class, good group of students out there. we will load and fire in early december so it should be a cold one. i have much to think and do, so i must move back to the dusty studio, traditional NC pots are heavy on my mind, wanting to get down to catawba and connect with kim ellington. two kilns to build next year, and i want to redo my kiln situation. the gama is a large beast to manage and i need to rethink my production cycle, three firings a year is not healthy for me. so time will tell shane

jury duty

2007-09-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

Spent the day in Asheville jurying for the four county arts councils grants. What a wonderful experience that is, unlike the jury duty you thought of when you saw the title! i did get called up for that once, actually forgot about it and called halfway Thur the day, lucky me, the case was dropped or something. so being involved in arts councils affairs is always rewarding to me. i spent over three years on the Mitchell/ Yancey county arts council board and in the end just felt overwhelmed by my schedule, so to be asked to be involved again was nice. I truly feel all artists should get involved with their local arts council even at the smallest level. i have had peers complain about various aspects of our local arts council, its easy to get involved and put your opinion out there, so you cant complain if you don't want to be part of the solution. good day, Evan,and Lisa are playing ball with nevi as dusk sets, cant miss anymore of it. Shane

back from the mint

2007-09-09T10:11:00.000-04:00

ok so here is the dealio, i know about finding a market, i have had this explained many ways, and recently have become interested in some of these arts business camps, I'd like to hear what they say about niche markets and other aspects of the art business world, that's another time and post. the folks that show up for the mint museums potters market are well educated about pots! they know good pottery when they see it and when they walk in that giant white tent all they see is good pottery or even great pottery! This show every year re enforces to me the importance of putting myself in front of the right crowds. the trick now is to find other venues, or ways to put myself in front of good people who like good pots at a good price. All i need to say is that this show always turns out to be good, everyone was smiling and wanted to talk while we took down our booths, that's the earmark of a good show, we were all happy! time to find more like this one. For me one of the highlights of the weekend was when i tried to buy one of Ben Owen's pots and he insisted on trading with me! the other one was when a lady was looking at one of my larger side fired pots and Nick Jeorling walked buy and whispered in her ear, "he is one of my favorite potters". If it were possible i would take the respect and acknowledgment of my peers over monetary rewards any day of the week, but that doesn't put food on the table now does it. Gotta unload the trailer, clean the house, try to stay away from the brown liquor for a while. bobo out

comments now accepted

2007-09-06T13:30:00.000-04:00

ok, so i received word that some folks could not post comments, i found the button and now non members of the blogoshpere can post comments, lets hear em shane, still prepin for the mint

Mint museum show in charlotte

2007-09-04T19:51:00.000-04:00

Ok folks, now for the real deal, i talked in my last entry about a certain crappy show (yes, i'm still miffed!), but now i am packing up for one of my favorite shows i have done in the last two years, the mint museums potters market. it is an invitational show held at the randolph road mint museum (not the one downtown). they invite the biggest names in clay from north carolina and also some emerging potters as well. this is a one day show held this saturday sept. 8th from 10 am - 5pm, it is definitely a no miss event! I will be shackin up with my buddy michael kline from okra pottery, goin down early to set up, the two previous years i had drove down saturday morning and set up before the event started, which meant leaving around four am! not this time baby! doin it in style, hopefully by 8pm i will be sipping a double jack on the rocks by the hotel pool, waiting for the coming days' excitement, folks start lining up early and when the gate opens its at least 3 hours of pure crazyiness! Lee Love from japan left a comment on the last entry about shows in japan, his blog is really interesting and one of the ones that pushed my buttons to start my blog (the potters journal by ron philbeck was the other). i do believe that if your work is of a higher level of craft and not just run of the mill stuff, it helps emensily if your surrounded by great work. if your in the area of charlotte this weekend please check out this show. will report back to you after the show wish me luck!

learnins from the front

2007-08-27T18:54:00.002-04:00

OK so how about a report for Lazy daze, one word, CRAPPY! way to much buy/sell there. lets just call it a lesson learned, OH, whats the lesson you say?! well when you walk the show early in the A.M. and notice 25% of they booths are low priced buy sell items, most of the "craft" is poorly made, you see lots of $10 stickers (bright yellow too) you might as well go get your change from your booth and head to the beer garden! not kidding, anyway that's why if you make good work and price it realistically (i define this as work that is above the average and sells for a dollar amount that allows you to take your time and "create" good work, not crank out schloopity schloop!) you can not go to these shows where the organizers allow vendors who break the rules CLEARLY STATED in the contract sent to them to stay set up. This brings the quality of the show way down and makes it near impossible to sell good honestly priced work. what is worse is the general public is getting an education when they attend these festivals and when they are bombarded with kitschy junk, pre-made SHIT, and way low prices they just received their mickey mouse PhD in craft education. well i for one have had it with alot of these show promoters/ organizers. i have a few shows where you are cared for and not seen as a dollar sign. but in all honesty what are the next generation of craft artists to do? this use to be the staging grounds for a budding artist. Two of my close friends set up at the show, they are admittedly scratching to get by and they invest a few hundred dollars and lots of time in a show that just leaves them dead in the ally, like a rat! well, i gotta go pull handles before i pull my hair out! Today was actually a good day, Evan did a speech test and passed with flying colors, then went to the dentist for his first check up, he was brave as hell! so today i was the windshield! OK off to work, peace out, don't eat the trout! Shane a.k.a BOBO (PS that's for you rump shaker, i know your watching me now)

off to a show again

2007-08-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

So its that time again, off to a show! cary nc for lazy daze, hope its a goodin. wow, so its like fall is chasing me down. Lisa is back in school full time again, and evan starts montessori up next week. last year i worried that the school days would interrupt my studio time to an unhealthy extent. now this year i am looking forward to school starting, it adds a certain amount of structure to the day that really pushes me to organize my time more wisely, plus it pushes studio time into the late evening hours, nothing like finishing a pot at 1 0r 1 a.m.! the silence and solitude is great. I am currently in a rush to make a small batch of pots for a firing in mark peters kiln I use to fire his kiln with him on a regular basis until the anagama was finished. That's the hard thing about a large anagama kiln. i can not just organize a firing when i need it! my crew all have jobs or are potters filling and firing their own kilns, so i have to schedule firings far in advance. i do need a smaller kiln (do i hear train whistles?) But i do need to fill in some holes in my inventory for my upcoming shows and still generate a full load for my November anagama firing. A quick word about Mr. Peters, he was there in a capacity like no other (except my wife!) when we got started over here. He always had space in his kiln for me and at one point was even letting me fire the wood kiln when he was out of town, now that is generosity! a good man indeed, thanks mark! ok sponge bob mac and cheese is done, gotta run evans hungry! (dont judge or hate the sponge bob!) later shane

arrowmont trip

2007-08-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

Well, i went off on a trip to Atlanta to pick up a pot that was juried into the acc south east regoinal show, then up to arrowmont for the night. The school had invited several people to load and fire the anagama a few of my friends were involved so it became a must for me to drop in. I arrived at dinner time and the kiln was near the end of its firing. good firing styles were being used. meet some nice folks from norway and the us. good times. came home to see my new camera had arrived, a canon G7! off to play. now we are heading up north to west virginia for my family visit. happy potting/

evening time

2007-07-29T18:41:00.000-04:00

Well, its before 7pm and the house has settled down a bit, evan is quietly playing, lisa is off to a study group (finals in am!). I realized after i set the page up that there are no pics of lisa and evan on it (working on that) and no pics of my pots, so here is a sample if i can get it to work. anyway, one of the topics i want to write about is the current culture of ceramics, academia vs craft world. its funny i remember defending pottery as art in grad school, now i look at the ceramic community in a different light and it seems that either your in the academic/ residency world or your out beating the pavement trying to make money off what you earned your degree in! over the last two years i have noticed a clear line between those who understand and are informed about the business end of being a potter and those who chase the rockstar world side of ceramics. there are those who do both but the majority are either on one side of the fence or the other. this idea is probably taboo, but it feels like the ceramics community is starting to feed in on itself and is less about reaching the general public. just some thoughts before i draw evans tub water and get him ready for bed. later folks

hellos

2007-07-29T16:43:00.000-04:00

Well i do not have a lot of time to wax poetically about this new blog. i hope to shed some light into the life of a potter. I will regularly post about topics such as daily life, craft shows, business, family life and whatever else comes to my brain. be on the lookout for new posts soon.