back in the saddle

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

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!

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!?

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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