Spiffy website, wot wot?

Well, I did get to work on some pots this weekend. Never as much time as I could best use, but good time certainly. And several hours over the course of the evenings of this week. Bits here and there, trimming, slipping, carving. All time much appreciated.

In NON-clay related news, you may have noticed that I spent some time sprucing up the website (blog) this week. What do you think? Remember, I'm a potter not a programmer! But I'm rather proud of the minor adjustments here and there.  Most notably, a new banner across the top of the page and a couple new widgets. I should be shooting some photos from the last kiln opening to update my gallery.

Also new this week: I'm on Facebook! At least, as a potter. So please, LIKE me here! I'll try to keep things current, with daily updates from the studio and albums of work as it comes out of the kiln and stuff. In a slightly more accessible/organized format for those things than might work on this site. So check it out!

Back to the clay, here's what's up in the studio:

Arbor bowls. Realized that despite not doing so well last fall (leaving me with a full stock), these bowls have since done rather well this spring, leaving me in need of some more. Fun to get back into this style again.

Some carved bowls. Gave my slips the week off. Going for textural glaze effects. Trying out some new designs that may or may not be borrowed from my mentors.

Well, I didn't totally give ALL the blue slips the week off. I mean, how could I do that?

And we had a lovely weekend. Celebrated our anniversary spending some time outside, nice long run, some time along the river. The local "Oahe Days" civic festival was going on, so there was food and music and bumper cars. We thought the bumper cars were a pretty awesome way to celebrate our anniversary. 

Mighty Mo.

It was a welcome change. Last year our community suffered (nigh) catastrophic flooding, forcing families out of their homes for the better part of 6 months and flooding most (all) of the city/county/state's recreational facilities. Walking along the river, the parks look awfully nice considering that a year ago they were on their way to being inundated. The dead and rotten trees in the midst of the green growth were a fair reminder.

So we enjoyed being able to spend time along the river again and hopefully will get to do more and more of that as the summer goes on.

On a final note, this week I've been working my way through Sound Supply Drop #3. That's 10 albums for $15 for a limited time (still 5 days or so). Some quality music in there from the likes of Hellogoodbye and The Get Up Kids. Favorite of mine amongst the previously unknowns are a band called Young Statues. They sound a little something like this:

You can preview the rest of Drop #3 right here.

And no, I don't get anything from Sound Supply or the bands for mentioning it. I'm just enthusiastic about discovering new talents. So check it out.