Happy Birthday! And stuff...

Well, I did it again - successfully went a full month between updates.  Apparently I've been doing things other than pottery. Mostly. When I do get into the studio, I'm much more apt to post a picture on Facebook or Twitter.

Because, also: you should go like my Facebook page. More pictures, more frequently, and sometimes other things that you might like. Generally things that I like. Music, other artists, thoughts and ponderings. Anyway. Check it out!

Speaking of, Facebook informs me I have 4 friends who were born on this day in history. That seems like a relatively high amount for one day. So that's, you know, worth noting. But more importantly, today is my father's birthday. And he was actually born IN history. When I was in high school we actually learned about stuff that happened AFTER he was born, so that's significant. I wonder how late they're teaching history these days anyway?* But that's really not important. What's important is that he was born, and then he lived for some years, and now here he is and he's my dad and has been (since before I was born, actually!) for some time now and that's pretty cool. So happy birthday, Paul (Dad) Langholz!

On to the important things. If I haven't been throwing oodles of noodles, where I have I been? Here's a guide...

After my show I thought it would be healthy to step back, take a little break, collect my thoughts... and then we had company for a few days and I got sick and things just sort of went from there.

Unpacked everything that came home from Iowa. Took inventory. Deciding what to throw next.

Took a look at things that DIDN'T go to Iowa. Thinking maybe I need to have a Facebook Inventory Reduction Clearance Sale.

Went off Apple Orcharding. Found a tractor. It was pretty neat.

Played some soccer with my dog. She's pretty fierce.

Played some guitar. Also doing some repair and maintenance work on them. Certain projects were a long time coming on those. Guitars generally sound better without post-factory holes. Just saying.

Played some board games. Sometimes the Robber takes an alternative form in our household. Also, cute Robbers are harder to get (as) upset about.

Played some... no, wait. This is just the sign out front of our church. It's been a hot one up here. Moving right along...

Took in some live music in the Sioux Falls area over Labor Day. Pictured is House of Heroes, headlining an amazing night at the festival. I saw them once in 2005 at a tiny little hole-in-the-wall club in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. They've come along way, and they were amazing. Check them out.**

So that just about brings us up to speed. I have a show coming up (8 weeks out) and I'm realizing I'm a bit understocked. But I'm also not willing to stress out about it because I've decided that I'd rather enjoy the process of getting there and feel a little picked over at the end of the weekend than maintain a fully stocked display for the duration of a show but spend the months prepping for it in constant agony over my volume. There's a happy medium in there somewhere (something like don't ever take a month off from throwing and maintain a steady base inventory) but oh well.

But I have been throwing the last couple weeks/days. I've spent a lot of time messing about with larger pieces, most of which end up scrapped because I'm a bit too picky maybe. And one very nice, large sectional piece that I accidentally left uncovered for an undisclosed amount of time before it had been trimmed to shape and thus it was fail and sadness.  But I'm getting back to the nitty-gritty functional throwing now to replenish what has been sold and distributed for selling.

Playing with mugs again. Ways to incorporate my "voice" a bit more than simply splashing about with glaze.

2-pounders. Conspicuously absent from my inventory these days. A good problem.

More of these guys. Right now sticking with the 2-pounder size. There are a couple larger ones already drying, and I'm sure I'll throw a hump of baby ones later this month.

Hard to tell, but that's a wide shallow bowl, not a platter. For a commission piece (I think).

Broad, broad bowl in this style.

All together, now - say, "Cheese!"

I've also been commissioned to create a set of Communion service wares for our congregation, so that's a fun little project I'll be embarking on in the near future.

And that would be everything I've really got time to share right now. If you're at all interested in commissioning something special (or reserving something of a specific style) for the holidays, now's the time to do it!  Drop me a line at lukelangholz (at) msn (dot) com or contact me via private message on Facebook or Twitter - though really, e-mail is currently still the best method of proper communication.  So it's back to the grind.

Thanks for stopping by, y'all. Have a great weekend!


*I'm totally chasing this thought, as distracting as it may be: at what point do they decide what to cut from history classes? Because with every passing year there's more history to teach. The last proper history class I took was American Heritage History my junior year of high school. As I recall, we spent close to a month on the Civil War, and then America post-Vietnam got approximately half of a class period's worth of attention the day before finals. And believe it or not, there's a whole extra decade of material to cover since then. Just curious at what point you decide, "Eh, it's time to throw out the carpetbaggers and reconstruction, and might as well toss the Era of Good Feelings too, no matter how memorable it is - gotta make room for at least ten minutes of classroom discussion on post-9/11 foreign policy and God forbid we actually shorten our coverage of the Civil War..."  Anyhow. Back to the regularly scheduled content.

** Other highlights from the weekend of live music included:

• Jenny & Tyler (an adorable husband'n'wife duo out of Nashville who make beautiful alt-folk together).
• Sosaveme (indie band out of Michigan who make beautiful "aggressive alternative" music together - I highly recommend their most recent release, "The Garden."
• Run Kid Run (nothing dramatically original or different going on in this pop-punk outfit, but one of the better non-headliners we saw).
• Five Iron Frenzy (ska-punk-all-out-frenzy of a show. If you don't know about Five Iron I'm not going to try and describe them now, but WOW. My favorite from them is their 1997 sophomore release, "Our Newest Album Ever.")