New Whisky Cups

I threw a bunch of Whisky Cups using some Jack Troy Wood fired porcelin that I got from Standard. I wedged in some colored grog that Chris Campbell send me. Im hoping it will show up as colors when I fire it. Im going to Salt some of the cups and wood fire the rest.. I am using a Dirty Girls wire tool that I really enjoy using.

Making pots

Howdy all, its been a hot one, I finally quit working on cutting up fire wood. The rest will have to wait till it cools off. I have stacks of logs and rounds to turn into fire wood.I just started working with some Jack Troy wood fire Porcelin . I have 500 lbs of it and it has been sitting for a year or more.I am softening it up and it seems to throw OK. Im thinking about signing up for a wood fire at Hambidge with Rick Berman or I will just fire my Manabigama. I have lots of bisque pots and am firing a load right now. I might have enough to fire the Alpine about 3 times. I made some big planters and large platters and they eat up lots of space in the kiln. I have been throwing a lot of mugs and wine glasses to take up extra space. The clay for the Alpine is Wonder White. I really like my Ash Glaze on it.
Ive also been working on two old tractors. A Farmall 100 and a Avery V. They are money pits. Its like I still have a sail boat..
Also have growing all kinds of weird succulent plants. I have been pollinating the Pachypodiums and actually have been planting seeds of Pachypodium Brevicaule a really cutie

Thanks for reading
Mark

Still Splitting and stacking fire wood

One of these days I will be a Potter again. Since the big wind storm/tornadoes Ive been cutting , splitting and stacking fire wood. Here are a couple of photos of what Ive been doing. I had to quit for today because its 87 degrees out there. Actually I get worn out fighting these big rounds of Oak. Once I get them on the tractor bucket Im able to put them under the log splitter . I am able move them around using a Cant Hook..Great tool

I have found more big trees on the property with there roots in the air.I think it would be a lot easier if I was 30, or 40 or even 50 years old again

Also Im showing a photo of our Bog Garden. The pitchers are growing and also they are flowering. I had bought the Pitcher Plants from Ponds and Plants in Dayton Tenn. We also buy all kinds of Conifers and other cool plants there.

Critter Habitat

Nona and I worked on cutting up the old Oak that went down during the wind storm Wed. I make piles of brush and have been doing this for years in different spots through the property. I have been adding to old spots and its interesting that the old piles have been breaking down and needed to be replenished. Of course there is no way to do all this with out my Blue Tractor with the quick release forks and bucket.Also its 4x4.

We spent all day sawing and lopping limbs to be able to stack them on the tractor. I have piles of brush all around the property for Critter Habitat. Its a great place for birds and other wild life. We have about 15 acres and a lot of it is still wild. We have lost maybe 6 or 7 really nice trees from this storm. We are also going to buy some mushroom spores for inoculating logs to grow mushrooms. I do love the mushroom soup that Nona makes. Of course I will have lots of wood for firing the Plum Nelly Manabigama.

Wind Damage

I havent posted for a while . I had Cataract Surgery and was told to stay away from clay because of dust and could not lift 25 lbs. I got the Go Ahead yesterday to go back to work. Well now work will be dealing with a big old Oak that went down during the Tornado outbrake that hit a lot of the South including the small town of Trenton. Trenton was hammered. Two people were killed. We lost power at 12:15 P.M. Wed and got power back late Sunday. Trenton Georgia is 7 miles by car and 3 or 4 miles by crow.We were very lucky. I will have fire wood for a long time.

Here are a couple of photos of the tree. It also took down 3 other trees

NCECA/Tampa

I was in the Larkin Booth for this NCECA with pots that had just just been unloaded a few days before we set up the display. Jim sent a box of soft fire brick for some elevations. I had Pots from Becky, Loren , Brenda and some of mine. It seemed to me that the crowds werent there.There were some great demos going on and having the Clay Galleries close by was a treat. Its great to be able to look and actually handle pottery that was 4 sale.

During this trip my Wife and her brother walked a beach and picked up a big bag of shells for using in the wood kiln. We also drove to Miami and visited with my Mom and went to a shell store and bought a bag of shells for wadding. I will now have lots of shells big and small for wadding in the wood kiln.

Some of you know I grow plants and my favorite are succulents like Pachypodiums and Adeniums. Well I have started takeing some of them out of the greenhouse. The Pachypodiums are flowering and in doing some pollination of a few of the Pachys.

Plum Nelly Manabigama Kiln Opening

here are some more photos