Take two, week five

Hello Everyone,

This week has really flown by...it seems I just sent out my week four update. This week was quite busy with many tasks to do at the pottery. Early in the week Phil asked me to unload a biscuit kiln. I used to do this all the time when I worked at the college and it never took me more than two hours if I remember right. Well, this one took a whole day! For a start it is much bigger than the one at college, plus I had to move all the pots from the kiln shed into the workshop. It was a bit nerve wracking because I put all of Phil's pots on a board and walked them over a bumpy uneven parking lot. I only broke one pot that rolled off the board; fortunately, it was one of mine. We are really running out of space in the workshop and all the bisque pots are on the floor. One has to walk and move gingerly around the place. On Tuesday, Phil and I reloaded the same kiln. I could never get the shelves in that kiln, it is so long I would have to climb in to stack it. Phil's arms are long enough but it takes a lot of strength to put the shelves and pots in. Re-loading took most of the day.
On Wednesday, Lynne and I resumed our roles of lovely, lady lumberjacks and moved wood out of the shed. When we were done that we cleaned out all the stuff in the shed and rearranged it to make more space. There was all kinds of stuff in there like old bricks and washing machine parts plus old hay and stuff like that. Phil is getting a delivery of raw materials soon so we made room to house that. Later we will go through all the existing raw materials and re-organize them. Phil plans to install shelves in the barn and keep bisquited pots there.
On Friday Phil left for a place called Uppingham to the Goldmark Gallery (http://www.modernpots.com/). They are the biggest seller of his work in the UK and have made a video about Phil and his work. They were having a showing of the video plus some talks and a show of potters represented by Goldmark. He did not come back until Saturday night. On Friday, Di came back and we finished splitting wood. It was horrible weather, rainy and windy but Lynne and I being the resilient lady lumberjacks we are, braved the elements to get Phil's wood moved. We finished by mid-afternoon.
Phil has a new and fun assignment for me. To get me to work on my repetition throwing Phil has me throwing stock mugs for the pottery. He made a prototype mug and had me copy it. I worked on it for several days, finishing them off today. I decorated them with stamps and sprigs. It is interesting to throw someone else's pots. I guess I did not realize that I had such specific ways of making my own pots, especially when I pull handles. I tend to make thinner handles while Phil makes his quite thick and with a ridge in the middle. So, I have been making handles and mugs like Phil's. It is a really good learning experience.
On Saturday, Lynne performed in a choral concert with a community choir. Julie Braham and Jeremy (the neighbor) were also in the concert. Since Phil was not able to go I sat with Julie's husband, Jason. The concert was in a big old stone with wooden vaulted ceilings and pointed arches. The nearly 40-person choir was accompanied by a large scratch orchestra consisting of cellos, violins, trumpets, etc. They performed Handel's Zadok the Priest which was written for the King's coronation many years ago and is still performed whenever a new king is crowned. They also performed Hyden's Nelson Mass. It was a beautiful series of songs all performed in Latin. There was four soloists, a soprano, a contralto, a tenor and a bass who sang certain parts with the choir in the background. It was so beautiful with all the voices and instruments intermingling and harmonizing. It was the kind of music that was angelic and sublime. I wondered as I sat in that church how many times that same piece of music had been performed. I really enjoyed the performance. At the end of it, Julie and Lynne were really tired; it took a lot of energy to belt out those high soprano notes. We stopped into a pub for drinks with the rest of the choir and then headed home. The six nations rugby has been on for the past few weekends. Miraculously Wales beat Italy 47-8 on Saturday! I guess Wales has not had a very good team in a long time. Well, another week is beginning and I'm sure it will be full of tasks. I am going to join the choir with Lynne; we start practice on Thursday night. From there we will go to Lynne's parent's house in Newport. Then we are going to Claire and Simon's for the weekend. It is Mother's day on March 2 so we are going to see all the moms. Also, there is a big show called Ceramic Art London this weekend that I am hoping to go to. It is a pretty high end show and many artists will be there. I will spend a bit of time exploring London again. Well, dinner is ready so I'd better get going. Have a great week!

Take care,

Kari