Hello from Wales (take two) week eight

Hello Everyone,

Its hard to believe a week has gone by already! When we got back from St. Ives the weather turned stormy. In the beginning of the week we had very high winds and driving rain. It has been quite chilly and damp. The focus this week was glazing. We will be firing Phil's wood kiln the last weekend in March. Phil and I both glazed pots. This means taking a pot and dipping it in a liquid glaze. The dry, porous pot absorbs the glaze and it adheres to the surface. I learned how to glaze teapots which was a little tricky, especially when you have two different color glazes. Its tricky because if you get the inside color on the outside of the teapot it can look pretty bad. I mixed up a few new batches of glaze and some glaze tests. I also learned how to make ash glazes. Phil collects wood ashes from his fireplace. They are soaked in water, mixed up vigorously, the water is drained off, then fresh water is poured back on them. This is done several times until the finest particles are suspended in the water. It takes a few days to wash the ash. Phil had me put the big chunks of charcoal, etc that were left over around his apple trees. Once the ash is all washed, I mixed it into the rest of the ingredients. Phil is known for his ash glazes as he wrote a book on them called Ash Glazes. Washing the ash is a long process and it is caustic stuff so you have to be careful not to get in on your skin or in your eyes (it burns if you do).
Phil and I reloaded the bisque kiln and fired it. This will be the last time before the wood kiln is fired. I helped Phil take some photographs of pots by Hamada and Shimaoka. He finished up the catalog for the upcoming exhibition/sale he is hosting in May. You can view the catalog on his website- www.philrogerspottery.com. You have to download it as a PDF file. It is nearly 100 pages long! He has so many pots for the exhibition- it will be a good one. Last year people wanted the pots so badly one person slept in his car in the Rogers' driveway so he could be at the front of the line! Hopefully that does not happen this year.
Every morning when I walk Tess and Libby in the fields I check the sheep and see if any lambs were born during the night. Sometimes the farmer leaves these pellets called sheep nuts. They are special nuts that help the pregnant sheep lactate. If he leaves them in the barn I have to bring them out to the field and feed the sheep. Normally they are very shy creatures but when I shake the bag they all come running and bleating. There is one very friendly ewe with a white face who will eat the sheep nuts right out of your hand. I really love feeding them because I get to see them up close. They will follow you up and down the field if they think you have food. A ewe gave birth to a pair of twins on Thursday night. I did not see them up close but I could see them walking all wobbly-legged from far away. It was such a rough week weather wise for lambs to be born. Lynne looked out the window this morning and there were two dead lambs in the field. They were probably born in the night during all the rain and died. Even after the farmer removed the little bodies the poor mother ewe stayed in that spot all day smelling the ground and bleating. The farmer is going to try and find an orphaned lamb for her to take care of. Even though those two died there are still three lambs in the field and there are certainly more to come.
On Saturday, Lynne, Phil and I helped out with a 20 mile road race in Rhayader. We stood at the 4 mile mark and passed out water to the runners. It was pouring rain and very cold but the runners were so polite! They all said, "Cheers" or "Thanks for helping out" or "Ta" (which is somehow short for thanks). I've done a fair share of running myself but you've really got to give credit to these Welsh runners because it is so hilly here. Even walking around here is good exercise so running 20 miles must be wicked exhausting! It was a fun job to pass out water. Brian, the husband of the woman who organized the race, had a loud horn he would honk when the runners got close. He kept saying things like, "Well done! The hardest part is over now, not far to go". He is a really funny guy. When he and Phil get together my face usually hurts from smiling and laughing too much.
Later on Saturday the Welsh team played in the Six Nations Rugby game. They won last week and this week were scheduled to play France. If they beat France then they would win the trophy. I was upstairs doing something but when I came down, Lynne and Phil were both sitting on the edge of sofa with worried looks on their faces. It was halfway through the game and the score was 9 to 9. In the end, Wales pulled ahead and beat France by more than double. It was a really, really good game. The Rogers' were so happy, yelling and shouting for Wales. It reminded me a little of when the Boston Red Sox won the world series a few years ago. After it was all over Phil said he was exhausted from cheering them on. I'm suprised more people don't get hurt because the rugby players don't wear any kind of protective gear.
Today Phil and I went to Hay-on-Wye for a day out. It is a great village with tons of bookshops and galleries. I went there with Lynne on my last trip. On the drive there, all the rivers were brimming full with water right up to their banks. There were also daffodils everywhere and lambs jumping and running about. It was nice to go out for a bit especially since the next two weeks will be very busy preparing for the kiln firing. This upcoming week we will be glazing and will start packing the kiln. On Saturday we cleaned up the area around the kiln. Phil got rid of a bunch of pots he did not like. It was really hard to chuck them in the bin bag but its what you have to do. Phil said if he didn't get rid of them they would end up on ebay. Until next week....

Take care,

Kari