New Workshop Opportunities are Posted

I finally took a risk and did a raku firing this past week...why was it risky? Well "up valley" in the Redding area they broke heat records and here?...a mere 93 or so. Not "too hot" to do raku (I'm a big boy and can handle it...sort of) but it's so dry, the pine needles crackle as you walk around the property. When ever it get that hot and that dry I try to avoid the open flames of raku. I should mention that I've never had a problem...but then maybe that's because I take these precautions.

But I really was up against the wall on this one. I had passed on raku the week before because I "thought" it was hot and dry...and then came this week and "hot and dry" took on a whole new meaning. Should have fired last week. 20/20 vision sucks.

I was up against it because I had student pots from a couple of workshops ready to be fired. I really needed to get the pots back to the students...so out came the hoses and I opened up the spigot and made the ground nice and moist. Luckily there was no wind...I would have not fired if there was a the slightest of wind...like yesterday. Wind and dry and hot is a recipe for something nasty here in the hills.

New workshop opportunities have been posted on the website. We have limited the number of seats in a class based on the results of the recent classes. Seems when we get 5-6 people the pots are "better"...folks get more attention and then so do the pots...it shows. You can see some recent student work in a gallery.

Note the new "Kids Edition" which takes the opportunity for a parent to work with a child in a support role while we focus on the young student...includes some extra clay for the parent to play along and keep out of trouble while the student works on their art.

We're really excited about new technology  and equipment we're bringing into our studio. It's all about video and live broadcast. With some degree of luck we'll have the basics up and running towards the beginning of next week. More on the technology next week...hopefully.