Friday I bisque fired my kiln in preparation for my students to start glazing on Monday. Now, I have a rather low-tech kiln with no kiln sitter (except for me), which means I have to monitor it and turn it up every hour. This means I get to spend about twelve hours in my studio at a stretch which is a rare and treasured occurrence. My studio is conveniently located in my backyard along with a rather large lemon tree that we planted about sixteen years ago. This is a unique tree because it has two[…]
Month: February 2015
Your fingertips are your eyes
I listened to a really interesting podcast the other day about blind people who can see using echo-location. The areas of their brains that have to do with vision where activated when they were using this technique. This made me wonder, what is happening in my brain when I start work on a pinch pot? During the early stage of building, when you are holding the clay in your cupped hands, passing it back and forth, pinching the walls to make them thinner–your fingertips are your eyes. They give you so much information. You can tell[…]