...and a bad tooth

We have the very best vet. Our dog Layla tore BOTH her rear ACLs a couple of years ago. She has terrible separation anxiety so we couldn't imagine leaving her overnight for surgical procedures. Plus, I always do my research on those things. That's how we discovered Dr Vicky.

She practices on her farm. We drive about 20 minutes down windy country roads and up her cedar lined farm lane:

To this gorgeous, calming place. I feel as though the minute we toodle up the driveway the healing begins!

Well. Dr Vicky is a DVM but also practices acupuncture, homeopathy, Chinese medicine, chiropractic and a host of other things. She carries quite a bag of tricks! Because of her knowledge and loving treatment Layla's knees are doing very well. Plus changes in diet have cleared up some long term digestive problems. Dr Vicky and her staff are just fantastic.

Layla doesn't look like SHE thinks this is a good idea, does she??

Besides her regular treatment the real reason for our trip was a broken tooth. :( That means surgery next week to remove a badly cracked molar. Poor Baby. Scheduled for next Tuesday. And its her birthday too! 9 years old, but still the 6 month old we rescued from PetSmart.

New work and ....

Dots and oak leaves....




The last of my bowls for the RCDV Empty Bowl event on Sunday are still too hot to remove from the kiln. But here are a couple pictures of the slipped, carved and painted bowls I have been doing.













This farm stuff is my favorite....






Since the bowls are finished I can finally concentrate on restock since the holidays. I sell quite a few of these leaf "plates". They are made from sycamore leaves. Some can be pretty enormous. I enjoy the process of replicating Mother Nature. They'll have iron stain and green glazes when they are finished.

This is actually a commission. A couple came to me looking for an urn for a departed furry best friend. A golden retriever whose name I did not get. They requested a simple box. But it has to be just the right diminsions for the ash container to slide into. I think this is just right....

Nearly finished

Sixty four here. Thirty more to glaze today. It seems to be a slow process. But here at LibertyTown there are several potters making bowls for Empty Bowl, so literally hundreds are being processed through in our hard working kilns. (We are expecting a new one any day now!)

These bowls are from normal to experimental for me. The blue and green is my basic glaze combination (more discussion on that another day). It reminds me of the sky and earth. The slipped and painted are a cone 6 twist on Ron Philbeck and traditional earthenware slipware. They are still pretty rough. I need to work on refining these, though I will keep them simple and loose. The tundra green and setter red is a big seller from my studio but are both pottery school glazes. I try not to use them too much for selling since the students use those colors too.

Im sorry I dont have any close ups. I am a total loss on picture taking. I have a subtle tremor that really makes taking clear pictures impossible. I HAVE to get myself a tripod. Hopefully that will rectify the problem....

I will glaze the last of the bowls today. I had a fall in the ice a couple of weeks ago and my back finally gave in on Friday. So after lots of ice and a visit to my Trusty Chiropracter Dr Chris yesterday, I seem to be back in business. (No pun intended) But, I'll still take it easy for a couple more days.

Like Layla maybe?

Still bowls, bowls, bowls....

No new pictures today. My first batch of bowls went into the glaze firing this afternoon, so hopefully I'll get a couple shots on Saturday. Tomorrow is massage day (to remove all the throwing kinks...) and First Friday. I'll have to fit in some bowl trimming as well. The day would not be complete without it!

Production

The Christmas season is nearly passed (our tree wont come down till the end of the week, or when the tree recycler picks up, which ever comes first!) but LibertyTown is still full of elves working away. The Empty Bowl fund raiser for RCDV (Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence) is coming up at the end of the month. Potters are working like crazy to get lots of bowls finished. I have promised 100....I am up to 60 and plan on finishing up the throwing by the end of the week.







I am finally coming to the conclusion that I am not cut out to become a production potter. My body just doesn't like it. Falling from a tree when I was a kid, tendinitis from my other career as a Real Estate Title Examiner (them deed books are heavy!) and two abdominal type surgeries in the last 3 years have really made an impact. So I am pleased to finish 21 bowls in 4 or 5 hours. (With the typical LibertyTown type stretching/socializing breaks!)

To compensate for the inability to throw for long stretches I am determined to make some of my bowls more interesting, if time permits. I have about a dozen with fun colors or goofy phrases and will add another dozen at the end. I think we all work so hard to get out a large number for the event (they can only sell as many tickets as they have bowls) we don't take the time to have fun with it and experiment with shapes and glazing and other decorating. This is such a great opportunity to work outside my normal style or to dig deeper and take more chances.

I'll post pictures as the bowls are finished. Meanwhile if you are in Fredericksburg, think about buying a ticket. The event, held this year on January 31, is RCDV's biggest fundraiser. Come to LibertyTown for a ticket. They go fast!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Greg and I have been in the mountains for our New Years visit to his parents (his Mom's birthday too.) New Years eve meant a traditional (for us) Italian meal at Sals in Edinburg, VA followed by lots of Wii! Even Greg's dad Bob played. I have pictures on my camera but forgot to bring my usb cord. (@$@$%**!) So imagine 4 hours of bowling and golf. Greg's Dad has surpassed our bowling high scores...so we need to get practicing.

It has been bitter cold here in the Valley. Negatives during the night. The sun is out now though. Too cold to melt their snow so its just gorgeous to look at. That means alot of laying around in the sunspot at the back door, spinning for me, guitar for Greg and movies sprinkled in with the Wii! We did manage to bundle up and head to Cally's in Harrisonburg. The food is pretty good and best of all its a brewery. That's me with three of my friends. :) Greg has made a habit of sending phonepics of the latest beer he's drinking to my brother in Boston. This is the latest in that "series".

So we head home today. I have pots to throw! Once I am home with that blasted cord I'll share pictures with you of bowls, bowls, bowls. Empty Bowls is just around the corner and I have only 38 of the 100 I have promised!

Peace!!