This is just a quickie since I’m writing in my bathrobe, with a cup of Earl Grey tea and another day of work in the garage staring at me.
Yesterday Jim and I took a load of junk to the dump. Sorry, I didn’t think to take my camera. We were dumbfounded by the truck and trailer that rolled in next to us with what appeared to be good useable lumber – at least it could have been cut up for firewood. What a wasteful country we live in! I hope we can find a home for our un-needed lumber!
By yesterday morning Jim had cleared out the back wall of the garage. That’s where most of the pottery equipment will go.
That’s the pug mill in the back corner. It grinds up and mixes the clay that is used on the potter’s wheel and slab roller. Over the years, Jim has had to replace its innards a dozen times – they are eroded by friction of all that mixing and grinding. An essential piece of equipment. Otherwise, we’d be wedging clay by hand, which is the way we did it in the early days.
A 4 x 8 shelving unit used to sit about where that work table now sits. It extended eight feet into the garage. Now it’s gone. Yesterday we used one of the 4×8 sheets of plywood and screwed it to the wall, covering some drywall damage. Then we painted it white. You can barely make out that sheet in this picture. The work table is the major portion of our slab roller. We’ll move the rest of it in today — it is really heavy. I think Jim’s going to disassemble it before we break our backs carrying it in!
And here is some of what’s left to organize.
Thursday, a potter friend came by and picked out a few things. We’re in the Please-Take-It-Away stage.
Here’s another corner that needs to be sorted through. We would love to find someone to take years’ worth of Ceramic Monthly magazines. If anyone out there knows of a connection for those – presumably a ceramics teacher or a potter, please let me know.
And, finally, here’s the chief potter himself after a hard day of lifting, shoving and painting. He’s taken down the dulcimer that he made before I met him, and is playing it. I love the sound of a mountain dulcimer. Reminds me of where I grew up in East Tennessee.
