Just Chill

It has been a busy December with all the back and forth trying to get the house ready and moved into. We borrowed our son-in-law's big pick up truck and trailer to move down, but trailer had some problems and the lights and breaks didn't work.  Jim was trying to get them fixed but the weather turned very cold with wind chills of minus 40. Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same at minus 40, COLD. The weather was bad all over the country so just went in the the truck and I talked about that last blog.

We didn't get all the work done in the house. We were a little optimistic to think that we could repair, paint and floor the entire place in less than a week. We left Coutts Wednesday December 18. Thursday and Friday we loaded all we could into the trailer and Saturday back to Coutts again. Jim got the lights working, but we went down without breaks. Not a good idea, but it was okay. Sunday we unloaded and came back to Edmonton  Monday. He did get the breaks fixed when we were in Coutts. It was all in the wiring. The weather has not been very cooperative. Here is a picture of us leaving with the empty trailer. And no we don't have the skirting on yet.

Tuesday we were going to drive 6 hours to the other side of Grande Prairie, return the truck and come back to Edmonton to do Christmas dinner. That's when I thought .....just chill....The weather has warmed up to around freezing, so now that it is warm, it is time to chill. We spent  Christmas Eve with our daughter and family. Coming back Christmas Day the roads were not the best. That is a four lane divided highway. You can tell I took the picture because my finger is in the shot. Jim usually takes all the pictures but he was a little busy at the time.

The "kids" here in Edmonton took over and did the dinner and all we had to do was show up.

We were going to jump right back into packing up the last of what has to go, but no, we are taking Boxing Day off. All the big stuff is gone, well almost all, we have the kiln and glazes to move. But most of the stuff is gone, we just have to clean up the mess and pack up the studio, clean out the garage and shed, all my stuff in the flower bed...... Ok there is more there than I had thought. It is too bad that we didn't get it all done when we had the trailer, but we didn't. I think we will rent a small cube van one way to Lethbridge and what we can fit we take and if it doesn't fit, we don't need it anymore.We might not be done all the cleaning and studio by the end of the month, but .....just chill.... it will get done.

By the time we are done, we will have traveled about 30,000 K or 18,000 miles back and forth from looking at places to our last move in. We are not planning a road trip this summer!

Happy Holidays everyone and all the best for 2014!

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Lookin' Out My Door.

I was going to post pictures of the storm we had last week. We all have seen nasty winter shots, so I thought I would post some pics of morning after. Here is outside my kitchen window

and out the back door. 

And looking out the living-room window.

It is soooo pretty here. Here is a shot of the full moon tonight

Unfortunately the inside is not a nice, or should I say, was not as nice as the outside.  Here is a before shot of one of the bedrooms looking out into the hallway.

It is hard not to notice the screaming pink, but look closer and see the dark shiny gold hallway and green floor. What you can't see is the blue bathroom. Who does that to a house and why? She is a nice house and deserves better. That's where we come/came in. It has been a busy day of painting and I don't have a lot to say, but a picture, or this case a few pictures are worth maybe not a thousand words, but a least a paragraph or two. 

Until next time.

AKA

Mrs Clay

Stormy Weather.

A large system hit a major part of Western Canada and the US.  I am far from the only affected, but it did change our plans.  Or closer yet, just delay them. Saturday, December 1^st, we drove to Grande Prairie, about 4 hours north of Edmonton to pick up our son-in-law’s truck and trailer to use for our move. We had thought we were getting the truck closer to the end of the month and we were far from ready to move. During the drive this storm was coming. There was freezing rain and blowing snow. Not a lot of fun, but we made it missed the ditches, unlike many.

Monday we were booked for our last Clay Teacher workshop for the next foreseeable while, if ever again. We were booked for Camrose, about an hour east of Edmonton. Sunday the wind and the rain blew in the cold weather. By Sunday night we had snow, wind and temps in the minus 30 range and wind chills down to minus 40 or colder. We didn't go. Roads were closed, there were multi car pile-ups, we stayed home and started getting ready for this move we have been talking about for…..ever…..I thought we didn't have that much stuff, however I might have been mistaken, or just living in denial. We have been chipping and chipping at it. I thought we had put a good dent in the work…… however….. once I was done with the last of the pottery orders….( not done, and it is a story for another blog ) I started taking down the studio in the basement. Ten years in that house and five years with the studio in the basement.....so much stuff.... We have taken loads to auction and we will soon rent a dumpster. There is a little whispering voice in my head telling me that I have a lot more to do than I think or want to believe.

We did go out to Camrose, it was no longer blizzarding but it was nasty cold. Friday December 6^th was our last workshops. It was both exciting and sad. We are excited about the new life, but sad to say good bye to all the little bright faces. We are open to Artists in Residences and who know what the future brings.

We had hoped/planned to load up the trailer and head to Coutts, but the weather was soooo dang cold. There were wind chills of minus 40 plus or minus a bit. We loaded up the truck with the snow blower and headed for Coutts to dig our home out of the biggest now storm they have seen in years. The trip down was …..interesting…. I have never seen so many vehicles in the ditch as we did when driving down. All kinds and sizes, from little cars to fully loaded semis. As soon as we started feeling a little safe, we would see another “bite the dust”.

We arrived to mostly okay. We had a few leaks and problems, but nothing laying under the house for a few hours in the snow and wind didn't fix. We got a fixer upper, and we are fixing it up. Just paint and floors. We will go back to Edmonton early next week to bring that trailer of schtuff and set up here by the end of the year. That is the plan….. what could happen?

I have pics to share but I also have a second coat of dry wall patch to apply. Pics to follow.....maybe

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

People are strange.

We won The Best Bet Award from the Canadian Toy Testing Council and still not that many people are interested in the purchasing the kits. Well, that is not entirely true. Kids really want the kits. We did the Christmas show Make It last weekend and the kids that saw them were very excited about getting one, the parents however, not so much. Few would buy them. They told the kids great idea and they would pick it up on the way out, or would get it later. Not one "be back" came back. I think there are a few reasons that they are not selling as I had hoped. One is the mud. The parents see a ball of mud going into their house and simply don't want the dirt. Another is that they don't see the benefits of creativity and three dimensional thinking. The parents grew up with computers and TV, two dimensions. We sell more kits to grand parents than parents. Strange.

Here is our booth at Make It.

Another thing I found strange is our Facebook. Earlier this month we wished everyone Happy Diwali and lost a liker. Wednesday we wished people Happy Hanukkah and lost another liker. Everyone all over the world works with clay and has celebrations this time of year. We will wish everyone  Merry Christmas in a few weeks and will see if we lose a liker then as well.

What is not so strange is we are slowly getting ready to move. We just got our gas meter in Thursday. Now that we have heat we can turn on the water.With heat, water and lights we can finally get in the house and get to work. We had hoped to go down the end of the week.  We have only two days of workshops left as Mr. and Mrs clay. We had booked today and tomorrow but a nasty storm is hitting the province and bringing some very cold temperatures, snow and wind with it. We will hold off until it passes and and have the workshops Thursday and Friday. After we are done there we will  head down to Coutts .....later..... when the weather is warmer as we have outside work to do as well as the inside. I look around this place and look at all that still has to be done to get ready to go....sigh......

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Big Mouth Beaver Wins Award

Last spring we sent the Canadian Toy Testing Council The Big Mouth Beaver to be tested and included in the 2014 Toy Report. Our Fun Clay Project, The Big Mouth Beaver, won Best Bet.

Here is what they said about the Best Bet category:

"A Best Bet toy is one that testers have consistently rated as top notch in areas of assembly, design, function, durability and safety. But most importantly, a best bet toy has sustained play value. This isn't a toy that will be outgrown in a few months or left to gather dust on a shelf. Best Bets are quality toys that our testers enjoyed throughout the testing period. "

And here is what they said about the Big Mouth:

"Bigmouth Beaver Project Kit
The Clay Teacher
7 +
This project will keep kids as busy as a beaver! Using the Canadian clay provided and an instructional DVD, kids can create a cute little clay beaver with a big, wide mouth. There is enough material for two beavers, which our testers liked, so the activity can be done with a sibling or friend, or kids can make another one to improve on the first. The easy-to-understand instructions on the English-only DVD teach kids how to work with clay and use humour and little rhymes to keep kids engaged. Some adult help may be required when kids are working with the clay, but testers were proud to be able to do much of the project on their own and thought the end product was “pretty impressive.” Activity requires about 2 hours over the course of about a week (to allow for drying time)."

The Big Mouth Beaver kit and others can be purchased on line at Fun Clay Projects or the instruction only is available on Youtube.  If you are in the Edmonton area we will be at Make It with our kits and pottery.

We are thrilled to have this award and look forward to making more videos and kits in the New Year. 

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

The Lights are on But No One is Home.

The house finally arrived. It was something to see our new house and life driving down the road.

Those guys just backed that big old house up and gently placed it on the pad.  First try and it was right on spot. In no time at all we had our house but then needed to plug it in. I have never really thought about where the gas comes in, where the water comes in, how the lights go on. I have always just had them.  Simply walk into the warm kitchen and run the hot water. How hard could it be, now I know. Jim and I connected the house to the power. Well Jim did and I was go fer.

We were in Coutts Monday night to Thursday morning to get the house in place and the lights on. We go back Tuesday morning to get the water and the heat. We can stay in the house this time, and that will save a few bucks. We have put over 16,000 kilometers or about 10,000 miles on the car this summer, fall and now winter, running back and forth. To repeat myself redundantly over and over, I will be glad when we are settled.

This is how we left it.  The lights are on but no one is home.......  I have heard that before.

Until next time. 

AKA

Mrs. Clay

Schtuff Happens.

I got another corporate order from the fellow that has ordered the same mugs for years. They are a lot of work. The bison, trees and grass have to be carved, the logo is another clay body added and stamped on. After bisquing the bison and cl logo are glazed black, then the bison, logo and all the carving is waxed before glazing. I don't mind doing them. He is a good customer, and pays on time and pays well. It is important, to me more than him I think, to deliver on time. A couple weeks ago I was in the studio when they were cooling in the glaze load when I heard an odd "clunk". I didn't know what it was and just thought it was something outside. I never thought much about, the music was on, work was good and it was just a clunk. What could happen?

 

What happened was a kiln post shifted and the shelf holding the mugs fell in the cooling. All the mugs slid sideways and into this lovely mug sculpture. However they are had to drink from. I lost 14 mugs on that shelf....bummer. My son thinks the melted mugs are cool, so now he has a mug sculpture for.... I am not sure. I have been loading kilns since high school and I have never seen a post shift and cause a shelf to fall before. 

I was lucky, it only took out one bowl on the shelf below and the rest of the load was fine. I remade the mugs and delivered the order yesterday. All is well. 

I had a customer complaint this week. I seldom have any negative feedback and this was a first of it's kind. I have been making pottery for decades and have thrown literally 10's of tons of clay into production pots and never I have I heard that some of the bowls leave an after taste in the food.  Not all of them, just some. When I told her it was impossible. Her stoneware bowls all came from the same glaze, same kiln load and were fired to 2200 F, she did not respond to the email. A few weeks ago she mentioned she wanted to order more pots, but now that some of her bowls leave an after taste, she hasn't mentioned it again. I think the only bad taste in her mouth was when she added up how much she spent on her large custom ordered dinner set with matching serving bowls and platters. I am not going to pursue any more orders from this client. 

The weather has been cold and snowy this week and it has delayed the transport of our modular to the new lot. We are not sure when it will be delivered.  We have people lined up to plug it into electric, water and gas and now perhaps nothing to plug in. Dang. Schtuff happens!

I have a studio full of thrown pots waiting to be trimmed and my coffee is done. Time to get to work as I am not quite ready for Make It.

Until next time. 

AKA

Mrs. Clay

A Bigger Hammer

We bought this empty lot that hasn't had anything on it for years and we foolishly thought with a  couple of hand tools we could tidy it up. We cut and trimmed all we could, but when we were done, in every sense of the word, the yard was still a long way from done. And what to do with that ever growling pile of branches.

We did notice that odd piece of equipment in that ever growing pile of branches. 

This is the bush half way through. All that work and we still had a very mess coarse hedge that I didn't know what to do with. 

That's where the bigger hammer comes in. That odd piece of equipment is just what we needed. It cleared those bushes out at the root, loaded it all into a trailer and it all went to the land fill. We have a couple of great guys working for us. It is a much easier way to trim the bushes. Caragana is now cara goner.  I will most likely trim with Round Up in the spring. 

 

I have been making some pots for Make It  and we have done a few Clay Teacher workshops, but I have to admit, but mind and heart has been on the move and the new house much more than pots and teaching.We go to meet the modular in 2 weeks, I had better get to work.

Until next time.

AKA Mrs.  Clay

Cart before the horse, or work before the permits.

Moving from the city of Edmonton with a metro population of over 1,000,000,000 to the village of Coutts with about 350 people, we might encounter a few differences. I was talking to the lady at my Edmonton bank the other day and told her we were moving and the population was 350. She thought for a moment then said "350,000 is a good sized city". She never considered only 350 people.

In August we went down to look a place we didn't buy and ran into our soon to be neighbour, but didn't know that at the time. We knew owners of the place we not home and we could only look at the outside, but we wanted to see the town as well. We chatted briefly with the neighbour, told him why we were there and he said he know a lady that had a key and he could let us in. This house had been rented and the renter had just moved out. The renter and owner had not had their walk threw, the owner didn't know we were there and had not given permission to go in and we just said no, there we too many liability issues. "You guys must be from the city, we don't worry about things like that here" said the neighbour.

Later we got the lot I talked about in the last blog and as soon as we got our development permit, we sent all the information off to Lethbridge last Friday for the  building permits. They said it would take at least a week for all the permits to land. We talked to our contractor told him what we were doing and would send those permits out as soon as we got them and they could get to work. Winter is coming we wanted to move ahead as soon as possible. I got a panicked phone call the following Monday afternoon, I had not answered the contractors email he had sent that morning. He had the place landscaped and wanted to know where the water was going to come in so they could trench.. That was moving ahead fairly quickly. We are from the city and we do things differently.  In small towns it must be the commutative law of building. It doesn't matter what order the building and permits come in as long as the end of the day you have construction and permits.

This is Monday morning waiting for permits.

We are going down early tomorrow to finish, or work on, trimming the trees and bushes. We will meet the contractor and lay in the  electric cable. All this work and more has been done without us there, it's hard to stay home and work when all the action is going on at the new house. By the end of the month we should have house and lot together, but then we have to come back to Edmonton for November and work.

I am looking forward to going, seeing the work that is done, cutting some more trees and trying out our latest new toy, the hedge trimmer. 

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Finding my yard.

We finally got our lot.  The lawyer hasn't sent the title yet, these things take time.We haven't got the building permit yet, I know, these thing take time. With no building permit, there is no electrical, pluming or gas permits. No permits means we can't start anything to do with building so we can't set a date with the company to move our modular. Winter is on the way.... tick tick.... fWe went down for a half day to meet the concrete guy start cleaning up the yard a bit.  The lady who sold me the lot said it was nicely treed.  It was closer to impenetrable forest.  It has been years since anyone has done anything. There was a corner where the back of the house will go that was solid bush. There was a beautiful huge double spruce hiding in a mess of willows and carrageenan. Here is a before picture.

 After about 3 hours with our new little chainsaw and some bush removed out corner looked a bit better, but there is still a whole lotta bush to take out of there.  Jim took the picture of the pile.I sure didn't do all that on my own. We took turns cutting and dragging the branches out of the way. It was fun! It was doing something besides hurry up and wait. It is a nice big lot, you can see the more tame back end behind me.  The property ends at about the farthest tree.

And here it is after the first of many hair cuts.

I simply love that beautiful old tree.  The truck is about three feet in diameter. I have a few plans about what I want to do with that wonderful old  tree but I will talk about that later. The modular will sit in all that all tall grass, but the grass will go away. 

I had gotten some girly work gloves for the day, but they weren't made for what we were doing.  Here is the right hand after just a few hours. When we go back I will get some real work gloves.

We took this one just for fun.  The chainsaw is battery operated and has a 12 inch saw. Not too scary but a great little machine. It really did the job. 

Now we wait and wait for permits and other people to put our life on their schedule. I really don't like having to wait for others to do what I want them to do.  It is unfortunate that the the lot is six hours from here. We would do more to make the yard tidy, but it is hard running back and forth and we have things we have to get done here in Edmonton.  This summer we have put over 13,000 kilometers on the vehicle and we are far from done. 

I'm not sure how we are going to dispose of our pile of branches and it it just the first of many. Since the pile is six hours away, I will not solve that problem tonight. 

Until next time. 

AKA Mrs. Clay

Free Clay Workshops for Everyone

A year and a half ago we put together complete clay sculpting craft kits.  They had clay, paints, brushes, everything needed to make two complete clay sculptures.  The kit also included a 40 minute instructional DVD on how to make the piece step by step. We sold a few, but sales were not what we had expected or hoped.  So..... now the workshops are free on Youtube. The kits are still available, if someone watches on Youtube, they still need the supplies, but we want the knowledge there for everyone.

We have seven workshops available and we will be constantly adding more starting in January. We are trying to move to Coutts AB, but like most things in life, it is taking longer and costing more than we ever thought possible. We plan to be settled the end of December. When we get settled we will turn one bedroom into a production studio. Not only will we be creating a series of workshops aimed at a younger audience, we will be sharing everything we  have learned over the years as production potters and artists.

We may be retiring from in the classroom workshops, but we are far from quitting work. We are excited about building the channel and sharing everything we can think of that is clay related. We want clay in the hands of students  from all over and not just here in Edmonton. We want Every Day to be Clay Day!

Please have a look at the channel.  If there is something that you would like to see in a lesson on our channel, let us know. 

Until next time.

AKA

Mrs. Clay

More about not firing decorative clay pieces. A repost from January 16th 2012

More about Air Dry Clay.

We are in our second year of offering Air Dry Workshops. Teachers that booked Air Dry workshops last year are doing the same again this year. We do more Air Dry workshops than the fired ones. Teachers that have booked us fired first then Air Dry, always rebook Air Dry. When we are at a trade show, everything in our booth is Air Dry and we never fire anything before painting. All sample pieces we do as The Clay Teacher are not fired. Houses are made from unfired clay. Entire towns are made out of unfired clay from the Adobes in the South West, to Africa, Israel and India

One such dwelling is the "Musgum clay house". Named after its creators, the Musgum, an ethnic group in the far north province in Cameroon. The house is created from compressed sun-dried clay.

San Miguel Chapel, Sante Fe, New Mexico is the oldest church structure in the US. Original adobe walls built in approximately 1610 AD.

When making projects with the Air Dry method, you have to be familiar with clay and know how to work with it in order to have success. If the projects are made properly, you will not have problems with them later. When you follow the instructions of The Clay Teacher and the DVDs all pieces are sturdy and will last as San Miguel Chapel, unless dropped of course, then all fired or unfired clay will break.

When students make something out of clay and paint it, it is notpottery,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery it is only decorative or sculpture,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture. The pieces are not intended to be used in the kitchen as pottery, so there is no reason to finish them as a piece of pottery. However, the Air Dry method creates a very sturdy project.

Here is a little dish we put through the rinse cycle in the dishwasher. We sure do NOT recommend dishwasher safe, but it certainly survived and we still have it.

Taking the kiln out of the picture opens up clay to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Every day is Clay Day!

Until the next time.

Cindy

What is Air Dry Clay? (A repost from June 19, 2011)

I have been playing around with different clay bodies to see what ones work best with the air dry method and painting with acrylic paint. We use Plainsman Clay and in the class room we always use Buffstone. It is very good clay for schools. It has a low shrinkage rate, it’s economical and the light grey colour doesn't stain hands or clothes. Buffstone dries very hard and it is easy to work with. I made a sample project with M370 and the M390. Those clays shrink a lot more when they dry and are not as forgiving as the Buffstone in the drying process, but after all the samples were painted, you can't tell one from the other in look or feel.

Everyone thinks that clay has to be fired. Everything that you make out of clay has to be put into a kiln and kept forever. I hear all the time that someone made a little something in school out of clay and their mom still has it or they still have it. Clay is seen as this mystery substance that you get to work with once or twice in your childhood, the firing process, well that certainly is not for the faint of heart. Everything that is made is priceless and must be kept forever.

How many pictures does a child draw in their school years? How many cut and paste “somethings” are made and as soon as they are off the wall they go into the recycle? It is making the piece, learning to use the pencil, the glue, and the crayons, that is the fun. Like everything else, the more work they do, the better the work gets. If clay gets into the classroom and is used like cut and paste, or pencil crayons, just think what the kids could do after years of clay experience in school. If all the focus goes off the end project and goes to learning how to work with the medium, clay looses it mystic and awe and gets back into the hands of children where it should be. For about a dollar, a student can have enough clay to make just about any project they like. If they don’t like it, roll it up and start over. If the clay gets dry, add water and use it again.

No, a piece of clay that is not fired is not a sturdy as a fired piece. However, both are very hard. If you drop either one, they will break, and both will last for years as a decoration. The big difference between fired student work and air dried student work, is that with air dry, all you need is a ball of clay and a willing student. The fired piece is a bit more of a challenge.

So what is “Air Dry Clay”……….. clay that is not wet anymore.

Until the next time.

AKA Mrs.  Clay

And now for something completely different!

The Clay Teacher is making changes.We have been presenting clay workshops in the Edmonton area for the past four years.  Now we offer you clay workshops on Youtube for free. Mr. and Mrs. Clay have retired from presenting workshops and now we are making our workshops available to everyone.  You, a teacher' or PAC groups can lead the workshop yourself. We show you how to lead your group through making a clay project, whenever and wherever you want.  The Clay Teacher offers free video instruction in popular projects for all age groups. We will be creating new workshops and if there is something you would like to see, ask and we will have it on Youtube as quickly as we can.

We are moving to Coutts AB where life is slow and the weather is warm. Where is Coutts you ask?  It is a small town as far south in Alberta as you can go and one of the busiest Canada - US border crossings in Western Canada.

We have put over 7,000 kilometers on the car driving around Southern Alberta looking for the right place to call home. Wednesday we are going south.....again....to look at lots..  I always call them city lots, but with about 280 people living there, it's not quite a city. We will purchase the lot, then build a pad for our modular home will purchase Friday or Monday.  We thought we had our new home all lined up right up until we didn't. But the new modular home is nicer than the first one.  Not nicer now, but after a bit of work it will be. We had purchased a bunch of flooring to fix up the first one, and then the deal fell through, so we have a garage full of flooring and no trailer. Then found a place online for sale and it is a modular and not a mobile. A 76' long 16' wide modular that has no flooring.  A perfect match.  Here are some before pictures. 

    

 

I am looking forward to having time to soak in that tub. I like to play "tea bag".

The local school district closed the school in Coutts and the village (not the city) has taken it over. They have built a public library, and the Coutts Recreation and Arts Society. The Society was formed to operate the School as a Community Centre. We will be working with them to set up a public pottery studio in their art room. A win win for all involved.We will get a large and wonderful studio and they will have access to all our equipment and knowledge. We plan to build a great facility and are very excited about it. 

We have three bedrooms in our new home.  We will be turning one into the production studio where we will do all our own video. We have all  the equipment and we are ready to go.  Well, maybe not quite ready to shoot just yet! Here is a shot of the room.  It needs some work,(Paint!) besides a village lot to go to. 

 That pink was so loud, we heard it while walking down the hall. 

We had a great time as Mr. and Mrs. Clay. We will still be Mr. and Mrs. Clay on video instead of in person. As soon as we are up and running we will be constantly adding to our Youtube channel.  If there is a lesson you would like to see, ask us and we get it on line as soon as we can. Please let others know about the channel. We want to make every day Clay Day!

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

AKA