The start of year two.

There is a rumour that we, The Clay Teacher, have been telling people we are Clay for Kids and that we have been using their materials. We have never said we are Clay for Kids and we have nothing that belongs to them! Before anyone believes everything they read on the internet they might want to get to the truth. Look at both companies, look at both web sites, talk to both sides, ask a few questions and form their own opinion.

I started playing with clay as a child, made my first pot when I was 12 on the potter’s wheel, worked and studied at that young age and started teaching adult night classes when I was 18. I have taught all ages from preschool to seniors for decades. In 1999 I became a production potter. My husband and I built our pottery business up to a studio that had almost 50 retail clients and we were producing about 10 tons of clay a year. It was hard work and now we have moved on to The Clay Teacher. We are potters, artists and teachers. Please check out our website http://www.outofthefirestudio.com/ and for a look at some of our art, please see our gallery page http://www.outofthefirestudio.com/photo_gallery.html .

Teachers who want to hire an artist to teach art to their students should consider The Clay Teacher. Again, check out the instructors available, their qualifications and clay experience, then choose the instructor that they feel is most qualified. We think they will choose The Clay Teacher for their clay education workshops.

Year number two as The Clay Teacher is well under way. We have a number of bookings and we are looking forward to a new year. This fall we are excited about our new air dry method. The projects are constructed and finished in a way that the finished product is both sturdy and water resistant. I ran a project through the rinse cycle of the dishwasher and it came out fine. It looked the same coming out as going in. The pictures taken for the website were taken AFTER it came out of the dishwasher. Don’t get me wrong, we are in no way recommending dishwasher safe for this method, but it just goes to show that end product will stand up for years as a decoration. This method offers a number of advantages to the teacher. First is price, it is $1.50 less per child. The actual workshop where we come in and the student works with the clay remains unchanged, but the project never leaves the classroom or the art room. This gives the teacher control over the timing of the finished project and the student is more connected to what they have made. They see and learn the drying process, how the clay changes from wet to dry and how it is controlled. After a week or so depending on the project, they are finished and ready to go home. There are no more weeks to wait, possible damage in travel and the student doesn’t for get about what he or she has made. We provide all the information required to finish each project, we are available if anyone has any questions and we provide key elements of the process. The teacher provides the paint.

The post below this one has pictures of the little white plate that made the run through the dishwasher.

Until next time,

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

Before and After

Here is the little dish that went through the rinse cycle of the dishwasher. It's hard to tell before and after, but they are in order. The top is before and the lower is after. The new method works as a viable option to the kiln.

On the road again, I can't wait to get on the road again.

It has been a busy six weeks… six weeks wow time does go by quickly. We finished up our first year as The Clay Teacher. It was a good year and we are looking forward to an even better one next year. After Clay Teacher was done we had a large order for a client in the east and a wedding registry to get out by the first week of July. We are venders again this year at the Folk Fest and I have been busy trying to get a large inventory of smaller items ready for that. We should have about 400 to 500 little pieces, mugs, plates, cups, bowls, etc for that. If we only could sell them all…….We had to take a week off and go to Ashcroft BC. My mother lives there. She is 96 with a lot of help of my two sisters we put mom into assisted living. Not quite the home, but close. She is happy there, they take care of her. My oldest sister has been the primary care taker for the last few years and it was a bit much for one person to do. It will do both sis and Mom good to get some distance from each other and my sister will be able to get on with her life without having to check in on Mom two or three times a day.

After the festival Jim and I are going on a road trip, just the two of us. The first holiday we have had just the two of us since 2001. It should be a blast. We are going south through Saskatchewan, into the states heading for Hannibal MO for a night then after a short visit we are in Nashville for a three nights. After Nashville down to New Orleans for three nights and then we are going follow the coast of Texas to Corpus Christi through Galveston, staying a night in each city. Then head across the dessert to Santa Fe for two nights. After all that it will be time to come home. We will just head north through Montana and Calgary. Each city along the way has such a different flavour it has been fun searching out rooms, clubs, music, food along the way.

We are excited about this. It will be great to get away and out of my basement. I have spent so much time down there working lately I have started taking vitamin D pills….not joking… Away from the kids, they are great kids, but kids just the same and adult kids in our home. It will do us all some good to get away from each other for awhile. If we are away from work and kids, I truly am on a holiday. No one to look after, no meals to make, nothing I have to make out of clay and no dead lines…. Off duty….Two weeks from right now we should be 2 hours down the road on our first day, but if we plan to get away at 7:00 am we should be gone by 9:00 at least……hopefully…..

Until next time

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

A little of this and that.

My son John went to Australia three months ago. He got a car, a place to live, some sparse furnishings and started to look for work and look and look. He applied at about 30 places before he figured out that with his student visa no one will hire him so he is coming home. He had a real adventure, saw some of the country learned a bit about life, himself and now he is returning the middle of June. Today is he is on his way to Sydney just to see what he can see for a few days, then out to the outback to have a look at the red Australian dessert and then home. What a wonderful experience it has been for him. I would rather have him a little closer to home. He will stay at here for a few months then probably move to Victoria BC. It is easier to visit him there than Brisbane.

We rented a dumpster this weekend for a major spring cleaning. We got the garage done yesterday, today we start on the basement and tomorrow we will do the rest of the house. I don’t know where all the crap comes from. It is like it multiplies when you are not looking. It is fun to throw out all the crap once you get past that ….I might need this one day…or…this is still good ….stage. If you haven’t even looked at it in years you really don’t need it. If you have a garage sale you work for a week or more getting it all sorted and priced, sell it for 25 cents or throw it out after the sale because no one will give you a quarter for it. It is easier and more satisfying just to chuck it. Monday morning we will be junk free!

Monday I start potting…..in my clean studio…We have a large wedding registry to have done by July 3^rd. It is a lot of pots, but with the Clay Teacher done for the summer, it is good to have the work and I am looking forward to being a potter for awhile.

Yesterday we started getting bookings for next year. We had a great first year and with the bookings starting so soon we should have an even better second. I really enjoyed the kids. For some it was their first attempt and three dimensional art. We worked with a grade one class on Thursday making dragons. The students and their work were awesome. They made some of the most imaginative dragons to date. We had dragons with up to five eyes, dragon riders, dragons with their eggs curled up in their tales, lots of horns and no horns at all. They had the freedom to make their own and they did. It was a large class so Jim came. We work well together and have fun. The kids pick up on that and it sets a good energy for the workshop. We will do more sessions together next year. It is easier for me to have the help and the school gets two teachers for the price of one.

It’s time to get to work and get rid of some crap.

Until the next time.

Cindy

Not a Holiday Weekend

Today is Sunday but not a day off or a holiday. This May long weekend is cold and rainy as it is every year. It has warmed up to 3 C so far today. Those who were silly or brave enough to go camping or other long weekend plans, have my sympathies. We didn’t get snow here, but we had some very light rain. Light, meaning it floated very slowly to the ground but didn’t turn white. There was snow all around us, just not here in Edmonton.

Yesterday we loaded the kiln with Clay Teacher projects. Today I will glaze some pots so when the kiln is cool tomorrow we can unload the kids work load it right away with the production stuff. I am looking forward to getting back in the studio and making some pots. We have two wedding registries to get done and the Folk Fest to pot for. I am going to do some funky stuff. Most people don’t like my fun and funky pots, but I don’t care it is fun to do and it makes me happy. Jim is going to build a site called Cindy Clarke Pottery and it will be for the non production one of kind schtuff.

Gotta get to busy. Until next time.

Cindy

Taking my own advice.

Almost every workshop has a student that shuts down, puts their hands on the lap and says “I can’t do it” and “I say you’re right, you can’t.” They look up at me with hurt and angry eyes because I agreed and then I go on to say” You quit. You have stopped trying, started looking for reasons why it won’t work. Your hands are not even touching the clay. With a shut down mind and hands on your lap, you are right, you can’t do it. Follow the instructions and just do it. You know how to do it, now you just have to do the work and…..do it. Once have finished, you will be so glad you didn’t quit just because it was harder than you thought it would be.” I don’t know how many times have given that little talk to a reluctant student. Friday was the last time. They always go on to make a great project and they are proud of it. You would think that I could take my own advice.

I wasn’t sure how personal to get in this blog. But then it is my blog, very few people read it and I am a personal kinda person.Writing it down puts it out there for me to read it more so than for anyone else. I have been battling the bulge for ……ever.Anyone who has watched the video we made years ago and the Youtube videos will know I am loosing the battle. I was very heavy about 13 years ago. At that time I joined TOPS and then a gym and lost 100 pounds. Well didn’t actually loose them, I put them in a place where they could be easily found. I kept it off for about 3 years and then they started creeping back just a pound or two here and there. About 5 pounds a year, for the last 10 years. Do the math!

I joined Weight Watchers about two months ago and have only lost 5 pounds. I know you can say all the things like, better than a gain, at least it is the right direction and all that crap. That is just what it is…. crap. I went to a meeting today. Ladies there had lost 5 pounds in a week not 8 weeks. Then this lady stood up she had lost enough last week to put her over 100 pounds lost. She did it. I too had done it, but then I undid it. I have no idea why, and then I thought of that little girl in my last workshop who had quit because her project was harder than she wanted to work. I had told to stop making excuses and just do it. When she was done she would be glad she had done it. She finished her project, it turned out well and she was very happy with her work and the fact that she had not quit. Then I went home from that workshop and all my good advice and coaching to continue do nothing about the weight loss I have been wanting for years. Basically I sat there with my hands on my lap, mind shut down and looking for reasons why it won’t work. I know how to do it. Follow the instructions and just do it.

When I write these blogs they are far apart and I don’t have the time, or take the time to go back and read the last one. I will ramble on through out the summer about the weight loss and getting back to working on pots that make me happy and make some money. We are planning a road trip this summer and I hope to be 25 pounds lighter than I am now. That is only 2 pounds a week, very doable. Take your own advice girl and just do it!

Until next time.

Cindy

Freedom

The Clay Teacher is winding down and only a few weeks left of our first year. What a rush. We built it and they did come. The best thing that happened in almost every workshop was giving the children the freedom to do what they liked. I was asked so often “can I do….. fill in the blank”….. and I would say “YES”… this is your project you do it your way, as long as it fits the basic guide lines, you have the choice and the ability to make it yours. Children have this flat out honesty that looks you square in the eye when they hear about having freedom. Their whole self smiles and it lights their eyes with a light that I will never grown tired of seeing. I heard a joke once that about a little girl that came home from school and she was upset because the teacher said she didn’t colour in the lines. Her mother told her to colour anyway she liked and when she was done to draw a line around it. That is what we tried to give to the students. It is easier to think inside the box if you create your own box. I used to ask when we first started this, if the teacher wanted to adhere strictly to the project or if they were willing to let the kids go their own way. Most would say let them go, but a few would say they wanted control over the project, so I stopped asking. I learned a long time ago, if you don’t want to hear the answer, don’t ask the question. We will see next year on the repeats if this was a good plan or not. Mind you, the year is far from over. We have a number of students, projects and smiles left to come.

A young lady came to our door last night. She works for World Vision and was looking for people who would sponsor a child. .She showed us a picture of a boy that lives in Mali and it was her last boy to place for the day. She was so young, so much of a princess and so full of passion for what she was doing. She had no idea she was a princess, and there is nothing wrong with being a princess. She is just young. She lived at home and her dad was calling from his car in the neighbourhood that she was working as she went from door to door. He would pick her up after she was done and they would go out together. But the fact still remains, it was a Friday night and she was looking for sponsors for World Vision and not doing what most young girls are doing on a Friday night. She is princess about to grow into the woman she wants to be. She has the brains, the family support and the opportunity to do what she wants. Opportunity is the key word here, so many don’t have opportunities and if we can help this one boy…... We have seen this child almost daily in the schools, or one just like him, but the difference is we see him after his family has have found their way out of Africa or whatever poverty stricken country and found their way to freedom. There is that word again. We see them in the schools with English as their second language, drinking in this new and wonder life. We tried to sponsor a child in Zimbabwe a few years ago. But with all the unrest in the country, it all sort of fell apart. Mali is a much more stable country than Zimbabwe and one of the poorest countries in the world, but they do have democracy. The boy we are sponsoring is named Mamadou Togo, he is five years old and lives with his parents. His father is a farmer and his mother is self employed. We don’t know what she does, but as time goes on, we will. We are looking forward to getting to know this family. We will keep you up to date.

I threw some pots today and it felt good. I have spent a lot of energy teaching this last year and have wondered off from potting. When I spend my days in the classroom, I don’t want to pot. I give all I can to the workshop. I am still a potter and I have to find a way to balance them. I told the City that I quit teaching and then reconsidered, only for the paycheque. They have hired other teachers and my position there is most likely filled and after today I am glad. I always teach the beginners and it would be more fun to teach an advanced class and more fun yet to pick up the production a bit now that I have gotten over the ……I don’t want to make anything burn out,,,,, and not working nights or Sundays that gives me my freedom to be a potter and an artist.

Janice Joplin once said “freedom just another word for nothing left to loose” ……not true….freedom is everything, it lets you be you....

Until the next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher