bodner046

Last week Jeff and I worked like crazy to prepare for the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour.  We cleaned the studio and the gallery as well as catching up on lots of yard work. We had a much better turn out for the tour this year compared the dismal event of 2016. Sales were up dramatically, almost catching up to what they were when we were at the log cabin. I demonstrated carving vases throughout the weekend. Jeff did some throwing demonstrations. Saturday was perfect weather. Sunday was very rainy, but people still came out to see the potters. My flowers sort of took a beating in the rain. If you look closely you can see that the birdbath is filled to capacity. The hosta, on the other hand, thrived with all this rain.  When I opened the studio on Saturday morning, this luna moth was hanging out on the outside wall, near the front door. It stayed all day to greet visitors. I took it as a sign of good luck.

If you drove past our home and studio this week you probably noticed that our grass was about ready for haying. The guy that takes care of our mowing has been working two jobs and has been taking care of his mowing customers on nights and weekends. We really like this guy, so we are patient and willing to wait our turn. Last night he arrived and got the job done. Next on the clean up list is to haul away the mountain of pine boughs that our huge China Fir  dropped last fall. This weekend is the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Openings and we would like the yard to be neat and pretty. The Sophie cat alarm woke me up at 6 am, just in time to light the first burner on the kiln, and give her some breakfast. While the kiln fires, Jeff and I will get some pots made so that I can do some sgraffito demonstrations during the studio tour. Once the pots are made our studio will get it's big spring cleaning. After a winter and spring of heavy production, it's in desperate need...

 I recently made a trip to the Korean supermarket in Greensboro and came home with some of our favorite things. We were long overdue for an Asian meal. I decided it would be a Japanese/Korean fusion meal. In the afternoon I made onigiri (Japanese rice balls). At Jeff's suggestion, each had a little dab of Korean soybean paste (Korean version of miso) in the center. The sticky rice was cooked with diced carrot, lotus root, and bits of fried tofu. I substitute chicken broth for dashi. The liquid is also seasoned with soy sauce and sake. They are time consuming to assemble, but are worth the effort. Hopefully with practice, mine will get more attractive looking! Our main course was bulgogi beef dish with sliced rice cake. I love Korean rice cake. It's like a dense and chewy pasta. It holds up well to spicy foods. We chose our handmade dishes carefully, selecting those made by potters from both Korea, and Japan.

What a week it has been! We had a load of pots that needed to be glazed and fired. Despite some horrendous weather, Jeff and I managed to get it done. My other task for the week was creating daily social media posts about the Spring studio tour for our local potters group. Now this should have been an easy task, since I have been on this committee for seven years. Wouldn't you know that my aging MacBook Pro decided to start acting up. It's been slowing down for some time now and this week it became a snail. At one point it took me an hour to create a post, find the photo, and upload it. After spending hours on end making changes to try and speed it up, I came to the conclusion that I needed a new laptop BEFORE it totally crashed and burned (been there done that). I REALLY wanted another MacBook. My bank account said, "In your Dreams". I searched for a refurbished Mac but they were either just a little newer than my 2009 or still way out of my budget. Jeff found a good...

 Jeff and I have the BEST job!  Last Saturday we had a group of women who are Mary Kay Beauty Consultants, come to our studio for a team building event. They dug right into the clay and were fast learners.  Despite the serious faces in the photos... these women know how to have fun! They had us in stitches for much of their session. At the end of their time with us they each had 2-4 nice looking little pots that we will fire for them. They each chose their favorite glazes from our selection and are looking forward to coming back to pick them up. If you are interested in scheduling an event for your small group, we can accommodate 6 guests, click here for more information: Pottery Lessons