Gearing Up

Well, I think it's trying to be Spring. I'm not sure about that. Day after cold day of clouds and rain can keep the perspective in limbo, but the last time I checked the calendar, it was late April. Someone needs to bring the date up with the Powers That Be and tell them that the thermostat is long overdue for a cranking.

We had a long and very cold winter here in the hinterlands. You come to expect that when you live in Maine. All the same, it gets old by mid-February. And when March comes along, people start looking forward to the return of warmth and light. I think the colder the Winter, the greater the expectation of Spring's relief.

It doesn't work that way, though. We forget that April tends to be pretty chilly - and that it snows at least once in April (we've had that this year, so I think it's over). Actually, I remember once in my teenage years when I was mowing the lawn in May and suddenly found myself in the midst of a snowstorm. It didn't last very long, but you can imagine the emotional trauma.

The point is, Winter doesn't let go easily here. We tend to forget that as March turns to April, but as Garrison Keillor once noted, that April, May or early June blizzard comes along to teach us all that lesson we have learned so often. Winter leaves when it's good and ready.

Personally, I think we have earned a nice long Summer season. I would really like to collect on that even though experience says it may be warm - even hot on occasion - but it's not likely to be long. Even as the days grow longer, they seem to go by faster. Still, I can hope.

Oh yes...pottery. There is news along those lines.

The water finally got turned on last week and I have been in the pottery doing some cleanup. There is a lot to do before I can start production again, but things are pretty much where they are at this time of the year. It is cold in the building, of course, and that will need to change. I'm waiting for a couple nice warm days so that I can open the doors and windows and heat the place up. For now, I'm pretty much restricted to cleaning and straightening things up. Good enough.

The tile project continues to move forward slowly. Nothing like this ever moves quickly and I think that's just fine. I'm in no hurry. But early indications are that there will be tiles this season. Not bad since I first thought I'd have tiles in Summer of 2012.

I am looking forward to working in the glaze lab as well. Goals there include developing an improved clear glaze (I like the one I have but it's tricky to use in the raw state), finishing development of the new Seagull Gray, tweaking both the Evergreen and the Duckshead glazes and who knows what else?

The Kickstarter project is still in the works. Like any other creative work, it takes time to do well. I can't thank my friend Evan Jones at RBY Productions for his help in producing my "ask" video. I hope the project will be up and running very soon, but it won't go up until I think it's ready. Please keep an eye out for it. I need a new studio space that I can use year round. Right now, I'm focused on producing as many of the premium items as I can so that they will be ready for delivery when the project starts. That's a whole lot of mugs! And dinnerware! And vases!

But for now, the cold wind and rain are whipping at my windows. It's dinnertime and I'm hungry. Check back for more news soon!