October 7, 2014: Day 7

Today I dismantled my kiln, moved some more raw materials and processed some clay. I didn't get to work at the pottery for more than three hours, but I used the time well.

The packing boxes should be arriving soon as they got to the supplier sooner than expected. That means I may be packing bisque and stock as soon as this weekend. I'm really itching to get to that part of things, but the truth is there are a lot of little things that need gathering up. Everywhere I look there are small items. Normally they are scattered strategically around the place so that they are always at hand when something needs doing. But when you want to get them collected together, they seem to defy your efforts. They will ultimately lose that battle.

I have changed my mind about some things. At one point, I wanted to take just about everything in the place with me. Now, one by one, they are going to get left behind. In all likelihood that was always to be the case, but ambition gets the better of you before rubber hits road. I always knew I'd be leaving the spray booth behind but I wasn't so sure about the dust collector. I thought I'd take it with me. Now, however, it will be staying put. Taking it would mean too much to deal with now. Besides, I can get a brand new spray booth with its own dust filtration system for a decent price.

Looking at the picture, I know it doesn't look like there's much in that storage unit, but believe me, looks are deceiving. The unit is 15 feet deep and I have packed stuff in as tightly as possible, A lot of rearranging will be needed soon. I will be moving some display shelving in that I built in 2012 and used up until this year. That will give me a little vertical space to the back and take some of the pressure off the wire racks.

That machine you see on the shelf is a ball mill, which is used to grind and mix glazes. It's a homemade job that Rowantrees used throughout its history. There was a second one, but I've only ever used this one. Still trying to decide whether to stay at one or take the other one as well. Still not sure. They cost a fortune to buy new. I shall think on.

Day seven down, 24 to go.

October 6, 2014: Day 6

Another "off" day. Here's the thing; when you work at a business all day (no matter which one), you can put in all the hours you want lifting and carrying stuff. But when the day is done, you still have the bookkeeping and other associated paperwork tasks to complete. Yesterday I worked at the move until sundown. It was dark by the time I got to the restaurant and pooched my tire in the process (yes, it's toast and beyond repair).

So by the time I sat down to work on the more clerical duties, it was pretty late. Result: I didn't get to bed until well after midnight. That doesn't bode well for the following day. Sure enough, I was snoring in my office chair shortly after lunch today.

So this afternoon I basically gave myself a day off. Not entirely, but mostly. I finished up the pottery that came out of the last kiln (the bowl in the picture came out of that final firing) and got it onto the stock shelves. Then I took the last of the ware boards and a few small items over to the storage unit. I also threw out some trash. Not a particularly inspiring set of tasks accomplished, but I'll go to be at a decent hour tonight. That will make tomorrow a better day all around.

And it needs to be. I swear the stuff I need to move is breeding. The more I remove, the more there is!

Day 6 down, 25 to go.

October 5, 2014: Day 5

Oh, the places I have gone and the things I have done. Really, that's a bit overstated, but why not? It's after midnight and I'm a but punchy.

I spent a lot of this day in the storage unit putting up shelving (4 shelving units from Home Depot at $100 each reduced to about $360 thanks to a gift card I had in my wallet) and generally rearranging things. Then it was back to the pottery to unload that final firing and load the first bunch of raw glaze materials into the car for a trip back to the storage unit. I meant to get a picture of the thing, but someone forgot the camera. Oh well, tomorrow (today?) will be another day.

After the final trip, I decided to get some Thai takeout for dinner. From that decision came the only bad event of the day. As I turned into the parking lot of the restaurant, I misjudged the turn and drove over a curb with a BANG. No body damage to the car, but the right front tire was toast. I changed the tire and will have the mechanic look at it tomorrow (today?). Hopefully it just needs to be put back on the rim and will be fine. I really don't want to be buying tires right now. Really I don't.

Day 5 down, 26 to go.

October 4, 2014: Day 4

Clay reclaiming started in earnest today. I have a lot of it to process and it will take some time. Luckily, I can do other things while a batch is mixing. I'm trying to make these batches somewhat softer than the clay I usually use because I have noticed that this particular clay tends to stiffen as it ages. If it sits in one spot and doesn't move until used, the water content tends to surrender to gravity and work its way to the bottom of the box, leaving the clay at the top too hard to work easily.

Remixing the clay is labor intensive and time consuming, which is why I use a pug mill. The pug mill will be in storage at least until I can't stand being without it any longer, so I decided to start this clay off on the soft side. Let it stiffen if it wants.

I also started packing up the stockroom. I can fit exactly one gross of petal cups into a 1.5 cubic foot box. This I learned today!

Raw materials are almost all packed into containers. The labeling is an ongoing project that I hope to finish tomorrow. I intend to pick up some shelving units at Home Depot tomorrow and get them to the storage unit where I can set them up. Then I can start moving bisque and stock to storage. It will all get messier before it gets better organized, but at least I have a vision of where things should be at the end of it all.

Day 4 down, 27 to go.

October 3, 2014: Day 3

Well, I guess you can call this progress. As promised, the kiln was unloaded and its contents finished and stocked. Mostly yellow mugs, but some green and one large Duckshead flaring bowl.

Unfortunately, that flaring bowl ended up in the seconds pile. I'll probably take that one home for myself. There was a small glaze blowout on the inside that makes it unsalable. Oh well. Most of the rest was just fine.

I stacked the last kiln and set it to firing. Right about now it should be finishing up with the preheat and getting on with business. It will fire tomorrow and get unloaded on Sunday. Then the kiln will be decommissioned until I find it a new home. **sigh**

After that was done, I set to work packaging up the raw materials. It's another bucket dance as I put dry powders into shiny new buckets to be transported to storage. Some unopened bags will go into plastic bags, but there aren't many of those.

And of course, everything has to be properly and legally labeled. I have set about the task of getting that taken care of. I have always been pretty meticulous about my material safety data sheets, and I have a program of my own design that will print out labels in OSHA-compliant format. What labels I don't already have will be done and applied by Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow is clay day. I will spend as much time as I can recycling clay and packaging it up for transport to heated storage. Lord, I'm going to have a lot of that by the time I'm finished. that's a good thing because I won't need to buy clay in for quite some time. It's an expense I don't need in the coming year. For now, though, it's called sweat equity.

Day three down, 28 to go.

October 2, 2014: Day 2

Today was a little "off." I had truck duty at my full-time job, which is unusual for me. After over 26 years as an EMT and then paramedic, I have shifted into mostly administrative work and spend most of my time doing compliance, policy and financial stuff. But today I donned a uniform and prepared for whatever might come.

Nothing came. Now, here's the thing. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it is far more exhausting to spend a day in an ambulance station waiting for the call that never comes than it is to be running calls back to back all day. The stress factor of waiting around is far greater than diving in and using those skills you spent so many years sharpening.

So it was no surprise to me that by 3:00 p.m. I could not keep my eyes open. And yet, I needed to head out and tackle stuff at the pottery. I changed clothes at the station and dragged my weary body up the hill with no real enthusiasm.

Once I got there things changed a bit. But the work I needed to do was not something I particularly enjoyed; dismantling things. Yup, I gotta face the fact all over again that it's moving out time. It's just inertia, really, and it can be overcome.

The kiln I unloaded yesterday was waiting to be finished up and put onto the stock shelves, so I did that first thing. The kiln I fired today was cooling off. That will be opened tomorrow on my way to work. It's mostly yellow just as the last firing was mostly green. Tomorrow afternoon, I will stack one more kiln and that will be it for production.

The next item on the agenda was to dismantle the glazing equipment. I packed up air hoses, spatulas, "chucks" (items used to hold pottery while glazing it), bowls, pitchers, and various other bits and pieces. The spray gun came home with me and the rest of it went to the storage unit. It all went far smoother than I anticipated, which leaves me wondering what I forgot.

Tomorrow I will at least start packing up the raw glaze materials. Some will go to storage, some will go home. Keeping my head focused on which is which will be a challenge, but the way I'm storing things, they can all be reconfigured as needed.

Day two down, 29 to go.

Moving On

Today is October first, and although I have been given until November 15 to vacate the old Rowantrees building, I have agreed to try and be cleared out by October 31. Starting tonight, I will be chronicling my daily progress as I finish what work remains to be finished and pack up everything that needs to be moved.

Tonight I finished the last of my glazing and stacked what will be the penultimate kiln firing. There will be one more firing and then everything will be finished. At least, everything I glazed will be finished. I still have a whole lot of bisque ware, but that will be boxed up and put into storage. Once I have relocated, it will take little time to complete that work.

It was a melancholy moment glazing that last pot. It was a ramekin in yellow. I looked at it for a moment and told it that it would be the last piece to be glazed in that building after 80 continuous years. It should feel honored. I felt sad.

Day one down, 30 left to go.