Good morning to the friends I cannot see—

Well, actually it is evening now. I feel like I am on one of those spinning tops that wobble and  if you don’t set up straight and hang on tight you fall off. Just opened the kiln and found treasures. Some were mine and one of those stuck to the shelf with glaze running off the piece. I hate it when that happens. Some were pieces that belonged to a workshop mother and daughter. JW had a real “shiner”  that’s professional talk for a piece that turned out so beautiful it made the eyes hurt. Her daughter AW did an awesome job on making her pieces come to life with her skill in glazing. After all it is her 2nd workshop. AW had some time before her mother finished so I put her to work glazing some of my knobs for the dresser that I am painting.

Then there were pieces for FH for the prizes for the bike races this week end at Gunn Park.  The weatherman said it was going to be sunny and hot. That will be perfect. This is quite an event and if you have not made it out to see what it is all about please make some time Sat or Sun or both to get involved.  I will have a table of pots set up for you to see, other vendors will be there with their wares, and Thomas from Az will be offering chair massages to relax those tight muscles. And a concert Sat night will finish off the day.

I am still thinking about that pot that stuck to the shelf. There is definitely some grinding in my future. That’s a lot of work but even the very best professional potters have to grind shelves. And they sometimes have a horrible kiln load of pots. Fortunately I only had one. Sometimes a pot blows up in the kiln and ruins all other pots. So really Bobbi, pull up your big girl pants and just go grind the shelf. And put your hands in the clay and be happy.

Till we visit again———-

                                                   Stay Centered

bobbi kemna

potter

To the friends I cannot see,

Hi Ho–Hi Ho it’s off to work I go———–oh wait I’m old and don’t go to work anymore. That’s why I was able to take a long, long, long time off this winter from real life. Sat on the beach, swam in a huge heated pool,& read a gazillon books.  No clay but did do a lot of painting (in my style) in the evenings. I had a marvelous time & enjoyed every minute. Met several interesting people at the pool. But you know, when it was time I was ready to come home. I missed being in charge & making things happen. I missed my friends. At one point I said to myself “self, maybe it’s time to give up the clay & settle in to the golden years”. I just spent 3 hours in my happy place–the rock house. I can tell you I am not ready to give up the clay.  This has been the best morning just letting the creative juices flow. I have no one to please but me today & the clay responded in some very interesting ways.  So since I am happy I was thinking it might be good to make others happy. What about a play day in a couple of months.\?? Come spend the day just playing in the mud, visiting with your friends, roaming the pasture to find your texturing tools, have a cook out, induldging in your favorite beverage,  just get your life centered. More info to come on this but in the meantime feel free to contact me with your thoughts. Would you be interested?

Gotta get back to the mud.

Till we visit again——————————————–STAY CENTERED

BOBBI

Not Bobbi’s fault this post is late but the sentiment is the same. Susan

Good morning to the friends I cannot see,

The last load of pots have been fired, the kiln has been unplugged, & it is time to get on with another phase of life. At this moment that next phase is the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus. Young children are perhaps focused on the gifts they will receive. The older ones of us are just grateful for the chance to live this long. I am looking forward to spending time with all 5 of my children & some of the grandchildren. Again, at this age in life I am not the one to do the cooking, cleaning, wrapping, planning & everything else involved with a celebration. I just have to show up, eat, sit by the fire & enjoy the scene unfolding before me. Life is good.

A big THANK YOU to those that have bought my pottery. I appreciate your support more than words can say.  To those that have received my work from your friend I say “enjoy it–may it bring a ray of sunshine & happiness to your life”. And to all of you that follow my pottery life on the blog I say “please keep on doing that & perhaps encourage others to also read it”.

So as this year of 2016 fades away & a new year begins I want to wish each & everyone of you a BLESSED CHRISTMAS & a fantastic new year. I will keep potting until I can not—in fact maybe today I will play in the mud & start a new masterpiece for the new year.

God Bless

                                                                  STAY CENTERED

                 until we visit again.

bobbi kemna

Good morning to the friends I cannot see,

Yesterday was a great kiln unloading day.  I have worked hard to finish up pots for the upcoming festivals & for the special orders. Since I haven’t mastered the way to put pictures on this blog, please go to my facebook page to see some of what came out of the kiln. I have always had lots of color in my space but as I grow older, the desire for color seems to get stronger. Thus the look of this last load.  So I have covered the kiln & am finished with firings until after the holidays. (well I say this but who knows–it might not stay that way!!!)  Yesterday while trying to put the studio back in some kind of order, I started wedging clay, & said to myself “don’t sit down–don’t sit down–don’t sit down” knowing that if I turned the slab roller handle or started to make coils I would be lost in that world for the rest of the day. Some of the comments on the look of this last load regarding the glazes==this is what happened. I get bored doing the same thing more than one time so at one point I found a straw, sucked up some glaze & just blew it on the pot that already had 4 glazes on it. It did turn out awesome (in my opinion). So don’t tell everyone how I glaze OK–they will just think I am smart or not.  It has been a good year. I am looking forward to next year. Who knows, it might be over the moon. But whatever comes, I will be ready. Thanks to all of you that read my silliness, put up with my ramblings, & perhaps have been motivated to put your hands in the mud.  It has altered my life & kept me centered. My work is like life—never perfect & always changing.

I wish for all of you Blessing from our God & a happy holiday season.

Stay Centered

bobbi kemna

Good Evening to the friends I cannot see,
It’s been my experience that most people don’t care to hear about other peoples daily happenings. Well, this has been a great day & I am going to share it with you—like it or not.  Normally I only blog about the clay world, students in my workshops & their great creations, glazes that worked or didn’t work & ran all over the shelf & off of the pot they were on, upcoming art festivals, ect  ect  ect. This is a little bit about that cause I finally played in the mud long enough to fill the kiln for a bisque load last week, glazed all day mon, loaded the kiln on Tues & hit the start button on Wed (yesterday). Got up early this morning simply because it is just too hard to wait to open the kiln to see what is there. Still 250 degrees at 8 this morning so I just barely opened the lid to peek. Looked good what I could see. So put on my walking shoes & headed for the trail to put in my daily 2 miles of quietness.
Back up to yesterday–friend SP & I made a trip to the city for various things–at the top of the list was our usual thrift store visits. OMG–I found this amazing old wooden swimming pool chaise lounge with wheels on one end to move it around.  I was so excited but the price was $129.99. Too much I said, but then I saw in big numbers  50% off. Oh that’s doable I thought. Then I read the sign that said Senior Day 25 per cent off on Wed. Well, let me tell you being old doesn’t have many advantages but it sure worked in my favor yesterday.  It is now taking its Royal place in my living room. And yes, I do have to get rid of a chair but who else will have a swimming pool chaise in their living room but me. I was/am so excited over this.  Then I found this amazing wood desk, quickly sent a pic to friend ME (did she want it–Yes she said) so it too was loaded in my car.
Back to this morning–after my walk I delivered the desk to ME–stopped in at daughters hair salon–sit down she said & I will put some color on your hair. I did–she did–then said “I think you need a trim” Hummm–I thought my hair was just right. Guess not——did the post office, paid the city water bill, It was time to go home & check the kiln. For the first time in a long time I was happy with the whole load. Usually at least one piece doesn’t make me happy. But today everything looked great (in my opinion) which doesn’t always count for much–my opinion I mean.  I did post a couple of pictures on facebook, have gotten many positive responses & that, of course, makes the day even better.  My sister gave me some meat cause she was cleaning her freezer out so I even had steak for dinner tonight. And I heard from a dear friend that I had not heard from for a few months.  And I managed to make another pot this afternoon. Wow—What a day—–
This is the day the Lord has made
Let us rejoice & be glad.
Now if the royals could just win their ball game the day would end perfectly.

Until we visit again
Stay Centered

bobbi kemna
potter

Good morning to the friends I cannot see,
Remember how I have told you that not all kiln openings are like Christmas?  Disclaimer–sometimes there are some jewels hiding in the ugliness. Ugliness first–upon opening the lid I said “Dang it”.  Even though I had thought ahead & set my largest piece of work on wire stilts–the glaze had moved so far it was on the stilts & on the shelf. And not even the glaze that I had put on the top knowing it sometimes moved, it was the old reliable blue glaze that everyone loves. (thus my thought that piece would sell quickly). It’s OK I said–other pieces were nice. Remove the top shelves & look—“Dang it” came out again. There was a great mug glazed in white & at the last minute (not able to leave just one glaze on anything) I brushed some blue  lines plus some green dots on the blue lines. The overall look was stunning—on the mug but not so much as it reached the shelf.  I didn’t get mad, or upset & vow to stop making pots, I did continue to unload the kiln & did find some really nice pieces. They will be available at our art walk this Friday downtown.  Did I learn a lesson from this–yes & it was Everything does not go as planned so learn to deal with it & continue down the path of life. The shelves were grinded off (thanks to Mark) & I just put new kiln wash on all of them. I have a load almost ready to bisque fire next week–but as I glaze that load I will try to remember what glazes not to use. Oh wait, I never write anything down (as my teacher Sammie taught me) so perhaps I won’t remember this load & it will happen again.
The upside of this story is that all of this work was mine. It’s much harder for the students to lose a piece (especially on me) & that doesn’t happen often. Stress cracks, yes, but when that happened to a young girl she said “That’s OK Mz Bobbi—it is what it is”  I will remember her smile & upbeat manner forever.
Until we meet again
Stay centered
bobbi kemna
potter wantabe