Who wants to talk about this, really? But here we are, socially distanced, and now the outdoors has become another potent enemy. Our Air Quality Index (according to my new app, which I felt the need to acquire) is 132. Unhealthy for sensitive people. It was worse yesterday, and is Far Worse in Oregon and parts of Washington. But still. Going outside was our primary mode of stress reduction. Exercise. Breathing. Wait. No breathing for YOU.
All of that green outside my studio door is so generous. Filtering smokey air through their leaves (the stuff of all life) just as we're filtering it through our lungs. Our bodies. I'm watching a squirrel optimisticly burying a nut. His eyes and throat can't be feeling great, either. A former student of mine lives in Tigard, Oregon, south of Corvalis. His aqi number at this very minute is 365. Purple. "Hazardous". We have so fouled this nest. Where we will go from here is a mystery, but let's hope someone has Climate Change on their radar. Someone other than our little group. Someone with a modicum of power to execute change. What an undeserving species we are.
Enough of that. Let's talk about the sample I knit from my intimidating fleece, and the small porcelain pieces made in this very studio while avoiding assault by smoke.
Good news bad news on the sample. It is so lovely and soft. Once the grass was cleaned out of the fleece, it spun up well, though I still had the occasional piece of organic matter to pick out while spinning. It was enough to make me pay attention, but not enough to be annoying. This fleece is definitely worth the effort, so I have a whole lot of work ahead of me.
The most recent hand-built pieces of porcelain are similarly encouraging. Why do I resist hand-building? I have this subconscious notion, I think, that throwing is just cooler than hand-building. Maybe not so subconscious. I should probably sell my wheel, but then those over reactions are typical of a smoke-drunk human. Anyway! A spoon rest and mug, in the raw. I like both forms, and hand-building allows for so much lovely texture.
They will shrink a lot, but I know from experience (and the pattern that I made) that the mug will be just right. . .very Goldilocks. The spoon rest needs more refining.I'll try using a form (a bowl?) next time to get the curve a little more refined.
Still. It will work, and function does matter to me. They need to dry a little more, and I'll try to get into the studio more seriously tomorrow. Then on to the kiln for the bisque firing.
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