Here is a quick post of the new kiln before and after the first firing.

And the hot air balloon going over the house at sunrise!

The studio is complete!  It has actually been complete for a few weeks now but I’ve been busy getting moved in and am just now getting around to posting a few pictures. Last weekend I held a little open studio celebration so that the neighbors could see what we’ve been up to and a number of my pottery friends came by as well to see what I’d been talking about for so many months!  It was a good excuse to meet  some of our neighbors as we just celebrated our first full year in the house.  And I enjoyed showing the studio to and visiting with the friends I met while taking pottery classes (Northwest Clay Center, Tuscon Museum of Art ) and going to local shows. And now to share the studio with you!

Drum roll please! Presenting the finished studio from the outside:

From the inside:

Thanks to Eric Lara ( Lara Custom Home Builders ) for the quality of the construction.  And thanks to Tom Kirschener of Envision Corporation for the very workable design. Between the two of them the studio fits right in with the existing house and exceeds all of my expectations. Next step, the gas kiln but in the meantime, I’m ready to start throwing pots!

I leave you with a view from the Sweetwater trail of the Catalina Mts.

Last we left the studio, the framing had just started. There has been rapid progress since then – windows and doors, electrical and plumbing, prep. exterior for stucco, drywall, and first coat of stucco. Here are the pictures – starting from the most recent to where I left off.

Last we left the studio project, we were waiting for the rain and snow to pass so that the pad could be poured. So after a one day delay to Tuesday of last week, the pad got poured and was left to cure so that framing for the new studio could begin as planned this week on Monday.

It was exciting to see the first wall go up and even more exciting to see the progress made in just one day.

And by Monday afternoon it was beginning to look like a building!

By late Tuesday, the framing was done.

And I could get a feeling for what it will be like from the inside looking out!

Today the sheathing is going up  – just ran outside to snap this picture!

Plans are to pour the pad on Monday — that is if we don’t get too much rain tonight. I usually don’t try to wish the rain away, but it is supposed to turn to snow overnight so I am hoping that happens quickly as a little snow will not create as many problems as rain will.

On Wednesday morning the studio was a flat spot with a deep trench going from it to the utilities at the house.

By Wednesday afternoon, the form for the pad was taking shape and the trench was filled in so we could drive in and out of the garage again.

By Friday the site was ready for its first inspection which it passed with flying colors, of course.  And on Monday, if all goes well with the weather, the pad will be poured — but with the prediction of rain for the weekend, my ever vigilant contractor, Eric Lara had his crew cover it with heavy duty plastic before I could take a picture of it.

I did get a quick picture of the hot air balloon as it passed by early Friday morning  as we were leaving an outing with our grandson to see the Tucson Rodeo Parade.

We had a bit of rain over the weekend, but this morning the sun appeared right on schedule. And with the sun, came the tractor and the beginnings of my new studio.  I’m looking forward to being able to walk across the courtyard and out the gate to throw pots soon.

One of the things that creating pottery has taught me is patience. That lesson is being relearned as I now create pots in two places for only a few hours at a time. This is my second week of pottery classes. I threw a few pots the first week in Jada’s class and followed up with a few more during open studio hours. So this week I was able to trim and finish what I threw last week.

Freshly thrown mugs and oil lamps

Carved greenware oil lamp

Forgot to take the camera with me to Janet’s class last week and again on Monday when I spent a couple more hours during open studios practicing a new way to neck in a bottle form. Will take some pics tonight. In the meantime, I have been meaning to post this picture of the hot air balloon that surprised us very early the other morning when it floated by the house!

After a several month absence from writing in this blog, I pick up my figurative pen to promote a worthy fund raising event – Three Cups of Tea Santa Cruz.  Over 50 Santa Cruz artists have created theme related art to be auctioned off both on-line and at the event which will be held at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, CA on February 11 at 5:30 pm. Many of the artists including myself created sets of 3 cups for the auction.  The poster pictures a small selection of the art. All of the wonderful artwork can be viewed in the gallery of art on the 3 Cups of Tea website .  i

For the second consecutive year some very fine local potters, Steve and Bonnie Barisof ,  have organized this event to benefit schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. All proceeds go to the Central Asia Institute created by Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools.

In the words of Steve and Bonnie:  If you haven’t heard of him or the books, you have been missing some really wonderful and uplifting reading.  It is about an attempt to climb K2, the 2nd highest mountain after Everest, how things went wrong for a climber on his team, how they had to quickly descend, and his getting lost. He somehow came to a very remote Pakistani village, was given food and shelter, and after he recovered asked what he could do to repay them.  They asked for a school for their children!  The rest of the story is about how he managed against great odds to actually do it.  Today, about 17 years later they have helped to build 130 schools in Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, and they are all safe!  Why?  How come?  Read the book, all of our foreign policies could take a chapter out of his books.

More information on the February 11 event can be found in this  on the 3 Cups of Tea website .