Friday, July 26, 2013

It's My Birthday...

I can only hope that this 42nd year is better than the last. Not that the past year was all that bad, just the last month of it.
I am not doing anything special for it, just going to go make some pots tonight and possibly glaze some with the new spray booth. I need to finish making pots for the salt firing in August, so that is top of the list. But I also need to glaze some pots to put into the gallery. I also have some low temp porcelain that I need to use up and fire. I may do that with the bisque. They fire to 04 so I might just fire the next bisque load a little hotter. It burns out the organics a bit more, esp with the ^5Bmix that occasionally bloats. I think it also leads to a nicer glaze surface. I might even try to bug out of work a bit early today to get to the studio a bit earlier. We'll see how the afternoon goes.


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Flood Relief...

This post is for everyone that has offered to help me out with donations of stuff. By “stuff”, I mean everything that a person would need to rebuild their life from scratch. I really do appreciate all of the offers. However, at this point, my life is going to be a bit in limbo for the next 4 to 6 months while my condo undergoes renovations, quite literally, from the ground up. I am currently staying with my parents in their house in Douglasdale, so life is not so bad right now.
I guess what I am trying to say is that at this point, I don't know what I will need until the flood relief money comes from the government and I can put a list together of what I can afford to buy new, plus I just don't have a lot of room to store things until I move back in.
When I know more I will let you all know via this blog.

Thank you again,

Ashley

Monday, July 15, 2013

Craft market

This is what I will be up to this coming weekend. This is the first time for me with this group, but it should be cool. The sale runs from 2-5pm at the Bamboo (next door to the Drum and Monkey)  1201 1 Street SW

So if you are in the area (Victoria Park etc), come over and check us out. I am not sure what I will have to sell, but I will have something for sure. I just fired a kiln with some FLOOD MUGS, and other assorted little pots. I will also have whatever wasn't in my condo during the flood. So, it might be a bit eclectic, but there will be lots of pots. 

Friday, July 12, 2013

I need to load a kiln....a sale is looming

I am really hoping to get a bisque loaded tonight and a glaze fired on Sunday. I will be participating in a craft cooperative sale next Sunday from 12-5 pm. It is being held in conjunction with the Victoria Park Community street festival and will be located inside the Bamboo Tiki Lounge (right beside and conjoined via a breezeway of sorts to the Drum and Monkey Pub). This would have to be the strangest venue I have sold out of, but hey, it is close to beer and that has to count for something. I will probably have some flood mugs, and other assorted stuff that has been sitting on my shelves at the studio for a while. A lot of the stuff is ear marked for the firing at Medalta, but some is cone 6 and destined for the craft sale. I also have to get more flood mugs done for the little presents I want to give to all the helpers and my 1st floor neighbors, but those can wait a bit. I am buying a round or 2 of beer for everyone who came out to get muddy this Sunday, the mugs will come later. Hopefully before 2014.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

I will survive...

I might be a bit crazy when this is all over though.
I met with the buildings insurance adjustor yesterday. The good news is that they will restore everything to original conditions (how it was when the condo was first converted). The bad news is that this could take up to 6 months before I will be back in my little home. I am torturing myself right now by searching paint colours, furniture and appliances on line. With an entire rainbow to choose from, how do I narrow it down?!
This is the view of my "kitchen" right now. Everything looks so much smaller with no walls to define the space. I keep saying to myself  " how did I ever fit a Queen sized bed here?"

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

What I did this past weekend

Over the past week or so, I have been slowly attempting to replace all of the pottery that I lost in the flood. Things like plates, bowls, teapot, casserole, etc. I also threw a ton of porcelain pieces for the salt and soda firing at the end of August. Time is ticking and waits for no man and all that. I finished scratching all the flood mugs that I could and threw some more. Finally, I finished this large vessel. The first 4 shots show the 4 sides (if something round can have a side that is).
Apparently I still have some water issues and have included 4 fish at the bottom of the pot in between the 4 panels.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Flood mugs

Once the flood was over and as soon as I was able to get back into the studio, I decided to scratch a few mugs. Of course the only thing on my brain was water. There are 4 units in my building in Mission that were totally destroyed by the mighty Elbow river. It is normally quite calm and shallow, but on June 20 - 24th it was mighty indeed. Anyway, as a means to commemorate this life altering event, I created this mug, and am working on 3 more as gifts for my 1st floor neighbors. If you are in the Calgary area and would like a Flood mug  for yourself, I may make more of them if there is the demand. Rough guestimate on price is ~$40 per mug. The final colours will be black and creamy white. If you want to contact me regarding a mug, shoot me an e-mail at ashleymorrow@shaw.ca
 

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

There are 2 Kinds of People

Thankfully, this city (Calgary) is mostly comprised of the best kind, the helpers & givers.
The other kind of people are thankfully few and far between (in my experience anyway). They are the “tiskers”, complainers and are just generally mean spirited. During the time I was down cleaning up my apartment, the other units in my building as well as other buildings on other streets, occupied by people I did not know, I was surrounded by the best kind of people. The atmosphere was almost like a party, except we were all covered in river mud, and were throwing people's entire lives into the back of garbage trucks. The gawkers were out though, and although I tried to ignore it, it was probably the rudest thing ever. I understand the need to see the devastation with your own eyes, but these people were almost gleeful. Taking pictures of other people's despair is NOT COOL. If you are the press, that is one thing, but the busybodies that are so obviously not there to help were like salt in a gaping wound.
While I was in mid disaster clean up, I was keeping my eyes on the news, the blogs and the comments and there are some really really nasty people out there that do not feel our government should be giving out the disaster relief.. I wont name names, because both you and I know who you are, and naming names is not my style. However, you need to know how hurtful your comments are. Apparently, according to some, the prepaid debit cards being handed out by the Alberta government should not be handed out to people in my neighbourhood, and I am assuming other lowerv income ones, because the recipients will just go down to the bar and drink it all away. WOW, your sympathy knows no bounds. I am one of those recipients, and so far have managed to not drink it all away. In Fact, I have some amazing friends that have offered me their cards. They were displaced, but did not sustain damage except for rotten food and missed time at work. These are the very same people that are supposedly just going to drink it all away. So, in closing, SHAME ON YOU if all you did was prance around my neighborhood with your camera and designer clothes, but did not lift a finger to help, only to wag in a disdainful manner and made disparaging comments about the crap on peoples lawns. You can sure bet that KARMA is a B@#$%. Good luck to you when you need help.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Happy Canada Day

Well, I have been in line for the flood relief money for an hour and apparently the wait is 3 hours from here. This picture is of the line on 12th Ave and I am on 11th street.