Just a quick update

Just a quick recap of the events leading up to today:
On June 21st of 2013, Calgary and many surrounding areas were inundated by a vast quantity of water in the form of spring melt run off as well as pretty heavy rainfall in the mountains. The result was pretty horrible. My main floor condo was flooded (7ft or so of water filled it almost to the ceiling) and I lost pretty much everything I owned.
It is now 19 months later and I am still not back in. I came close to moving back in October last year, but there was a mysterious water leak that showed up that destroyed my hardwood floor and required that all of the base kitchen cabinets be removed. The source of this water was never found, but possible sources were eliminated. The only remaining cause is human error & or negligence on the part of the contractor.
The good news is that we now have a new contractor & they will be starting next week. The cabinets are to be installed the week of Feb 16th and the flooring will go in 5 days after that. IF everything goes according to plan, I could very possibly be moving back home by the first week of March. Some good news for a change.

In the studio, not much news to report. I was busy making open baking/serving dishes last Sunday, and here is a shot of a few drying their bottoms on the plaster and one that is all handled and just hanging out. I made about 8 of these of varying sizes and shapes. They are mostly round with an altered/pinched rim, but I did do a couple square ones. I do like the round ones the best. These would be good for a shepherd's pie, mashed potatoes, a deep apple crisp, stuffing, anything really.

Production progress and plastic chasing

Setting goals does seem to work. I spent the weekend in the studio ( I managed a solid 12 hours) and was able to trim and throw way more than I normally would. I have a list of items that I will need to have for next fall which has helped me immensely. I know what I need to make now. In the past, I would walk into the studio and would not get down to business right away as I did not know what I wanted to make, or should make. This solves that problem. Now I just need to decide which items to make that are on the list. I managed to bang out some shallow baking/serving dishes. At first I was going to make them a bit square, but thought they looked contrived, so I stuck with the round ones and altered the rims a bit. I am continuing to try to make a new butter dish form. The way I make them is to throw the lid as a closed form and measure the outer diameter, then the base is thrown and I use the measurement from the lid to determine where to place the seat that will accept the lid. The only difference with these dishes is that the area where you would put your butter is actually a 2.5" - 3" tall cylinder that the dome lid fits over. The idea is that when people use a traditional butter dome and scrape their knife off, butter gets into the lid seat and then the lid gets all buttery and it can't be placed on the counter/table without getting butter all over the place. I am hoping that this will allow people to still clean off their knife without gumming up the lid. The trick is getting the lid to fit properly. I have added a little ledge right at the base of the butter reservoir that acts as a stop for the lid. I want to glaze all but the base of the lid and it's seat and didn't want it to accidentally move when being loaded into the kiln and becoming permanently welded to the base. This little ledge will hopefully help keep the lid seated properly during the glaze firing. So far I have made 6 of these new dishes and the proof will be in the glazing.The rest of the time I was throwing bakers, salt and pepper shakers, trimming, attaching handles and generally just chasing plastic around as things were drying.