first day of skooooool......

(pottery by Gary Rith and Norah.....)
OK, so you're thinking "Gary has NOT been around today, what gives???"
and its sorta like
"well, the Cornell studios opened for the fall today, so I was over there gossiping FACE TO FACE instead of here gossiping with YOU in cyberspace". Plus making pots of course. My first class with students is a week from Thursday, but you know, I've missed my pals, and so I was over there making stuff and older Tom was there and Andy too and we were shooting the breeze, and NORAH showed up (pictured!) and she is like
"yeah! I can blog this too!" or some such nonsense....
Basically, when you teach and work at the Cornell Universty Ceramics Studio, or Pot Shop, it really IS all fun and games....
AND here is a funny story--
this republican country club type comes in with his golf sweater on (I swear I am not making this up) and he sez his kid is a high school senior and wants to come to Cornell ONLY if there is pottey and I explain SURE there is, but no CREDIT. And DAD is like "huh!". And I explain people come in to have fun, and a lot of smart people come in, engineers, doctors, veterinarians, mathematicians and muscians, making pots, and he is like:
"MY SON IS OFF THE CHARTS in math and science and he will be studying THAT but he has WON AWARDS for his ceramics, do you think that will help him get in???" as if I f##king can tell him.....but I am thinking "man, are you RUDE off the charts, and frankly, MY BUNNIES are OFF THE DAMN CHARTS, MY MAN" but I politely wish him a happy day......

the lighting set up

(zebra teapot by Gary Rith)
SO Miri is talking about lighting set ups and my old pal Gord had suggested a webpage where a dude tells you how to make a light box for taking shots of art work and what have you. I didn't have cloth, and used tracing paper instead, bought 3 cheapo light at Home Despots and daylight compact flourescents etc, and here ya go: serviceable pics taken in a cadboard box. I have a grey sheet of paper too, which I use on the rare white pot as a background, when I remember.
I am really NOT a perfectionist, and my little snap shot camera just gets set on auto and the light toned down a bit, and VOILA: good enough pics for under 20 bucks.

the varmint who ate my garden....

There is this fat woodchuck and his chubby family that live in our yard and pretty much eat everything the deer, chipmunks, racoons and bunnies havn't eaten. The wife now agrees with me, vis a vis gardening. Why bother? I think woodchucks are super cute, and now that the bird feeder has a barrier and the chipmunk can't eat all the seed, I think he is cute too. And his numerous cousins.
Spike here watches them out the window and wishes he could go out and kick some rodent azz.....
BTW, I am in and out a lot today, so I figure I post 3 times early and that's it till later.
OK, the mirror? Trevor across the street is related to the people who own Simeon's restaurant and bar, which some people say is the best in town now, and Trevor, although a full time fireman, is also a carpenter and has been remodeling the restaurant. This mirror came out of the john, and was a bit dusty and still had the big EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS sticker on it, but I was cutting the grass and Trevor set it out with a FREE sign on the curb, and I nabbed it. Cleaned it and attached it to the closet door, but first, look who had to admire himself......

Arctic Monkeys :)

Carrie flattens the flamingos and the fence......

Well, she almost did.
lemme explain.
As you know, Carrie is one of my pals going back a LONG time. 6th gade, when we were something like 11 years old. She lives down the street and came over today to sew with the missus. I was cutting the lawn when she arrived, and watched in horror as her unattended parked car rolled down our driveway and into the fence, which, you know, was kinda, um, well, it WOULD have been flattened maybe, except my flamingos were there. I SWEAR I am not making this up: the flamingos acted like a bumper between her car and the fence. Although slightly dinged (they were free), the flamingos SAVED THE FENCE FROM BEING FLATTENED by Carries car. Then they made a skirt:) The missus and Carrie made the skirt.
And Carrie suggests this rather hilarious video, please watch Garfunckel and Oates!

I could be a punk rock star (except I have never done anything musical in my life)

(me)



I was watching The Kills video down below, and I see the dude wearing MY exact NEW MOTORCYCLE jacket.
I am like
"wow, dude looks almost as handsome as me in the jacket, and LOOKIT that: his bandmate, Alison whatshername is TOTALLY GORGEOUS eye candy, his actual GIRLFRIEND is Kate Moss.......its no wonder I snagged my EXTRA-HAWT missus, I am SEXIER THAN ROCK STARS".

EMILY at her toilette

People will read this, well, non-cat people will read this, and be like
"I don't care if he DOES make triple chocolate cookies, no way am I ever eating at Gary's house"
We have an extra chair at the table. So that one or both of the cats can join us. Its a bit of a compromise, really, as cats will jump ONTO the table at dinner time (that is SO FORKING GROSS) so our idea is give them a chair and keep them off the table.
So, you know, this morning we sit down to the 5 grain porridge (I gave up on the oatmeal--I just don't like plain oatmeal, even with blueberies----porridge has all kinds of fun and chewy things in there, plus oatmeal)
so we sit down, and there's lots of blueberries in the porridge, and Emily the chubby 15 year old kitten joins us in her chair and starts the personal grooming, including a good wash of belly and bottom.......

....in which our hero cleans the house and cat box in the morning and parties all afternoon....

SO YES, as I say, cleaned the house and cat box and finished a teaset and all early and then Goofy Kim came over for lunch and we went out to the matinee of the movie ADAM. Tis a sweet romantic comedy, it really is. Why yes, yes I do sometimes watch romantic comedies with the missus, is there something wrong with that????
The cinema moved recently and now there is this groovy steel fish outside the place and then, oc course, the rain stopped and we had to go to the Chapterhouse and check on the beers and popcorn....

Flight of the Conchords

We have been watching a stack of these episodes, holy cats these guys are FUNNY....

Christi and Mary come over....

(bowl by Gary Rith)
OK, I admit it, there were times yesterday when I was on a bit of a wild toot. Got a lot of work done, BELIEVE it or not....
Christi came over to pick up her niece's octopus and turtle bowls and brought along Mary. As has become so common lately, Mary gave the wheel a whirl and was most successful in making a little bowl....and why didn't I manage to get a pic of that happy process????


Dig THE KILLS

"I want to wrap you in leather..."

I am glazing pots and the wife walks the beagle early and checks in with me:
"Stephanie and John are having a garage sale today. 9-2"
"Oh?" sez I, (hating shopping of course)
and she is like "I need hooks for the kitchen" which she might as well have said in FRENCH because I have no idea what she means.

Stephanie and John being friends of ours in the yellow house across the river, who own Penny the beagle's SWORN ENEMY: Ava the greyhound.

So I finish glazing the pots and set out at 9:10 with Buster our big lab. And we go by the yellow house, no sign of Ava, but Stephanie and her mom and the little baby are out front.
I take a dutiful look around. A dollar for this, a dollar for that....and see the 3 leather jackets hanging there.
John isn't around, but he is one of these handsome BAD AZZ type dudes. With 7 motorcycles and 7 tatoos. The baby snugli he wears has skulls on it. John is cool. AND SO ARE HIS FORMER JACKETS. I never knew how badly I needed a motorcycle jacket until this morning. And the fit on one is PERFECT. PERFECTO. It is a new jacket too.

I wander off, but its eating me up, and I walk by later with Penny, who barks bloody murder because Ava the greyhound is in the driveway. We move on.
I call the wife "John is selling a kick azz biker jacket. Brand new. Fits GREAT" and she is like
"early Christmas present???? Should we get some azzless chaps to match????" because my wife is fun that way.......

I email my buddy Kasey
"Kasey, what SHOULD I DO????" and she is like
"Bargain for it, but you have GOT TO GET THAT JACKET. And get some pictures for us"

I can't take it anymore. Its eating me up. The jacket isn't a dollar, but I scrape together my pennies and walk Penny over there.

Stephanie is like
"wow, back again!" and her mom is like
"third time. Let me hold your dog"
and I try it on again and Stephanie is like
"mom, take Gary in to use the big mirror" and we go in and the fit is !!!!! Although it is a warm jacket and I am roasting.
I say "I'll think about it and maybe see you Saturday. No wait. I am gonna walk the dog and come back in 15 minutes"
And so me and the beagle walk and I am dying for the jacket.
We return and I try it on again.
Stephanie's mom is like
"That jacket is perfect with your hair. You have GREAT HAIR. Let me hold your dog for you"
I don't know, but could guess Stephanie's mom was once a used car salesman, but I am thoroughly charmed by this cute elderly woman giving me little flirtatious comments.

So I count out the singles, and the pennies and the pocket lint grab the jacket and wander home and grab the camera. Sort of like the Macy's spread in the newspaper on Sunday, don't you think?????

SO, as Steve Tyler of Aerosmith once sang
"Pink is my favorite color.
Pink, I wanna wrap you in leather....."

I'm not dead yet...

(bowl by Gary Rith)
Survived a round with hayfever, thanks. I'm feeling much better, really.
A month or so ago I got a nifty new black glaze, thank you Miri, and started making cute little skulls to go with. Then I added blue dots, but I think a ZEBRA pattern is that much more funky.

a bit over the top

You love Kate Bush, but......

John makes my day....

(cup by John Ferraris)
OUT OF THE BLUE John orders a blue teaset from me last week and OUT OF THE BLUE he sends me this gorgeous cup he made.
You always here that the blogging world is filled with preverts and axe murderers, but I keep meeting the nice and friendly types who GIVE ME AWESOME STUFF.
Thanks John, I love it!

In my own corner, twas a mosrning of misery--hayfever. Nothing unusual, but you know, ragweed and such. I dosed myself with HOT SAUCE and coffee and dang if it doesn't clear the sinuses. At least makes the mouth burn and the body alert.
And let me tell you: I LOOOOOVE Making teapots. And teapots on teapots. The guy I am finishing here will be black with blue spots and goes with the cups and sugar and ceamer on the desk....

cure for seasonal allergies

Sure sure, I know, there are worse things than allergies....

pair of purple vases and le octopus

(small vases by Gary Rith)
Go over to my etsy shop and buy this pair of vases, mm mmmm good!

Christi and her niece came over and were messing around with clay and their 3 projects just came out of the kiln, wowie! An octopus too!

le piglets!

(pottery piglets by Gary Rith)
A city child came running into the farmhouse. “No wonder that mama pig is so big,” she yelled. “There’s a bunch of little pigs out there blowing her up!”

Becky Jo went to the Iowa State fair and took pictures of piglets for me (top) and then Kasey goes there too and takes more pictures of the same piglets and then the wife brings home the NY Times and the SAME batch of piglets are on the front cover! The wife sees this little piggy here, brownish, and sez 'that's a nutter butter piglet'.

\m/

I am a very bad man....and YOU are too

You can tell when you look at the wee little devilish smile on my face.

OK, back at YOU, tell me, what little (PG rated!) something makes you naughty or devilish???? Eating oreo centers and giving the dog the cookies? Digging out the middle piece in a pan of brownies? Stealing the french fries off your wife's plate when she goes to the lady's room (it wasn't me, honest!), dressing your dog up for Halloween?????????
I need funny stories and naughty habits, help me out here in comments.....

le huge accident and I don't know French!

There have been complaints: les is French plural, not LE. Let's keep in mind that although the wife here is fluent in French, I am NOT. She is also fluent in Italian, and I am not. SO, if you see BAD French usage, it is either because I don't care or I don't know or I am deliberately misusing French for my own nefarious purposes.
Last night around midnight I heard a car peeling out 100 yards away, a HUGE crash and then fire trucks and ambulances and troopers. I think some dick drove into the apartment building down on the corner.

UPDATE: OK, the facts: a drunk man deliberately trying to do a ramped jump, in the space of 100 yards:
-blew past 2 stop signs
-geatly exceded the 35 mph speed limit
-took to the air at the incline at the intersection
-totaled the parked car in the neighbor's drive
-flattened a sign and got wedged between 2 trees and
-walked out of the car

In other news, dig the groovy zebra teapot below, and YES, we buried a bad day at the Chapterhouse, yes we did.....

Kaiser Chiefs

From Leeds! Various Bristish friends are like "post the Kaiser Chiefs" and so here's RUBY which gets a lot of airplay in this town....

:) crapola day

Today just seems forked. Pretty much from the moment the alarm went off and I broke a gorgeous new teapot on my way to the john in the studio.* There. I am admitting it. Freak accident.
The wife is having a FAX machine situation that seems like OFFICE SPACE.

I give in. Worse things can happen. Check out Napoleon on the bike jump....

*gonna MAKE TWO to replace it, darnitall.....SO THERE!

NOT buckets of blood

(teaset by Gary Rith)
I have been digging this black glaze so much I have burned through bucket number one--lookit how good it looks upon the black teaset with blue spots---A PLUS!
So, the messiest job in ceramics is mixing clay, but I don't mix my own clay. The second messiest job is mixing glazes, and I mix my own glazes. Under my studio is our basement, where I store clay and all the bags of powders to mix glaze. There is also a door to the outside and a hose, and it all works OK and could be a whole lot more gross than it is.
NO I don't use lead in my glazes. Glazes are made out of powdered clays and silicas and coloring oxides, but you don't want to breathe the powders as you mix.
This black glaze has a little cobalt and a lot of red iron oxide, therefore it looks like a bucket of blood. :)
Dreamt I was flying a biplane all over the sky last night, and also dreamt that I was at my favorite ratty bar, the Chapterhouse.....

:).....just watch it

le dragons!

(dragon mugs by Gary Rith)
Mmmm, looks so good...on their way to their new home in Houston.....