Pottery Season Begins!

Ken taught the first pottery class of 2017 yesterday morning.  Today he started making pottery.  He said he was “warming up” by making some larger coil pots.  As I headed down the stairs he was busy on a banding wheel.     He had decided to smooth out some texture.  Then he finished that pot.             When I went down to announce supper was ready, he was making a second …

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Repairs on the Pug Mill

Ken’s pug mill of 40+ years needed repairs this week.  A pug mill has an auger that mixes clay to a uniform consistency and a vacuum pump that sucks surplus air from the clay.  The resulting clay needs minimal wedging (like kneading bread) before it can be used     Ken had to take it apart           He got out the manual           The bearings needed to …

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Making Candles

Ken has bees here.  He is most concerned with having a healthy hive to help with pollination of our crops.  Honey bees also make two useful things for us:honey and beeswax       Ken has been saving wax to make candles.  I got him some molds and wicks a while back.  While cleaning, Ken came across his beeswax stash and decided to make candles. He melts the wax in a pan of water   …

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