Dan Finnegan – Dumb Ass

Another good title for this would be “Pride goeth before the Fall”
My studio is a fairly primitive place…no running water and no electricity (I run my wheel on a generator) and the littlest gas heater I can get away with. This is mostly by choice, both environmentally and financially motivated and a wee bit dictated by location. I am overly proud of my self regarding this and I’ve paid a price this week that has put me back in my place.
I thought that this color enhanced the icy cold feeling!

When I leave the studio in the evening I turn my little heater off. This means it can be very cool the next morning…38 degrees F is not unusual. But Monday night’s big chill should have made me reconsider…and I didn’t. I discovered several big pots ruined by freezing the next morning. That hurt a bit, but I got over it quickly and then filled the studio with 8 pound bowls planning to leave the heat on all night. Which I did. But the gas ran out. And the bowls froze even worse than the previous day’s jars! I lost heart and left early (after buying more gas and leaving the heater on….again!), But not to worry, I’ll be back tomorrow and get back on the wheel. But I do hate work that’s gone to waste. 

Even a tough day is improved by wildlife encounters. Today I came across at least 40 turkeys feeding on winter wheat in a field near the studio! I’ve never seen so many in one spot before and I got to watch them for a while. That lifted my spirits!

11 Responses to “Dan Finnegan – Dumb Ass”

  1. Dennis Allen

    What a disappointment. Spring will come again. I did learn from this that you use lay out lines for your lugs. That might explain part of why yours look so even and mine look like somebody eyeballed them.

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  2. Liberty Stoneware

    Oh no! I remember one winter working at another potter’s place and a wicked wind whipped into the studio through a wee crack and wiped out some monstrous dishes we had made the previous day. I’m glad the turkeys lifted your spirits and know you’ll get back to the wheel!

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  3. smartcat

    I sympathize with the freezes and running out of gas. As Dennis said spring will come….someday.
    I lived for years with my power coming off a generator. I used an Amaco treadle wheel and fired with a friend, I kept my clay in the house by the wood stove but never did figure out how to keep just made stuff from freezing.

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  4. Liberty Stoneware

    I have to tell you- I told my other half about this happening to you because we are plotting the heating arrangements for our future barn/workshop- and when I described the “flakies” that formed (which I demonstrated by flinging my fingers upright), he totally got the picture and had a painful expression on his face when he said, “oh, no.” I hope this extended coldness has not wreaked havoc on your studio, hopefully we’re almost out of it!

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