Slow motion

For once, it felt like I was getting ahead of things. Early Clay Fest firing allowed me to
get a head start on Clayfolk. Finishing the Clayfolk firing, and pricing all the pots as they came out of the kiln, meant that I could get the van sorted and loaded on one of the last sunny days of October. Starting to make pots for Holiday Market in early November meant I could possibly even do some glazing next week, so I optimistically signed up for a firing the first week of December. For once, I'd actually be well stocked for the beginning of Holiday Market!

Then the rains came.

Don't get me wrong, I love rain. It's Oregon's thing, after all. But when the humidity is 130% in my studio, things don't dry. What in summer is throw today--turn over tonight--trim or add handles in the morning becomes throw today--make something else tomorrow--maybe finish things off a day later? And meanwhile, the shelves fill up, stacked on every available flat surface, and nothing is dry enough to fire.

So my schedule gets scrambled and  the studio gets full and even if we get a little sunshine, there's no point trying to dry pots outdoors--between the weak autumn sunlight and the still-high humidity, I'm just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Finally managed to dry enough pots to load the kiln yesterday, but couldn't actually fire it until tonight, because I had two days worth of casseroles, batter bowls, mixing crocks, honey jars, painted mugs and pasta bowls uncovered in the studio, all waiting their turn for trimming, handles and knobs. Finally finished everything about 4:30 this afternoon, so right now the kiln is warming up, and--hopefully--warming up the studio in turn.

Drawing to a close

One thing that doesn't rely on relative humidity, fortunately, is my Inktober drawing. I'm still setting aside 15 minutes after breakfast every morning to do a little drawing. It's a surprisingly refreshing way to start my creative day.

I've come to the end of the month, but once again have extra pages left over, so I'll be continuing until sometime in mid-November. Meanwhile, here's the rest of October.