Unstoppable

My truck brakes failed the other day: when I went to push the brake pedal my foot went right through the spot it usually stops at, and the truck did not slow down. At the very bottom of the pedal there was a little stopping power, and I slow down way before corners normally because it's slippery here, so I managed to get myself through the couple corners home, and the truck did stop in park when I turned it off.

Luckily the neighbour, who is a mechanic, came over after work and we got it into the shop (a caliper had failed and leaked the brake fluid out, so he clamped it off and added a bit more fluid for long enough for me to drive into town, and he gave me a ride home). The supplier sent the wrong caliper replacement, so I'm without a truck from Thursday through this weekend till probably Monday night.

It's the first time I've had no vehicle access out here. Before I could have walked or biked, but.

I've learned some things.

1) It makes me super nervous not to have transportation even when there's a defined period after which I'll be able to get in and out. It's not like I really had medical access before, it's not like I'm in any way short on food, but I'm still nervous about it.

2) I had over-planned stuff for this weekend: running a kiln, packing seeds with the garden group for seedy saturday, and hanging out at the studio helping folks glaze. It's way more stuff than I should have committed to in one weekend.

3) One of my two worst-case equipment failures in the truck, though scary, didn't kill me.

4) I had been letting "I need to do X" creep into my life, which when coupled with a defiant "I'm going to do X that I enjoy" meant I wasn't getting enough rest.

5) I probably should get a backup ebike type thing that can get me to town and back, and maybe that can load on the truck.

6) Keeping several days' supply of animal feed around is useful.

7) I do have friends out here who will help me with things. Mary at the studio picked me up, helped me load the kiln, and will give me a ride in Sunday to unload.

8) OMG what if this had happened the day before or on my shot and I had to miss it? Luckily it was the day after.

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This bisque kiln has a bunch of experiments in it. I've been playing around some, mostly in defiance of disability paperwork supposed to be using all my energy. Whether that's a good idea or not, when this kiln comes out of the glaze it'll be super exciting. Another list about it:

1) pendants from the pendant class I taught in there, some with alphabet pasta, to be glazed and distributed to the folks who made them

2) most of a pound of green body stain added to a bucket of white reclaim and mixed in, then some of that marbled with M370. It's very pale in greenware, but one expects it to be much darker after the glaze fire

3) some thrown mugs with a roller applied, and then ballooned out, most then brushed with the stained slip mentioned above

4) several mugs with the wiggle wire used to carve shallow facets into the surface and then ballooned out, some of which ridges are brushed with the green slip above. Either way the ridges tend to channel glaze down them in a very neat way.

5) Some bowls with lids, originally to microwave food without spattering but I think the lids fit too tightly and don't have a pinhole for steam, so maybe just for storing in the fridge?

6) Several lidded bottles thrown in the one-piece style with lids of varying degrees of fit, I need to keep practicing this.

7) The two teapots I made in memory of my aunt, which started my "I'm gonna do it anyway" clay rebellion. They're in dundee red, which is awful to work with but makes a stunning effect under bailey's red glaze. I have not yet made matching cups for them, and now can't until I get them home (I have no ability to see/remember shape in my head so the shapes won't match unless I'm looking at them)

8) Two scoop prototypes, of the kind to be left in oatmeal, sugar, etc cannisters.

9) eight or nine (?) spontaneously thrown bowls in marbled white, red, and coffee with some faceting on the sides, made to hold the pendants, which reminded me how nice and easy it is to throw bowls and not need to fiddle around with handles, spouts, lids, etc.

10) Some of the stuff was made in IMCO Night clay, which I remember how much I love to throw with, though honestly it all felt amazing after the dundee red. Throwing with very difficult clay and then easy clay makes me feel like a pottery god honestly. I can do things so effortlessly. Also I forgot what item was supposed to be number 10.

11) Oh yeah, two handbuilt mugs with douglas fir texture outsides and branchy handles. They look really nice, nice enough to make me handbuild since the texture mat is way too soft to work on the wheel :(

The Canadian Potters group has a mug swap periodically, and one of the above mugs will be for my partner. She says she likes white, black, and blue, a fair size, and doesn't mind raw clay texture so I'm thinking one of the IMCO night ones with the wiggle wire faceting and a blue floating glaze flowing down the grooves.

12) Oh yeah again, I discovered some fun curly handles because I was trying to do something nice for my mug swap partner.

Anyhow, the bisque opening won't be much of a reveal except "something broke" but it'll lead me to glazing and then the finished pieces, which will indeed be a reveal. How does the night clay take my blue glaze? How heavy are the teapots when they're done? How does the green stain look in various uses? How do the new handles actually feel to use? How well do the bottles fit together when they''re done? Is the thin edge on the scoops right or will it chip? Is it worth handbuilding more mugs? How does the red look swirled in those bowls, and do they fire to an ok size, and should I have let them dry before faceting them? Etc.

That's enough thinking for one day. I've been in bed all day except for chores, and same most of yesterday, and I'm doing the thing where after trying to concentrate on a youtube video or podcast for about twenty minutes I get exhausted and fall asleep. Letting myself do this rhythm for several days is very healing; I can feel my brain getting heavy now, so I'll let myself drift back asleep and be grateful for freezer pizza, instant oatmeal, and plenty of firewood brought in.

Something about doing a show at the art studio with the pieces I have lying around, maybe in summer or next fall? "100 pieces of mud" or "100 things I've touched with my hands?" or whatever the number is?