Fire and Smoke

Friday I took my advanced ceramics students on a field trip. The morning started out doing a raku fire. Raku is really fun and intense. 
Using a simple single burner kiln you fire the kiln to 1900 degrees (relatively low-temp)

 Take the pot out red hot.

Throw it in a garbage can full of combustibles (leaves or newspaper).

Put the lid on.

Then take it out and dowse it with water.

 My students have been prepping for today for weeks. Each student made a pot in class with a special clay, that we took with us to the fire.

Here is how it works.

The kiln heats up fairly rapidly-melting the glaze, but until 1850 the glaze is UGLY.  I tried to get a picture of it, but the exposure on my camera did not understand my intentions   it is bubbly and gross and actually fills the void inside the pot with yucky bubbles. All of a sudden between 1850 and 1900 degrees it lays down, smooth and perfect.

The kiln is opened and the pots are quickly removed.  It has to be quick or the color/sheen/surface of the glaze will be changed (not in a good way) by the oxygen in the air.

Then straight to the trashcan.  Why? you may ask, well go ahead and ask it.  One of my students asked that exact question at least six times.

The trashcan full of combustibles creates an oxygen free (or reduction) environment.  You see fire needs oxygen to burn.  The combustibles want to/ need to burn (they just had an 1800 degree pot thrown on them).  But the fire quickly eats all the oxygen and the smoke and reduction are what forms the glazing patterns.

At this point we sprayed water into the trashcans, also to seal in the surface.

After 5 minutes or so the pots are removed from the trash and dowsed in water.  They are still HOT at this point and it makes for some pretty impressive steam!

Now you are an expert, but why do you care?
I have been thinking a lot about "Fire" and "Smoke" lately.  The things that happen in your life that change who you are and create the surface of your, lets call it "Soul", for want of a better word.

Fire can be a lot of different things;
Stupid knees
Sickness
Heartache
or literally Fire. (see Here)
      This past week my amazing friend Jenn's garage caught on fire.  For the time being their house is unlivable and they are without most of their worldly possessions.
Fire is Painful.


Smoke is what comes from fire, the visible signs of fire, the leftovers.
Call it damage. (Jenn does)
Or call it growth. (Someday she will)
Smoke is what Fire leaves behind.  The tiny changes to Character, the Fear and Nightmares, the Strength, the Resilience.
All of these things are gifts, because they create in us the ability to be made beautiful by the "Fire" we all will encounter.

Smoke is the light touch of God, lets call him a potter,

  Jeremiah does,

 that prepares our hearts and souls to be more like Him.  The beauty that the Fire leaves behind, comes from the Smoke.

Fire by definition, sucks, and always will suck, but you have to have fire to get Smoke.

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
                            Jeremiah 18:6

Someday, we will be able to see the patterns that the smoke has left and the beauty and strength it left behind.

P.S. Field Trip Day was AWESOME.  One of my new favorite teaching days!

Today

Today, after school, walking down the hall, a student commented on my lack of limp... He may have mentioned the need for a standing ovation and confetti falling from the ceiling.

 I agreed.

Definition::

Patellar tendonitis: 
             The condition that occurs when the tendon becomes inflamed and irritated. This condition is most often seen in athletes who do repetitive jumping, the reason patellar tendonitis is often called "jumper's knee." Patellar tendonitis is most often seen in participants of sports including basketball and volleyball, although can also be seen in runners and other types of athletes.
         

  Note:  I am currently in no shape to be considered an athlete, nor can i jump, or run... However I get to have tendonitis!! I mean Why Not, Right?

Fetch:
              To come or go after and take or bring back: The puppy fetched the stick that we had tossed.

 Note:  Sometimes "the puppy" fetches, sometimes he doesn't

 Fixer- Upper:

A house or other dwelling (or truck) that is badly in need of repair, usually for sale at a low price.

Note:  For our 10 year Anniversary in May I decided to try to find Nick a 1956 Ford F100,(His favorite truck).

Yeah, so I am THAT Amazing and I found one, and Today it came home.... to my garage...... where it will live for the next 7-10 years.

Here is my excited face!

Here it is coming down the street.

In Front of our house, and the neighbors all outside gawking.

Cause either they think it is really SWEET, or they think "What the ......?"

So consider these the "Before" Pictures.

Note: I am a pretty awesome wife!

Boys Room

This project has been in the works for awhile, but it is finally done (minus a few touches).

I started by painting these cute canvases and putting clothes pins on them, so the boys could display the things they have made, or invitations/ certificates.  I think they turned out great.  i used tape to block them off then painted them with regular acrylic paint, kind-of fading the color out toward the edge.

This wall by the closet has the same basic idea, but it is more gallery style for art.

The shelf on top we added yesterday the board has "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray..  We sing that song EVERY night before bed.  I am going to get current pictures of the boys framed, to put next to it on the shelf.

These are the boys shelves.  The Picture sitting on the lower shelf will be hung between the shelves once it is reframed. and I found a cute vinyl that says something like ..being a brother is better than being a superhero..... that I will put by it.

Each Boy has their own shelf to put their "Treasures"

The top shelf is Coopers.  He can reach it from his bunk.  He put his legos, trophies and piggy banks up there so Jacks can't get them.

Jacks shelf is a little bare.  he doesn't have any trophies, so he put his trains and favorite cars on it.  Last night he kept having me lift him up so he could see his trains!

 I finally Finished Jacks big-boy-quilt.  My Mom helped me clip all the seams while she was here for Christmas.  

It was a crazy-lot of work, but i love how it turned out.  I had to make each and every one of those different balls, and then about 15 Star squares too!  Just like with Coops, I hope (after all that work) that this is a quilt he will love and use for Years!

I got this great Vinyl to go above the door. "Guess how much I love you?"

 AND "THE WALL"

Isn't it great?  I love how it ties all the colors in the room together.  I still need to paint the Toy Box, it will be the color of the blue stripe.

 Now stripes are not easy to do, especially on orange peel walls, but here is how i did it.

First I used yarn to show where the tape should be after I marked all the measurements on the wall and baseboard.  We had already painted this wall the color of the ceiling/baseboard so the colors would stand out better.

 My space that need to stay wall color were 4 inches, so using the yarn as a guide we taped in all the areas that needed to stay white using 2 inch tape.

 Then this is the most genius part!  I found this hint online.  "Paint the edge of your tape the wall color"  that way if the paint bleeds underneath it is the color of the wall!!  Brilliant right!

 But I did have to go back in a couple of places where the tape had buckled and squish it back down using the back of the paintbrush, but I think part of the problem was that my tape was kind of old.

 Then let dry and paint with the color you want!

 When all the colors are on the wall, let dry until you can touch the wall.  be careful to rip the tape from the wall, down and away, so the edge of the tape helps "cut" the edge.

And voila, perfect lines, perfect edges, and on orange peel!!

Love it!!!

There you go my first ever tutorial!!  Pretty proud of it!!

And that is the boys room!

My Boys January 2013

 Cooper is so ready to be 6. so what that it is still 5 and a half months away.
he is excelling at school.  he is the best reader in his class, but sometimes looses focus and ends up writing half a word before rushin on to the next one.  He just got a new group and he is so excited that "Cameron" is at his table.

We have had our first after school/friend from school playdate. It was great and the boys got along great.  jacks tried so hard to hang out with the "big boys" and they were very generous with him.

Cooper loves Primary and is awesome during Singing-Time.  His face turns red and he sings really loud, whether he knows the words or not.

Cooper is OBSESSED with video games and computers.  He is also REALLY GOOD at video games, for a 5 year old.  Sometimes it is hard to get him to do anything, but play video games.

Cooper has been taking on more and more responsibilities around the house.  He takes care of the shoes from the front entry, he takes clothes to the washer, he can clear the table and wipe it down.  He can fold laundry and put toys away.

 Jacks is a crack-up.  his newest thing is "please-o-please-o-please" he says that with every question he asks...so cute.  He is a typical egocentric 2 year old, and everything is his. "My I-pad' My TV, My Truck. ect.  Its cute, but can get annoying.
He is super smart like Coop.  He can recognize all the letters (upper and lower case) and tell you what sound they make.  He can recognize his name, and Coopers.  He can run a touch screen and loves to watch Thomas the train on YouTube.
Jacks also has chores.  He is responsible to clear off his plate and cup from the table, put away his jammies, and clean up his trains and toys every night.

I used these 2 pictures because in profile they look so alike.  

I love it!

 We are working hard, and Playing hard.  I, especially, am trying to appreciate the small quiet moments.  Jacks coming in at 2:30 in the morning needing to rock.  Cooper needing me to sit with him in the morning, Nicks arm draped across me while he sleeps.  This is good, Life is good, I am so Lucky.

 A little "Sleepin Beauty"