Pardon our dust, page in development.
One of our recent projects turned into the new company logo. A little artistic twist eliminated my teacup from the windowsill and brought Mt Stuart closer.
Grilling in the snow... smells like victory.
Time to warm some cold feet by the fire.
A year ago my family took a series of glass blowing classes at Art By Fire in Issaquah. It turned into an amazing colaborative team building execise for us, and was more fun than I can put words to.
Mistakes in wood can be fixed, with glass it goes right or you crash and burn... at 2000 degrees.
Twisted guitar sculpture.
Here's another clip. Josh shot it, so it covers all the hot shop activities, but he moves the camera... lots.
History is big at my place.
Confedreate cavalry uniform.
Above is a union artillery uniform, the gun to the right is a disappearing carriage rifle. The design grew out of the Civil War and the problem of protecting gunnery crews. This particular gun was used in WWII. note the bullet impact craters on the side of the barrel.
An awareness of foriegn affairs is fostered at our house. (in June I took the FSOT test for the State Department, but didn't make the cut... I guess spanglish doesn't count as a critical language skill.) Kaleigh painted this picture after reading Greg Mortenson's book "Three cups of tea" about building schools in the mountains of Pakistan. If you look closely at the tea you can read the arabic words for guest, friend, and familly. It shows up better on the original 18X24 painting, which got a Best in Show, teen catagory, at a show at the Carpenter House museeum and gallery in Cle Elum.
I have slightly scorched fingers after barrel and pit firing ceramics with the wife and kids on June 3rd. It would have been Keegan's first birthday, and Keegan means "little fiery one", so we went out and torched stuff. The barrel coolled quickly, but the pit was still hot a day and a half later. Both were more fun than blowing out the candle on the cake, but it was a surprisingly good day.
Saggar and pit firing ceramics is a bit more mountainy than going into some shop and painting a bisque.
You dig a hole, pack it with bisques (I'm pretty sure I would just bust greenware), surround them with combustiables of all sorts, and light it. Sawdust, hay, and pine needles were our choice, with a bit of cordwood for heat and durration. As the material burns off, carbon or other vaporized elements are left on the ceramics.
The effect is cool, but as I write, the pieces are stiil too toasty to take out and get pictures.
Even though she is a grown-up now, Kaleigh still has her braces, and every orthodontist will enjoy the following video link. A perfect educational tool for the kids who whine that it is inconvenient to brush after every meal.