Monday, December 10, 2007

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, BUT IS IT ME?


"Hi Gary,

My name is (Virginia) and I am a High School student here in Connecticut. For one of my school projects I created a large pot that looks like an elephant's face. It is one of my favorite pieces, and I am looking for the perfect glaze to complete it. I was interested to know if you would be willing to share one of your glaze recipes with me. As i was searching, I stumbled upon your blog and saw a picture of a piggy bank (or it could be just a pig...?) with the best color for my elephant, and would be absolutely delighted to have the recipe for it. I am using cone 6 clay, and chemicals are not a problem to obtain. It would be very helpful and meaningful to me if you would be willing to share. I have attached a picture of your piggy bank in this e-mail to show you exactly which color I would like.

Thank you so much,
(Virginia)"
When I got this email I figured it was Ellen, sneakily trying to get my glaze recipes. She has tried before, oh yes!!!!!!!
Well, the glaze here is Petey Poo Celadon, the second to last glaze recipe I developed, when my old dog Petey happened to die that week. It looks really good, a true greenish-bluish-light grey celadon color, with a lot of speckly visual texture in it, and breaks interestingly over edges.
I laughed pretty hard when I got this email, as I figured it was Ellen or some other snake in the grass trying to find out my SECRET glaze recipes. But maybe Virginia is for real? You see, my glaze recipes are all my own, and YES, they are locked in a safe, and my wife has instructions what to do when I kick.
So, do I help Virginia, a little, or a lot?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh man what a tough conundrum. ;) I think you handled it well in the other posting :D ...

psst.. make up some silly recipe? .. get the teacher's email and confirm with them this student ;)

Gordo said...

Hmm ... Gary, did the message come from a web-based email address? If you check the headers, you can see the IP address that the person wrote it was using and I can find out from there where this person's computer is. You know where to find me. ;-)

Anonymous said...

gordo, it's best to keep potterman in the dark about some things.

remember, potterman, 'tis the season for giving...'

Gordo said...

Denis, don't be silly. I didn't actually say that I'd tell him the truth, did I? ;-)

Ellen said...

I would NEVER resort to such a ruse. Nice glaze, but the one I want is the RED. I have a nice celadon.

If you wanted to be nice, you could offer to send Virginia a pint of the glaze.

Anonymous said...

Hey,Ellen, great idea!

Unknown said...

So she can take it to a lab and get it analyzed? And it looks like, yes, Virginia really does think there's a Santa Claus, aka GR. Honestly, that red glaze fills me with a terrible desire to fill up my vase topped with that glorious color with a matching wine and raise it aloft before starting the quaff! Don't worry, though, I'd never smash it in the fireplace at the end! Ohhh, no, no, no!