ratm

Can you imagine somebody spent money to get this thing permanently inked onto their ah, you know....?
OK, promised my old pal br we would Rage Against the Machine today so let's do it first with a live clip of 'Guerilla Radio' and then 'Killing in the Name'. A shame this band broke up, or whatever it is that is going on with them.
Speaking of dreams more like Talking Heads life During Wartime...phew, I don't wanna talk about it...

elephant thing going on

A friend is making an elephant table, heavily painted and decorated, and I make the teaset to go with it. I really need to mix glazes this week, although I am going to sneak this info in here: I havn't used my brown glaze in maybe 2 years, havn't even looked in the bucket for a year, and so I checked it yesterday, just in case, you know, I made a boot mug. Much surprise, the bucket of brown glaze is ready to go, not dried out at all.

your bathroom needs THIS

Either the set or just the dish, go to my ETSY gallery NOW!!!

starfish in a dish

Many of these hanging around now, they look good. Need to get a proper picture and put some of them up for sale. And give one to Gordo for a favor, and for the missus for a cookie plate....

more niche fiddling

Why not try a little elephant or bunny in a niche mug?
Masses of dreams last night, including an end of school term trying to get everything done dream, and another where I was a conscript in the Roman army, not trained or equipped, but, shudder, intended to be the first defensive wave of attack...that was scary.

Mrs. Potsblog rocks on

So, last week br says it is time for some Led Zeppelin. He has a point. They of course played long before MTV, but there are concert clips out there. Is Led Zeppelin more important than the Beatles??? No. But they did mark that big turning point that led to hard rock and heavy metal. As a matter of fact, Rolling Stone magazine first used that term to describe the band (although it had been used in a line of Steppenwolf's 'Born to be wild' before that '...heavy metal thunder'). So, Mrs. Potsblog models my Zep concert t-shirt, and here is a live 'Whole lotta love' which is OK, and 'Kashmir' which is quite AWESOME.

niche cats too

Niche cats join niche pigs as THE NEXT BIG THING. It is a good format, nice ordinary straight sided mug, with this guy in the bottom corner looking cute. Definately on today's make-it list.
This blog is about sunshine and light, fun and happiness, but it isn't always perfect in the studio. Last week there were some mishaps in the studio. Sure, one little problem, that's NO big deal, but 5 or 6, that's a little depressing. For example, the thermocouple in the kiln malfunctioned, it is the temperature gauge and one of the most important but sensitive items in the kiln, so I tell myself 'time to slow down, mellow out'. Friday night an art opening and party. Saturday, no work, just messing around with my reading. Back to it today, but I need to spend time this week on some basics, usually put off until the last second, and it is th last second: paperwork, order stuff like piggy corks, mix all the glazes, fiddle with the kiln. At least my wife keeps the books and the accountant does the rest, what a mess that would be.
Videos are fast disappearing from youtube, thanks to the suits at Viacom, but Weezer's 'the Sweater Song' is still up there :^)

springtime

I dreamt it was spring (I did really!) and I was cutting my parents grass with the biggest lawnmower on earth. It was hard to steer and it shredded everything, flowers, trees, etc.
'LDN' by Lily Allen. Her videos are quickly disappearing, catch it now!!

stein with partying piggies

My old pal Alan wondered last week if the niche pig idea could be expended, and a pair of celebrating pigs could clink mugs together, on a stein. On the surface of it, it is yet another foolish and silly idea from Alan, like the boot mug, but a moments thought showed the brilliance. So, a large stein was made and a niche created, easy enough, then a pair of pigs, still easy, but then the teeny tiny little mugs. I sometimes make minitures, and this pair was made on the wheel like big mugs, and each is smaller than a fingernail.

ME: that is NOT a perm

My old pal Mother of Invention wondered if the pics below of 20 years ago were a perm. PLEASE! God and my parents gave me this hair, and just to prove it, have a look at it NOW, straight outta bed.

an early Valentine's message for my wife

smooch!

health returns, hard work completed

Time for more unicorns, moose, many many things. Just north of us a few miles they are getting dumped on by snows. Here it is cold and.........SUNNY!
Do you know Lily Allen? Here is her 'Smile', kind of a cockney/reggae/ska video. GORDO, CM, CELESTE, ALAN, SEAN, DENIS, MONA, MAGGIE ALL OF YOU: CHECK THIS OUT! Most entertaining.
Great dream: imagine a sophmoric foodfight wherein I and my schoolpals got into wheelchairs, raided the cafeteria of a few cases of burritos--sloppy, tomatoey, beany WET burritos, and had a schoolwide burrito fight, in wheelchairs.

Gary at Bennington College ceramics studio, 1987

I was lucky to go to Bennington College from '83 until I graduated in '87. A little place with only a few hundred students and the studios never closed. I had big fluffy hair.

the potter 20 years ago at 20

Mona has introduced the topic of hair. I had some big hair in the 80s. My type is fuzzy, therefore the natural lift and upward trend. C'est moi, making pots in 1987.

break in the action

Mid-way through glazing. What would winter be without a few head colds?

feel good

Gorillaz provides today's tunes o' the day 'Feel Good'. Everybody I know, online and off, seems to have a little cold, and my head is somewhat stuffed and stuffy. I forgot to get pics of yesterday morning's INTERESTING WORK, so check back for updates later today, but in the meantime, gaze upon these 2 cats, our Emily and Sammy, who gave me advice yesterday: do as we do this afternoon. Do nothing.

moosicorn

jackalope

moose

A friend recommends Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' and so we shall laugh again.
OK, I admit it, I made another unicorn pot yesterday. He looks mighty cheerful. I am wondering if this has gotten out of my system?
And dreaming: I was a drummer and ran all the way--fast--to the arctic. I live a very exotic life.

Buster says to ABIGAIL:

'Of course Gary does cow stuff, and hippo stuff too, and thanks for visiting potsblog!'

look at these cuties

Pair of nice red mugs, for sale at my gallery now, cheapo!!!! Go there and spend!

Porcine paddling.

matchy matchy: starfish set

Nice bathroom set, but I havn't fired any of the soapdishes yet. My wife thinks that they would be perfect dessert plates.
Tunes o' the day 'Points of Authority' and 'Don't stay'. 'From the inside' too, for awhile. If you can believe it, thanks to the suits at Viacom, Linkin Park videos are disappearing and what I intended to put up this morning is gone already. Poof, there goes all the fun in youtube.
So, dreamt that Peyton Manning and I went fishing and somehow I ended up in fifth grade.

RITH

Gordo was asking where Rith comes from. Here is the general story, as best as I know it. There is that western bit of Germany the French and Germans are always fighting over, and in the mid-1700s our ancestors were serious protestants, Mennonites. French Catholics were rampaging across eastern France, and either killed protestants or drove them out. My relatives went 3 ways. Some to Switzerland, some to NY and Pennsylvania Dutch country, where a variation of the name, 'Rieth', lives on in some Mennonites who would be distant cousins of mine. Our own branch ran to the Austro-Hungarian empire, famously tolerant of religious groups, including Jews and protestants. Somewhere east of Vienna in Hungary my ancestors settled in a German community, and around the 1880s came to NY. My great-grandfather Alfred Rith was a vaudeville actor and met my great-grandmother Tete on the road in a touring show. He and his brother went to Europe in WWI and he saw his brother blown up, and came home with TB. He lived a few sickly years, and that was it.
There are very few Riths in Germany, the sign above is from a bicycle shop near Koblenz, I think. There are just a few of us in the US, except for as I say, the Mennonite Rieths. It is a not uncommon Cambodian name, and there are a couple dozen Riths in California now, including, darnitall, a Gary Rith born in 1995. And I had been the only one on earth!

Mona gets down and piggy

Mona is a very smart person. Knowing that there is a cosmic convergence between the Chinese New Year of the Pig, and Valentine's Day, she came to me with a long shopping list. You can tell from the picture I have made her happy.

the world is a better place.....

.....with fairies and unicorns. Do not hurl, I find Ihave a talent for making unicorns. You will note that I have added appropriate squiggly bits to the jar part, for that wizardy look.

mega-unicorn

Mr. Unicorn was glaze fired yesterday and a quick peek shows him looking pretty sharp, as he cools in the kiln. Gotta make many things today, including moose, plus get some cat food. The life of the potter is soooo glam.
Thank you, BTW, all my Canadian friends, for the extra-Arctic style weather blowing through.

Bears 14, Colts 6

I only listened to the first quarter, so I am going to live with that alternative reality. Things sure looked good for the Bears after 15 minutes! (glad I went off to read my book....)
Gonna visit the Stereophonics again, first the rather terrif 'Maybe Tomorrow' and here's a new one to me 'Moviestar'.
Dreamt of a series of tunnels under all these houses. Not really nice, clean and well lit, kinda dirty and dusty and scary.

more Matisyahu

Matisyahu, 'King without a crown'

BEARS 31-COLTS 27

As a former Chicagoan, and still the proud owner of a pile of Bears clothing, like t-shirts, sweatshirts, coats, hats, I predict a late Bears touchdown after a Manning turnover and a nice super bowl win. So there!
Saturday all I accomplished was reading a stack of newspapers and magazines and a little shopping. The sun was out, a grand winter day. I work everyday, but didn't get much done yesterday, today is a whole different kettle of fish, glazing, throwing and whatnot.

This is not mine, but I can make a nice little bear sometimes.

what a nightmare

First: the Orthodox Jewish rapper Matisyahu and 'Youth', a most energetic tune for early Sunday.
Ugh. True nightmare last night: attacked on the the street by 2 thugs intent on beating me to a pulp with metal implements, and although my face and head were badly whacked and I could not speak or see, I was glad they left my hands untouched, so that I could of course continue making stuff. Awful.

don't forget piggy love

starfish dish

Thought I would make little soap dishes with starfish, and realized that these would be good for cookies or chocolates too. Must make more.

Sarah Maclachan

Did I spell that right? Totally sweet song, although I liked her hair a few years ago better.
What did I dream? Something profound involving pottery studies, but there I am, wide awake and well rested at 5am on a Saturday....

the groundhog sez....

....'early spring'. Here is your host, half a year ago, and soon, OH YES, I shall be in the pond again....

niche pig

Niche pig: this morning's star performer.

dreamt I sold that

Mug below. Imagine my surprise when I awoke and found it HADN'T sold.
Dreamt also I went to a super bowl party with a bunch of sick kids, flu and bizarre fevers, and I wasn't really interested in sharing the snacks.
Tunes o' the day, a repeat, The Specials, 'Ghostown'.

you may need a huge piggy mug

You can shop till you drop, for this guy and other cool cool pots at my gallery.

starfish

So, maybe I have an order for a pump soap dispenser, but I went through a dusty box and found that yes, I still have a few soap pumps, and I started fiddling. It is extremely difficult to fit those things into the top, so I just kinda hope for the best. I am also involved in another special elephant project, and so I am making these elephant teasets.

Sonic Youth Festival here and at CBGB

Tunes o' the day, Sonic Youth. I am making my own private little festival here. They were famously connected to CBGB once upon a time, and the place is now closed. I went to a party at CBGB in 1985, and it was a dirty messy hole, but of course, the cradle for them, Patti Smith, the Ramones, Talking Heads and was perhaps Americas' Liverpool and Cavern. 'Do you believe in Rapture' first, and then 'Teenage Riot' and finally, read all about Sonic Youth at Wiki.

a long convuluted dream wherein...

OK, the background, my wife has been sneezing and coughing and has been making all that racket all night long in another room, while I sleep soundly apart. Nice of her to volunteer. So, half the dogs and cats with her, half with me, kind of a bachelor thing these last 2 nights.
So last night's dream, I was a high schooler and my parents got a house guest who was a swimsuit model, but for some reason my mom and dad were always around when she was, and it felt a little like being in the desert with an empty water bottle...