Hello All. Up here we live with Nature about as close as you can get. The land frovides the food we eat, the trees we heat with and any money resources we have. (Except for the people who live in Whitehorse and work for the government, but they are another story.....) The funny thing is that wood-firing is the most expensive way to go. Trucking bricks 2,000 miles??? Isn't it ironic, the closer you are to the industrial source down in the great Heartland the more reasonable firing with wood is, cheap bricks, garbage wood for firing. What it costs up here for an electric kiln to fire you couldn't put gas into your truck to go out and haul the wood in, never mind all the time, energy and chainsaw costs
I am off today to 'man' the afterschool pottery group table at our local craft sale. I haven't sold my own stuff at craft sales for many years. But this is fun and easy....I make everyone feel guilty if they don't buy, the money we make helps pay for the supplies for their kids, grandchildren and nephews and neices to have some fun. The hardest part of doing this group is getting the funding for supplies. My latest 'donation' is (literally) a ton of rock-hard cone 6 clay still in the boxes. I have been breaking it up with a hammer, soaking until soft, drying down in a plaster cookie jar mold and then the fun part, wedging by hand until smooth.....good thing I live so close to Nature and have big muscles from hauling wood and 5 gallon pails of water!!! Maybe today we will make enough money to buy clay like normal people. Oh well, whatever it takes.
Claudia MacPhee in the Southern Yukon where -25, -30 for the last week is freezing up our lake and soon it will be our highway.
