June 25th, 2008
Well, here it is. My blog got a facelift. Consider this a free preview to the new site that I hope to have
in place very soon. I still have a few small details to fine-tune but this is the basic idea. It’s a lot more impressive when you see how it started (right). Now it has more of the Art by Fuzzy feel. I downloaded the atmosphere 10 theme, created by Dagon Design and played with the CSS file for a while until I finally got it pretty close to the way I want it. I think I’m actually starting to understand all this Cascading Style Sheet stuff.
June 19th, 2008
Some fantastic news! This very site will soon be newer, faster, and more exciting than ever. I am currently hard at work on a CSS layout which should make the main part of the site lighter and faster. I also plan to update the galleries if I have time and add some other small features. I’ve got the layout pretty well set and I think I figured out the menu. Now I’m testing and adding content. It’s going to be sweet! I also updated Wordpress and added a couple plugins. Maybe some day I’ll have time to activate them and try some of the cool stuff I see that’s possible with this Wordpress contraption.
June 11th, 2008
Technically I still have a few days to work in the computer lab. But I’m not going in this week due to some transportation issues and a wedding. My wife is using my car this week because her car’s back struts are shot. Tomorrow I will be heading to Michigan to get ready for my brother’s wedding on Friday. So the last few days have been like a preview to my summer vacation.
The school year wrapped up without too much excitement. So now I have a full year of Reading Recovery under my belt. I will probably do it again next year unless they decide we want to replace RR with a different program. Then I guess I’ll get to learn something new…. We finished the track season on a strong note, taking 2nd place at the conference meet.

After working next week I’ll get ready to shoot the wedding in Indianapolis. I hope to spend a lot of time working with clay this summer and not a lot of time mowing the grass. My wife and I might take a trip somewhere but we haven’t decided where. I also plan to update the rest of the site. I’ve been studying the art of CSS so I can eventually get rid of tables… but maybe I’ll get to that next summer….
June 11th, 2008
I added another shelf above the clay table so I had a place to put my tools. It was a little tricky getting it attached to the support beams above but I finally made it work. In the future I’ll probably add some more shelves to the walls so I have more room for pieces to dry.

I also made a nice long shelf over by the sink so I can dry my tools after I clean them.

And here are some of the current pieces that I’m working on. Just some basic items to test the mid-fire clay and glazes. I’m using Amaco’s warm brown stoneware and buff firing stoneware.

June 11th, 2008
My clay studio is really taking shape now. A few weeks ago I had some family members come down to hang drywall and finish some electrical work. My dad and grandpa and I hung the drywall and my brother wired some outlets and some more lights. Thanks guys! Here are some photos of the inside after I got some of my clay stuff moved in.

The other side shows my clay table and wheel. I also hooked up a TV so I could catch the NFL draft and other sporting events while working with clay.

Here is a closeup of the little ‘L’ shaped table I made to put around my wheel. Now I have room for all my throwing tools, a couple balls of clay, water bucket and a 6-pack of Mt. Dew.
