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. 

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.

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….

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.

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.

Back in April during and after Spring Break I got some work done in the clay studio and even got a load fired. I was using Amaco’s low fire White Art Clay and low fire glazes. Here are a few pictures getting ready to fire. The first picture shows the clay studio in a transition stage. It was taken after I put plastic up on the studs but before the second round of construction.

My main objective was to test the low fire glazes that I purchased. Here are a few of the finished pieces:

Not bad….

Back in March I took on another photo opportunity. I agreed to photograph another wedding. After meeting the couple to discuss the details and sign some papers I took some engagement photos. Here you can see a few that I like:

The wedding will take place later this month. My wife even let me get some more photo equipment for the big event!