Henry turned 4 a few weeks back, and Andrew and Heather had their 6th anniversary! Andrew's school year is almost over. Then he'll have a very small break before he starts teaching at a summer school type program.
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| Andrew and Heather took their family on a little hiking/camping trip in April |
Very soon it will be time to put in guesses as to where Alex will be called on his mission. He has 2 interviews to go before his papers will be submitted. We're hoping that in a week or so they will be able to be sent in to Salt Lake. Then it might only take a week to hear back from Church headquarters. Exciting times!
Yesterday my pottery class had a raku pottery firing event outside at our teacher's house. So fascinating. We used special clay and glazes for raku. You make your item, fire it, glaze it, and then it's ready for the raku treatment.
There is a special kiln where the pieces are fired to 1800 degrees. You take the pieces out and put them in trash cans that have newspaper in them (which immediately catches on fire) and shut the lids, which creates an oxygen-less environment. You take the pieces out, cool them down by spraying water on them, then wash the soot off. You never know what you are going to get as the same glaze doesn't necessarily produce the same results.
I only had 3 bowls to fire, but the other students (many of whom had done this before) had made some really cool items...sculptures, wind chimes, flower pots, etc. It was really neat to watch.
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| Loading the special propane kiln |
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| the trash cans (reduction chambers) |
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| the pieces are then cooled down by misting water on them |
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| some of the finished pieces |
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| my 3 pieces |
Only 4 weeks left of regular instruction at school and then it's finals week. The end is in sight! (but meanwhile, things are very busy)
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