04 April

Home Sweeeeet Home!



We made it home and just in time! There was   another major eruption of the volcano this morning at 6:00 am and it was a doozey -an ash cloud reached 50,000 feet into the sky. While we were in Seattle we missed some GREAT powder days as well as we missed the U.S. Ski Team Alpine Championships and we missed the start of the 2009 Telepalooza World Telemark Freeskiing Competition. With all of the snow while we 
were away, layers of ash and snow covered the deck and stairs. It is going to be hard for me to harvest some of the ash to use in a glaze because of all the snow, I'll have to figure something out. But first, the cookie jar is empty.



The delay in Seattle did a number on my production schedule. I've got a lot of pieces to get to the Galleries and a commission piece that was supposed to be delivered last week.
Everyone has been very understanding of my absence but I put a lot of pressure on myself not to let anyone down or to miss a deadline. On the positive, I was caught up and even a bit ahead before we left the second time.  We needed to make two trips to Seattle in March. The commission piece was completed and just needed to have the clear coat dry and the finished work 
delivered. Here are a couple of pictures of the commission job. The commission was to create a Tabernacle for a beautiful, new Chapel. I needed to do a lot of research on the Eucharist and what a Tabernacle was used for. Fortunately, I had meetings with the clients as to t
heir ideas, needs and the overall design they were looking for before I started the design and production. I worked with the very skilled and talented, Rick at Western Sheetmetal to help with the stainless and aluminum fabrication work. I think the finishe
d piece is really beautiful and was a real creative challenge, nothing like I have ever done before. After I meet with the clients next week, and if the piece is as they expected, I will post pictures of the finished Tabernacle in the Chapel.

6 comments:

Gary's third pottery blog said...

that makes some dramatic photos, doesn't, the snowy mountains and all? Best wishes on enduring the volcano and getting your work done!

cindy shake said...

Hi Gary, thanks for the post. Every time we turn the corner off of the Seward Highway coming from Anchorage (which is a scenic byway) and turn up Alyeska Highway in Girdwood, where the photo was taken, our blood pressure drops and we always have a collective sigh of ahhhhhhhh it's good to be home. This time of year the sun is comes around and lights up the whole mountain starting at about 2pm.

ang design said...

just stunning, also on my list of places to visit... hope you catch up ok with your work and nice piece of ss work too, you have such a wide range of skills, brilliant to see....

cindy shake said...

Hi Ang thanks for the kind words :o) I know it's a lot warmer where you are today than here! Your lovely land has been on our list of must-travel-to's for a long time. My husband's good buddy (a wild one he is!) is from Perth and we keep threatening him our whole family will descend upon his bachelor lifestyle one of these days -ha! Alaska is very magical and there are so many contrasts you would love it because the land can be so inspiring.

Linda Starr said...

Welcome home. I hope you are able to get some ash collected. I'm just learning about ash glazes and fresh volcano ash is so desirable as I understand. What a challenge to make a tabernacle, what an interesting design, I love the look of stainless, can't wait to see the finished piece.

cindy shake said...

hi Linda, thank you! I was inspired to collect some ash after Eric at Seattle Pottery showed me some examples of ash used when Mt. St. Hellen's erupted in Washington years ago. Of course, ash glazes is a whole other world and I have so much to learn as it is -so we'll see!