Summer's end

Not that it isn't still hot,and with lots more to come-but the signs are all there:the fantastic Jazz Festival in Eilat,always the last week in August;grapes indicating that they are ready for turning into wine (maybe this coming week),and Eliav (#3 son) back off to school (after an adventure-packed trip to the Sinai)for his final year.In addition,my apprentice is finishing up her 18-month stint in the studio in the most traditional of potters' ways- by making her first teapots (see above)-great excitement!Sales in the studio haven't been as good as last year,but still adequate;coming up to the New Year,the gallery shelves are comfortably stacked still,with a bisc kiln loaded (today) and another planned (mainly porcelain) in a week or so to provide stock for the Holiday season.This morning,starting to work in porcelain with a dozen-or-so medium-sized serving bowls (having swabbed the studio down in an attempt to preserve the porcelain's whiteness) I wedged up a mixed batch of the enigmatic Coleman porcelain with my Naaman stuff:this handles rather nicely on the wheel,combining the silkiness of the Naaman with the stability of the American clay.This could be a rather nice solution-mix a cheap but floppy clay with an expensive but rather tight one.We shall see how the kiln takes to the new mixture.
A most pleasant couple of couples has just left the studio with six mugs-a nice way to end the week,but they took up my remaining blogging time.Shabbat Shalom!