King’s Cup victory mugs for 2012. 34 mugs await the winners.

It’s King’s Cup  time once again. The last weekend in May will be the 7th King’s Cup disc golf tournament here in Kinston. And it’s traditional to give mugs to the winners.

I actually got a good start this year, throwing all 34 back in March, or was it April. Anyway, they all came out nicely and wait the scorekeeper’s final report. Good luck players!

https://pictures.lytro.com/realitysmith/pictures/150178/embed?token=95cb0200-9a1a-11e1-bfef-12313922c461

Apparently, I can’t embed the images, but the links do seem to work. Interesting. I’m looking forward to trying this on pottery. Since it’s difficult to get really long depth of field when photographing bowls and other board pieces, the selectable depth of field of the Lytro should make it much more interesting. We’ll see. Really, it’s just another cool toy!

17″ x 6″ big brown bowl

This past Saturday, May 5, in addition to being Cinco de Mayo, was the BBQ Festival on the Neuse in downtown Kinston, just minutes away from the studio of Barley Hollow. It was my first sale of the year, and it was a good one. Many thanks to everyone who came out to the Festival on the Neuse and visited our table in the Farmers’ Market. I was pleased to be in the company of so many talented folks, including potter Yu-san Ishimaru, who is the Resident Artist at the Arts Council.

One of the first items to sell was the Big Brown Bowl. This was a personal best, coming in around 17″ in diameter. It was hard to decide to offer it for sale, but just as hard not to offer it. I’m glad it’s off into the world for who knows what kinds of adventures.

New calling cards from Courtesy Press in Pollocksville.

Later in the morning, Josh and April from Courtesy Press stopped by to deliver the new Barley Hollow calling cards. These beauties are letterpress printed on a very heavy bamboo stock. The textures and imprint are wonderful. It will be a real pleasure using these. Every step of the process working with Josh and April was a pleasure. Their attention to detail and quality is inspiring. The cards were even delivered in a very simple, yet elegant package. I has so much fun working with them, I’m looking for other excuses to do so again.

All things considered, it was a good Saturday at the market. It was a long day, starting at 8:00am and packing it in about 6:00pm. Stormy weather threatened all afternoon, but never materialized. There were reports of stormy weather all around Kinston, but the skies stayed dry for the festivities. About 3:00pm the Duck Race on the river took place, and simultaneously, the car show folks concluded their competition. The resulting streams of people leaving looked like the place should have completely cleared out, but there were still some folks around at 5:30pm. I only saw our end of the festival, but it looked like a lot of people to me. Initial reports I’ve heard suggest they sold out of over 8,000 lbs of pork barbecue, which would be a record for the event. Congratulations to the organizers and all the volunteers that made the Festival on the Neuse such a success this year!

JetPens.com carries an amazing selection of things that make marks – pens, pencils, pens, you name it. Many are Japanese. The most recent development i’ve noticed are pencils that advance the lead with a shake, and those that automatically rotate the lead so you don’t have to. If you’ve studied drafting, you know you rotate your pencil as you draw to keep a point on the lead. Doing so keeps the point from developing a flat spot. This also allows the point to retain a more consistent line width. Probably more than you wanted to think about then you pick up a pencil.

Enter the amazing new Kuru Toga from Mitsubishi Pencil Co, Ltd. This mechanical pencil rotates the lead for you. My first test with this  pencil was to write notes on a 3×5 card. I could tell it was a different pencil immediately. Putting thread on the paper and lightly bearing down made the pencil tip gently give. Writing was smooth and the line weight stayedthesameforsolong, I wondered if the pencil was also advancing the lead. It wasn’t, but the pencil seems to write more between clicks. This makes sense if the point is staying consistently sharper.

So far, I’m really impressed. Both sketching and writing are pleasant and consistent. I haven’t broken a tip so far, either. The pen I’m testing is a 0.5mm model. They also offers 0.3mm model. I should also note that I’m left-handed and tend to print, rather than writing in script. Lifting the tip appears to be part that makes the magic happen, so if you don’t lift the tip, the result may not be be so pronounced.

The pencil itself has a comfortable grip. The grips texture is molded in with the addition of a soft ring where the tip of the index finger rests. It isn’t fancy, but is completely functional. The whole pencil is plastic and doesn’t weigh much. Aside from the ability to rotate the lead, this pencil’s initial impression would be nice, but unremarkable. Writing and sketching was comfortable for me. Most of my lead holders and mechanical pencils are old and heavy, so this was a contrast, but not a problem. The eraser  is smooth and works well and appears to be pretty standard for a mechanical pencil.

The bottom line is that this is a really nice mechanical pencil for anyone who likes mechanical pencils, or uses them in their work, or for the pencil geek in all of us.  It solves a problem most people don’t know they have. The difference is a subtle, but pleasant surprise. I like the Kuru Toga mechanical pencil.

My pencil was provided by JetPens.com for review. 

After the opening ceremony, they’re going to serve free lunch, including homemade strawberry ice-cream as long as it lasts. The strawberries are really good this year, so I’ll be begging for a bowl, I’m sure.

In additional to all the great produce that’s already coming in, be sure to check out the improvements to the market itself. The driveway and parking areas have been freshly paved. The bathrooms have been renovated, and you’ll notice lots of nice touches here and there. Kudos to Pat Jenkins and Tammy Kelly and their crew for all the great work on the market.

I made the initial sketches last fall, and started collecting parts and worked out the motor and mounting. It was a lot of fun, and the results are promising.  The motor is a surplus gear head motor with a tremendous amount of torque and very low RPM rating. The rest is left-over plywood and lumber from other projects and a pair of simple hinges.

Turntable for pouring glaze on large pieces. Motorized using the power supply from the foam cutter.

Part of the design requires that the angle of the head be adjustable to allow different shapes and sizes of bowls. I still have to build in an adjustable method of angling the top plate assembly. The current plan involves a series of detent holes and a pivoting U-bar. That’s on the way. Another point of design is to be able to use the wheel for decoration as a banding wheel, which will require that the motor be disengaged. I have a couple approaches in mind, but at this point, it would have to be removed. by taking out the wood screws.

At this point, the basic elements are in place and working. I was able to turn on the wheel and have it rotate at a variety of speeds appropriate for decoration. I’ll throw a big bowl soon to test the wheel.

Today, we also bought a couple new hanging plants to round out the decoration of the studio. The plants now fully frame the front of the studio. We’ll keep the watered and look forward to them vining and shading the studios porch.

Lead type impressions in clay. Trying out samples from Courtesy Press. The smaller look like about 12pt type. The larger are about 24pt. Not sure of the faces.

On the way out of town, I found the printing shop, Courtesy Press, and got to spend a few minutes with Josh and April. We talked about printing some posh cards for Barley Hollow, and somehow got onto lead type. They were quite generous and sent a few pieces home with me to play with. They work great in clay. I’m going to try some texturing and patterns in the next series of work. Thanks for the great visit! If you’re in Pollocksville, check them out at 127 Main Street, right in the heart of downtown. As the window notes,  they’re available by appointment or chance.

All in all, the trip to Pollocksville for the  Eastern NC Pottery Festival was well worth the trip. The offering was every bit as interesting as anything you’ll find anywhere else in NC, and distinctively different enough to make the visit worth planning. Rich says the festival will be held on the 2nd weekend in April as long as he’s got he energy to make it happen. I hope that’s a long, long time. Thanks to all the potters who showed up. I’m thrilled to know there are so many of us east of I-95. Put it on your calendar for next year. I know I will.

One more time, a bunch of big stuff for the Easter bunny

That was the before picture. Here’s the after…