Hitting the Road!

Busy me! I am taking the show on the road. Right now I am planning for an upcoming craft show. I thought I could get by with just one table. Nope. I am going to need at least two & a dog kennel!

UPDATE ON GRACIE'S PUPPIES!!!!!

All still alive and wiggling! 

I estimate these pups to weigh around three pounds when grown!

 Twenty One Days Old Today.

 This is the Runt. He was the first one to open his eyes!

 

Four boys & Three girls

Mortar & Pestle by Beth Murr

Sometimes you open the kiln and that one piece just grabs you. Now if I can only remember how I did it! 

My new airbrush. Harbor Freight just $9.99  Love it!

I have been staying off the Internet and getting tons of work done.

I moved the Clay Cave. Huge improvement.

Pottery is my new love.

 Until We Bead Again, Beth

Problems with the Clay Boss Pottery Wheel

Heartbreak set in when my Clay Boss Pottery Wheel stopped spinning. What was the problem? Long story short - rusty magnets in the motor. I wish I had taken pics along the way but I didn't so I will explain. I had not used my pottery wheel all winter. Finally, the clay cave warms up and I throw a bowl. It turned out great. I leave it spinning for a few minutes. I walk away and when I returned the wheel had stopped. What the heck!? Did I blow a fuse? No. I spin the wheel by hand in the reverse way, it catches, spins a couple of revolutions and then stops again. I'm sick. I can not afford to replace my wheel right now. $500 + if I'm lucky. I call Creative Industries. I spoke with Debra. She was really nice and helpful. We come to the conclusion that my circuit board needs to be replaced. $75.00. Not bad. I'll take one. I wait patiently for it's arrival. It gets here. Feverishly I take off the old circuit board and replace it with the new one. No change. The wheel is still doing the same  thing. I can spin it in the opposite direction, it finally seems to catch and then only spins a few turns, then stops. I must have appeared really pitiful because now my son has joined in to help me. Together we decided to just go ahead and take the motor apart. I have nothing to lose because this is the next thing I am going to replace. I do not claim to to be an electrician, maybe I should have gone to school for that instead of nursing because they charge $60/hr for labor, but it really was not that hard to see the problem once I had the motor apart. There was a fine layer of rust on the magnets. I take a toothbrush and clean off the rust. Then I carefully put everything back together. It runs like a champ! Apparently there is much more humidity in my basement than I realized. I will be moving the pottery wheel to a much drier place today. I hope this article helps others who have had this same problem. Just be careful and remember to unplug your wheel before you work on it. A  $2.00 toothbrush could be all you need to keep from replacing a $500+ pottery wheel.