I remember as a grade-school boy, I would go into our recreation room and play around an old oak table. The table was round, with four hand-carved legs that each had the face of a tiger. I would run "pretend" racers around and around the table, or set up armies and have mock battles.

The table was also the place where we did our ceramics. My dad was always interested in "artsy" things, so I was introduced early to the magic of ceramics. We had plaster molds into which we poured a brown mud-like substance called "slip." The molds were in two pieces and were held together by rubber bands. There was a small hole in the top of each mold. That's where we poured the liquid clay. After about fifteen minutes, we poured out the clay and then set the molds aside to dry for about an hour. Then, by removing the rubber bands, we could carefully open the molds and remove the delicate product.

We had molds of cats, dogs, angels, Nativity figurines, bears, Santas and many more. The trick was to remove the soft clay pieces without breaking them. It was also necessary many times to then assemble arms and legs to the bodies, each step requiring tedious work. After assembly, they had to dry completely. Once dried, the various ceramic objects are called "greenware"--they are very easy to break if accidentally knocked over or bumped together. The greenware is then painted with a variety of ceramic paints called glaze, each applied to create a desired finish. I always liked the ones that gave a "crackled" finish. The different glazes are really simply mixtures of different rock and mineral compounds that give different colors once heated to melting. The trick is to know what they will look like as they are applied, since it often makes a difference which one goes on first.

Once glazed, the ceramic objects are fired in a kiln. We had two electric kilns, one large one and one small one. The small one was about three feet square, with room inside for about two shelves of ceramics. Each ceramic piece was loaded carefully, because wherever it was painted it could not sit directly on the shelf. If it did, it would stick to the shelf during the firing process and be hard to remove without damaging it. Sometimes we laid the ceramic piece on a special support that had three pinpoints where the ceramic piece touched it. In that way a part could be painted all over and it would only rest on three small supports.

The firing process took all night. We used little devices called "cones" to control the firing process. These little cones were set under a little moveable pin inside the kiln. The pin was connected to an electrical switch that was held in the "on" position as long as the cone remained rigid. However, as the desired kiln temperature is reached, the cone begins to soften and finally bends resulting in the switch being shut off to the kiln. It took almost a full day for the kiln to cool down after a firing, most of the time being taken to be sure that it cooled very slowly. If the top were opened while it was too hot, the ceramics would crack and break by the sudden chilling.

I once took a mold, some slip, some greenware, some glazed ceramics and some finished pieces to Speech Class at Tyee Jr. High. I described the process to the class and gave brief demonstrations how it was done. It was really interesting to the class and I enjoyed telling about it. I think I got an "A" on that one. Besides, afterwards I did a fairly brisk business selling ceramic cats to my classmates!

Mom really got involved in some wonderful ceramic projects. She bought the molds for making Nativity figurines. It included the baby Jesus, a manger, a cow, a donkey, sheep, shepherds, Joseph, Mary, the three wise men and of course, their camels. She assembled all of them very carefully and then put glaze on to make them look realistic. After firing them, she then decorated the Wise Men with cloth and other decorations so that they were quite realistic. She sold many sets of them. I even talked her out of a set myself!

Dad was always interested in making new things. He and Clarence Phipps designed the first electronic potters wheel. At the time, there were very few electronic devices of this type. It had a control knob on the side that would allow the wheel to spin at a variable rate. The wheel could also be controlled by a foot pedal. They even went so far as to consider selling the units commercially. I don't know what prevented them.

I remember dad would spend hours forming pots on the wheel. Sometimes he bought the clay from a ceramics outlet store, but at other times he would try to find native clay. He would scour the countryside and find places where he could dig out clay. He'd then try making pots from the clay and making his own glazes. Sometimes the colors were really different when he used his own clay and glazes of his own making.

It was fun trying to make pots and feel the slick clay slip through my fingers. The only problem was that it was messy and took a long time to clean up after a session.

Dad also spent time modeling with clay. I still have an "Indian head" that he was going to throw away. He always was trying to talk me into letting him make a mold of my face! The way he explained it, I'd just have to sit in a chair and he would apply plaster to my face, leaving holes for me to breathe through my nose. Or was it that he was thinking of poking straws in my nose to breathe through? For some reason, I was deathly afraid that I wouldn't be able to properly breathe, or that maybe the plaster wouldn't come off my face after it had hardened. Besides, I remember that the plaster releases heat as it hardens, so maybe I was just afraid that I'd fry my face or something. Instead, he modeled my face in clay. Ron gave me dad's sculpture on Christmas day 1999.