Land of the Shprixies.

Pt. 1

Like a benevolent spirit, Butter was summoned into existence by an ancient clan of hominids that came to be known as the Butter People. Paleo-anthropologists have named the species Homo Lacticiniis, or Dairy Man.

Before they began milking, these proto-dairyers made breakfast the old-fashioned way - by chasing it down and killing it. But it was tiresome and messy work. While butchering a goat one Upper Paleolithic evening, the clan heard a bleat...

Our’s is a handmade small batch pottery production from Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. Here on the mountainside, with the elk and the bears, the two of us make pottery in our home studio.

Umm, let me be a bit more clear. What I mean is - living ALONGSIDE the elk and bears. The elk and the bears don’t actually make the pottery with us in our home studio, that would be unsafe and probably quite illegal. I’m pretty sure there’s some law that states that you can’t lure wild animals into your home and use them as...

If there’s one thing a man needs in his life it is to feel like he’s the master of his own universe. Maybe he’s not the emperor of half of Europe or the CEO of some multinational corporation. Maybe his universe is a little smaller than that. If he can’t control anything else in the world then perhaps at least he can control the nobs on his own barbecue. 

Ahh yes! The master of turning raw flesh into charcoal, that’s him. 

“Step back, kids. This is man’s work. Is your mom sure she doesn’t want...

Here's what our clear glaze looks like when it's underfired.

As you might have heard, we've been having kiln problems this week. I've replaced the relays and thermocouple, I've tested all of the elements, run diagnostics, emptied the kiln, and test fired it, and after all of this, we think we've found the problem.

The kiln god is pissed off.

We're pretty certain that it heads the kiln union, but it's ambiguous because it communicates via pyrometric cone. That's not a terribly articulate form of communication. It's like a semaphore, but instead of using flags, you use melted...

These Goth Chickens of ours, Silky Rooster, Raven Chicken and the twins Desdemona and Ophelia Chicken, they've settled into pastoral country life quite well, I think, considering they're famous rockstar chickens and all. They're used to the bright lights of the city, the fancy cars glinting with chrome, the staccato flashes from the paparazzi, and all the rest of the pyrotechnics that come with living the glamorous life. 

I'll bet they never imagined themselves starring prominently in some Kootenay folk art tableau.

Here they...