Crud On My Slacks Part 1

My dad was a music fan. He couldn't play an instrument to save his life, but he tried, by God he tried. Many a Saturday morning I awoke to his clipped and clumsy attempts to replicate something resembling a Beethoven sonata. He finally sold the piano and conceded that piano (and eventually) guitar playing were not to become his all consuming passion(s). Instead, he just listened more intently to other people's music trying to squeeze out every drop of satisfaction that he possibly could.

I listened along with him when he brought home the Beatles white album. Such fun we had singing along with those silly songs about piggies, raccoons and honey pies! He had my sister and I singing alongside Mel Torme, Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez and sent us outside when he cranked up the Miles Davis or the London Philharmonic. He had no interest in Elvis Presley, seemed to actually loathe him because he never wrote any of the songs he sang and was therefore (according to dad) talentless. He was equally unimpressed about the stuff that my sister and I gravitated towards (John Denver, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Frank Zappa for me; Olivia Newton-John, Heart and REM for my sister).

When we lived in Houston, my dad went to The Summit  to see Elton John, Neil Diamond and Fleetwood Mac. He once took me to see Roy Clark at a smaller venue (I was a budding banjo student at the time), and because I begged, he took the whole family to see John Denver in 1975. When I was in high school, I bought two tickets to go see Men at Work at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, hoping to find a girl who would go with me. When I finally came to grips about the reality of that possibility, I asked my dad to come along. He had a great time... even though I believe his hearing impairment began in earnest at that show. 

He loved classical and most kinds of Jazz. He loved folk (The Four Freshmen and The Kingston Trio). He learned to appreciate bluegrass, because I loved it so much and we spent at least a few hilarious hours listening to stupid songs on the Dr. Dimento Show. But for my dad, the one and only true living legend was Bob Dylan. It would be safe to say he was a Bob Dylan freak. He had every album, bought every book about or by him and even loved the few films he was in. He and I went to one Dylan show in Dallas, and we agreed it was awful, but for my dad, the Man could do no wrong musically, even if he had an off night or if the sound system was sub standard. 

For many years my dad lived in the musical desert of Waco, Texas and never could bring himself to travel to Austin or Dallas to go see a show, so he stayed home and dreamt of a day when he'd live in a real city. Eventually that day came and he found himself in the Washington DC area. He and his wife were constantly concert going. They took train trips up to New York to see the Metropolitan Opera, or they'd get on the Metro and go see Odetta or Trout Fishing in America at Wolf Trap. Often, he'd go by himself to go see Bob - 3, 4 or 5 times a year, sometimes 2 nights in a row. That's devotion. He said he went so often because you'd never know what Bob was gonna do and that he'd never play the song song the same way. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Dylan fan too, of course, but you know, there's a limit... well for most of us there's a limit.

My dad had what might be called a difficult relationship. We pissed each other off, we confounded each other and we searched for "safe" topics of discussion. Well, music and Bob was pretty comfortable and one year I decided that I'd record my own version of Blood on the Tracks for him. Because I'm a pretty sloppy musician, I called my version Crud on My Slacks. It took me a long time to create and when I finally decided I was done, it went out to him without Idiot Wind or Meet Me in the Morning, but with a Bonus Track of Every Grain of Sand. He said he liked most of it.

On May 1 of this year, my dad died after an astonishingly brief battle with lung cancer. At his memorial service in Denver I sang a version of Every Grain of Sand. I don't know if my voice was wobbly or if the guitar was out of tune... I do know I messed up one of the lines. My dad used to always say of my art (visual and musical), that if it was perfect, it wouldn't be me. I like to think he was reclining in his lazy boy listening to me trying to replicate something resembling something his hero wrote and grinning a quiet grin. Liking most of it.

For my dad and any other Dylan fans out there, here's a couple from Crud on My Slacks

Every Grain of Sand

 

 You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

 

Water Water Everywhere

Water, water everywhere

 Some be salty; some be fair.

 Some be oily, foul  and black

 Cries to us of what we lack.

We moved past the hour of Summer Solstice early Monday. One of the pagan holy days, the day when we move into the Cardinal Water sign Cancer, and the beginning of shorter days, this particular Solstice holds the prayers and intentions of millions for healing this splendid planet we share with so many beings. An especial focus is the water; all bodies swim through the miraculous elixir one way or another. 

Five years ago, I wrote an in-depth article about water for the website PlanetWaves.net and discovered information that made me repeatedly gasp. Remember a bit of the story that was happening then. Five days before the first day of 2005, the Asian Tsunami killed nearly 300,000 people. Horrendous water events continued through the year, with major floods devastating every continent and many islands. Britain was inundated with two C-3 events*, while China was overwhelmed with two C-3 and two C-2 floods. Fresh water was unavailable to 1.5 billion humans. 

Virtually every state in the United States wrestled with astonishing floods that year. A preposterous number, some ten trillion (give or take) gallons, of untreated storm waters entered US surface waters: reservoirs, lakes, ponds, streams, riparian areas, rivers. At that time, the Environmental Protection Agency believed as many as 850 million of those gallons were raw sewage. Ole Man Mississippi drains nearly 40% of the continental US; as much as 90% of all freshwater dumping into the Gulf of Mexico is from this huge river system. Runoff from the Mississippi was then so toxic that a “dead zone” existed far into the Gulf of Mexico.

Then came Katrina. 

Separated by a short eight months, the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina served as a sort of horrific bookends to 2005. These two catastrophes were the only two C-3 saltwater inundations during the twelve-month period and they account for nearly 98% of the destruction created by all C-3 floods that year.

Since 2005, weird flooding continues to confound us. What happened this year in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota is almost unbelievable and the onslaught continues. One of my most treasured places in the world, an island to which I believe I belong, sight unseen, is the Ile de Sein, a tiny scrap of rocks off the westernmost tip of Brittany. The islanders grapple with the reality that their home island may soon be lost in the continued rising of its nesting water, the Atlantic. In a few years, the place the Roman geographer Mela identified as the home of nine Sena priestesses in 47 AD may no longer exist. Gone.

Now the magnificent, the staggeringly beautiful, lush, bounteous, and utterly unique Gulf of Mexico swirls in the iridescent poison of crude oil. A plethora of news, public relations, and governmental sources estimate between 100,000 and 1,000,000 gallons of oil a day escape from British Petroleum's offshore well. And, still no real sign that the required expertise and technology to stop this ghastly pollution truly exists. 

All of this is essentially incomprehensible to us humans; the massive proportion of this reality chokes us. We're walking around in some sort of stupor, shutting down our brains and our emotions because of the overwhelming information. What the hell can we do about it? Take tiny steps in our own slice of the world.

A simple request: Join us in asking the Great Holiness, even if you prefer to call it Darwin or Reason, to spark the brilliance which will turn all of this toxic flow into something life-preserving for this splendid globe. And, take a moment to be grateful for the miraculous gift of fresh water. 

Water, water everywhere

Clearly tells us we must dare

Heal our Mother's holy sea.

As we will, so mote it be.

* Class Three (C-3) events, as designated by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory, are those which are extreme, with an estimated recurrence interval greater than 100 years; Class Two (C-2) are very large floods, with a recurrence likelihood of more than 20 years but less than 100 years.

 

Cost Effective Zero Energy House

The most cost effective way to reduce the energy used in a home both during construction and while it’s lived in, is to make it smaller.  The average size of a home in the United States has almost doubled since 1970.  I don’t think those of us who were around then felt deprived by the size of our home.

There are some strategies to get more space from the same amount of materials.  One is the row house.  Part of my childhood was spent in intercity Philadelphia.  Our 4 bedroom home was only 20 feet wide though it was quite deep front to back.  Much of the side or what was called a party wall was heated on the other side so there was no heat loss through more than half of the exterior walls.  There was also a surprising amount of privacy with no side windows.  Since the wall and foundation was shared it saved cost, materials, labor and energy. 

Fun with Auto-Tune

In case you were wondering (and I'm sure you were) Sweetgrass took a little sabbatical over the winter while some of its members were "indisposed". Well what's a feller to do when his band is disbanded? Well there's always Garage Band. Program a little bass and drums, and phh! who needs band members?! Of course for maximum thrills (and to sound like modern pop-radio) you will always want to turn up the Auto-Tune function all the way to 11! Or not.... You decide.

 

Under a Stormy Sky Original by Daniel Lanois. This version by Jeff Spicer

 

One Very Cool Book Store

During a very cold February and March, in a dirty and very very cold north-facing garage, a small, well-insulated troupe of intrepid book slaves (as Adam deemed us) opened the garage door and rummaged through teetering stacks of boxes crammed with used books, ranging in condition from pitiful to well-loved. From the chaos came the Book Sale, Dixon’s improbably successful used book store, open every hour of every day. 

All those books belong to the Embudo Valley Library. Traditionally, when the apples were ripe, volunteers organized that massive accumulation of tomes and opuscles into the Book Sale, an orderly display on a multitude of tables, which earned the Library a meaningful pile of dollars during the Dixon Studio Tour. After each Tour weekend, the remainders were stuffed into every available cardboard box and shoved into the garage behind the Co-op. Each winter many of Dixon’s book lovers would take a moment to commiserate with Maile that some wonderful something wasn’t done with all those fine volumes. So Maile pondered and dreamt, accepted every plank and tilting bookcase, encouraged the community to wrestle this ponderous beast into submission, puzzled, and asked. Pluto aligned with Aquarius and the asking turned the key. 

Though still dusty, the Book Sale currently houses a gazillion volumes (an estimate which may be a tad inflated). The store is illuminated by donated lamps, arrayed with contributed rugs, and decorated with table and chairs (also gifts), making it a splendidly comfortable and invigorating place to visit (in very quick stops at noon during February and March). Categorized in a somewhat arbitrary manner and then alphabetized in a slightly haphazard way, forty-five sections of books await new homes. Kids, carpenters, and creatives can scratch that cogitation itch in one central location; it’s marvelously convenient. Plus, travelers can now swap maps thanks to the brilliant suggestion and prompt donation by Doug and Judy (people just love dreaming over those maps). Any book devotee or planning-stage traveler will find something to replace those she just donated, different but equally lovable, useful, and entertaining.

And, saving the best for the last, each sale contributes directly to the administrative costs of running our beloved Library. That means Maile and Einar can spend a bit more time on library stuff instead of grant stuff. They, she and he, make this all worth every sneeze and shiver. 

Raku Sisters

Raku is one of the most exciting firing techniques used in contemporary ceramics. It is interactive and spontaneous with results that inspire mystery and surprise. Do it with a few friends while the sun goes down and it becomes the life of the party! Unlike the understated wabi-sabi feel of traditional 16th century Japanese raku, western style raku can produce intense, iridescent hues and striking crackle finishes.

These are some of my miniature vases with a velvety matte finish:

 

Recently, I introduced raku to my friend's "little sister", Jade, here at my studio in Dixon.

Here's what we did...

Third Week of Dixon Energy Program

I’ll review the last show on solar hot water systems.   A system that is designed to heat the hot water only has a different angle to the sun than one that is used to heat the house as well.  Summer hot water use is only slightly less than the winters, so year round collection is needed and a lower angle is appropriate.  The backup for hot water can be small enough that an electric element can supply enough heat to supplement the solar when needed, without using much electricity.  Electric resistance backup for home heating would require a larger heating element and would run longer than for the hot water.

Second week of Dixon Energy Program

This is a brief review of last week’s intro. More energy is used in buildings than is consumed by vehicles.   I don’t mean to say avoid the transportation issue because it’s a close 2nd to buildings.  The easiest solution to both these things is less.  Fewer miles driven and smaller homes.  Then small, efficient, clean systems and cars can supply our energy and transportation needs. If we make the shell of a building like a thermos we can greatly reduce the energy used for heating and cooling.  In our northern NM climate, cooling becomes unnecessary in a well insulated house or even an un-insulated adobe.   Just opening and closing a few windows, night and day can provide fresh air and a cool comfortable space.

A Marvelously Quaint Spring

Instead of an even year, this is showing many characteristics of an odd one, right here in Dixon, let alone the rest of the world. Henry’s in short sleeves and a Hawaiian-style straw hat, without the orchids, alas, while I’m wrapped in wool and leather. Hummingbirds arrive ten days ahead of my schedule and stay. No scouting this year. Within seventy-two hours, five or six of the enslaving mites demand June’s ration of sugar water. I miss two beloveds’ birthdays and allow the cheat grass to mature because I’m lost in April.

What’s with this weather? Every day for the past week I dutifully hustled Loretta’s tomato queens to the portal for “hardening off”. Each day they  immediately languished into whining and shivering princesses. ‘It’s too cold. This wind is mussing my leaves. Ooh ooh, heat stroke!’ Yeah yeah yeah. In they come to clutter the window sill again. Then this morning blooms with true May loveliness and I’m cautiously lured outside by the siren call of the newly opened survivors. Yikes! Look at those mature forbs and grasses I need to stuff into black plastic. 

Nestled among the weeds, lies the beauty. Flax loved this past winter and gaily enhance the splendid blue floor show arrayed for my viewing pleasure, high dancers to the sedately huddled violets and proselytizing phlox. If I can teach my Manx kitty, Lince Felice, to hunt squirrel as well as she does gopher, I’ll have strawberries soon. I happily feed the two crows who help her manage pigeons.

A bank of glorious purple and white iris valiantly parade their wind-bruised petals to the three bird species that defy my brain’s classification system. Is it black-headed or black-hooded grosbeak and is that a female or a juvenile or a spotted towhee or a Bullock’s oriole or some delicate exotic blown off course by the conflagration in the Gulf? I sure do love those hot splashes of orange, whichever they may be. And my heart gladdens when I spy those tiny lazuli boys jumping into the fray for millet. 

Did you catch a glimpse of the ruby-crowned kinglet on the bird count trek this year? How about this splendiferous magpie? Our here-and-there bird braniac seeks information on a cause of this coloration and I gasp at the wondrous serendipity of a hot pink magpie visitor gracing my yard, I who burst with  happiness for the marvels of pink? I am so very lucky. 

First Dixon Energy Show

I've got a new radio program on KLDK (Tuesdays at 7pm) that will be posted here on the Dallies in blog format to keep the conversation alive. So feel free to leave questions and comments.

Hear the April 20th broadcast

This is an overview of a zero energy home.  Future shows will include Transportation, food, and the local economy are other areas of consumption.

We want our home to be warm in winter cool in summer, have both hot and cold running water, lights, a cooking zone with cold food storage and other things that are considered normal in a modern home.  All these things take energy, which can be provided without spoiling the planet for future generations.

Making Paper

Spring’s symphony lures me outside thirty times a day; sharp winds chilled by snow falling north of us chase me back inside. With the door open until the radiant heat kicks on, I witness preposterous pre-Beltane hummingbird operas. Breathy whuff whuff whuffs alert me that ravens eyeball the spilled seed from a chickadee/finch feeders and I dash to glimpse those ebon beauties. Busybody magpies audaciously trumpet imagined rudeness, repeatedly. I sit to tear Scott’s luxurious paper strips into much smaller scraps and watch spring arrive in its coltish exuberance.  

As I rearrange the shape of cotton fiber from one form of paper into the foundation of another, a call and response song swirls between my corseted, bundled-up winter self and my gamboling fritillary spring self. This whole-body unbinding invigorates me. How happy I am to check which plants need to be moved, where the weeds are already out-of-control, which birds now nest in the mulberry, how many gophers took up resident. The pile of paper awaiting tearing shrinks and the joyous duties outside increase. I catch a moment of nuthatch dance; then there’s the extravagant spilled-paint canvas of cheat grass green. My senses actually awaken. I hear, see, think, feel, and smell more vividly.

I’ve already worn my yellow mustache from dandelion tonics, seared my forehead, strained a cranky spine, walked into forgotten prickly pear, and lamented one more year with only one or two potential apricots. Loretta’s tomato giantesses lustily solicit me to dally with them outside, NOW! Cats relearn push/pull door-operating techniques and the consequences of perching on the convenient but verboten bird-catching rock. Although I’ve never seen a seed pod, the violets that Yoga Mark gave me way back when dispersed and now their tiny, lovely faces lure me low all over my yard. My body limbers in preparation for summer’s relentless demands.

It’s all intertwined. I ease into the work of summer by preparing to make paper which will appear as art about the same time I lug in my last harvest. What a treasure a gift a remarkable happenstance for me to witness one more spring in this body, in this house, in this community.

 

One Man's Used Vegetable Oil is Another Woman's Treasure

As spring approaches, I'm hoping to bring to reality a project I've been dreaming of for a couple of years.  And I need your help.

I am working on a USED VEGETABLE OIL KILN, which will fire to cone 10 (about 2350° F) using your used vegetable oil. 

The design is fairly straightforward:  An old electric kiln, with the elements and all electrical components removed, serves as the kiln body.  A hole towards the bottom of the kiln houses a custom-made burner plate, welded from a series of steel I-beams.  Two drums, one with water and one with the filtered vegie oil, are a short distance away (and above the kiln height) and a tube from each drum leads to a steel plate.  The water and the oil drip onto this plate and down onto the series of I-beam burner plates.  The flame is lit, and the oil/water mix creates a spray which ignites when it hits the hot plate.  This fires the kiln.

I won't bore you with more technical info, but I'm hoping that you'll start saving your cooking oil for me!  Simply save your oil in a glass jar or an aluminum can, and e-mail me at riftgallery@yahoo.com when you have at least a quart of oil.  I will come pick it up. 

As most of you know, I built my own small wood-fired kiln when I first moved here (10 years ago) and it is still in great shape after 52 firings.  This new little kiln is a project that, if successful, would give me some more options for firing my work.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes...

Please e-mail me to let me know you'll be saving your oil for me!  Thank you!

 

Solar Thermal

Summer ShadingConcentrating Solar Thermal

The sun has been used to heat buildings in two basic ways for many years.  Active and Passive strategies reduce the use of fossil fuels in buildings.  The main performance advantage of an active system is that there is no heat loss at night through the windows like in a passive solar design. 

There are about six hours per day that the sun can effectively heat a building whether it is through south facing windows or solar panels.  Since only one quarter of the time the building is being heated, capturing this heat is critical in maintaining a comfortable temperature. 

The most cost effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of a building is to minimize its heat loss before designing a heating system.  A buildings shell can be compared to a thermos.  Technology has advanced in recent years to the point where heat loss is greatly reduced.  Roof insulation of R-75, wall and floor insulation of R-40 is not overkill in most of the United States where freezing temperatures are the norm in winter.

 Air tightness is important, as this amount of insulation would go to waste if cold air were to leak into the building.  This level of tightness creates its own challenge as the building must have fresh air.  An Energy Recovery Ventilator becomes necessary to provide fresh air, while capturing most of the heat of the outgoing air.

 The windows and doors complete the high performance envelope.  Windows that let the sun’s energy in also let it out.  Low E can help but very little compared to an R-40 wall.  Modern windows and frames are R-9 or more.  They block much of the heat of the sun, but are essential to balance the heat loss of the building components.

 Sun Angle

The angle of the collecting surface is important in maximizing the energy absorbed by the system.  The ideal angle is perpendicular to the sun during the heating season. Panels are sometimes laid flat on the roof for aesthetic reasons.  While the look is less intrusive, the roof is rarely steep enough for appropriate seasonal collection.  The winter heating and hot water requirements are three times that of summer.  In order to match this seasonal energy demand, a steeper panel angle is required to provide the additional heat in winter.  This is even more pronounced in higher latitudes as the sun is lower in the sky.  A rule of thumb is latitude plus 15-20 degrees to maximize solar collection during the heating season.  At this angle there is extra heat in summer beyond the needs of the domestic hot water system.  This heat has to be transferred somewhere or the panels will continue to get hotter until the pressure relief valve blows.   Summer over heating can be avoided by adding a summer dump loop.  This adds complexity and cost.   Another way to deal with the extra heat is by tipping the panel more toward the lower mid winter sun at 30-35 degrees plus the latitude, but this also gives up some collection efficiency in winter as well.  I have used this strategy for many years to simplify the system, always looking for a better way to balance the solar collection with the seasonal heating requirements.     

Concentrating

Concentrating the sun’s energy with a reflector is a way to increase winter collection while providing only enough heat in summer for the domestic hot water.  This is done by tilting the panel perpendicular to the winter sun (15-20 degrees plus latitude) and adding a mirror to the top of the panel.  The effective collection area is increased in winter and the overhanging reflector casts a partial shadow on the panel in summer.  Correct proportions enable the system to produce enough heat in summer for domestic hot water and double the energy of the panels alone, in winter.

A mirror placed at the bottom of the panel can also increase the collection area of the system.  If a reflector is used on both top and bottom at the same time a problem arises.  The high summer sun bounces off the bottom reflector and hits the top one.  At certain sun angles a bright light reflects out horizontally.  In most locations this would not be acceptable.  This mirror-like material made by Reflectech is 94% efficient.  It would be like the low west sun shining deep into your neighbor’s house.

A bottom reflector can be used instead of a top one to provide a significant increase in solar gain.  If mounted on a flat roof a 3’ high panel and a bottom reflector may be completely invisible from the street.  This design does not produce a shadow in summer to protect from summer overheating but with a panel angle of 70 degrees in Santa Fe, NM for example it is safe from overheating.  With a bottom reflector added it will produce almost as much energy year round as a top reflector design and besides being less visible it also has less wind loading.  A drawback of the lower reflector is the accumulation of dirt, which is insignificant on the top one. 

A small amount of dirt does not affect the performance very much, but as more dirt accumulates the reflective performance diminishes.  Rain is effective in cleaning this bottom reflector but varies depending on location and season.  In the large concentrated solar electric power plants they use a special truck that washes the reflective surface to get every one percent of power possible.

We are currently looking into a tracker system to continuously optimize the angle of the reflector.  Even manual adjustment of the reflector once or twice a year as is often done on solar electric systems produces more annual heat per square foot of collector.  This option also gives added control as any one year may differ from another.

As the incident angle of the sun with the collecting surface increases (closer to perpendicular) two things change.  One is the projected area that the sun sees of the panel.  As the panel is tilted away from the sun the solar window gets smaller.   At 30 degrees the solar window is half of the collection area at 90 degrees.  Thirty degrees is also an important number in terms of the amount of energy absorbed.  At 75 degrees most of the sun’s energy penetrates into the panel and is absorbed.  This is true for the rays directly striking the panel from the sun and also the reflected rays from the mirror.  At 45 degrees there is still considerable heat gain, but much below this it drops off quickly and by 30 degrees it’s very little.

Concentrating the sun’s energy can be dangerous. Most of us have seen what can happen when the sun passes through a magnifying glass.  A curved surface is needed to concentrate the energy.  Since I use flat reflectors there is actually no concentration or the associated fire hazard.   The added collection area and seasonal balance are the benefits of this system.

For more information click here

Definition of "Processed Foods"

Hi Suzanne and everyone -I don't think that you have to give up the foods that are nutritious and that you enjoy. People have been asking me what I meant by "processed foods". I tend to follow Michael Pollan's test -if your Grandmother or Great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it -don't eat it! 

Generally speaking, processed foods are any foods that have been altered from their natural state. I believe the original blogger was encouraging people to eat more raw foods and eliminate fast food. Anything that has had to be fortified or enriched with vitamins artificially, should be avoided.

I just read an article from a food nutritionist at UC Davis who listed the top 10 superfoods to eat. They are:

Almonds, Blueberries,Tomatoes, Salmon, yougart, whole grains, Broccoli, Olive Oil, Mushrooms and Spinach.

Incidently, Dan ad I haven't been able to adhere to the 30 day processed food challenge. We were OK for two weeks , but I have a weakness for Chocolate Extreme Blizzards....

History in a Can

My condensed milk can fence shortly after installation

A couple of years ago, I went asearchin' the flickr site looking for Einar's Dixon Diaries page. Because I wasn't sure at the time what the name of his photostream actually was, I kinda took the long way around. I eventually found it, but before I did, I found this image of my fence, taken by a gentleman who lives in Bombay, India. Some of the commentary is hilarious. I especially like the, "But the smell must be awful when it rains :-) ".

huh? 

Anyway, the fence is always a conversation piece... especially during the studio tour. I feel like I should put a tip jar out there for all the photographers aiming their lenses at it. Often, visitors to the studio seem more fascinated by the fence than the art on the wall. (Sometimes the tin ceiling gets more raves than anything!) While I like to call it the "Fence of constant maintenance", passersby and locals alike seem to have a great reverence for it and so it seems appropriate to put a little something about the fence here on the Dallies.

Where did you get the idea?

This is probably the most common question I hear and I wish I could remember exactly when the idea materialized, but I don't think there was an exact moment. It was an evolution of ideas that finally led to the design as it is now. Of course I'd spent a good deal of time out past the cemeteries here in Dixon and the sea of rust was (and still is) a source of amazement and inspiration. Even though it's garbage, it has a certain beauty to it as it has merged with the cholla and prickly pear, and it has an interesting anthropological element as well. After spending an afternoon kicking around back there, I thought... gee, somebody could make something with all these cans. I should have known then that it would be me.

I'd seen a Japanese film whose title I can not recall now, but there was something about the architecture of the roofs that sparked a notion for a tin can assemblage, and the assemblage morphed into the wall. At one point the fence design actually had cans sitting end to end mimicking bamboo as a crown for all the panels. That little crown may yet happen, but after I realized how long the project was going to take, I decided to pare down my ambitions.

10,000 cans

Each 4x8 panel is comprised of about 440 cans, and there's 19 full panels and three 1/2 panels, so that makes a little over 9000 cans, but while collecting cans, my mantra was, if in doubt (about its usability) take it home. So I'm certain that I picked up at least 10,000 cans, and eventually threw away the ones too brittle or too crushed to be usable. 95% of the fence is comprised of  condensed milk cans.... more available (or cheaper) than fresh milk I guess... and the cone tops, I had always assumed were an automotive product, but one day I picked up one with a faint bit of printing  on it, and the words were unmistakeable... BEER.

After prohibition and up until the mid-fifties, cone top beer cans had their heyday. Walter's is one variety that I found back there that was probably as local as commercial beer got around here as it was brewed in Pueblo Colorado. 

The Pueblo based brewery had gone through many changes since Martin Walter had, in a sense, inherited all the tradition and experience of previous Pueblo brewers. He began the company in 1898, on the heels of the Spanish American War. The company faced several small recessions during its existence of three quarters of a century. The closing of the plant during Prohibition (both state and federal) was after 1915. The demand for the golden brew during World War I obviously had to be met elsewhere. But, as the Prairie Chronicler suggests, Pueblo apparently was not too bothered by Prohibition.

Like so many parts of society elsewhere, local citizens imbibed possibly more than before. A mixture called "Wort" - a non-alcoholic brew - was produced by other breweries. A bartender could easily be persuaded to add a bit of grain alcohol, which "put beer drinkers back in business".

 

Goetz Country Club beer was another popular cone top variety that found its way to the Dixon arroyos. If you're interested in such things, more info can be found here, and here. 

Once, I found a milk can nestled snugly inside another can. When I pulled it out, the paper label was still partially intact. I promptly scanned it and then watched it disintegrate into powder in a matter of months. Here's the scan:

Partially preserved PET evaporated milk label

The Lighthouses

Originally, I fitted the 4 ends of the fence with solar lights, but the intense sun and weather eventually rendered the little collectors useless. Someday, I'll figure out a more hardy solution to keep those things shining at night.... maybe around the time I finally figure out how to keep the panels from falling apart. The cans were initially held together with regular Liquid Nails. Within a very short period of time, however it became obvious that this was not the right material. It became very brittle and lost its adhesive power very quickly. I tried silicone, but that wasn't much better. Someone once suggested butyl and someone else suggested a sort of rubber that's used to install car windshields. Since I've started backing the panels with chicken wire (which prevents them from flexing too much in the wind), they've held together with the all-weather contractor grade Liquid Nails fairly well. Snowplows and flying bottles not withstanding....

All these stories in a bunch of tin cans. I'd like to do some research about the whole concept of condensed milk... I guess I'll save it for another post... or maybe you've already heard that one...

A pile of condensed milk cans before assembling into fence panels

It's Show Time!

I mostly sell my pottery at arts and crafts fairs. It can be a tough job! I have to pack up the pots, drive to faraway places, unpack the pots, set up the booth and display furniture (rain or shine), and make it all look pretty.  Then I have to actually sell the pots. At the end of the weekend it all has to be done again in reverse, hopefully with less to pack up!

Despite the challenges, I really enjoy meeting and talking directly with the folks who are buying my pottery. I like to see the way they react to my work, and I am often inspired by them to explore new ideas. And sometimes the fairs take me to interesting places. My first fair of the season was a Japanese Festival in Phoenix, an event I always look forward to.

Not only do my Japanese influenced pots fit in nicely with the theme,

but I also get to hang out with other people who have a fondness for Japanese culture,

AND I get to eat Japanese food all day!

My next show will be yet another Japanese Festival! Yay! This time much closer to home. If you are heading south on Saturday, March 13, come and visit me at the sixth annual Japanese Cultural Festival at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. There will be traditional performing arts, martial arts demonstrations, tea ceremony activities and great food (some nice pottery too!) You can also see a schedule of shows I will be doing throughout the year at www.miyapottery.com.

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'Real Food' Challenge

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Have any of you seen the CNN article of a food blogger who challenged the public to east real food ( i.e. un processed foods) for thirty days and then post their comments in a blog? I am doing the same by challenging all of you Dixonites to eat unprocessed foods for 30 days and post your comment on the Dixon Dallies. You can conveniently find raw, unprocessed foods at the Dixon Co-op.

The original food Blogger asked people to go through their pantries and throw out processed foods which are normally high in salt,sugar and other unhealthy additives. you are encouraged to do the same. I welcome your comments in this journey! Dan and I plan on participating in this experiment.