Author: <span>Dave Hamel</span>

Some old photos

I came across some old photos while looking for something on my computer. Zuimei and I in Xian,  Zuimei in Shanghai, Me (25 years old) in Dort Kalesei in Turkey, My friend Neil and I standing in the Mediterranean, Me with hemp growing in Pakistan, and me playing a very serious …

A year in review

Every December I like to take stock of the year that just passed.  Normally I would read through my blog posts and remind myself of what I had done but this year there were not a lot of posts.  I am not entirely sure why though. Perhaps I was busy, I …

The French Canadian

Have you ever had a London fog? It’s a drink at Starbucks which is English Breakfast tea, steamed milk and vanilla syrup.  At Balzac’s they offer a Parisian mist, which is essentially the same thing but with French Breakfast tea. Well I came up with my own I call “the …

Lessons from pottery

I am learning some very important life lessons since I started throwing pots.  The most obvious to me is patience. Patience is everything in pottery. First in throwing.  If you try to rush a piece and pull to hard your piece will end up lop-sided and uneven.  Since “there is …

Thanks Matt!

  As I continue in my creation of my own glazes I look to other potters as a source of information.  Matt Fiske’s Blog was one of the first sites I hooked into and in short order I read every post.  I highly recommend you check it out.  You can …

St.John’s Black

    I have started making my own glazes. I found a great recipe called St. John’s black. Nepheline Syenite – 25 Alberta Slip/Albany – 75 Cobalt Carbonate – 5% But I wanted something more dense, so I tried working on the recipe by adding other materials. Going from left …

St.John’s Black

    I have started making my own glazes. I found a great recipe called St. John’s black. Nepheline Syenite – 25 Alberta Slip/Albany – 75 Cobalt Carbonate – 5% But I wanted something more dense, so I tried working on the recipe by adding other materials. Going from left …