Sunday Final

Sunday.
The sun is shining, the University of Hawaii upsets then number 19 Nevada, it's a great day.
Goofy mug glazes don't count.
Off I went to enjoy the day!
The Gary Fisher Lanikai Express was my ride of choice for the Barn Door, bless it's heart has been stripped down for sale.
Well not exactly stripped down. I just removed the computer, a bottle holder and the front basket.
So anyways, I hit the road with no real destination planned.
Since I was on the Lanikai Express, I decided to go into well, Lanikai.
Lanikai proper is located on a one way loop that starts and stops near Kailua Beach Park. The end of the loop, the turn around, used to be a private street. Every once in a while, we'd get chased out of there for using a short cut to the beach.
Now, there is no longer a street, just this:



What that is and who lives there I have no clue. At this point, your guess would be as good as mine.
Once you make the turn around, you are a house lot away from the beach, Lanikai.
World famous Lanikai Beach.
The only way to access said beach is through public right of ways that are in between private beach front lots:



The stretch is only about a mile and half long, but it's a very nice mile and half.
Some would say the best mile and half on the island.
There are five or six of these public access lanes, each one a little different.
The view is about the same:



A closer look reveals some folks spending their day way out there:



Moving right along, I found some folks fishing at the end of the next public access:



Look good and you can see the fellow has swum out the bait for his companion. If that ain't love, I don't know what is.
Most of the right of ways are short, about a hundred feet or so, but the sand is pretty loose.
Not sure even a Pugsley could make do here:



It's get off and walk time, but it's okay when at the end you find this:



I mean where else you gonna go?
Seriously, sometimes it feels like I'm in some movie:



Okay, headed out and back towards Kailua Beach.
Looking back at where I was:



The Express visiting some braddahs doing their thing:



The shoreline of O'ahu has been pretty much fished out for some time. It's not always about catching anything though, sometimes it's just about being out there, next to the ocean.
Off I went to finish my ride. I couldn't help myself and came back to take another look.
Lengthening shadows at Kailua Beach:



I mean really, where else would I rather be?

Madness!

Great band!
They had a couple of hits way back when, I am particularly fond of this:



Not what this is about though.
I got some new glazes to try out last week since I was sort of getting tired of the ones I was using.
Well, I'll never get tired of red!
One glaze I got for my next UFT project, the other was for the cycling mugs.
With these mugs, the important thing for me is that the glazes at least sort of look like they are even and that the streaking is kept to a minimum.
So much for that.
I also did one in the evil dark blue:



I'm really starting to dislike that dark blue glaze. I mean it looks nice and all, and I really like blue, but it never seems to come out on the first shot.
Or the second.
Or the third.
Maybe I'm just expecting too much.
The phurffle glaze ain't so hot either:



The greenish glaze gave me about the same results:



Both of them mugs have been fired twice now mind you.
I don't know if I should just live with it or what.
I mean compared to the two, the blue mug looks great!



Boy, this is one of those of times when opening the kiln is not like Christmas, but more like opening Pandora's Box.
It's sort of driving me crazy!
With these glazes, I think five coats are needed to be safe. It takes more time, but it's better to do it in the beginning than to try and fix it later. The gears and chain only add to the difficulty, let me tell you.
It's that or I just don't use them. I think they look nice so I'll give them one more try.
Hey! sort of like going one step beyond!
I really really don't want to fire them a third time, but I suppose I will.
Quality control, don't you know.
Anyways, off I go on a much needed ride.
Clear the madness from my mind.

I'd like to give some ginormous thanks to Mr. JRA of One Speed: Go! fame and Mr. Rat Trap of the Rat Trap Press for taking the time out to try these mugs out. Their suggestions and comments have been a great help and influence.