22 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted in General
≈ Comments Off on Not Quite What She Had In Mind
Lori refired a mug to improve the glaze, something she does occasionally with some success. Coming out of her kiln, it didn’t look the way she expected. It is interesting though…
She is dubbing this the start of her Potter’s Tears Collection.
16 Sunday Dec 2018
Posted in Photography
≈ Comments Off on Round About
As a little photography experiment, I set things up so I could back-light a couple of round objects to force the background to pure white. One of Lori’s most recent pottery pieces, fresh from the kiln, was a very nice plate with interesting patterns and beautiful glazes. We’ll use part of this image on an updated set of business cards for her.
Next, I used the same setup to try my hand at an effect I saw in a gorgeous set of photos in “Gather”, Corning Museum of Glass’s member’s publication. In this case the background light refracted and reflected through the patterns of my grandmother’s cut glass bowl, one of her wedding presents way back when.
15 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted in General
Four of us former zipperheads (i.e., IBM employees) visited the Bundy Museum of History and Art in Binghamton NY and thoroughly enjoyed it. The main attractions is the Queen Anne style Victorian house built by Harlow and Julia Bundy in the 1890s. The Bundy brothers started the first ever time recording company which became quite successful and, through various mergers and acquisitions, eventually became IBM.
Our museum guide was well versed in the house, its history and restoration, the Bundy family history, life in the late 1800s, and the whole evolution of the time recording business. The museum includes a nice display of many of the clocks, scales, and other devices made by Bundy Manufacturing Company through its incredible evolution.
The museum also has an improbable collection of other things related to Binghamton history including a lot of Rod Serling/”Twilight Zone” memorabilia, and a complete barbershop that used to serve the clean-cut Endicott IBM employees from 1940 through 1982.
The museum also features rotating displays; we saw some interesting artwork from a local (Endicott) artist and some (rather unfortunate) installation works by Binghamton University students scattered around the mansion.
It was a fun and fascinating couple of hours for us. We recommend it to anyone in the area who might have an interest in Victorian homes, life around 1900, IBM origins, Rod Serling, old barbershops, or “interesting” art.
Paul Duncan 