10 days until Christmas

On a cold day like today rafting is very far from anyone's mind. But as a last minute Christmas gift, a Gift Certificate for a rafting trip can’t be beat. We can still mail it to you in time for the big day.

Also, we have plenty of pieces of pottery to choose from if you wish to give a unique gift. Check out Otter Pottery for a large selection.

Tis the Season

Maybe not for rafting, but are you looking for a gift certificates for a one day rafting trip?  Our certificates are available until Christmas for 10% off. That’s $117.18 including gst.

What about something original or a unique gift for this Christmas? Check out the pottery that has been made this fall. Go to The Otter Store and view these stunning creations. 

Call 1-800-661-7379 to purchase your certificate or to order a piece of pottery.

Last day of 2009

In the summer months I work on Otter Rafting Adventures and in the winter months, I work on Otter Pottery. This isn't a strict rule since on anyday they can both overlap. This does lead to something of an identity crisis. Some mornings I wake up and I have to decide what hat I'm going to wear today.


Last night I went to bed thinking "go to sleep and morning will be here sooner". I often think about the first day's cup of coffee the same way! It took a while to doze off but I woke up early very alert and excited. It's like today is Christmas - again! I put on the appropriate hat and raced into my kiln room and opened the kiln to see what was waiting in there for me.


A before and after picture of the can that I had put into the kiln.









On first look it didn't look like much, but that is what the wrapping looks like for these presents. I had placed this popcorn can into the kiln with the pottery inside the can surrounded by a variety of materials such as steel wool, copper, saw dust and ice melting salts. As the kiln heated up, inside the can the iron and copper oxidized, the saw dust burned up using up the oxygen in the can's atmosphere and taking some oxygen molecules from the previous oxides. The salt also evaporated, breaking into Sodium and Chlorine that then attacks everything including the clay. The can doesn't have a chance with this high heat and aggressive chemistry happening inside it.


Once I carefully ripped the can open - if that's possible - I pulled out these two new presents. With all the excitement and new pottery it is Christmas again - not the last day of the year.
























But, my delusions aside, tommorrow is the first day of 2010. Here's hoping the coming new year is exciting, prosperous and full of new challenges for you. Happy New Year.

There’s Still Time Before Xmas To Get a Gift!

With just over a week left before Christmas – there’s still time to get a gift from Otter Rafting Adventures or Otter Pottery.

You can give someone a Gift Certificate for a day filled with fun, thrills and adventure with a one day or half day trip with Otter Rafting Adventures. We can guarantee that it will be a gift they will always remember!

OR

You can give them an enduring piece of pottery from Otter Pottery. Have a look at some of the pieces on offer in the gallery at Otter Rafting Adventures. (Bet you didn’t know there was a gallery there too!)

The gift certificates or pottery can be shipped to you in time for you to wrap them up and put them under the tree!

If you don’t see anything that strikes your fancy in this album – go have a look at the Otter Store – you never know what you’ll find there!

View Full Album

Pottery and Rafting - What a mix!

Every winter while we are taking a break from rafting (there is no water just ice), I spend some time in my studio getting wet. Notice getting wet seems to be a theme going on around here? I try and keep busy by making pottery. But then, I've mentioned that in earlier blogs.



So here is an opportunity for me to show off some of the pieces I have made. If you see anything you like, contact me and we can arrange shipping for you in time for Christmas.


Stoneware - Pine Ash Glaze



I have experimented with Raku, Barrel firing and Stoneware with a wood ash glaze look. All of these methods rely on random effects to give you the end product. The ideas of random and entropy intrigue me. Also, any surface that has a liquid look or of something flowing over the surface catch my eye. ( another river theme I guess). I primarily use a wheel however in the last few weeks I have been doing slab work. It's nice to try something different and then go back to old ways with new ideas and attitudes. I hope you enjoy looking at these pieces.


Barrel Fired


















Raku-Crackle Glaze





Stoneware-Clay from the banks of the Red Deer River brushed on the surface of the pot.

Those white mountains

Every time I look out the window here at Otter Rafting Adventures, I can see the mountains and the bright white snow shimmering on them. I have always found the mountains a draw; for skiing, hiking, sightseeing, inspiration for the pottery I make in the winter (check out Otter Pottery), the creation of rivers that are nature's playground and a place to go just to look around in awe.

Just the act of looking up to the mountain peaks makes one compare to the religious experience of looking up to the heavens. But, I always think of these mountain peaks as a place where we get an unobstructed view of our world. Different feelings and thoughts are generated by the abruptly altered grasp of scale. With the altitude, the senses tingle in the light thin air and create an other world experience. This photo is of the Big Rock rapid from several hundred meters higher up. To identify it, it is the dot in the middle of the river where the river is at it's widest.

The building up of the snows in the mountains over the winter months is closely watched with anticipation of the coming summer and the rafting season. So when it's snowing and blowing out on the prairies, think of all the snow and the coming spring melt.

The river is not a static thing

The Red Deer River is estimated to be about 10,000 years old. In the relatively few short years that Otter Rafting Adventures has been around - 30 years - one can see it is nothing compared to the life span of a river. When travelling down the river we can see the marks of wear on rocks that are easily 10 meters above the present river floor. One wonders how long it's taken to erode the river bottom down to its present level from up there. On the left side, half way up of the top picture, you can see how at one time the river was scouring the rock, eating in and down.

Erosion, while something that happens in a gradual manner, can also take place quite quickly over a matter of days. I have seen the river move 100 meters across the valley floor in 5 days. The new channel contained all the water flow while the old channel, not recognizable, was filled in with gravel that was 3 meters higher than what it had been only days before.

When we look at the river we only see that the water is flowing down hill. But there is also another flow that is happening. This is the movement of the solid materials down hill that are being swept along with the water. It is like sand blasting but using water as the carrier rather than air. Unlike sandblasting, it is made up of many different sizes of particles and different materials, from fine dust to boulders.

The amount of wearing down of the valley floor that is occurring can be seen by the color of the river water. There is the rushing, murky, chocolate colored water in the spring, flushing out the materials that have accumulated by the freeze and thaw of winter, to the clear water of mid summer when only the finest particles are being carried by the moving water. When I have been rafting in the spring, I have heard the sound of sand and grit, suspended in the water, striking the bottom of the raft. You also hear the clacking of rocks beneath the raft as they are rolling downstream, propelled by the water. All this moving material is breaking down into smaller pieces as well as chipping away at the river bottom.

And to where does all this lead? A lot of this erosion ends up being clay. Check out www.otterpottery.com for the results.