Plates

I've been experimenting with new glaze patterns combined with some of my usual designs on plates.  I'm working in washes so, hopefully they will have a feel of transparency.  The flowers and fish are in stronger colors.

This is unfired glaze.  After firing they will have a glossier look, as if they were wet.  Of course this being clay it's entirely possible that the whole process will end up with major problems and I'll have to start over.  Even with stable majolica glazes the kiln is still an unknown factor.

We'll see, Grasshopper....we'll see...........

Is anyone else out there as totally sick of politics, in all shapes and forms, as I am?

This post can also be found on Mud Colony.  I got myself together early enough to post there!  Go take a look.  New blogs to read; new people to meet.

Looks like we are in for some sunny, warm but dry days.  I am baking bread before heading down to the studio.

Enjoy the day, and as always, thanks for stopping by..............*s*

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by...........*s*

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It's cooled off enough to think about firing the kiln......so, of course it rained just enough to be annoying.  The humidity feels like it's 100%......is that even possible? 

Below is the bottom shelf.  As I've said before I fire glaze and bisque in the same kiln.  I generally don't do both on the same shelf, but the bowl is a test...I want it directly over the elements in the bottom of the kiln.  The little ladybug bowl is a refire experiment using spooze with toilet paper added.

We'll see, Grasshopper.......we'll see.

 My moonflowers started blooming.  Below are the rather soggy blooms I found when I went out at six with Winter.  There will be more blooms but the first are always an event in the garden.

I love the way they look with the  morning glories, that today are unenthusiastic about blooming in the rain.  There is always tomorrow.....gee that could be the name of song.

The sun is supposed to come out this afternoon..........toes crossed!

Enjoy the day.....and, as always, thanks for stopping by......*s*

Blue Shoe Tuesday

Wandering through the various blogs I found two of you with blues shoes.....Tracey and Barbara are both wearing blues shoes (You will have to scroll down a bit to see Barbara's), So of course I had to find my blue shoes and join in.  I had a pair of ersatz croc garden sandals too, but Winter ate them as too yummy to resist!

I've started some tests of ideas for new designs.  I am experimenting with three different grays for a background.  The colors should show up more once it's fired.

The bowl is one I dropped shortly after I threw it.  It was still on the bat so I straightened it a bit, expecting that it would warp in the bisque.....it did.  But it's fine for tests.

I just realized that I am out of the little test bowls I make.  Guess what I will be doing later on?

The sun is out....a bit of gardening and sitting by pool and pond is in order.

Have an enjoyable day and, as always thanks for stopping by..............*s*

Where Do You Get......

Your Crazy Ideas?......part 2

Where do you get your ideas, inspirations for work?  Just asking!

I was looking at some of my silk jackets and was struck by color combos that I have not used or at least not used very often.  I love the way dyes take to silk.  I can see more fooling around experimenting in the near future to get the surface I want.  Most of my designs have an organic feel to them, but I am beginning to try to incorporate some design elements that are more geometric.

Looking at these reminds me to try new color combos.  I am drawn to the third from the top.  Grayed colors can be difficult to get.....adding a little black just turns them to mud.  The trick is probably going to find a light gray and add color to it.  As I said, experimentation is in the near future!

 I have a rose in bloom!  This is a bush that inadvertently was almost demolished a year and a half ago.  I nursed it through last summer and winter and it seems to be recovering nicely.  It has a least two more buds on it.  On advice I have used Miracle Gro when I water.  I've also sprayed with Safer's Soap and fungicide.  Toes crossed that it will continue to bloom and grow.

It's sunny today and warming up.  Yesterday was actually cool enough to need a sweatshirt, with rain for the better part of the day.

I'm hoping for one of our long, mild falls.

Enjoy the day and as always, thanks for stopping by..............*s*

Playing Hooky

For the last week I've been spending a great deal of time outside.  The weather has been great, sunny with relatively low humidity.  We've had heavy rain mostly at night.  It's been enough accumulation that the pool started to go blooey.  So! I've had to rebalance and add a few chemicals to clear it up.  Now it's time to get rid of the few remaining sassafras trees down.  They drop their leaves early and often.....nasty things...one of the few trees I actively dislike.  They aren't even particularly good as fire wood.

I have glazed a few mugs.  Low fire glazes tend to be extremely dusty.  They suck up color as soon as you lay your brush on the pot.  I've taken to added a very small amount of acrylic medium to my glaze.  I am talking drops here.  The idea is to toughen up the glaze but not make it completely impermeable a la wax resist.  The glaze cannot be allowed to dry out. It can be reconstituted if not too much acrylic has been added, but it's a royal pain.  Also too much acrylic will make the glaze foamy.  Low fire glazes are so stable that any bubbles will fire in the glaze.

I have been experimenting with adding a few new elements to my designs.  Early days yet, but I think I can make it work......eventually!

The last photo is of the baby snapping turtle that Proge found in the pond while I was living it up in N.H.  He was not much bigger that his photo, but even so you do not want snappers in the pond.  They will eat the fish.....Proge says we have a small frog missing half a leg.  And their sharp little claws   poke holes in pond liners.  We let him go in a river about five miles away.

This post can also be seen at Mud Colony.  Please stop by, there are many interesting things going on there.

Have a great relaxing and/or productive week end.

As always...........thanks for stopping by...........*s*

I Went To The Fair.....

......The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair......and there I met  Michele.  It was so much fun meeting a fellow blogger.  We had so much to talk about that I went back again and hung around while she was doing a throwing demo at New Hampshire Potters Guild tent.  It would be so much fun if more of us could get together.....potters talk dirt!

I had to buy this mug from her partner in crime Jeff Brown.  I should have a photo of the shirt I was wearing yesterday when I was drinking morning tea from it  (the mug, not the shirt).  It's almost the same green.  It's not only a delight to the eye but pleasant to hold and use.  It's definitely a keeper!

Mug by Jeff Brown

I also bought a mug by Rob Cartelli.  His work is new to me.  I love the simple elegance of his designs.

Mug by Rob Cartelli

And I bought another mug by Eleanora Eden.  I have mugs of hers with a black background.  This is the first I have seen the iris and the light background.

Mug by Eleanor Eden

When I got home to R.I. I went through some of my boxes of mugs that I have not unpacked since selling my other house.  And LOOK WHAT I FOUND!  This is one of Jeff's mugs dated '99.  Gosh, do you think I like his greens?

Mug by Jeff Brown-1999

This is from an early visit to the fair.  Always fun, anyone in the area should go.

This post can also be found on Mud Colony and Artists in Blogland.  Drop in for a visit.  There are interesting posts on both sites.

Have a good week end......as always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

Happy Birthday.......

Mr. President!  Nothing political here, just a simple wish for a happy day and one more dance round the sun!

Another fish.  I think the mouth needs more work, but I'll probably leave it. I'm happy with the eye spots.  I read somewhere that it's thought that they are to intimidate larger fish.  This one's a rattle rather than a whistle.


Also Percy Bysshe Shelley's birthday....died just before his thirtieth birthday.

"When my cats aren't happy, I'm not happy.  Not because I care about their mood, but because I know they're just sitting there, thinking up ways to get even."

Percy Bysshe Shelley........1792-1822

Aloysius has taken to sleeping on the top of the plant shelves.

It's about time you got rid of those stupid plants!

Enjoy the day and as always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

My First Pot

Adriana did a post about the first pots she ever made.  

Below is the first pot I ever made.  I was friends with a RISD grad student who started teaching me how to throw.  It's glazed with a apple wood ash from wood burned in my fireplace. It's one of the few pots I ever did that was reduction fired.

 I loved doing this but stopped when I moved out of Providence six months later. Twenty years would pass before I returned to what I thought was an interesting little side line became a complete obsession.

I have pots from when I started again in 1985, but they are all packed away.  Someday I will ferret them out and look at them.

I find it most interesting that with all my moving about (and I moved a lot in my younger days) I always managed to hold on to this pot and have it in whatever studio I was using at the time.

It's hot and steamy here....thunder showers this evening.

This post will also be on Mud Colony, everyone should stop by and see the posts there.

Have a cool week end and as always, thanks for stopping by..........*s*