Wordless Wednesday

Were You Worried?

See how the conquering hero comes!

Sound the trumpets!  Beat the Drums!

Some hero!  Aloysius decided to come home at 4:45 AM this morning.  Winter started barking as though the starship troopers were coming over the hill.  Once we got her calmed down we could hear a certain very vocal kitty out in the yard.  He was sitting under the 4Runner, acting as though we had thrown him out into the cold.  So I gathered him up and and brought him in where Winter proceeded to welcome him by sitting on him.

After breakfast and second breakfast he has slept in his favorite green bubble wrap, which came in the package Linda sent when she was getting ready to sell her house.  I don't know what the love is, but he adopted this particular bubble wrap as soon as I opened the box.

Animals are strange......No doubt about it!

Needless to say we are overjoyed to have Aloysius back in the house and now can begin to resume something approaching normal.

I think I have gotten more done today that I have in the past several days.  In the center are the three little whistles I posted on Sunday all glazed, painted and ready to fire!

The weather is turning colder, no real frost yet, but definitely time to finish getting the plants in.  I'm  going to winter over petunias, nasturtiums, marigolds, and any others I feel like trying.  Right now it's like jungle in here.

I'm taking a tea break, but will head back to the studio in a few moments.

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

I Almost FORGOT!

But then I remembered.......

I said I would post photos of the whistles as I finished them; the rest are in the kiln waiting to be fired.  

As I mentioned in my previous post They can assume many forms.  The mouse and the penguin are easy to see how I make them.  The pig gets turned on its side and trimmed and paddles into a rounded end.  There's a tail back there too.  I make the snout by carefully pushing the tip onto a flat surface.  The mouse and penguin have their whistles at the base; pig has its at the snout and becomes part of the mouth.

Because they are whistles I use commercial glazes on them and once fire them.  I don't once fire functional stuff a.) I think the clay is stronger if it goes through separate bisque and glaze firings, b.) I generally use my own glazes.  This is from my observation.  Some of the clay gurus out there may be able to tell me the more scientific reasons.  It might all be a figment of my imagination.

These are obviously still in progress.  If I keep my wits about me I may even post more photos before and after firing.

Aloysious has managed to pull one of his charge out the door acts.  That cat is fast!  It's a beautiful sunny day out so he's out having fun and we're searching!

This is late for Mud Colony, but I am going to email Adriana and see if she can put it up for me. At any rate go take a look at all the cool stuff that goes on in the world of clay.

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

Wordless Wednesday

                                

                                       October Morning

What....

.....in the name of heaven are these?  .......A question I was asked once upon a time.  My answer:  Tiny little warheads for tiny ICBM's.......because I was feeling really snarky that day.

REALLY!  They are blanks for many animal whistles.  Pigs, penguins, mice, fish,,,,I may come up with more as I work on them.

The powers that be have decided to extend the days of our Christmas Sale at the South County Art Association.  I'll go along with it, but I am not sure that it will make us much more money.  We'll see, grasshopper...........we'll see.

Speaking of grasshoppers, Robin Hopper's book,  Making Marks, is on sale over at Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore.  I can't get the link to work, but it's worth taking a look.  This is one of the books I find an invaluable resource for decoration.

This year I have decided to make my inventory broad and shallow and we'll see how that works.

Sunny and warm today, so I am going out to hang laundry.

This post will also be over on Mud Colony.  Take a look at the world of clay.

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

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Cacti?

Wordless Wednesday

animal eyeball rattle whistles

Presence of Mind

OR.........

Remember to cover the clay at night that you have been drying outside all day......or it may rain and you will have mud again.

Can you see the puddles in the clay?

I was asked for some mugs that are smaller than what I generally make.  They hold ten ounces.  These are the first ones I made when I was considering handles.....and believe me, I spend a lot of time thinking about handles.  The originals were too sharp on the edges.  They wouldn't actually cut the hand but the possibility was there.  Satanic mugs for Halloween! 

Due to our continuing warm weather we are finally getting morning glories and moon flowers beyond the one or two blooms we've had.  I love it when it stays warm enough for them to completely bloom out!

This was a particularly nice moon flower, starting to sag in the rain.  For some reason wilting moon flowers always make me thing of drooping ballerinas......Swan Lake perhaps?

Autumn is showing up even with the warm weather.  There has been enough rain for the swamp maples to show some wonderful color.  I love the way they look like watercolor washes.

Mist and rain today, gentle but definitely putting a damper on doing much outside today.  The colors really pop in the soft gray.

We have been watching The Hollow Crown on PBS, Great Performances. It's Richard II, Henry IV Parts One and Two, and HenryV, by the Bard of Avon himself.  Beautifully acted and filmed, it's well worth watching.

Have an enjoyable Sunday.  This post will also be over on Mud Colony.  Take a look at clay around the world.

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

The Goose Is Getting Fat

I found this fellow yesterday when I was thinking about what I wanted to make for Christmas sales.  I made this many years ago when my dear friend NCS was teaching me how to make whistles.  I think I may have used him as part of my gravitar here one year.  He's formed around a dowel and really quite easy to make which as we all know is important when it comes to pricing. 

Some years I am totally on the ball and do a yearly Christmas ornament.  I have been doing Santas lately.  Many years ago I did a series of bells, which looked sweet, but.....I only really like clay bells when they are big and ring with a mellow tone.

I usually make terra cotta Santas in addition to the white earth ones.  Some customers had some surprisingly nasty comments to make about the brown Santas;  they can go pooh in a pot.  The terra cotta Santas completely sold out!  So there!

In the OH FER DUMB! department:

I managed to use salt instead of sugar in the whipped cream I was making to go on the Banofee Pie I was attempting last week end.  Let me tell you, two tablespoons of salt is totally overpowering in a dish which should have that amount of sugar!  It's annoying because I use a heavy cream that is not ultra pasteurized.  It's wonderful stuff that practically whips itself, but also costs a lot more than most cream.  Ah well!  Any ideas for salty whipped cream dishes?

We are enjoying Indian Summer...days in the seventies, nights in the forties.  Although many would say that this isn't true Indian Summer because we have not had any frost.  I'm not complaining, mind you.  I hope it continues for many days to come!

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

Wordless Wednesday

Siesta