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*