Celebrate The Solstice

While we were putting lights on the tree yesterday the dragons arrived en masse and took up positions among the branches.

The days are getting longer, but winter is coming!

Wishing everyone joy and happiness in this season of peace.

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

Grayby

We appear to have a new dragon in the house!

I will add more later.  Meanwhile, enjoy the day!

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

G

Preparing to Fire

I am so bad about taking and posting photos of my work after I fire it that I am trying to at least get pictures before stuff goes in the kiln.  These are more of the very small cups I call SIPPERS.  They are nice for a bit of whisky or cognac.

I use them for testing out new designs.  They are much smaller than my real mugs but they give me a sense of placement and color.  The odd coloration is due to the wax resist I use. The drawback is that they take almost as long to paint as my regular mugs and bowls. 

I have been truly enjoying the whole process of  painting.  It becomes very meditative when I really get into it.  

I find I have to remember to get up and move around every so often.  Otherwise I feel like I am frozen in one position.  Ah, the joys of growing older! 

  

And what would an entry be without a picture of at least one kitten.  This is Ringo, lying on Proge's lap last night.  It's hard to believe tha in August we could just barely touch him.  He now jumps up on my bed in thew morning to add his voice to the chorus demanding to be fed.

Grayby is becoming more trusting.  Last night she jumped up on my feet while playing, and she responds with purrs when I stroke her while she is eating.  She is such a neat, delicate little girl, where Ringo plops around looking like an unmade bed, even after brushing.

It's going to take Lucky Peach longer to trust us.  She's getting better, but it will take awhile.  Yet she shows no interest ingoing outside. She and the peach pits were absolutely clean when we brought everyone in.

I still think Aloysius yelling out the window is what brought her to us.

I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO OPINION WHATEVER OF PEOPLE WHO DESERT THEIR ANIMALS! 

Happy Saint Nicholas Day to one and all.

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

Santa Stages

This a post I never finished.....better late than.....

Various stages of Santa whistles.  Glazed and ready to fire.  Details added, ready to glaze.  Basic thrown forms.

I have been experimenting with various forms.  So far I like the basic cone best.  I just need to make it a little bigger.

Update:  They have all been fired and gone to the Holiday Sale at SCAA (South County Art Association).  Per usual, I forgot to take photos of the finished Santas!

Here's a shot of Ringo explaining to Peach why it's really okay to climb the tree.  No it isn't, you silly kitten.  It's a lime tree, with one inch thorns.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

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

Santas Are Coming!

I've been having fun making a few Santa Whistles.  These are a taller and narrower form than I have made in the past.

I had not made any whistles in a while so it took me a few tries to get the whistle part going.  I think of it as warming up.

I start by throwing cones off the hump.  Once they have dried a bit I make the whistle in the base.  I like to make the whistle before I start adding the Santa parts.

Once the whistle has set up a bit more I add the beard, hat etc.  Now I wait until they are bone dry.  Then I glaze them and do a once fire'

These are terra cotta Santas; I will also make some in tan, and white bodies.  I have mixed success selling the brown and tan, but since to me Santa represent a spirit of giving, I believe that spirit come in many shapes, sizes, and colors.

I find the cone shape whether tall and narrow or short and plump can be made into  many different things, from my plump little beach ladies to pufferfish.

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

Wordless Wednesday

Kittens!

Another shot of Ringo and Grayby.  It's pretty much non-stop play unless they are sleeping or eating.

We give them a really good workout before going to bed.  They sleep for a good part of the night.

Thanks to Jose we have had some pretty good wind gusts.  Of course the first dahlia to bloom got broken off along with some petunias.  I love having them inside so it's not a big problem.

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

GUIILTY! or........

.....there's a sucker born every minute........or.......who can resist kittens?

We took four of the kittens to the shelter on Sept. 14.  Yes, we were planning to take them all which had me terribly upset.  However, that plan did not take emotions into account.  Proge had connected with Grayby and Ringo is such a floofball that we could not resist. Bibsy, Cobby, Apricat, and Leaf were all just a bit tamer and therefor more adoptable.  The shelter manager would have liked them to be a few weeks younger, but I think many problems arise if kittens are separated from their mom too soon.  When i was raising my Siamese cats, I never separated them until twelve weeks.

Lucky Peach, Ringo, Grayby and KikiLaSois all ate from the same bowl yesterday.  Aloysius has taken to grooming Peach while meals are being prepped.  Peach and babies rub against our legs while we are prepping food.  It may take a while but I am sure that Peach will trust humans again one day.

There was a magical web strung across the pond a few days ago.  If you look hard and enlarge the photo you can see the web and its reflection.

Rain and wind today as we catch the outer edge of Jose.  Otherwise we are enjoying late summer weather.

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

Mermaid

I haven't put out many of my garden creatures this year.  Once the caterpillar crap stopped I did put my little mermaid out by the papyrus bed.

We have not had much swimming this year due to caterpillars.  The pool is looking a lot better.  If we really do get the six more weeks of summer that Passy Pete is predicting we may get some more swimming.  At the very least we can enjoy sitting poolside and not feel that we are gazing into a very nasty swamp.

The kittens are probably going to be leaving us next week.  I am becoming far too attached to them.  If I were rich I would set up my own shelter, but alas.......at least we are keeping Lucky Peach!

Yes, they did manage to get into my dry food cupboard and drag out all sorts of stuff.  They only got the rice bag open so things were not as bad as they could have been.  This is a heavily cropped photo.

Our thoughts and good wishes are with all those who are prepping for Irma.  STAY SAFE!

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

Ringo

Ringo found this flower pot I brought in to fix and decided it was a good place for a nap.

The kittens will probably be ready to leave Peach in about two weeks.  They are still a little shy, but will come sit on my feet when playing.

More photos to follow.

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

Kittens and Clay

Or should I say clay and kittens?

These are tiles that periodically surface in my studio.  I have no idea where they came from, but I did glaze them last winter.  I found them again and began doing some drawings on them.  I draw in pencil which is easily erased with architect's cleaning bags, and burns out easily.  I don't usually draw insuch detail but I needed to get the mermaid placement right.

We brought Lucky Peach and babies in a week ago.  They are growing hand over fist, eating more and more solid food and becoming playful.  Mom and babies look healthy with clear eyes and good coats.  To be in this shape she could not have been on her own for long..  Hoiw anyone who can dump a pregnant cat or any animal is beyond me!

This weekend we are going to make a bigger space for them.

We didn't realize how tiny Peach is until we brought her inside.  I think she's no more than eight or none months old, still a baby herself.

Have a great weekend and as always, thanks for stopping by......*s*

Lucky Peach

This little mama showed up with her kittens about a week ago.  We think she had them under a low rooflet that shelters a lot of my clay.  The area behind the buckets is very dry with lots of cozy leaves.

She began bringing them out about four days ago. 

 We have no idea what she has been eating but she was pretty skinny so of course we put food out for her.  We still can't get close to her, but now we have figured out a way to put out food without scaring her away.

She will look at us curiously when we look out the second floor windows.  She looks like she wants to come but is just too skittery.

So yesterday I told her she looks like a little peach, then began calling her Lucky Peach.  Now mama has a name.  We hope to keep her and take the kittens, when they are weaned, to a no-kill shelter.

I think cats have secret signs they post that let others know that this a good place for kitties.

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

YES! I'M BAAAAAACK!!!

It's been quite a month.

I finally found a car I am happy with.

Caterpillars ate almost everything I planted earlier in the spring so at some point I gave up.  However, they are now dead!  And it looks like we have had a population crash........toes crossed.

Lilies and day lilies have been delight.  All our spring and continued damp have made everything grow like gangbusters.

I have been finding many petunia sports which I have been nursing along, also cleome so there will be some flowers.

I have been rehabbing the pool; it looked and smelled like something out of a bad horror movie!  Lots of pool shock and algicide is doing the trick.  We should be able to swim in a few days. 

This is Aloysius's favorite napping spot.  In the sun.  On his foam core pad.  Go figure!

I've been starting some fish and mermaids; there will be more later. 

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

Try Out

This is one of the first tripod mugs I made last year.  I decided this morning that before I make a bunch of them I really should see if they stand as sturdily with beverage in them as they do when empty.

So far so good.    It seems to be very stabile.  Holds eight ounces with room for milk or cream.  I haven't tried it in the microwave yet.  I personally never put mugs in the zapper but I know people do so I like to know what will happen.

I'm okay with the design.  The base is glazed in a low fire Spectrum metallic; I have no idea wich one!  I meant to glaze the interior with clear, but used the clear with a little Mason Red-Brown that I use on terra cotta.  Live and learn!

We have had another period of heavy showers.  I am hopeful that it will clear enough for me to finally plant my dahlias.  Last year the caterpillars devastated them, so I decided to hold off until they were pupating.  With our wet, chilly spring they have not done well at all.  HURRAH!



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

Sun! At Last!

Spring, or perhaps I should say early summer, has arrived.  At last we are having warm, sunny days.

Yellow flags, white flags, and poppies are in full bloom.  At last we are having a good year of poppies.  I covered them during the last week of rain because they are so fragile that one good shower reduces to soggy masses of tissue paper.

Due to the continued rain, chill, and most particularly the various caterpillars the gardens, pond and pool are in a sorry state.  Now to play catch up!

We had many praying mantis egg sacs last fall.  Two days ago we found babies had hatched from one of them.  I managed to get a shot of this little guy before it took off.  This is a much enlarged photo.  It was about one quarter the size shown and almost transparent.

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

Farewell Red Rabbit

My Toyota 4RUNNER, the Red Rabbit, has finally bitten the dust.  Took it in for inspection and the verdict is that even if I were willing to spend the thousands to fix it there is no way to to put new parts into the rusted underbody.  The rear end is gone.  I can't really complain as it has over 250000 miles on it, half of which I put on in all the years I have had it.

The photo is the little whistle I mad in its honor many years ago.

Now to get a replacement.  My car guys think they can find something within the week!

Toes crossed........we'll see, grasshopper............we'll see.............

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

HARES AND RABBITS!!!

Some say White Rabbit.  I am sure there other variations to wish good luck on the first day of the month, or year, or millenium.

Whatever you do or don't say, here's to a great June!

We even have sunshine, and the yellow flags are starting to bloom.

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

Mug Feet

I've been looking at my mugs again and have decided to work on the feet on my handbuilt mugs

In one style of mug I leave the edge of the bottom slab visible.  Other times I blend it into the form and mark a bottom ring with a squiggly line.  I've emphasized these with black underglaze so I can keep track of them more easily.  I am experimenting with indenting the bottoms to form a foot or at least a ring.  This makes for a steadier cup.  Because my majolica glazes are so stable I can glaze the indented center.  This can lead to a nice little surprise on the bottom.

This all thanks to Tim See, who talked about feet and the bottoms of pots in the workshop he did at S.C.A.A. last month.

I also took a good look at my favorite Linda Arbuckle mug.  In addition to having huge admiration for the way she decorates her work, I like the way she pays special attention to all the little details in the foot ring, the decoration and her signature inside the foot, and the interior of the mug. The eye for all these little details and the way they add up to a sum greater than the items is what makes her work so exciting. 

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

Testing

I am currently testing different terra cotta bodies.  In this state they all look alike; it will be interesting to see what happens in the glazing and firing process.

Sheffield terra cotta on right; Miller #20 on left. 

We'll see, grasshopper......we'll see.........

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

Sunny Sunday

Here are some columbine and white bleeding heart to enjoy on this spring day!

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

Foo Foo

Little Bunny Foo Foo showed up among the daffodils by the house yesterday.  He/she spent all days hiding in the foliage, but was gone this morning.

It was hard to get any sort of a picture due to the bright sun.  

Winter, who goes nuts over chipmunks in the yard, ignored it completely!  Go figure!

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

Spring Surprise!

About a week ago I found a bud stalk in the midst of all the amaryllis greenery.  I staked it as it was in danger of breaking.  By yesterday it was in full bloom.

Although I have had them bloom midsummer, I generally think of them as a dead of winter flower.

I have no idea where this came from.  I have no memory of ever purchasing this color.  I think it is many years old and only decided to bloom this year.  I wish`I could figure out what I did during their growing/dormant season last year. Toes crossed that I can bumble my way into the same good fortune this year!

Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

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