December 25. 2019

Good Yule from the Christmas Dragon

Birds

I have taken to drinking my morning tea in the sunroom rather than lolling around in bed.

We are beginning to get more birds this year.  Last year there weren't many.  I don't know if  there was some reason other than they didn't feel like it.We used to have many house finches; they no longer seem to be in the neighborhood.  Perhaps they will return.

In addition to those pictured we have many titmice, juncos, and nuthatches.

We do let the squirrels come.  After all, they get hungry too.  They love peanuts in the shell  and corn, which we are currently out of.

We are enjoying sunny, cold days.  Much better than the cold, sleety, rain we had last week.

Meanwhile I am cozy and warm enjoying the heat from our trusty Jotul.

Good Yule to everyone!

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

It's Christmas!

The dragons arrived this morning with lights and ornaments.

This is the little penguin whistle I made last week.  He is glazed for a single fire.  The pink is the wax resist I use.  It makes using black so much easier!

Toes crossed I will have a full kiln by the week end.  We'll see grasshopper......

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

Pinch Pots

Here is a rabbit/hare/bunny that I pinched out of a small cylinder of clay.

He was going to be a whistle but I let him get too dry.  I like my whistles to be on the edge of hard leather when I make them.

There is a lot wrong with him, including the mended foot, but he will be fine for design experiments.

Many of my potter friends on various FB pottery groups have been making coiled cone Christmas trees.

I built these two over bisqued cones wrapped newspaper. My clay was very wet and I was too impatient to dry it out a bit.  The smaller one is coils which I then smooshed  to get some surface movement.  The larger one is small wads of clay which I shaped as I applied them.

I remove the forms as soon as the clay has dried just a bit.  The newspaper stays in to provide a bit of support.  It removes easily when the trees are completely dry.

I have glazed these with three coats of Spectrum #799 Majolica White. The green in Mason Stain #6202 Florentine Green.

They will be single fired to ^05

We'll see, grasshopper...

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