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*