Hiatus Over

Back from my break!  Now to start blogging again!

Below is a new style mug I have been working on.  I make it in two parts, which gets tricky.  The top and bottom have to be well sealed. A mug that leaks is better called a watering can.

There are changes and things I want to add, but this is a start.

Now to get it through the firing!

We'll see, grasshopper.....  

Spring appears to be finally here to stay.  It took it's own sweet time!  I am going to divide the white white bleeding heart when It finishes blooming.  I put it in several years ago as a small plants and it has grown.  Perennials need to be broken up once in a while to keep them healthy.

I like to plant pansies in containers because it's easy to switch them out.  Lat year I kept them going for the better part of the summer by moving them into deep shade.

I've been cleaning up the pool in preparation to opening it.  We have to install the new pump and inlet and outlet.  We put the new liner in last year.  It's like having a new pool!

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

Finished

Finished the little teapot/cruet and put it in the kiln.

These are shots I took for my own records so they are not the best.  Some of the colors look dark  because they are waxed.

I'm almost finished with glazing.  Now I want to make mugs and stuff to bisque.  

We are expecting weather tonight and tomorrow.  By the weekend I'm going to start opening the pool.  Not for swimming, obviously, but do enjoy looking out my window at the pool area ready for swimming!

The daffodils are up and showing buds.  They look a little shocked due to the variegated winter weather, but they should be fine!

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

Majolica Monday or Time Flies

I can't believe a whole week has passed since my last post.  I have been caught up in trying to make little dippers to go in some honey pots I want to make.  If I continue to make them at the pace I have been, the price of the honey pots will more than double!  NOT a practical idea!  These each hold between a teaspoon and tablespoon of honey.  Of course they will be smaller once they are fired.

I don't have the patience to put them though a bisque and glaze firing so I will glaze them with my oh so reliable Spectrum White #799 and once fire them.  The handles are particularly fragile so a delicate touch is in order here.  The middle dipper with the coil is an experimental mend.  Long ago I learned in an Elsbeth Woody workshop that if you can't hide a seam, emphasize it and make it part of the design.

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

My day lilies are glorious this year.  I was a little concerned because our winter was so rough, but they have come through better than ever.  My camera is still not doing well taking pictures outdoors.  This was a bud I knocked off so I brought it in to enjoy.  It's in one of my little Delft cow creamers.

We have a new, slightly unwelcome resident!  A woodchuck is living under the shed.  He/she is quite bold and comes out in the middle of the day and stands on the ramp into the shed quite happily surveying all in sight.  Winter barks when she knows he/she is out there but her run doesn't go over to the shed.  We've been walking her around the ared and encouraging her to do her doggy business there.

If the crittur would remain happy with the violets it would be fine.  Unfortunately there seems to be a developing taste for petunias!

One of the pool hoses developed a leak.  It was a very slow drip so I wasn't too concerned, but did go buy a new hose.  On Friday I noticed the leak was getting worse.  Then before my eyes a nice little stream appeared with a hiss.  I grabbed a screwdriver to undo the clamps, got the hoses tied up so no more water leaked out and had the skies open up.  It finally seems to have stopped raining, so repairs can be done.  Just in the nick of time as the water is getting a pretty green glow to it.

My toes are crossed that all our little disasters stay just that.  Small and easily solved!

The sun is finally coming out; hope all is well across the world!

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

Mermaid Mug

I've been going over stuff I have made in the last year or so.  This 10 oz. mug has the handle on the corner opposite the one shown, which forces the user to drink from the corner.  My handles are very plain and utilitarian.  There's nothing wrong with them, but nothing that adds to the mug either.  I originally left the terra cotta exposed to represent the earth when I was working with plants designs about a zillion years ago.  I think I am going to experiment with taking the glaze down the bottom.  One of the benefits of working in low fire is that the glazes are so stable that i can go down to within a hair line of the base.

I posted this one on Facebook/ Mugshot Mondays.  There are lots of terrific mugs and cups there.  The only problem I have is the strange way Facebook posts, which seems to be completely random.  

We have had several days of real spring weather.  The pool is almost full;  I'll probably set up the pump and filter tomorrow.  Of course it's way too cold to even think of swimming, but it always makes me feel like summer is coming when I open the pool.  This also gives me time to work on it so I don't go nuts when the weather gets warm.

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

My That Was Fun.....or

It's Always Sumthin'.......

We had a lobster feast on Friday after finding them very much on sale at the market.  They steam them there and put them on sale......sometimes.

They we delicious!

That was the best part of the week end.  We had torrents of rain all day Friday.  That evening both pond and pool were full to the brim!  When I went out early Saturday with Winter the pool was down to the inlet.  Aaaaarrrrgh!  After careful inspection, which included crawling around under the deck, we realized that the gasket on the junction between the pool exterior and the little pipe inlet had disintegrated.  The was definite evidence of a leak, plus a lot of ground even soggier than other areas that had been inundated with rain. The fix was relatively easy....take everything apart, make a new gasket from pond liner scraps and replace.....but not fun.  I can't complain; the pool is almost thirty years old and has needed few repairs.

Fortunately we have had so much rain this year that there is no problem with refilling the pool.  I do it slowly at a rate of about 250 gal. per day.  It's no strain on the well, but also gives the pool a bit of time to warm up.

We've been clearing sassafras every week.  It's extremely invasive here and serves no good purpose....not even for firewood.

It's cloudy today with sun coming this afternoon with more rain expected tomorrow.  I'll be spending more time in my studio...yes!

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

Playing Hooky

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*

Where Do You Get.......

......Your Crazy Ideas?


Roger Zelazny always said he left milk and cookies on the door step at night and in the morning the tomte would have left a nice pile of story ideas.

This, in addition to being a kitchen string holder, is a CHERRY PITTER!  Saw this on Food 52's blog and thought...why a beer bottle?  If I make the string hole a little bigger it should do the trick.  Et voila! A dual purpose item.

I threw these yesterday.  It has been so humid that they are nowhere near ready to have their tops cut.  This is the same basic form I use for honey jars and garlic keepers...yes I do close in the tops for them.

I would love to see what others do with this.  I don't have a corner on the idea after all.

IT'S ALWAYS SUMTHIN':

Yesterday the pool ladder bit the dust.  It was over thirty years old, so I have no reason to complain.  It's just the nuisance of having one more thing to do.  Right now I get out of the pool by bouncing up and down in the water and flopping on the deck....sort of like a beached whale.  Not a pretty sight....oh so glad I live out of sight of neighbors and street.  There is no desire to be Another Roadside Attraction!

Winter started doing her job yesterday and went out on the deck to bark at the deer in the woods.  They have learned that they won't be chased but did retreat to the other side of the stone wall, which is where we want them.  They are so beautiful, but so destructive.

Speaking of deer, the hostas are recovering quite nicely from their devastation.  At least they are blooming and putting out new leaves.  Winter and chili peppers are doing the trick!

Has anyone ever heard of red beetle?  From what I read on Google they are native to China, Asia....and have recently been found in New England.  They have done a number on my lilies.....lilliums...day lilies...hemerocallis... seem to be immune.   I think what I am going to do is start a new bed in a different area and do what I can to kill them.

I got a sale on morning glories.....they were badly tangled....I took them apart and have been potting them up.  By August the shed should be overrun with them.  My moonflowers are struggling though.....we'll see, grasshopper...we'll see!

More hot weather today.  I'm writing this on the deck and listening to Bach.  The only sound are some chirping birds.

Stay cool and remember to drink lots of liquids.  Did you know that in the tropics beer,but not wine, counts as liquid intake?  Just saying....I'm sticking to chai lattes.

Hare and Rabbits!

Enjoy the day......thanks for stopping by.............*s*