Memory Update

This morning on my FaceBook page a photo of some pigs and other stuff came up as a memory from two years ago.

If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see where I had to reglue the legs.  I forgot to put in the holes in the bottoms to get the money out, so I used them for design ideas.  (But I remember as a kid lying on my bed and using a knife to slide coins out of the money slot!)

I dug around and found these little piggies and dusted them off enough to take some pictures of them.

These are both glaze combos af commercial and studio glazes with, of course, Mason Stain colors fired as ^05.

We have had more than an inch of rain since yesterday afternoon.  Toes crossed that it keeps up for a while!

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

Mold Making

I bit the bullet and have been making a large platter form.  I've been making smaller ones, about fifteen inches across from bird baths, but I've been wanting a larger surface to work on.

I covered the plastic form with layers of tissue paper and then a sheet of plastic.  I then took the slop clay I keep for molds and experiments and extended the rim to a curve I liked. 

I rolled out a thick slab and  finished it with a rolling pin.  Whenever I work with a large slab, I always finish with my rolling pins.  I roll in all directions, much like pie crust.  I have no real proof, but I think it makes a stronger slab.

Here the slab is covered with the thin jersey that I use between slab and form.

One of the hardest steps in the entire procedure is flipping the slab onto the form.  I suppose I could ask Proge for help, but where's the fun in that?

Here I've added more clay to the rim to strengthen it.

And finally I have the form shaped to my satisfaction.  This is all done by eye, as I want to maintain a handbuilt feel to both the form and what I make.

 

 I wrapped the form in several layers of plastic and dried very slowly to soft leather hard.  I took  the plastic off for a few hours at a time and changed to a dry sheet.

I forgot to take a picture of the flipping process.  It's quite easy as the bird bath form is there for support.  I braced the sides with rolled plastic and newspaper before removing the bird bath.  I left the whole thing for a day before working on the rim.  I used a sur-form to smooth things out.  Sharp edges can lead to bumping and cracking. I also worked to interior curve with one of Mud Tool ribs.  Yellow has just the right amount of give and control.

Now it's just a question of drying slowly and evenly.  I drape thin plastic over and periodically flip it to keep the rim from drying too quickly.  If it does look like it's drying too fast I will cover the rim tightly with more plastic.

We'll see, Grasshopper.......we'll see....

We have finally had some rain more than four inches since Friday.  We are still down several inches, but we did set up rain barrels so there is water for plants if it gets dry again.  No matter how much I water, there is nothing like rain to perk the plants up.  It's cloudy today with more showers expected this afternoon.  The air feels very soft.

Enjoy the week ahead.  Here's hoping for cool, wet weather in all the areas that are dealing with fires.

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

Lost Stuff Found

The dahlias toes that I found at the beginning of August have begun to bloom.  The toes were in a bucket of dry peat and cat litter that I thought I had emptied.  All I really wanted to do was give them enough growing time to get strong enough to make it through the winter.  The blooms are a real bonus. These is also a lavender and purple that is starting to open.  Toes crossed that it makes it through the oncoming rain.  Mr Harrelson had a find old time chewing up a bunch of them that blew over in some wind a few weeks ago, so we moved them up close to the house.  Even the gnawed ones are showing signs of buds.  Maybe frost will hold off for a few more weeks!

I made the pigs and garlic pots back in the fall of 2011.  The garlic pots dried so fast that I never cut the air holes in them.  The pigs were supposed to be banks.  I cut the slits but never made the cork holes on their bellies.  Then their feet fell off and were glued back on with spooze.  I saved them for glaze tests and experiments.  I went digging for them yesterday because I was thinking about making a bunch of test bowls; remembered these guys; it only took me an hour to find them!

I may make a few of a better size for our upcoming Christmas Sale.....we'll see, grasshopper....we'll see!

We are expecting a couple of days of rain to start soon.  Toes crossed we get some heavy showers.  Things are not dire....but rain is good.  It's amazing how the garden has picked up with the few inches we have had.  Plants are much happier with rain than with hand watering!

BTW to see how dogs are celebrated with their own holiday in Nepal go to Jenny Mendes's blog!

We've had warm days and cool nights; I hope everyone is enjoying good weather too.

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

If It's Tuesday It Must Be......

TEAPOTS!

I finally found the little raku teapot I made many years ago when a group of us from the SCAA Potters Coop were firing with Tom Ladd at his studio.  We became a pretty efficient crew.  I think one day we did fourteen pulls.  And we always managed to bring a lot of good food too!

I pinched this from a either a raku clay or a ^6-8 white.  It holds about twenty-four ounces of tea.  Being raku, I have never actually brewed tea in it.  However, it pours very nicely indeed.

Perhaps it's because I have drunk so much tea in my like but making dripless spouts has never been a huge problem for me.  Those are words I may come to regret, so I am knocking a lot of wood!

The lid was fired separately.  The little drip of glaze at the end is pure serendipity!

I was listening to the Berlin Philharmonic and Anna Sophie Mutter playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major this morning and it struck me once again how much I miss my big AR speakers.  I have top quality Bose speakers for my computer but they cannot match the room filling sound and nuance the big speakers had.  Alas they died of old age this past winter.  Meanwhile we are saving our pennies!

It's a strange, warmish, mostly cloudy day today with rain expected later on and into tomorrow morning.  We still welcome rain.  Toes crossed that we will catch up after our very dry September!  Meanwhile I am starting to bring plants in, a sure sign of the changing seasons!

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

More Stuff!!!

I came across these while I was sorting a bunch of stamps and cutters.  They're made from wooden blocks used for Indian Block Printing.  I stamped and put wash on them to get some idea of what they looked like in positive.  As far as I can remember I have never used them.  They might be interesting on bowl rims or mugs.

Click on the images for a larger view.

I'm not sure where I got them, possibly at a Gina Halpern (sp?)  workshop from a VERY LONG TIME AGO!  There are the initials GH in addition to my name on the back.

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to speak of many things."

Cleaning has been a journey of memories.  I keep finding things that I haven't looked at or even thought about.  Part of this is because of the way I moved my studio over here.  I moved all my decoration equipment into this house when P. was terminally ill in 1997.  I sort of got organized when I installed the kilns.  Then I sold my back house, which I had lived in for close to thirty years, and just moved everything as quickly as I could.  Now in addition to reworking my studio so I can enclose part of it for the winter, we are also reconfiguring the entire first floor.  That ought to keep us out of trouble for the winter!

I managed to drop a pound of ground beef and a bag of turkey on the floor when I was searching for something in our little deep freezer.  I'm very happy that Winter and the cats didn't make off with the packages.  The potential for unlimited disgust is not to be considered.  So we are making calzones and sauce tonight and I have started turkey soup for tomorrow.  Oh how I love my crockpot!

We are having a slow drizzle of rain with some heavier showers which should continue until tomorrow.  Every little bits helps.  We have been careful enough with water use so that we should be okay if we have even small amounts of rain.

Woody, or as I have named him Harrelson, is in his hole.  I am sure he is eyeing the mums I have been putting in as great additions to his lunch counter.

Enjoy the day.

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*

REDUX: Wet, or......

MY THAT WAS FUN!

I got up this morning only to discover that the pump had flooded.....we have a dug well with a surface pump.  If this happens it's usually in the early spring when heavy rains come through.  We have been going through another rainy spell; everything is in a state of sog.  Dealing with the flooded pump is not that difficult.  It just takes throwing the sump pump in the well and draining water below the well pump.  Then it's just a matter of resetting the circuit breaker and the over ride switch.  Doing it a 6:00AM  with no tea is the hard part....that and finding the stupid extension cord and doing it in the rain.  Ah well....it's a good time to catch up on the laundry!

We've had so much rain that flood warnings are in effect throughout most of the state.  It's not a problem for us as we live on top of a hill.

As is apparent from the picture below I've been working on the flower tower.  I may add a bit more but I try to remember to keep decorations on planter fairly simple. Live plants will finish the design.  It's fun to be working with big brushes for a change.

 I took the fish picture from the deck with my telephoto lens.Sunday was our sunny day so of course I had to take the camera out.

Can you see our little tree frog on the stone?  He also was out on Sunday, basking.  It's hard to believe that something that small (about 2") can make so much noise.  We think of them as a sign that summer is truly here.

I'm spending most of the day making more bird whistles.  I'm trying to use up some of the white clay that was given to me.  It's fine for non-functional work, and once fires quite nicely, but it sucks dead monkey meat for cups, bowls, etc.  It gets so hot in the microwave that a pot holder is needed to handle it, whereas I can hold a microwaved terra cotta mug and it's just warm......says the woman with asbestos hands. At the pottery co-op I was always the one to see if the pots were cool enough to take out of the kiln because I could handle hotter pots than everyone else.  I'm not sure that was a good thing!

I am hoping that it will be dry enough tomorrow for us to go to a new pond place (our favorite local guy closed),  I dislike driving I 95 when the roads are wet because so much junk gets thrown up that visibility becomes a real problem.  We'll see, grasshopper.....we'll see.

Enjoy your day and stay dry.

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

Rainy Day Project

There have been some beautiful photos of the full moon posted in various blogs.  Alas, such is not the case here.  We have had clouds and rain since last tuesday.  There have been some heavy downpours and a lot of drizzle which is just enough to kill any thought of being outside.

Instead, I woke up yesterday morning with an image of these goblets in my head.  Perhaps related to some dream or reading, who knows?  Of course there is a long journey between my mind's image and the reality of clay.

The goblet is built around my trusty balloons; the stems are pulled and rolled around dowels.  The pushed 'knees' add strength.

What I find strange about making these is that I drink my wine from blown glass goblets.  While I like the look of clay goblets I don't, as a rule, enjoy drinking from them.

I'm not at all sure where I am going with these.  I may make a few more fire them and let them sit in their unglazed state while I contemplate them.  Or I may send them to the recycle bucket....always a viable option! 

Pond pump problems last week.  Proge turned the pump off to do some work.  When we went to fill the filter again....it would not prime!  Trouble shooting ensued interrupted by a downpour......not a good idea to mess with electricity in the rain.  It rained all the next day.  Finally on the third day we got out there and realized it was sucking air.....joints reglued....wait several hours for drying and presto! we have a working swamp filter and waterfall.  The fishies are very happy.  Actually, I don't think they noticed as we threw a sump pump in to keep the water circulating.

I am still congratulating myself for not taking photos of Proge wading in the pond, swearing at the pump!

I had ten moonflowers in bloom when I took Winter out at 6 A.M.  yesterday.  The rain really beats them up.  The look like a bunch of bedraggled petticoats.

This post can also been seen at Mud Colony.  There's interesting stuff there; take a look!

Have a dry....or if you need rain....wet week end.

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

Another Frog

WOW!  An entire week plus, without posting.  I've been busily recycling clay....trying to get ahead so I can get some more done on the tiles for the stove surround.  I'm using terra cotta, but I want it to all be of the same consistency.  Much easier to do a project when I reduce as many variables as possible.

I was looking at more of the little tree frogs.  The more I looked the more I want to make them.  This little guy is purely experimental.  I need to work on the feet.  I love the little ball tips of the toes.  Also I have made my colors too light.  It doesn't show in the photo but my guy is mottled in shades of gray and gray-green.

When I start a project I like to look at the real thing and photos, and perhaps, do a few sketches.  Then I put everything away and work from my rather faulty memory.  I find I get a lot more personality and gesture if I don't continually reference the actual creature.  Next I'll put the photos away again and go for another round.

Just what I need.  More frogs!

  

I like this little guy splayed out in the spring sun.  He looks so content.

Meanwhile, what I think is an orchid cactus has put out a bloom.  Wish I had seen it earlier.  It was at the very back of the plant.  I'll try to photograph it each day as the flower gets bigger.  More on that later.

We had about an inch of rain last night.  The plants are happy, but more mowing is in order.

It's going to be up in the high nineties, low hundreds tomorrow in southern New England.

Stay cool....thanks for stopping by...........*s*