Spring

 HAPPY IMBOLC

Although the springiest day was yesterday.  The first daffodils bloomed, the sun was bright and warm, birds were chirping away. We even lit up the grill for the first time since Christmas. 

 Chillier and gray today, but it feels like we turned the corner on winter.  I say this advisedly as it is not unknown to have sudden snowstorms on Easter.

I am ignoring large portions of the world as a means of survival.  

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

Thanks for stopping by..................*s*

Birthday Treat

Four views of the Dick Lehman Oni Shino Cups I purchased from him as my birthday treat.  For several years now I have bought myself a birthday treat with money as receive.  This is one time I don't feel I have to pay bills or buy household necessities.

 My birthday is actually in April, but things were delayed due to getting out of the hospital, Covid 19, auto in for repairs (catalytic converters replaced.  OUCH!).  At any rate I finally got down to the post office on Friday to pick them up.

I am thrilled with them. The pictures do not show the subtlety and depth of the glazes.

 It's finally warm enough to start cleaning the pool. I just have a bit more to drain then can start cleaning.  I have found that if I go slow I can get quite a bit done.  I've become a tortoise...slow and steady wins the race.
We will be spending the weekend at home enjoying the sun in the woods.
Have a safe and healthy holiday.
As always, thanks for stopping by...............*s*

Tea with Tim See

Tim See mug (Well, it doesn't have a handle, but I am using it as a mug) I bought at his Earthworks workshop on Sunday, April 10 at SCAA.

This is one of Tim's robots, facing out.  I'm not sure what it is planning, but i am sure it will be interesting.  As in, "May you always live in interesting times!"

I took lots of photos before my battery ran out.  I will be sorting and posting them as I get to them.

Meanwhile, it is finally spring (toes crossed) and things are beginning to grow!

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

Too Much Mucha?

Another experimental mug.  This time I am testing one of Spectrum's Low Fire Metallics on the base.  No, I don't remember which this is.  It's a surprise!

 This is three views of the same mug. I'm using my old Three Graces theme.  As I said in the post title, I think I have been looking at entirely too much Mucha!

It's warming up outside.  We are starting the yard clean up to get rid of all the winter debris that always seems to accumulate!

The daffodils are raising their heads again.  I'm hoping for flowers in a week or so.  Time will tell!

Enjoy the week.  Toes crossed that Grandfather Frosty has gone home to the North Pole!

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

Glaze Daze

I've been spending a lot of time catching up on glazing.  I'm trying to dig out all the bisqued stuff I have and get it fired.  Some stuff I'm not happy with I'll save for tests.  They are going into a special bin so I can find them when I need them.

I'm doing a slow but steady studio reorganization and clean up; after all it's spring!

The teapot should be posted tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but I could easily forget so here it is.  The bottom is glazed with a Spectrum Metallic.  I waxed it so I would not have to worry about getting other glazes and colorants on it.  The rest of the pot is glazed with Spectrum #251 Satin White.  There are three brushed coats.  The colors are Mason Stains.  The green is mixed 50/50 with frit 3124.  The red is a Mason encapsulated cadmium mixed with frit 3124 and gerstley borate 50:25:25.  I find that the gertsley borate adds a better density to the cadmiums.  I did thin this quite a bit with water to get more of a water color effect. 

It's going to be interesting to see how this comes through the firing.

As I mentioned on my Facebook page Woodrow has returned.  He's living under the shed again.  I took this on Saturday when he was out relaxing in the sun.  If we can get him to stay by the shed, we'll let him stay.  I am hoping he is Woodrow and not Woodrina.  What we don't need is a ton of babies.  That's when the have-a-heart traps will come out with relocation to a spot in the bordering state forest.

It may not be warm enough to grow much outside, but that doesn't mean plants don't stop trying.  This is a strawberry plant that I had in a hanging planter last year.  I wintered it over and it started fruiting a few weeks ago.  This is the first ripe berry.  I have no idea what it will taste like, but I like it for its prettiness and tenacity!

Finally it's acting more like spring.  It's supposed to be in the high seventies all week.  A nice change from weather that has felt more like March than May!

Here's to sunny days!

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

Spring at Last?

I started this entry several days ago.  Then Aloysius managed to get a door open and escape in the middle of the night.  (There's nothing like stumbling around making tea in the morning and finding a wide open door to wake you up quickly!)  He started hanging around, still outside, last night, but we weren't up for a merry chase through the woods at midnight.  This seems to be something Aloysius needs to do every once in a while.  The problem is that we have too many predators that like to eat cats.

He's near the house so I'm sure we'll get him in today.  Ah the joys of being a pet owner!

Meanwhile, we really are seeing signs of spring.  The daffodils are in full bloom.  Even the little minis that I barely remember planting (They were a little pot of bulb that I stuck in the ground after they finished blooming.) are coming along.  By next week between violets and vinca we should have a purple carpet covering most of the yard.

In honor of spring I have changed my photo to my little bird.  He's fairly old and one of the first birds I ever made.  He's glazed in Spectrum Satin Matte with my own Mason Stain mixed colors.  I think he even made it into a show.  I liked him so much that I have kept him as a symbol of good fortune.

Below are two mermaid whistle prototypes.  I've made these as ornaments and magnets, but never tried them as whistles until now. I made a basic mold out of Sculpy.  Once I take the form out of the mold I can individualize it.  The faces are penciled in for reference.  I'll use paint to do the faces after they are fired.  This is only the base glaze.  There are scales and such to come.

Whistles are something I do when I feel like I have no ideas left.  They usually get me moving in a new direction.  I now have a list of stuff I want to make!  Of course the warmer weather adds to my creative juices!

These are the mini daffs I wrote or earlier, with what looks like some sort of  bulb.  I have no idea where it came from!

Even the flamingoes have come out of hiding!

It's a cloudy and drizzly morning with promises of warmer sun later in the day.  It's hard to believe that April is almost gone,  Tempus fugit!

Enjoy the coming week

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

YES! Melting Snow!

This is a teapot (surprise!) surrounded by various shot glass experiments and Li'l Sebastion!  The teapot is one I made a few weeks ago and then sort of forgot about over several days when it was too cold to work in my studio.

Clay Buddies on Facebook is doing a shot glass exchange at NCECA, which happens in two weeks or so in Providence.  These are all handbuilt, but I am going to throw a bunch tomorrow.  They are so easy to make that I am doing far more than I need for the exchange.  They could easily hold a used teabag, safety pins or any little thing that tends to get lost.  They will also make neat little test pots.

I am not generally good a large groups of people but since this one is in my back yard, as it were, I am going to give it a try.  I'm driving up every day so I don't have to worry about the expense of a hotel room if I decide to opt out.

Li'l Sebastion is what I call all miniature horses after Parks and Recreation.  This little guy is being glazed in wrought iron and moon light.....the names of the glazes, but it does sound whimsical doesn't it?

 I lost the first week of March!  We had six inches of snow at the beginning of the week and then on Thursday another eight inches.  That's more than we have in an entire winter some years!

It's been in the high forties and fifties since Monday.  It's almost hard to believe after last week.  We've had doors open.  Last night Proge did his first dinner on the grill.

This was last Friday morning.  Picture card pretty, but cold!   The only good thing was that there was no wind so the snow on the trees stayed for a while!

This is the same shot taken early yesterday morning.  It was forty plus.  The warm air and the cold snow made for a misty, woodland scene.   I'm reminded of North Of The Wall in Game Of Thrones!  If you look at the lower right those pink spots are the flamingoes poking up through the snow.  It's not groundhogs here; it's flamingoes that predict spring!

Toes crossed that we are through the worst of it.  Here's to sunny days ahead!

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

Look What Happened

Spring finally happened, that's what!  

On Friday it started getting warmer so I was able to wedge some clay.  On Saturday I threw these little guys....I started with about two pounds of clay for each.  The white earth is a departure for me.  I use it for hand building, but I don't think I have thrown with it for at least five years.  But I had a dream about a bunch of little white teapots altered into various shapes and decorated with slips and underglazes while in soft leather stage.  Kristen Kieffer calls it suede, which I think is an apt description.  Then I saw Gary's ewers, and was looking at some little cruets that were my Nanu's.  So these little guys are going to be some sort of vessels with spouts and handles.  By early afternoon they'll be ready to play with.  We'll see, Grasshopper.......we'll see.

Lo and behold the daffodils have finally decided to bloom.  These are by the slab my house is built on which is the warmest part of the garden.  The others out in the yard are only up a few inches.  The bloom season gets stretched a bit this way.

The crocuses are going strong.  I don't know what happened to the snow drops.  I think little underground critters ate them.

I made a lasagna last night using the no-cook noodles for the first time, definitely an idea whose time has come.   I think these may be the best thing since sliced bread.  They are just as tasty as the regular noodles, but without having to dealing with wet noodles slipping and sliding around.  Not for nothing do we say as limp as a wet noodle!

Meanwhile Winter, Aloysius and KikiLaSois sleep through everything.....Except the smell of lasagna!

If you celebrate Easter may it be the most joyous of days.  

And happy spring days to all.

This post will also be over on Mud Colony.  There are lots of posts this week so click on the link and take a little tour of the world of pottery.

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