Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wordless Wednesday


Because a picture is worth a thousand..............


Bag O' Cat

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Talkative Tuesday and..........


OTHER STUFF

More rain today.......a good day for working inside....glazing and kiln loading.



I've decided that if there is Wordless Wednesday, why not Talkative Tuesday?

I am not happy about a response I received a few days ago to a Wordless Wednesday I did a few weeks ago.  The name on the reply was Aria Zoesch.  When I hit her name all I got was a blank page form saying this person had nothing to share with me.  Alarm bells started ringing so I googled the name.  Numerous bloggers have received the word for word exact same posting over the summer.  I cannot believe this is a legitimate or even real person.  Next will be offers from princes in Nigeria offering to give me untold amounts of money for access to bank accounts and a small fee.  Have I mentioned that I have several bridges for sale in this area?

I am almost certain this happened because I have been linking to the Wordless Wednesday site.  I am going to continue Wordless Wednesday because I like the idea of an image standing on it's own for others to connect with in their own way.  However I am no longer going to link with the site and have taken down my link to it.

Hey!  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

On a happier note I have been experimenting with making more goblets.  I have no idea where this is going.  Sometimes ideas take months or even years to mature.  I may end up with them on a shelf where I can look at them.  This is one of the cool things about making stuff.  It sort of ferments in the dark parts of my brain and eventually comes to the surface.

I have been cleaning my studio.  Not too bad since I did major sorting last July.  And getting the sun room shelves ready for plants to come inside.  And getting the wonderboard put up for the stove we are bringing upstairs. (The tiles will have to go in next year, as I am still making them.)  And recycling clay so I don't have to do it in the dead of winter........you get the idea.  Fall is a busy time!

Staying busy...staying out of trouble.

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

Sunday, September 30, 2012

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*

Monday, September 24, 2012

What Do You Do....


WITH CRACKED POTS?

Christa posted photos of a walk she and her husband took yesterday.  Check out that barn!  What I liked most were the cups with plants in them.  They reminded me that using cracked or otherwise unusable pottery can often be recycled into other uses.

I took a few quick shots of pots I use for plants.  I took these on my deck.  I have some mugs by other potters that are out on the pool deck.  It was starting to rain, so I came back inside.  I can be such a wuss about a little rain!


This was a favorite bowl I used to take down to my studio with fruit in it.  The glaze was not good enough to sell it, but it was a good shape to use until the cats knocked it around and put a crack in it.  This is why I only use my own seconds in my studio and outside.  All the collected mugs are used only in the upstairs living area.where there are rugs and most things bounce!


 This was the lower part of a bird feeder I made a long time ago.  It works quite well as a flower pot.  I may do a few without the drain holes in the saucer section.


This is a goblet that is positively ancient. It has a crack in it to provide drainage!  It's in stoneware so it I must have made it in the first or second year I was potting, before I switched entirely to majolica and low fire clay.  I do remember that I had made about nine or ten of them that I put in my then co-op's Christmas sale and a customer bought eight of them.  I was thrilled!

I'm taking the car in for inspection this afternoon, after being completely oblivious to it's needing to be done at the end of August.  For the most part, I drive so little these days that I tend to miss dates.  My toes are crossed that all goes well and I don't end up spending lots of money!  I can't complain about car expenses this year...two new tires and air conditioning repairs....pretty good for an SUV that is Twenty-two years old.  My goodness, not only can my auto vote but it can drink too!

Have an enjoyable day and as always, thanks for stopping by............*s*

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Mabon


Last of the Day Lilies

     
   

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou may'st rest,
And tune my jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance,
Sing now the lusty song of fruit and flowers.

William Blake  To Autumn


Enjoy your week end.

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




Thursday, September 20, 2012

A View

FROM MY STUDIO


The environment outside my studio is almost as important as my studio itself.  This is what I see when I look out my south windows. I did shoot these outside the windows to avoid reflections.  The light is so bright it's difficult to get good photos.  I should have taken the camera out with me at six-thirty, when I took Winter out!

 Everything still looks pretty summery.  We have had cool nights but nothing near frost temps.  It's beginning to feel like autumn, however.  The light has changed.  The air has a clarity to it that only comes with the lower humidity of the changing season. 




 These are the morning glory and moon flower towers.  One reason I hope for a long fall is that the moon flowers and dahlias are blooming so nicely.


This is the shed with the newly dug area we are putting in for a small vegetable garden nest year.  The soil needs a lot of amending as we are on glacial moraine.


Further to the right is the pond in the foreground with the pool in the background.  With the last rain the water temp has dropped to 66F....too cold for me.  I still wonder how we swam in the ocean when we were kids and thought it was warm.  We would insist we were not cold even though our lips were blue.  But coming out of the water always meant a treat of some sort; so it wasn't too bad.


BREAD

I've been fascinated with beer bread since Gary did a post a while ago about it.  His recipe is simple and tasty.  You will have to scroll down a bit but it's there.

Of course I have to complicate things by trying a slow rise beer bread.  This turned out to be very tasty indeed.  It's quite dark; Proge says it looks like chocolate bread.  It also makes a fantastic pizza dough.  We did one loaded regular pizza and one with goat cheese, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil.  I let it rise a bit longer than usual so it was almost like a foccaccia.



And finally the obligatory photo of animals.  This one is of Winter and Aloysius half arguing and half accommodating each other on my chair in the sunroom.  There is some doubt about who has what right to the chair and when.  Yesterday I had two cats an a dog on my lap.


I'm headed down to the studio to finish up some more bag pots I started yesterday.

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

This post can also be found on Mud Colony and Artists In Blogland.  Meet new people; go take a look.

Have a sunny day and, as always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*