How Many Birds.....

Can you kill with one stone?

Monday Majolica

Monday Mugs

Handbuilt Mugs

Mug Repairs

These are all various majolica mugs I have handbuilt at one time or another.  The middle poppy mug is a black glaze the design is on white glaze.  The unglazed mug is another experiment.  I was drilling out a 'thing' in the cup and managed to go through the wall.  The mend is with thick spooze paper clay.  I will refire it before glazing. 

I keep usable rejects because they remind me of What Not To Do!  I also use them in the studio and outside because I continually misplace them in those locations.  Currently two are somewhere in the garden.  My highest count has been five! 

These are the exteriors of two of the little dippers.  I am also making some to bisque fire.

I know I said I wasn't going to make any new stuff until I got completely caught up with all the unglazed stuff hanging around my studio.

All I can say is that the best laid plans......etc.

I am finding myself stimulated and getting many ideas from old work.  There are variations on ideas and new paths to explore.  Staying busy is a good thing!

We are adding water to the pond and the pool over the next few days.  It's been sunny, breezy and dry lately.  It's great weather for drying clothes and clay, but it does make for faster water evaporations!

We keep changing and adding to the yard.  If I ever get my camera shutter to behave I'll take some photos.

Enjoy summer while it's here; I'm not sure where it's been going!

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

Teapot Tuesday

I made this one last winter when I was thinking of doing a different handbuilt teapot every week as a way of staying away from the winter doldrums!  Unfortunately family stuff intervened and I never got very far with the idea.

Ceramic Arts Daily did a post last year about making handbuilt teapots over a form in about an hour give or take some time.  I made this one over a bowl.  I did everything while it was still on the form.  The form gives the clay enough stability to be able to do everything.  By the time I had cut the lid opening and added the handle the clay was stiff enough to have the form taken out.  I placed it immediately on a clay slab.  I cut a circle a bit bigger than the base and attached it quickly using spooze.  I didn't worry about the tissue paper left inside as it peeled away when the pot dried.  I think I made a different lid from the one I cut out of the form. 

I've glazed it with my old faithful Spectrum #799 Majolica White on unfired clay.  The fish designs look odd as I cover them with a green tinted wax resist as soon as I am finished with a design.  Unfired stains smear easily so this solves that problem.  I think I'm going to add a little something more to the background.  I don't want them to look like they are floating in air.  Although, now that I think of it the fish in the pond look like they are swimming in air when the water is clear!  Hmmmm, now I have to think about it.

It's a cloudy, warm, muggy day with heavy rain on the way tonight and tomorrow.  Hopefully we will get several inches.  We are by no means suffering from water want, but rain in summer and fall prevents drought in the winter.

We are considering Woody's Garden behind the shed.  We have violets galore this year and I may get some end of season marigolds and petunias.  These appear to be the great favorites.  If we were starving I would not hesitate to kill and eat him, but we are not, so he can live on sufferance for now.

Lastly, I am so saddened to hear of Robin Williams death.  What pain he must have been suffering to have been driven to take his own life.  We knew him for all the joy he brought.....let that be his legacy.

Enjoy your day.  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*

Muggy Majolica Monday

I'm being a little punny today!  We've had about two inches of rain since yesterday.  It's like living in a steam bath.  As I write this the sky has been clearing and the humidity dropping.  It's time to go out and take a look at the plants.

This is another one of my balloon mug experiments.  I make the mugs around an inflated water balloon.  They end up holding about 12 oz.  I glaze the interiors with a Spectrum low fire clear that I tint with a little red-brown Mason Stain.  I wait to glaze and decorate the exteriors after the bisque firing.  

There is a lot I'm changing about this one.  I am now making them with several little feet to give them a little lift and more stability.  I like the idea of the handle but I don't really like the reality of it.  I like to be able the cradle a mug in my hand with my thumb through the handle.  This doesn't really work!

This one is glazed with Spectrum #799 Majolica White, painted with Mason Stains.  The green and yellow are mixed with 'paste'  (50/50 gerstley borate and frit 3124).  The other colors are Mason Stains mixed 50/50 with frit 3124.

Enjoy the day and the summer.....is August really on our door step?

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

Majolica Monday

Where are they hiding? I found another fish whistle!  This one is in a white ^04 clay.  I'll be once firing it, using Spectrum Majolica White #799.  This is a glaze that works very well on raw clay.  

When I am brushing glazes I always put some in a separate container and add food coloring or anything that will burn out.  It is much easier to tell where I have brushed glaze if it is contrasting with the previous coat.  On bisqued clay I use three layers on green ware I use four.

The lower photo shows the whistle itself.  As I've said before, I like the whistle to be a part of the fish or other animal.  Next I am going to do ocarinas and flutes.

I find From Mud To Music  by Barry Hall an invaluable resource.  Has anyone tried water whistles?

My camera is doing some very strange things.  I think it's something to do with the shutter.  I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive fix.

Finally after days of dull, gray clouds the sun has come out.  It still feels cool for July!

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

A Birthday Remembered

My dear big sister, Prudy, would have been 79 today.  Here she is as a little girl.  Our big brother used to tease her(and me) and say, when she reached her teens, that she looked like a plucked chicken.  I think she was a darling, beautiful little girl.  

Prudence Ann Caswell (Goodnow) ca. 1939-1940

There is nothing quite like the unconditional love of a big sister.

Enjoy the day.

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

Look What I Made!

Pistachio Butter!

I've been reading about making your own almond butter and the light dawned!  I could (and did) make nut butters from any nut I want.  My local market sells all sorts of nuts at a reasonable price.  Pistachio is the first try.  And it's quite successful, if I do say so.

The photo below is pistachio butter on toast, shown on my bosc pear test tile.

What surprised me was how easy it was!  Threw the nuts in my Cuisinart, ground until they started clumping; added grapeseed oil to and a little salt to get the nut butter consistency.  I ground to a coarse texture to match my favorite (very expensive) almond butter.  Probably any good oil could be used.  I like grapeseed oil because it has a neutral flavor that lets the nut flavor shine.

Next up macadiamias and perhaps pepitas.....who knows where this will go?

 We bought the head of organic lettuce at our local farm stand.  It's fourteen inches across and smells as well as tastes great.  They sell their lettuce with roots stored in water, so that is what I am doing!

We've been putting in some perennial flowers this year, but have decided to hold off on vegs until we can get a good space established.  Last year's garden is going over to herbs.

Sunny days are here again, enjoy!

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