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*

Teapot Tuesday

Well, it started out as a teapot!   I pulled the handle and spout and decided it was better off as a watering can.  It holds about three cups of water and is good for getting under the foliage.  

 Perhaps I will make some more as teapots.

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

Another Week

Still cleaning up past work and rearranging my studio so I will be able to survive a winter there, if it doesn't go on forever!  Meanwhile we have had sunny days and no rain; although we did have about one-half inch last night.  It wasn't enough to do much for the water table but it did give the garden a nice bath and refreshed the plants.  Ponds and rivers are lower than they have been for years, but all we can do it wait and conserve water where we can.

Below are two more pufferfish whistles.  I am having fun painting all the unglazed stuff I have found.  I keep thinking that it's tons of stuff.  In reality it's no more than two kiln shelves.  I'm using stuff I had set aside for one reason or another for glaze experiments and tests.  Gosh at some point I may have to make more test bowls!

We are definitely entering autumn weather with warm days and cool nights.  I am hoping that the dahlias that I put in so late will have time to bloom.  They are budding up nicely.  Woody is still around, my he does love a tasty petunia.  I've moved the pots up close to the house for their own good.

Proge's father has a woodchuck that only eats the weeds in their garden.  If they figure out how to get others to be so discriminating they will be in the money!

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

Time Fugits

I think it's been almost three weeks since my last post.  I've been cleaning and sorting my studio.  It never fails to amaze me at the amount of stuff  I manage to accumulate.  Some of it I am tossing, particularly if I can easily get more.  Just how many herb and vitamin bottles do I need to save?  Some of the shapes I use for handbuilding I keep even if I use them occasionally.  

Then there are the surprises.  I have no idea when I made this little spoon.  It holds about a half teaspoon.  It's glazed and ready to fire so into the kiln it goes.  I am jamming more and more stuff in, but am not going to fire until the weather cools down a bit.

Of course now that it's September we are having the hottest weather of the season.  I am so glad I did not close the pool during our chilly weeks in August.

I've been baking bread.  This is a loaf of oatmeal sourdough hot out of the oven. It has a very nice toasty flavor. I have a countertop convection oven which is wonderful for baking in the hot summer months.

It's Allergy Season!  We have managed to get rid of most of the goldenrod and ragweed among other stuff, but it's rampant here on top of the hill.  I'll put up with annoying allergies if we can have one of our long golden autumns.

I've learned the hard way to read labels on vitamins and supplements.  I switched to a chewable Glucosamine-Chondroitin supplement.  I was feeling worse and worse over a week or more until I finally asked myself, "What's new?"  The ingredients list coconut oil.  I can't eat coconut; it seems to be a family thing.  Within two days of stopping them I was feeling better.  Live and learn!

I hope everyone is enjoying these late summer or winter days, depending where you are.  Toes crossed that no one is experiencing floods, fires, landslides or any other disasters.

We're expecting thunder showers later on; any rain is welcome at this point.  We'll see, grasshopper ....we'll see.

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

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*