Old Friends

I was looking through some old notebooks and found Humpty Dumpty, a design I haven't used in several years.

It's on terra cotta, glazed with thee coats of Spectrum #799 Majolica White.  The colors are my own mixed Mason Stains.

This is first step, with all the main design elements painted in.  Next I will put in some background details and wax resist all the painted work.  Then I will work on the background, waxing where needed.  Waxing makes it so much easier as I don't have to worry about background bleeding into the figures.  Any colors that get onto waxed areas I can get off with one of the little eye shadow sponge applicators I keep on hand.  It will be fired at a hot ^05.

 Eventually I will fill the kiln so I can fire.  As soon as my studio warms up a bit I will make a bunch of greenware to go in on separate shelves.  It's one of the advantages to working in low-fire.

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

Wood Stove Firing

Since my real studio is way too cold for any prolonged work, I have tried firing in my wood stove. This was fired in my Jotel in the top circulator space.  I used my low fire terra cotta and left it in the stove for about twenty-four hours.    I think it's somewhere around ^06.  It feels and sounds the way t.c. is at that temp.  I lightened the photo a bit so some of the detail can be seen.

Next time I'll put some cones in. 

Unlike many years we are still using the wood stove 24/7. 

My hibiscus have started blooming.  These are southern varieties that I winter over inside.  They generally start blooming when the days get longer.

It's nice to have some color inside.

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

Metamorphosis

No not angel cats.  E. Nesbit has written that dragons are simply cats that have not learned to be gentle.These dragons metamorphosing into pussycats.  This will be part of a series showing the complete metamorphosis.

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

Catching Up

Sometimes it takes me a while.  The bottom picture is the unfired sippers I did last December.  I sold a few of them so in the top photo I only have four of the finished ones to show.  The photo isn't great but it gives a pretty good idea of what the finished sippers look like.

Winter is still the doldrums.  I have been dealing with fighting off the edge of a cold.  Yes it's a cold and not the flu.  I haven't had a cold in years so I have forgotten what it is like.  Mostly I just want to lie around like a sloth.

Toes crossed everyone is enjoying good health.

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

To Market, To Market

To market, to market to buy a fat pig:

Home again, home again jiggetty jig.

Only I altered the rhyme at bit.

To market, to market to court a fine pig.

Home again, home again jiggetty jig.

This is how I paint my pots.  I am using Spectrum #799 Majolica white.  It will be fired about ^05-04.

I am once firing this as it's a test of a new design.  Working on unfired clay for this length of time is risky at best.  The challenge is not destroying the mug by adding too much wet glaze, and stains at once.  However 799 once fires beautifully so I am not expecting any problems there.  (HAH!  Those may be famous last words.)

This is a new design so I have laid it out in detail.  If I am using a design that is an old friend I simply put in a few marks as a guide.  This is drawn with a soft drawing pencil.

 The base colors are laid out.  I will go back and add a bit more color where I think it is needed.  I want a Clear Line style do I am not adding a lot of shading.

 I wax all my designs before adding my background colors.  Tedious but worth it.

The grass and sky are added.  The sky is a pale blue I mixed, thinned to almost a wash.  I rub and blend with a finger if I want to get rid of brush marks'

These were taken in a different light so the wax doesn't show up as much.  This batch was tinted with green food coloring so I could see where I brushed it.

Ready to fire, which may be a while as I am taking my time.

We are having a gray, chilly day.  I am planning to spend it inside making small whistles.  I want to try firing them in the top of our Jotul wood burner.  We'll see about this one, Grasshopper..........

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

Amaryllis

They have taken their own sweet time but finally my amaryllis are blooming.  At least a few are, but  with nothing like the profusion of blooms I had last year.

I think they probably need repotting next fall.

I am forcing Angelique tulips..I used to do this very successfully years ago.  I don't know why I stopped, but it's worth a try.

The flowers that bloom in the spring tra-la!

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

2018

First words to greet the new year?  “Wake up!  The pipes are frozen!”

Happy New Year , one and all! 

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