Who’s The Culprit?

Yet another one bites the dust!

Walked into my bedroom yesterday and found Kiki, Peach, and Grayby all asleep on my bed and my earbuds in pieces.

 Why on earth would you think we would do such a thing?

Stay well and safe.

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

Trials and All

 My this is fun!  I am learning to use the *new* *improved* Blogger!  I find it difficult to think about new  methods while I am trying to type comprehendable sentences.

ANYWAY:

I have been thinking a lot about glazing and why so many potters appear to loathe the process.  I have feeling part of it is due to the thrill of hands in clay and making something vs. the mechanics needed to learn glazing. I am not talking chemistry here, but the methods of applying and combining glazes.  

Below are two tea canisters glazed in Spectrun #799 Majolica White. The designs are Mason Stains. The luna moths are my own mix.  The interesting thing is that this green on Linda Arbuckle’s majolica white is exactly the color of a luna moth. The difference is most likely in the glaze recipes.

Speaking of luna moths I have only seen a few at the beginning of the summer. Our lack of rain and hot weather may have something to do with that.

The fish canister was more successful.  I like the way the blues and the movement of the fish works with the shape of the pot. Not so thrilled with the other side.           Yellow fish needs more movement.

As I said I have thinking about glazes a lot, but I will go ahead and try to post this is the “new & improved” Blogger will let me.  Yes, there is a tiny bit of snark there.

Toes crossed that all are staying well, both mentally and physically.

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

Mermaid

I haven't done a lot of clay this summer, but I have enjoyed messing around with some paper clay I made.  I added a bunch of mushed up and wrung out toilet paper to some recycled white earth. I beat the whole thing with an immersion blender until it was a smooth consistency, and let it dry to a workable body.

She is actually an awkward size, too big to comfortably hold, too small to work on easily on my stand.  Live and learn!

She is pinched and hollow.  One very nice thing about paper clay is that I can go back to it when it's too dry, moisten it, and continue to work.

The top photo is her more or less finished state.  In the bottom photo I have begun to add various coats of slip.  There's still a lot more to do.

We drained the pool and have been madly scrubbing.  Toes crossed we get water next week so we can enjoy a bit of swimming.  It's been time consuming as I am still building up my stamina but totally worth it.

It doesn't seem possible that we are in the last week of July.  Summer is passing way too quickly.

I do hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

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

Hello? July?

But where did June go?

Finally the daylillies are starting to bloom.  They are a few weeks late this year which is not surprising considering how cold our spring was.  It didn't start to get warm until the middle of June.
Now everything is going like gangbusters to make up for lost time.

I think I bought the double yellow below when my pond guy was going out of business.  Our caterpillar infestation of a few years ago almost did it in.  I am delighted at how well it has come back.

The dark red is one I bought for Proge, again from the pond guy. This one is on the edge of the pond.

And last, one of our many frogs.  Because what is a pond without frogs?  We have at least seven; the croak all night.  It's one of the comforting sounds of summer.

I have been getting back into my studio now and them.  I am trying out paper clay.

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





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

June

Hares and Rabbits

Happy June1, 2020

Friendly Kitty

Our very dear kitty Friendly Kitty died last night of renal failure.  She had been diagnosed several months ago, so her death was not unexpected.  She was also known as Queen Cat because of her black crown and the way she would would sit on a shelf and watch the other animals.

We adopted her around 2008 in an ice storm.  She had been hanging around Proge’s studio door all fall.  He didn’t want to bring her in as she was wearing a collar and he did not want to take someone’s pet.  He did put out food and a shelter for her.  Until one very icy night she showed up with ice covering her with a block of ice at the tip of her tail.  That was when she got her name, which is slightly ironic as she loved people but had little or no use for cats.

She died quietly beside me as I was brushing her.  We buried her in our animal graveyard with her dish, her ball, and flowers.  I always do this with our pets. I think I must have some Egyptian genes in me.

As always, 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*