More from Powell Gardens

Blue Morpho and White Peacock

Early last week I attended a butterfly photography class at Powell Gardens during their Butterfly Festival. There were different butterflies from North and Central America, but the star of the show was the Blue Morpho. Notice how the blue is on only one side of the wing?

The butterfly in the last two pictures is the White Peacock.

Hopefully I will post more of Powell Gardens later. They have the most beautiful chapel on the grounds as well.

Caterpillars and pottery pieces

Am hoping to make this post short and sweet, like all my others. Here's an update on the status of my butterfly rescue mission so far this year. The first picture is my very first and currently only Monarch to emerge, as I haven't found any more monarch caterpillars.












Here are some pictures of some black swallowtail caterpillars. Just noticed that one has pupated yesterday.

This one was the daily snap on www.verbict.com.

Here are some pieces from the last few months. A couple of my pottery friends are coveting my horse hair brushes that I made in Jamaica, and I'm trying out new ways to use them for glazing. Now that I know how to make them, we can make more!

The wood firing that was planned for the end of this month has been moved to August 14th. I'm very excited about that have at least 11 pieces made already!

'Lil things

Can you see it? That little caterpillar on my flat-leaf/Italian parsley? I'm assuming it's a swallowtail because that's what they like along with dill and fennel and monarch caterpillars look like they have a set of antennae on the front and the back.















Here's another monarch caterpillar on a milkweed that's not quite a half of an inch. I used my macro lens on these.



The glaze didn't come out as planned on either of these. In fact, the blue taller one I glazed and fired twice, but the glaze didn't stick or hold well. I was disappointed with it already and, yes, that's a chip on the rim. The bottom half of the smaller one is supposed to be copper. As there wasn't much left in the glaze jar, I'm assuming all the copper floated to the top, even after I thoroughly stirred it. I still like it. Just don't ask me about the chalice I made to match the other pieces I glazed when the jar was full!

It was fun to try some small things. I will have to remember to make some more small vases to hold my mini-daffodils next spring. Stay cool!

Teapot #2 and the turning

Finally got my second teapot glazed. The name of the glaze is Canyons.

And here's what happened to the little caterpillars:

Bugs in my yard

Is that enough pollen?


I found out this is a red-banded leafhopper. Remember the treehopper I found last July?
Am loving my macro lens!

Praying mantis on the porch

Was pleasantly surprised to find this guy yesterday while taking the dog out yesterday. According to Isabella Rossellini , if this is a male he hasn't mated yet because his head is still intact.

p.s. This was taken with my old camera, as I don't have a macro lens for my DSLR yet.