My first dog dish

Finally made my dog her own personal bowl. I've been taking pottery classes for 2-1/2 years and thought it was about time. I think she likes it.

Winter bug fix

If you've been following my blog (THANK YOU LOYAL VIEWERS!), in the past couple of years I've had a new-found interest in insects. This month I finished reading Four Wings and a Prayer that I found at my local used book store. It's a book about how the butterflies migrate back to Mexico over the winter. I just happened to look up the Monarch Watch website and noticed that tonight there is a special on PBS called The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies!

Am planning on going to watch Vehicles play an acoustic show tonight, so will have to either record it with my VHS or watch in at 1 a.m. or midnight in the next few days...hmmm. Or maybe someone could buy me the DVD for my birthday in a couple of months? Oh, just kidding.

Anyway, I haven't been able to use telephoto lens on insects yet since I got it in November, so am looking forward to warmer weather in the next few months. Had my third photography class last night and am finally figuring out the F-stop/aperature and shutter speed stuff and getting more comfortable shooting in the manual mode. BTW, this picture was taken with my old point-and-shoot camera 2-1/2 years ago when I found a coccoon in my front yard. I do have three different types of milkweed (what Monarchs like) in my yard and hope to find one again.

It's supposed to be a llama...

These two pieces were thrown when I was still in my "alter it/not round" mode in November, carried over from when I made the saki set. The first one is triangular, and the second one is flattened on two sides. I am very pleased with how the glaze turned out on the second one, since I used the SB red clay and had no idea how it would look. I am planning on getting a cork for it and putting some type of decadent spirit in it...maybe amaretto, as I have baked with it before and haven't tried saki yet.

I think I am getting out of my little pottery rut I thought I was in and threw my first spout on Wednesday. It was very fun!

Thanks for looking!

"Alien" salt pigs

Yes, I know they're weird-looking. Was practicing making closed forms and adding feet. These were left over from November and just got out of the kiln last week. I have one more footed decanter and something with a llama on it that should be ready by next Saturday.

Local sightseeing with sister

My oldest sister and her husband came to visit from North Dakota! They enjoyed the warmer weather (warmer than N.D. at least). Did you know it was -44 degrees F in N.D. last night and snow, snow, snow?

We went to the Museum of World Treasures and saw a mummy and the Berlin wall. Then we went to The Kansas Cosmosphere on another day and went to the planetarium there, IMAX, etc.

I "heart" PMC

Last night Melanie let me play with her precious metal clay (PMC) and helped me make this heart pendant. We fired it in her kiln for 30 minutes. This is amazing to me, since regular clay takes about 36 hours in the kiln.

While we were waiting, she made this coronation ring for me. I got to watch her solder it together while using her torch.

If you love the ring like I do, click here to look at her stack rings for sale.

Thanks, Melanie!

Christmas Day nontraditional festivities

Christmas Day quote: "I believe in you, just not when you're bowling!"

Clay talk

Pottery classes will officially start this coming week and have been on break since November. I have gone in a few times to work on my own, but the place has closed early and there has been no regular firing going on.

The first piece is a communion set that is bisque-fired and needs to be glazed. The second is a plate that I forgot to post from November that was practice for the platter of the communion set. The ivy leaves are left over from a project that I have been unmotivated to finish. The plate is a little deep for a regular dinner plate, but the other aspects are fine. Am not too excited about the glazing and forget that when I do abstract-like drippy patterns I'm usually not satisfied with the result. I have a few things on the shelf ready to be fired and will show them when their done.

Optimistic lyrics for a new year

By Carbon Silicon...gotta love these lyrics!

Happy 2009!

Yes, be bold and stong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

Christmas Eve Part II:

Someone threatened me to not post a picture of her bowling on Christmas Day, so I'm posting all the fun ones of her on Christmas Eve! I can vouch for her and her sister, no alcohol was involved...but I can't vouch for the imposter of Wilford Brimley.

Soon to come, Christmas bowling pictures!

EDITED: Christmas Eve quotes: "Some people have to go through hell to get to heaven." "I don't think so."

Christmas Eve Part I: Who is this person?

Whoever this guy is (an imposter of a guy who sells diabetic equipment?), he sure can eat a lot of sausage. Oh wait, maybe he had a little help.




p.s. For some reason I can't get motivated to write a whole blog post and, therefore, think I will do it in piecemeal fashion.

Lights on the Plaza in Kansas City

Merry Christmas!

Star Wars according to a 3-year-old

In case you haven't seen this, thought I would post it. It's so cute!

From Streams in the Desert...

God will examine your life not for medals, diplomas, or degrees but for battle scars.




(Art from St. George and the Dragon, Salvador Dali. Yes! I saw it in person at the art museum!)

Christmas Parade Part II

Be sure to note the red bow on the horse's rump on the first picture and feeties hanging out on the last picture.

Christmas parade part I

Went to a Horse and Buggy Christmas Parade last Saturday, and here's the first portion.

Can you find me?

I inadvertantly took a self-portrait. Can you find me?
These pictures were taken over Thanksgiving Weekend.

I would just like to again state that even though I have a good camera doesn't mean all my pictures will turn out great and I'm still learning and am a little disappointed in my skills...and that is one of the reasons why it took me so long to post these pics, Uncle Bob!

There's also a scrawny vegetarian and maybe a sentarian or two or three. Can you find them?

Oh yeah...and I finally got to meet Hannah! We have been reading each other's blogs for a couple of years and finally got to be together in person. Thanks for the brunch, Hannita! You're almost as silly as I am!

p.s. Has anyone noticed my "medical term of the week" I have had on the right sidebar for over a month now?

Out of the kiln

Here are a couple of squared mugs. --an altered triangular-shaped bottle. This is the color of the SB red clay when it is high-fired with no glaze on it, much deeper than when it is low-fired.















--a couple of triangulated cups. --a salt pig and salt kitty, as the ears make it look more like a cat. The tail fell off three times and wasn't balanced very well with one, so I decided not to try to attach it again.
The main technique about doing the salt pigs is learning how to throw closed forms and have the walls be even. Then I cut a circle in them and had the appendages.












The 70-300mm telephoto IS lens I ordered from a local camera store finally came in, and that is how I got a picture of the ducks. It's amazing to be able to take pictures of people across the river, etc. Anyone want to go on a stakeout with me? I'm ready.

Song-inspired bowl and bottle vases

A few weeks ago, I woke up longing for the sun. We had a run of cloudy days, and I was feeling a little down mentally and spiritually. Then this song popped into my head..."Light of the world, shine on me. Love is the answer."





These bottle vases are my first attempt at using iron oxides to decorate. As iron oxides are toxic and gloves need to be worn when using them, guess I've been to chicken to use them before now.





BTW, those are supposed to be the Andes Mountains and llamas. You might be seeing a lot more llamas in the near future, as for some reason they make me happy.

What did I work on yesterday? A salt pig and one that turned out to be a salt kitty.