More red, kind of...

Unbenounced to me, the high-fire clear glaze turns green when put on clay with iron oxide, so I was expecting all these to be red. Luckily, I only put glaze on the inside of the vase to seal it. The next piece is a tumbler.

Here are two pictures of a three-handled vessel. Would like to do more in the future.

Please vote now

Have you ever visited the
Bartlett Arboretum? It has suffered from flooding in the recent years and has been nominated for a grant. Please click here and vote for Robin Macy and the Arb' to get a grant from said wine company. Did you know she was the founding member of the Dixie Chicks?

On a somewhat-related topic (in my mind at least), these were the best pictures I could get of a tree hopper that I found in my yard about a week ago. I think it's so cute!!! Do you see how in my mind this can be somehow related to the arboretum, as it hops on trees? Just a little peek of how my mind works.

Thank you for you support (I by no means just subliminally suggested that you should drink wine or listen to the Dixie Chicks (even though I like both) by voting, but you may do so at your discretion (or even drink Bartles and James for that matter in case anyone remembers those commercials using said phrase)).

Have I used enough parentheses in this post? Maybe this would make a good "mind teaser" quiz--How many parentheses do you see in this post and did I even spell parentheses right?

Another plug...this time for a very cute blog!

Did I say I was going to post pictures of Independence day? Well why don't you just gohere (click right here for Cloud1000) and see some for yourself.

Also took some very weird pictures I might post later, but I took 91 pictures and have to narrow them down a bit.

Plug for Greta

Remember this post (click here) from October when I talked about Greta letting me take pictures of her sketchbook?

Well, she's having an art show!!! I finally get to see some of her paintings and ogle over them. (BTW, why don't they spell ogle with two o's?) She will have her ceramics as well. I'm going, even if I have to by myself (hint,hint)!

Here's a preview of an unfinished piece of hers using the masking technique.

Love ya, Greta; bye!

Finally...

If you've looked at my hands in the last month, I've probably had to explain to you that I've been using red clay and haven't had a self-tanning disaster. Finally got some finished pieces. The clay is called SB red, and it stains hands and gets stuck between fingernails and cuticles.
There are a few more pieces that need to be bisque-fired, are drying on the shelf, or almost done in this clay. These are tumblers with the sgraffito technique with black covercoat.
This pot is my ode to fennel. The glaze didn't turn out like I expected, so of course I'm not too excited about it.


A couple more tumblers.


What else is in the works? I'm out of the vase phase and want to do pitchers for some reason...and have been kicking around ideas for the class project and bowl assignment and maybe even the communion set I keep putting off.

Will post some Independence Day pics when I get around to it.

Out of the kiln

The following tumblers were made with this tool, the Ultimate Edger, which I got when I was in Lawrence in May. There's a lot of grog in this clay, so you can also file your nails on the bottom ridge of these cups--double purpose!




This lidded piece was done in May as are most of these pieces and is finally finished.

And a mug.

Pictures long overdue but will post anyway

This was a couple Saturdays ago...the chalk festival, dinner at Lara's and Paul's including margharitas, and the
Mentos/Diet Coke fountain trick--all in one exciting day!

BTW, have you seen the Weezer video featuring Experiment #711? I don't know half the things they are referring to. Guess I better watch more YouTube.

Macro milkweed

Have been practicing with my new camera lately. The first picture is butterfly milkweed with the macro setting on the camera.
This second picture is using an extension tube and magnifying filter (not very good, but just to show as an example).
On this last one, I cropped and tweaked it in photoshop.

After about 20 minutes of shooting, was kind of tired of closing one eye and squinting the other while looking through the viewfinder. Will have to get used to that.

Have more "bug" pictures on my flickr account if you care to look.

So that's what I've been up to and more.



p.s. Will have some pictures of my pottery to post soon, as there are 9 pieces in the kiln.

What made me laugh today

Thought this was funny after seeing Pat Robert's new commercial.

Juicy airmass

The following is a statement from our local paper weather section for watches, warnings, and advisories:

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS THIS MORNING AND TRACK SLOWLY SOUTHEAST ACROSS EASTERN KANSAS TODAY. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE DUE TO THE SLOW STORM MOVEMENT...AND JUICY AIRMASS YIELDING HIGH RAINFALL RATES.

No, not another juicy airmass!!!

Cruet and new glazes

The cruet is with Coyote Pistachio Shino glaze. Am really pleased with it and actually knew what glaze I was going to use while making it. It's really exciting when I decide what glaze I'm going to use while making the pot, as sometimes I spend a lot of time deciding which glaze to use on already bisque-fired pieces. Decisions, decisions.

The vase has Highland Tweed glaze and came out a little bit lighter on the picture than it actually is. If you do pottery, you can probably guess that I didn't plan on the faceted bottom third. It flew off the wheel while not properly secured while trimming and got dented..thus I proceeded to creatively mask the dent with a cheese cutter.

These bowls have Copper Wash on the inside and Black Licorice on the outside.

Lilies, the photographic triangle, and b&w TV

The first asiatic lilies are blooming in my yard.

Am also learning about the photo-graphic triangle and will be able to take better pictures of the lilies now that I have finally figured out how to set the metering mode on my new camera.

Also figured out how to revert your color TV to black and white...view it through your camera set on monochromatic. Yes, that's Merrill and our forecast.

The birds and the bees, etc.

Shot some photos of random "wildlife" with my new camera on my yard this past week. Below includes the annual shot of the dragon plant/voodoo lily.














Also stumbled upon a rather unusual set of short films by Isabella Rossellini regarding "the birds and the bees", actually bees and praying mantis and spiders, etc. If you're interested, click on the red www site below in the picture...But warn you not to let your kids watch. They are very informative. I would personally recommend "The Bee".

Photoshop disasters

Click here for an article on digital forensics and how to spot photo editing.

I also found this video from the photoshop disasters blog.
Caution: It almost shows "someone's bosom", or at least I think it does since I don't speak German and can't be sure.


The basketball picture was in Sports Illustrated. Oops!

Wordless Wednesday

Long weekend recap

Finish worked....napped...pulled pork salad (which was really good, and no, I'm not on Atkin's or South Beach)...Borders...BOGO cherry cheesecake single-dip ice cream cone from Baskins-Robbins (remember the coupon--we used it)...bed... some reading...sleep in until time to go to first graduation open house...cake with blue frosting that makes BLUE TONGUES (Cool!)...stopping by second open house before church....go back to second open house for a Brazilian Churrasco (or BBQ) (Machine with virgin margharitas) ;o)....Steak, Couve (greens with garlic?), rice, WONDERFUL FRU FRU BRAZILIAN drink with FRESH strawberries, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, vodka, etc....Did I mention SAUSAGE? I LOVE sausage!!!

Oh yeah, our own personal YO-YO SHOW!!!

Sleeping in...More Reading/different book...getting up to make waffles........overdoing it on the treadmill so I need to take ANOTHER NAP! Spending quality time with my compost bin and worms......

Getting CHIGGERS!!! The ants come back!!! But then going to awesome Mem. Day Cookout and seeing the Cadillac of GRILLS in action!!! Rain....hail....rain again...whatever.

p.s. I used different tenses on purpose and know this all isn't proper English, but it was a long weekend, and I'm still relaxed!!!

Ice cream and crock pots

Is there a Baskins-Robbins near you? If there is then click here for a coupon (buy one soft serve cone, get one free). It's good until May 27th.

Just found a blog where a lady is posting about her new year's resolution of using her crock pot everyday for a year. She even has a recipe for playdough made in one! Click here if you're interested.

NOTE TO HUSBAND: This doesn't mean I'm cooking tonight, but feel free to print off the ice cream coupon for us. Love you!

Raku firing

It ended up being a beautiful day on Sunday for the raku firing. We glazed the pots, put them in the kiln and waited for it to reach to 1,700 degrees F. Then they went into a metal trashcan with leaves, sawdust, etc. After the smoke cleared a little, they went into a water bath and then were scrubbed. One of my pieces cracked after it was submerged in water, but it was just glued back together. A good time was had by all!

What I'm trying to remember...

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. 1 Cor 10:13 MSG

Plate, bowls, and wall vase

Stay tuned for a couple of raku pieces from a firing this coming Sunday! It should be fun!

Best Game Ever

This is dedicated to all you parents whose kids are in sports.



Tried to post this video a couple days ago and it wouldn't work. If you like this, check out the Improv Everwhere website and watch the Best Gig Ever. I'd also recommend Redheads protesting Wendy's.

Trying more Coyote glazes

Here are a few pieces that I tried out Coyote glazes on. The bluish one is "Blue/Purple" and was a bit too thick (even though I used the same number of coats as the other pieces). The other two are "Crazed Copper". They came out once and I didn't see the glaze crazing or crackling, so tried it again and still don't see crackles.

This is a plate I was practicing for whenever I get around to the communion set. It wasn't this flat and I tried to trim it when it was too wet, so know I call it my "non-pea plate" because the peas would just roll off of it.

...And that's my commentary.

Saving the Earth one bag at a time...

I finally remembered to use my Envirosax bag at my local supermarket. It's been in my purse ever since I got back from Lawrence a few weeks ago and forgot to pull it out. Anyway, when I pulled it out and gave it to the sacking girls, they both gave me a funny look like this hadn't happened to them before. Guess I surprised them by not using one of the reusable bags with the store name on it....or maybe it was the bag itself.

Yes, I'm saving the Earth only one bag at a time, since I only used one bag and chose plastic for the others.

p.s. Here's my weird environmental tip I will share. I cut the dryer sheets in half and use one-half per load which still gets the static out. Sometimes the fragrance can be stinky to me if my allergies are bothering me, so this cuts down the smelliness...but then I guess I could just use fabric softener and forgo the sheets....maybe next Earth Day.

Happy May Day!