This weekend I get to celebrate 38 with a special somebody, we’re celebrating with a little SanctusReal and JJHeller tonight LIVE.
Also In addition to MORE SNOW DAYS…and SICK DAYS, I have been getting ready to take over a gymnasium with crafts for our upcoming womens retreat. I love testing out new DIY ideas. This week I made these giant 10″ crepe flowers! Just a few more ski days and I’ll be ready for spring… 
I wish I could say this was purely by discipline that I am working ahead on Easter projects. But truthfully it is fueled by my new dining room table. I have been slightly obsessed with tablecloths, vases, plates…. decorative stuff that I put little value on previously. After following a few internet rabbit holes (pun intended) literally everything I saw was completely designed around fluffy bunnies and eggs. What a sad thing this holiday has become…
As if plastic eggs could ever replace the amazing story, of love, death, resurrection, and redemption found in the Bible. I know hospitality is more than decorations and menus, it is about the welcoming. Oh to share a meal and have ones home reflect the warmth of the Savior. It’s a learning and making season for me. I am enjoying my Mains book , ”If Christians, corporately would begin to practice hospitality, we could play significant roles in redeeming our society. There is no better place to be about the redemption of society with the captive, the blind, the downtrodden, the more we realize that in this inhospitable world, a Christian home is a miracle to be shared. ” Do you have an Easter or Lenten tradition in your home?
Daffodils have long been some of my favorite spring bulbs. Emerging warm yellow blooms from the snow-covered ground. I carved two new daffodil blocks and used old printers letter stamps to lay significance in the clay. We’ll see how these fire up and fill with spring blooms.
My obsession with the Christmas hymn “O little town of Bethelhem” continues…
This year I made some votives in varying sizes for an art fair in Midland. After creating my ancient city & star roller stamps, I hand-built these guys. I glazed some all-blue, all-white, and just a few mixed. After adding a few battery powered candles they flew off the table at the fair, I have just a few left in the shop. I am currently making a few more and a few special ones for a Christmas centerpiece. I also made an 18 inch platter, which sold before I even got a picture! It is always so humbling to make something and sell it, these especially because I feel so connected to the inspiration behind it.
I just LOVE how these turned out!
I have been making, making for this upcoming market. Last year I made my first batch of pumpkins, eager to make more, I was having a hard time on the wheel closing up the tops without collapsing them (they are hollow on the inside) but finally I found my groove. Throw on the wheel, wait about 10hrs for them to firm up a bit then carve. They are slightly larger this year, but man they are just so cute! As I was carrying them upstairs from my studio to work on them by A, when I totally tipped the board and one splatted on the ground. Amazingly it added the best character, I thought it was a goner, it just goes to show you we’re all redeemable!
And fyi, I have totally been sucked into these two sites craft gwaker and poppytalk. Not that I have the time to actually be online or need to pin more ideas to my pinterest but check them out, so fun!
I am still working on that cup project - 2 bisque loads and MULTIPLE glaze loads. I wasn’t sure if I would like this new white glaze but the more I use it the more it surprises me. I made this little set requested by a friend, white with some bare clay showing through… I kind of didn’t want to deliver them! I want to try it on a darker brown/black clay body now. I love how it drips!
I wrote this yesterday to post today… All are trimmed and slightly altered. I really am loving the square shapes and my new stamps that I made a while back. I am trying to not fall in love with too many… but I wanted to share a few of my favorites!
Cup 100!
Day three I decided to throw mostly tall tumblers and small yunomi (tea) cups. It cuts out on the handle steps. I have enjoyed the rhythm of the clay and stillness over the last three days. Today we go to pick the girls up from their grandparents – I mean I could have sat on the couch the whole time but this was WAY more fulfilling! Just look at that happy bat that ushered me to my goal!
Day two – why did I give myself this challenge again?
I trimmed the first 40 cups and added handles to the mugs. Below are the 30 mugs I threw on the wheel on day two. This is what the bottoms look like before they are trimmed. I found myself repeating shapes so I tried to make little sets that went together. As fun as this little project is to make, I am already dreaming about what glazes to use and matching them in pairs. Two days down, one more day to go…
My kids are off with grandparents and I found myself with a little extra time. What a novel thing “time.” Of all the ways to spend my time, the clay is just calling me this week. I have flirted with this exercise for a while – 100 cups. It took me a while to get in a rhythm but today I threw 40, it seemed to work the best with Pandora on the computer. Tomorrow I trim and add handles and throw 40 more. I only have 3 days but they are wide open. My normally chilly basement studio is a great escape during this heat and from this quiet home.
I’ve been busy bookmaking. Here are the results from my feather print block series – I love pressing my own carved image in the clay. Also quite a few have handmade paper from Nepal on the cover pages. I need to get my supplies together but I really want to make some more paper this summer, I haven’t done that in quite a while… All journals are now in the shop, a few more to come.
