makers market

I am getting excited for this show and super appreciate the coordinators who post a “spotlight” on vendors almost daily on facebook and blog.  Check out mine here.

glaze load #2

 

 

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!

the next challenge…

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!

day two: 100 cup challenge

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… 

feather happy

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.

mine

We have several sets of these little colored ikea cups, when we rearranged the kitchen I put them in a low drawer so the kids could get their own glasses.   Although I love their independence, I  pick up cups all over the house.  ”Which color did you have?” is a very normal phrase, as is “I want pink.”   This spring I made a little cup of my own, pressed with a few of my gem stamps.  I’ve grown pretty attached to it – no need to ask the question, everyone knows it’s mom’s cup…

starting the week on the right foot…

Productive monday morning…  Wedding platters, devos, mugs altered by baby K, a walk with Hazel and my camera led to this beautiful poppy flower.  Just look at those cute baby feet smooshed into the clay – she wasn’t as big of a fan… oh newborn baby feet.

 

Sunprint lampshades & clay textured lamps

This has been one of my new projects – making lamp bases.  I have been experimenting with shapes and sizes, learning to wire, and now to pair them with the right shades (I think that is the hardest part!)  I have had fun using my different textures and glazing each uniquely.  Just a few for now but I plan on making more,  I don’t think I have a good photo of it but the square lamp was my favorite.

In experimenting with shades I revisited one of my favorite projects – sunprints!  I found a product called inkodye which produces photo-chemical ink which can be brushed on fabric and exposed in the sun to develop a gorgeous cyan blue color.  Any surface brushed with the chemical turns blue, even skin which I found out the hard way!  At least I didn’t get any on my face, can you imagine blue war paint for several days.  Like most photo sensitive materials, the ink must be washed in water to stop over exposure.  What do you think?

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I learned a little bit about ferns too, since I like to research about the plants I use.  I always thought ferns lived in wooded wetlands but it seems they are specialists in marginal habitats, remote mountain elevations, to dry desert rock faces, to bodies of water or in open fields, often succeeding in places where various environmental factors limit the success of flowering plants.  This weekend my best friend came up for her first visit after moving, and I could sense the adversity of being uprooted.  I think she is stronger than she realizes and I know that shortly she will return to thriving (in any environment) just like that resilient fern.    I love you friend,  ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.  May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’ Numbers 6:24-26

loosen up with watercolor

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I bet you are thinking this too – finally some new work!

I did a quick watercolor swash to liven up my backdrop and went to town.  Drawing and painting are such freeing large movements for me, truly liberating after the deliberate and steady work in clay.   I am loving all these little gemstones and new shapes,  definitely inching towards the end of the diving board, looking forward to plunging into the studio.   I hope it is warm where you live because we have been seeing nothing but gray skies and snow here … inching … towards spring.

fresh from the kiln… (sneak peak)

Very excited about these….  I hit this little side interest in geometric shapes and gems this winter and ran a test kiln with some new forms & glazes…  yes!