December blog post

Since I've been sporadic with my blog posts, I'm assuming this will probably be the only one in December.

My husband knows that the ornaments in the pictures are my "must have" ornaments on the tree, since my grandma made them.

Will have to make more of these trees next year. I just followed Jill's instruction on how to make them, and they turned out almost as cute as hers!

These are slab-built containers which were started in September and then a bowl left over from last session.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for still checking up on me!

5 pieces

p.s. I do not have a pepper collection. I just altered one of the mugs and thought it looked like a pepper and made another one to look more like a pepper. Please don't buy me any pepper things, as I would rather eat them than look at them.

p.p.s. Green peppers give me heartburn, but jalepenos don't. Is that weird or what?

Last "blate" and handbuilding pieces

Here's the last in my "blate" series. I like the one before this the best. On the first try, I was trying to make a landscape but the clouds in the sky part didn't turn out at all. Finally got around to glazing my handbuilding pieces from September.

I was surprised how good I did sculpting the frog, but I copied the instructor's who coached me on it.

Happy Fall!

Ribs N Bids Pancreatic Cancer Fundraiser

Do you remember this? I posted it this summer.


Well, you have an opportunity to bid on it. I made it especially for this:


There will be lots of handmade items to buy including pretty knitted and crocheted items. Unfortunately, I am priorly engaged that night and won't be there. So please go eat some BBQ for me. Click here to see my friend's blog post about her beautiful handiwork!

Another "blate" and bowl

My husband bought me a light tent, so I'm playing with that and trying to figure out how best to use it. Thanks, husband! Now you won't see my couch or coffee table as often!

I still like my "Smokey the Bear" ruler, though.

A cow, forest, fondness of fungi, and frontyard fun

I would've call this a word-less post but, the title is a bit wordy already so I'll elaborate. Something we don't get too much of in my part of Kansas is fungi. It's really interesting to me. Have been thinking about buying some mushrooms to grow in the closet this winter to fight the doldrums...This just might be the year that I order that box kit from one of the garden catalogs.

Pots

In case you don't see my stuff on facebook, here it is.



Below are my raku pieces from a firing on October 11th. Raku firing: The pyrometer has to reach 1,800 degrees F.

Gingeroot Photography Workshop

Last Tuesday I attended a photography workshop. As you can tell, I don't take that many portrait-type pictures and wanted to get more familiar with this.

I was pleasantly surprised that Lora, a friend of a mutual friend, signed up for it, too! It was great getting to know her better and meeting other shutter buggers, I mean bugs! I got some good tips and even tried to pose a model. Now I need to practice more. Who wants to be the first in line?


Click here and here for links to blog posts about it.

Another rocket bowl, Vertigo III, etc.

Before I hesitate any longer, here are some pottery pieces:

Decisions in the digital photography world, etc.

Oh the advantages of living during the age of digital photography!!! I can take 100 pictures of something if my memory card will hold it! One of them might be good, maybe? Yes, I love this hobby! But there's one part to it I'm not enjoying so much--going through all those pictures and deciding which are "keepers" and which aren't...Could I maybe crop that or is it too light or too dark?

Which picture would you choose out of these first two?

The butterfly pictures are from almost a couple of weeks ago, my last crop of monarchs.

This vase-- which I'm not very fond of--was on the shelf all during break and I didn't even realize it was mine until now.

This is a second try at my footed bowls for last session. It pretty much reminds me of something Marvin the Martian would use because the feet look like they should be on a rocket. I like it! There will be one more similiar bowl coming out of the kiln this weekened.

Two surprises this morning!

Before I leave for pottery on Saturdays, I usually take the dog out front. Little did I know that I'd find a box from Proflowers...

I stored them in the fridge while I was gone today so they'd last longer.

Did my husband remember we had pink roses at our wedding or did he remember that my favorite rose type is the pink "Lady of Guadalupe" ordered from the Jackson and Perkins catalog, bought with my birthday money one year from my mom? I'm sure it was both! Thanks honey!!!

AND then there was another photo opportunity I just couldn't pass up...

Flutterbys and class project

Here are some photos from the butterfly house at our local public garden.

Is there a tail missing on that Giant Swallowtail? Is that part called a tail?

I'm guessing one of these Queen butterflies is a male. Hmm, a male Queen?

A small vase...

And below is my version of the class project for the session that just ended. We were to alter the lower part by scoring it and manipulating the clay with our fingers, superballs, whatever would work to push it out. The clay had to be just the right consistency in order to do so. Sometimes it required rewetting or use of a wet sponge. The instructor said he wanted it to be fluid-looking like, well actually like rolls of fat.

The funny thing is, the skinny people didn't quite get the look that he was wanting. I, on the other hand, was able to get closer to the look he wanted. Who would've guessed?

Black swallowtail and what happens when a grub grows up

Do you notice the little bump on its abdominal area? I'm not sure what's up, but it did fly away after an hour, so it must not be harmed much.

Yes, that's a chopstick or what I use for a butterfly ladder to let them climb out.











This June bug is a lot prettier than the grubs I find in the soil.

An hour in Lindsborg

Last Saturday, I was in the area of Lindsborg and got to walk downtown. Lindsborg is a Swedish community in Kansas. I went in the Small World Gallery and met a National Geographic photographer whose wife designs jewelry. Then I went into Courtyard Gallery and saw some pieces from my favorite potter who comes to the Wichita Garden Show, Carol Long. It's amazing what she does with slip (liquid clay)!

Yes, that's "Salvador Dala" in the picture up there.