NO WORDS

Healing peace to the people of Newtown Connecticut - and to us all......

TEXTURE

I love using texture in my work - especially combined with a contrasting smooth area.  The front and back pieces of this piece were thrown on the wheel, heavily textured with The Steve Tool and then cut apart and used as slabs.  I used a hand-carved rolling stamp on the sides.  The knob on top is a pinch pot.

Hope you enjoy.  Thanks for your comments!

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS!

Most of my pottery is made in my home studio.  I have a wheel and kiln and most of my work is thrown  and  thrown-and-altered.  When I started doing pottery 7 years ago I joined a local club.  This is where I learned to throw and did all of my work until I set up my home studio.  Many in our group have been there for 6 or 7 years and have become close friends. For that reason I still attend club sessions once a week.  It's become more of a social time for me.  I usually work on small pieces at the club such as beads, pendants and buttons.
A few months ago I started making pinch pot seed pods.  It's been fun to make a variety of sizes and use them to test glazes.  I've stuck them on branches from my yard and display them in a vase.  It makes me happy everytime I pass by them - Yes, it is the little things in life!

Thanks for reading and for your comments.

Still Learning

I'm still trying to figure out this blogger business.  I can't seem to expand the size of my posting.  I will figure it out eventually,  Meanwhile, here's a picture that should have gone in the previous post.

Sling Mold Tray

I was inspired to make this piece by a tutorial (Oct.4 2012) by Lori Watts of Fine Mess Pottery.  It was made using a slab shaped on a sling mold - I used a piece of fabric duct taped to a large plastic storage bin.  My slab was actually a cylinder thrown on the wheel and cut apart to use as a slab.  I placed the slab on the sling mold and allowed it to set up overnight covered with plastic.  Meanwhile I threw a short bottomless cylinder, removed it from the bat and shaped into a rounded rectangle.  The next day I attached the molded slab to the cylinder base.  I then added a coiled piece around the edges and coiled handles.
It was tricky to get the bottom centered under the top and I actually wasn't very successful. One edge was wider than the other and this caused it to slump during the glaze firing.  I see it as a learning experience.  Can hardly see the flaws when filled with fruit!
Thanks, Lori, for the tutorial and you permission to post this.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, peaceful day.
Our son, Josh, arrived from Tampa last night and we are having dinner at a local restaurant with a potter friend.
Oh, and it's my birthday!I'll give you a couple of clues to my age:
- JFK was assassinated on my 15th birthday
- I'm wondering if my husband will still love me today?....

PORTAL SERIES

Here is #5 in the portal series - beach house.  It reminds of a house on stilts at the beach.  I
started this piece well before Hurricane Sandy, but as the piece was drying and Hurricane Sandy hit, the piece took on a whole new meaning.  My husband spent his childhood summers in Ocean City, New Jersey and it holds a special place in his heart.  He also has relatives who have been driven from their home because of Sandy and will not be able to return for several months.  It's a reminder of how fortunate we are and how that could change at any time.

I put some pieces of stained glass at the base of the house, and in the kiln the glass bubbled up and ran down the side - reminds me of the houses which were flooded in the storm.

GLAZE DAY

Today was a glazing day.  I glazed two large pieces and some smaller ones.  I'll do some more glazing tomorrow and fire on Monday or Tuesday.  I am a little concerned about my beach house portal because the lid is a separate piece which I am attempting to glaze fuse to the body of the piece.  I realize that there is potential for the lid to shift during the firing and fuse crookedly but I am willing to take the risk.  Fingers crossed!  If it does shift I have plans to do something creative with it.

Pine needle basketry picture

Pine Needle Basketry

About a year ago a local pine needle basketry club requested that I make them some pottery pieces to work their basketry on.  I had never heard of this before and went to visit their club where I was amazed by the beautiful work they were doing.
They start with a base piece which can be anything from a small disc of clay to alarge bowl.  They also use wood, leather, stone and anything that can be drilled into around the edges.  The first bunch of pine needles are laid horizontally along the edge of the piece and whipped-stiched through the holes.  The layers are continued until the desired size is reached.  They also incorporate things such as beads, twigs, antlers,etc. into the pieces.  The possibilities are endless and results quite lovely.
I have a friend (Maggie) at pottery who also belongs to one of the basketry clubs.  After she admired one of my bowls we made a deal to barter my bowl for a lesson and supplies from her for me to make a pine needle basketry piece.  We met to do that yesterday and I am quite excited about it.
The picture shows my piece in progress alongside some of the needles.  From what I understand, the long needle pines are becoming rare.  We are fortunate to have some in our area and one actually across the street from me.  The ones I am working on now are 11inches long.  I have another friend here (Lynne) who planted one of these trees and the needles are 17 inches long!  The longer the better because you have fewer connections in  the piece.

MORE COLORFUL THAN MY USUAL WORK

My granddaughter brought me back this salt and pepper shaker from Barcelona this summer.  I was inspired to make a mug to match.  I then realized that I should make a mug to match the salt and pepper shakers that my son had given me from Mexico.  This mug is in progress.  I have just blocked in the colors.  I will bisque fire next and then finish the details.  After that I will high fire it.   

New addition to My Blog

I am still working with setting up my blog.  There are some things which I can't seem to change (the width of my columns for one) but I am slowly working things out.  I am sorry to
say that I accidently deleted a comment to my blog.  It certainly wasn't intentional!

The good news is that my daughter, Tara Hanby, has joined me as a co-author on this blog!
Tara is a potter living in Eugene OR.  I think for now she will just be an occassional contributor as she is very busy building her business.

The picture below is of a collaborative piece that Tara and I did with two friends here in Florida last winter.  Tara did the face and background and then the piece was passed around to the rest of us and we each added elements to it.  Tara glazed the piece.

Latest portal piece

Here's my latest portal piece in progress.  I see it as a beach house on stilts.  I plan to use aglaze called "sea salt" on the body of it and possibly add some turqouise glass at the base of the house to look like water.  Often, by the time the piece dries and gets bisque-fired I come up with a totally different glaze scheme!  We'll see.

BACK TO THE FUN STUFF

I am in a pottery club in the community where I live.  Our club has an annual sale - mostly because we produce too much to keep ourselves or give away to friends and relatives.  In the couple of months leading up to the sale I tend to make pieces especially for the sale.

Our sale was last week and now it feels good to start some new projects and work on ideas that have been brewing.  I just made a subconsious (sp) pun - my latest piece is a pot with a speakeasy door on it!

Super Storm Sandy

My thoughts are with the people who suffered losses from Sandy.  I hope their lives will be restored to some sense of normalcy as soon as possible.

My First Post!

Thank you to Barb of Alchemy of Clay for luring me out of blogger anonymity!
I have been enjoying other pottery blogs for a few months now and look forward to
working on my own.  I didn't realize that it is so complicated.  I have been working for the past 2 days just to set up this blog and still haven't figured out how to upload a profile picture!  Any and all help welcome:)