Gary's Third Pottery Blog

When the going gets tough, dragons gonna get going....

Gary's third pottery blog

WRITE TO ME! garyrith@yahoo.com Come see me! Open studio HERE! November 25-26 (11-4 each day); Aurora Art and Design, daily until 12/24; Cooperstown Art Assoc. daily until 12/24; Ellis Hollow Community Fair, 12/10; December 10, Little Red Wagon at the Space at Greenstar. All material on this blog unless stated otherwise is copyright Gary Edward Rith 2016

Thursday, January 31, 2013

YogiYogiYOGI!



You know I babysit Yogi sometimes, my neighbor's puppy.  He is so totally ideal...what a sweet boy...

He will sit and shake paw already....




The 2 of us find the other neighbor's chickens fascinating....


IN OTHER news...I had an order for a pug mug, cool eh?


AND I was trying to get a shot of some of the things I like to make on pot sides....but then I thought of other ideas, so this pic is not yet a complete group....but cute, EH?  Have an awesome day!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

if it is Indian summer in fall, what is it in January?

That delightful return to warm weather?  Most northern winters in the past seemed to go loooooong stretches, like Halloween until Mother's Day, with snow piling on snow, cold and...colder.  This has been a fun January!  We get a week of unbelieveable cold and snow followed by a wonderful break.  Again, all our snow cover melted overnight, some rain, 50+ today.... 2 weeks ago it was 60.  This may not seem like much to some visitors to this blog, but it is unbelieveably nice and a week ago it was -5.  Thursday and Friday returns to the usual arctic....20 for a high...but the break is great :)

Nook and I went to Ithaca Falls again yesterday....ice flying everywhere and the falls roar like 100 trains, really!


I keep telling you I am trying to organize my favorite glaze schemes and favorite shapes.... these are 2 favorite glaze schemes and 2 favorite bowl shapes..... mmmmm....JADE! Have a great Wednesday!


(bowls by Gary Rith)

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

time warp Tuesday ahoy!

You know Jenn has Time Warp Tuesday going, right?  Where you share old snapshots from around the house?

OK, here is my entry:  had a funny moment the other day.  I love this pic we took of ourselves on Christmas, our 20th wedding anniversary!  I had it printed, and grabbed an old frame to put it into and...had an archaeological find!  A pic of us in there (whoa, 'STACHE!) from 2001 and another from 2003.
I had the 'stache ten years, trying to look older.  The wife came home from work one day and it was gone, just like the nineties.....she is too polite to say, but I doubt she misses it....
the other shot is us not far from our house in New Hampshire, atop Sunset Hill looking down at Lake Sunapee....
FRANKLY, we look pretty flippin' awesome NOW.




You could probably use a bank or some other fine pot I made...piggy and penguin just added to my etsy gallery!
penguin bankpiggy bank

Monday, January 28, 2013

froggy....

The wife returned from her travels yesterday.  You can see the cat and dog were MISSING her greatly.....

You probably need either frog mugs or a frog teapot, right? ADORABLE! For sale now at my etsy shoppe!  have a great Monday!

teapot with a frogfrog on the bottom of a mug

Sunday, January 27, 2013

the 2 most awesome favorites...

Penny and I were thinking, as we made our lists, "clearly there are 2 all-time favorite albums here, played almost daily for 30+ years!".  This is what happens when wives go away for the weekend, the husband and the dog work together on their favorite music lists....this is why the bed has NOT been made since Friday:  we are TOO BUSY. Plus, I don't know how to make the bed...anyway...

I have never seen the movie PURPLE RAIN, which was Prince's big, what, ego trip? Acting debut?  Who cares, but around 30 years he made the movie, I happened to get the cassette and OH MAN have I listened to it a gazillion times....how to describe Prince?  He is a great muscian, fun, CATCHY!

Tied with Talking Heads REMAIN IN LIGHT.  Again, about 30 years ago it came out and I got the cassette.  It was in the car on constant rotation.  My mom was riding with me one day about ten years ago and said "what KIND OF MUSIC IS THIS????".  You search the gibberish and noise in there looking for meaning and....never find any.  But you keep looking....

Can you believe I only recently replaced each cassette with a CD?  And more recently than that, finally got it them to the ipod?  I read the other day that your personality and tastes are formed in your adolescence...no SH!T!  30 years ago I was 16....

These are the things you do when the wife is out of town indeed....
you can comment on your favorite albums of all time too...


Also, of course, hike!  It was 0-8 degrees for our early walk.  Penny in her coat in our yard.  YEP. more fresh snow Saturday, more fresh snow Sunday... due to get super warm this WEEK THANK GOODNESS.


It was such a cold week the river here behind our house froze solid in some stretches.  You could have skated on it Friday, it was clean and clear before this snow came---I would NEVER go onto ice, but one of my neighbors skates there.  I took this pic from the bridge by our house, and our back yard is on the river bank just up there at the bend on the right...so pretty, hmm?


Our wee village has a nature preserve with trails and more river bank surrounding our cemetery etc.  I am picky.  I do not like to go in there in the weedy summer since TICKS, yes, DEER TICKS with LIME DISEASE became so common, but now, with only a little snow, it sure makes a great walk.
  
Bridge over the river looking at the nature preserve on the left, our house is behind me, Mt Pleasant in the snow and fog straight ahead in this pic....


Like I say, the nature preserve surrounds our cemetery.  I had never thought about how pretty it could look in winter snow...and I live only a couple of hundred yards away!  This cemetery is 200+ years old....it has fresh flags on some markers...guys who fought in 1776 and later came out here and farmed and settled the village...civil war veterans....war of 1812.... plus a LOT of young women and a lot of children...life was flippin' brutal then...anyway, have an awesome Sunday!


Another tea for one set....or single serve teapot and cup.  They make such a tidy pair!  The first ones I made 12 or 15 years ago the teapot sat atop the cup somehow.  It is better to have the teapot sit in there like this.  You a)  end up with a much bigger teapot and about 1 1/2 cup of tea, yay! and b) the teapot warms the cup as you brew and c) it is a lot more stable, right?  The teapot does not just fall off the cup....

(teapot and cup by Gary Rith)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

BAMF chocolate pie....

The wife goes out of town to party with her family all weekend so I quickly make plans to party with my friends here.  This involves pie.

Katie and Maggie brought salad to add to my calzones and pie and beers....twas a huge celebration of, well, Katie's massive good news which it is not my business to share with the interwebs.... let's just say she is AWESOME and they both have AWESOME news that has something to do with me... so you would pour some beers and make chocolate pie TOO.

This pie is gluten free and dairy free..vegan!  But CHOCOLATE FULL.... I make it from scratch **** but the gestalt is:  buy a chocolate crust and chocolate pudding and  chocolate chunks (0r raspberries), put it together.  making it vegan and gluten free yourself  is not much harder! ****
You can see I had help all along the way..... this thing is
FLIPPIN' BEAUTIFUL is it not?  Beauty is not everything, but why not strive for it?



In other news, my old pal Susan runs a cat shelter.  She asked for a covered tumbler with a cat on top....I made some mugs too... have an awesome Saturday, I know I will!



(pottery by Gary Rith)

****

Gary's BAMF ridiculously easy vegan, gluten-free no dairy chocolate pie

crust:
-preheat to 350
-grease 9 inch pie plate
-place into bowl:  1/2 cup earth balance non-butter and 1/2 cup tofutti non-cream cheese--soften in the 'wave 44 seconds or so, stir
-2nd bowl, combine 1.5 cups oat flour, dash of salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 2 TBS cocoa powder (no milk added, just chocolate baking powder like this)
-stir the 2 mixtures together, then spoon it onto the pie plate evenly so that it looks like a nice pie crust.
-prick bottom with a fork, bake uncovered 20 minutes, then cover top with foil, bake 15 minutes more, remove from oven and cool an hour +

vegan chocolate pudding for filling:
-in large saucepan, combine 2.25 cups soy milk, 4.5 TBS corn starch, a little less than a half cup cocoa powder,  and a little less than a half cup of maple syrup
-heat on stove top at medium heat, whisking furiously until it thickens into...pudding.  This seems to take forever! But it does not.  Just keep whisking several minutes, don't let it burn, and suddenly it will turn REALLY thick and lovely.

making the pie:
Remove chocolate pudding from heat, spoon evenly into your pie shell, all DONE! Unless you want to add, as I did, chocolate chunks to the top, something like the Godiva chocolate bar I stole from the wife, in chunks, or chocolate chips or raspberries.
-cool on counter a while, then place into fridge for an hour or so to finish cooling then EAT...probably the yummiest thing on EARTH. I remember as a kid getting some kind of chocolate pie anytime we went out to eat....

Friday, January 25, 2013

not another post about freezing winter weather, really!

You wake one day, every year or 2, and if the dog has not broken her dish lately, you still want to replace them anyway.  Like painting the house, getting new carpet or drapes, you want to renew the look...of the pet dishes.  I can DO it! And did.
The wife is like "these are so cute!".  Blue for their water, red for Penny, Spike got his glazed in... Spike.  The very glaze named after his eyes.  You can see he was nuts for his new dish...even before it was filled....


(pottery by Gary Rith)

Thursday, January 24, 2013

"so, you're not wearing pants today?"

I realize that my southern friends have no idea what it means to live in the far north, in winter, and to actually GO OUTSIDE.  I am not a dude who wears his car, parking by the store door and running in without a heavy jacket... and I have hat hair most of the year from...wearing hats.

I run in the below zero weather, walk the dog in it *, walk other dogs in it, etc.  I have lived in this sh!t all my life, and although I get chilled easily, I know how to dress.
There is a teenager on our street and I saw him going out to the school bus yesterday.
It was up to 2 degrees.
It was windy.
He was wearing a tee shirt ONLY.
His family has the means, believe me, and it is dangerous to go out without a coat when its this cold, acting all macho.  What a dumbass!  And I am expecting people like that to grow up and take care of me when I am 88???

 I thought my southern friends would like to see what dressing in extreme cold involves.

I had just laid out the OUTFIT and snapped the pics and the wife is like "So, you're not wearing pants today?  You'll freeze your winkle!!!!"
Ah.  The jeans were across the room....see, there is so much to wear you have to make a list and check it twice....


Let's see, jeans, teal undies, striped and pink and green argyle socks, long undies, bigass Canadian boots, lined mittens, lambswool scarf, lined hat, enormous down parka, capilene undershirt, robot tee shirt, wool sweater....I am like a Patagonia model, hmm?

*Poor dog has to go out nekkid in this.  She has a coat but won't wear it too often.  Just easier to NOT walk her, just take her out for the quick tinkle.


And just to prove that I DO go outside and not only pose in my living room....note:  JEANS ON.



Maggie and katie were over again Wednesday... Katie says "I am not a dog person".  YEAH, RIGHT!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

feeling BANKsy....

You know I make piggy banks, and the other day I showed you a penguin bank, right? Then there was a robot bank and Godzilla eating coins bank last month...
I want to get organized and make a list of favorite banks to make.  I need to  make a complete section of banks for my website www.garyrith.com
They are NOT all created equal.  I have made zillions of the piggy banks since 1989, and their price is modest, the penguin too.  The rest of these?  Oh man, they are a lot of work, and like the robot and Godzilla, at least twice the price of a piggy bank...
anyway, this elephant was a new shape for my elephant banks and I love it.  You can see he is helping put away the coins.  Then there is the beagle bank below it...eating the coins!
I am also starting a series of the animals on the sides of the mugs down there, opposite the handle...goodness, such FUN!
 


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

from Time Warp Tuesday to Tea Rex Tuesday!



The photo above sits on my side of the room in a cute little leather frame, an obvious favorite shot of the wife, in 1994!  Good golly it was like yesterday.  If we had a kid who had been born then and was in college now it would feel a little less...like a time warp.  You know Jenn runs Time warp Tuesday, right?  A chance to look back at your old pics.
The pic above was for a magazine competition.... I took it when we lived in Chicago, and that is our old dog Petey!  Surprisingly, the wife was not the winner...except to me of course!
I redid the shot this week, below!  The wife now...with our young dog Penny.  Sweet thing :) Different dog, different brown leather jacket, different house and town, same gal....


I told her she had to pose for this too.  I was like, to the wife the bookkeeper, "finish the taxes early and I have a wee surprise for you!". Check out the amethyst ring there eh? NIiiiiice.....


SPEAKING of Tea rex! You know I have been trying to make rolling pots....well, I think I figured it out!  Lookit the rolling sculpture here, Godzilla looking so evil, cute and menacing, funny and sly, all at once!  I have steel rods for axles....



What your honey needs for Valentine's is a clever beastly Tea Rex mug eh? I saw this joke online and wanted to make it... sooo funny!
For sale now at my etsy shoppe!
  tea rex mug

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I am a full-time studio potter, sculptor, and dog walker, married to superhawt Missus Tastycake.