the seven seas….

Why YES, this new blue along with white and a sea shell DO make a tidy little nautical theme :)

and then some new blue….

I needed to replace my dark blue glaze.  This is actually the first dark blue glaze I ever mixed about 20 years ago, but hadn't used since about 2000…that one was called blue jeans, but then I mixed something ELSE and called it new blue jeans then I mixed ANOTHER replacement which has not worked well lately calling it blue jeans 2010….so now I am back to blue jeans :) It has a really nice visual texture as you might be able to see….

and more blue….

I am soooo very excited about these rose pieces…thanks for looking :)

…and a couple more….

A couple more from the last firing.  This vase didn't photograph the way I would like…do you angle the camera up, down, straight on?  Anyway, you can see the mugs I am trying more colors than my FAVORITE light green…of course, light blue is a favorite too…have an awesome day :)

don't call ME….!

I was dreaming just now that my neighbor the firefighter asked me to fill in for him and gave me the keys to a firetruck…and I was already babysitting a little kid who looked like Prince George.

SO, I strapped the kid into a carseat in the firetruck and tried to learn to drive the thing, in a bad snow storm in an unfamiliar city….why on earth did I agree to all this?  Let's just say that if your parked car has a ding with yellow paint and is missing its side mirror you know who to blame…in other news, nice bowls, eh?

round and proud...

I am making some shapes lately that are new to me, or at least not much explored, and am very pleased:  a particular kind of foot, wider lid with a tapered knob, a certain body  shape, and, of course, these flowers…..

Dumping a prescription and getting back to …normal?

An asthma medication I have been on for a few months made me feel….fukked up.  I talked with a doctor, not the prescribing one, about some problems with it and he said try going without…GAWDAMN am I glad I stopped taking it.  I mean, my breathing had been magically clear, but sleep trouble and depression are SO not worth it.  I haven't talked with the prescribing allergist yet, but no way do I do want to do that one again.  Doctors are quick to prescribe because they want us healthy, but who wants to feel like a messed up medicine box?

So yesterday I made my first apple pie of the season…YES, I am too lazy most of the time to mess with  full-size pie dishes and rolling out a big piece of dough etcetc…these little baking cups, I just pat a little disk in the bottom, then add the apples and pat a little disk on top, mmmmmmmmm….made corn bread and a huge pizza too, you KNOW I was feeling wicked good….

my own apprentice...

It cracked me up Thursday, I was babysitting Yogi and he was so close to my wheel I had to step carefully…he is SUCH a loving dog!  My own dog, as you know, is unwelcome in the studio as she eats clay….

AND here's some pots I finished….and I noticed this perfectly humble and pretty maple leaf had fallen onto my basil….

working day and night...

I just woke up, having spent the night dreaming of working in the studio..it was mighty complex, and there were foolish tourists with dogs too…. (DO NOT let your dog sniff a hot kiln, duh!)

Anyway, I am awake now and able to actually get to work, hope you have a terrific day!

ooooh, that worked!

OK, small thing--I wanted to try a wavy groovy pattern on the upper side of pots, having only done them on the lower side…. good move, I think :)

pigs :)

Gosh I love pigs.  You see my logo, the pot and pig.  The first pot I ever made of any animal form was the piggy bank in 1989, as I have said, and I have made a LOT of them…then the first animal I ever added to a mug was the pig……and now I have this new pink glaze :)  (which, um, replaces the OLD pink glaze…)

a v-neck vase…?

I was kinda thinking that you could make your vase, you know, how do you describe this? Like a v-neck sweater?
 But it works :)

sometimes we give it away...

I gave the wife a pair of small bowls.  Sounds like I am very generous, no? (well, I liked them and wanted to use them so I gave them to her, knowing she would like them, and that we would use them together…not much of a gift then, is it???)

WELL, she mentioned vaguely "oh, it would be nice to have a little muffin or cookie plate to match!" so I surprised her with a pair…..

and then some more bowls...

Novelists face the blank page and writer's block…but potters, if they have no ideas, can always make (and sell) bowls if they have no ideas….but you always have new ideas :)

new….

These aren't a set neccesarily, but made and glazed in the same style.  Wicked groovy, eh?
Have a great Friday!

out front...

I am so thrilled with our sunflowers in pots out front I went to get a couple of photos, and caught some wee little bees along the way, how delightful!

you probably think I nap all the time...

The stealthy wife and the camera caught me unawares last Sunday afternoon after lunch….

more scales...

OK, you have seen my fiddling with dragon mugs, but hey, how about these deep scales??? I was making wavy-groovy pieces like the other pots pictured here and realized I could do this scaly thing….is all of this too technical? ;)

A few new pots from a firing out a day or 2 ago…and the kiln is on now…..

Over and over again...

Do you have any dreams that repeat in your head?  I have a few.  We sold our house in New Hampshire over ten years ago and it ended up going pretty easily, but I still end up dreaming about the whole thing.  It was a life changer, which, thinking about it, is true for the other repetitive dreams I have….

IN OTHER news, I mentioned yesterday I had made a new pink glaze which I like tremendously, and thought I should try it for roses…YES, it looks like it will work pretty well :)

Pigs!

I saw my first potter made piggy in the late 80s, and started to make my own…a bottle turned on its side, turned into a piggy!  I made so many of them in the 90s and early zeros that I made my logo the pot and pig, a drawing I do of a  piggy making a pot.  I still love pigs.  And selling piggy banks is easy! I don't make so many as before…

ANYWAY, I have been fiddling around, wanting a new pink glaze.  It looks superb.  So I made some pigs and delivered them to SunnyDays in Ithaca yesterday, such an awesome shop….go there and get yourself a pig!

And my tomatoes are at that point when literally every time I walk past them I pluck off a few more, that is SO cool :)

making a quilt….

finito!

There was a goose down quilt for a dollar at the yard sale last week, unused but had snowmen on it! The wife wanted it, and wanted to quilt a cover for it, so she did.  She went through her cloth stash and I wanted these greens… she made a pillow too! How awesome is this?!

very little of importance….

Myself, my cat….

a better day than you might imagine...

Yesterday I was helping someone who was caring for another dog.  I had met Trixie and it had gone well.
NOT when I went back by myself, though!  HO BOY, Trixie is an 8 pound Yorkie TERROR.  I felt bad for her, visiting a new place, unsure what was going on…but I was just trying to take her out to pee and have a snack!
It was suggested I get some big gloves to get the leash on, and it worked, but WOW did she try to bite me…well, she succeeded in biting the gloves, but still…

ANYWAY, other than that, finished some fine pots, glazed some others, a good day…

the before, the after….

Last week I shared this picture of wavy-groovy pitchers….and now….

WHOOPSIE! The big mistake...

OK, so I recheck the notice yesterday to find that the deadline for the exquisite little things show was NOT September 22 but September 2….dammit.

But I had considered my entries and it was between these 2 groups of 3 yesterday….I don't feel as bad about blowing the deadline as you would think, as it inspired me to make some wicked great stuff I may not have otherwise….

Which group of 3 would you choose?