I've been framed!

You know I sculpt plaques, wall pieces.  A favorite motif is cow jumping over the moon.
I asked myself recently "hey, what would it take to make a frame???!".
More on this in coming days....


(wall sculpture by Gary Rith)

hip hip hooray!

I sent the wife off with her coffee and a note Friday, a hippo drawn singing 'hip hip hooray for long weekends!'.  She has Monday off.  I was thinking Friday about how to draw a hippo.  My first doodles in pencil had top and bottom jaw, but when I took up the brush I realized it is cutest to draw the minimum, just the top of its mouth...the essence...the cute essence! I tell her yesterday evening, pointing at a mug just made 'gonna draw a hippo on that...maybe elephant and crocodile too....kind of a whole zoo on one mug, right?'
Have an awesome weekend yerself....

the write stuff...

I have been making little animals and gluing them atop pencils for some years.  I sold them for like 3 bucks each once upon a time, until a few years ago a rich person tried to bargain with me and get 2 dozen at 2 bucks each.  I politely declined!  I would also add them in a package if somebody ordered a whatever, just as sort of a surprise gift.  I sent hundreds of them. Nobody ever thanked me! (what is it with this world, people are not ordering from Amazon, it is an artist, a single human being, somebody who works hard for every buck, why wouldn't you send a 2 second email of thanks?). People are VERY nice to me with my work, don't get me wrong, but I simply realized that me being generous seemed more important to me than the customer, so why bother giving an extra?

ANYWAY, that said, I still make them.  But for different reasons, like to simply give as a personal gift. (I would rather make and sell 70 dollar teapots, to tell you the truth!)
I made this batch for one of my very best friends.  Her daughter was turning 9 and having a party, and they wanted a dozen as party favors.  I made them BUT...at the last second warned them that it was not a good idea.  These are NOT little rubber pigs, etc!  I said "listen, I am making them, but I don't think you should buy them.  By the end of the party half the kids will have broken them".  Because they are fragile, adult toys, really.  Turns out THEY had reached the same conclusion before me, and were relieved to change plans.  Which included moving the party to NY city and having it for more kids, at a skating rink!

The wife said to me last week, quite cleverly (she is genius!) "why not have a pig with his arms wrapped around the pencil, then it would be cuter and you could still use an eraser???".  BRILLIANT. I think I shall give that one to her today :)

In other news, Yogi was over Thursday, horsing around with our dog and cat...dang he is FUNNY!

and now for something COMPLETELY different....

(new hippo teapot by me)

I will always tell you:  If I had not become a potter, surely I would be an illustrator or drummer in a rock and roll band.  I draw all the time!  And, er, when I drive I bang on the steering wheel in time to the radio....
You have seen me make hippo mugs in recent months, right?  WHY not go over THE TOP and make a hippo handled teapot????  They are just so round and friendly and funny looking, exactly what I like about pigs.  COMIC!

Funny, a good friend writes overnight:  "I need a large green teapot...but, um, could you do plain?" and it is like "HAHA of course I can do that too...I will try to hold myself back...but of course you would want me to decorate it with wild blue loops under the glaze too, right?".

a new trick for an old dog....

Everybody knows the four (or five) ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe, right? Mix peanut butter, egg, sugar, salt together, form and bake cookies, DONE?  Not much more to it than that, but there are variations out there.
I love that recipe, and always add a 1/2 cup peanuts and a half cup choco chips, mmmmm!
But thought to myself yesterday "there is no reason to NOT add 1/4 cup cocoa powder too..." and I did and OH my, sooo tasty!
A peanut butter cup cookie! Sort of.

Our young cousin is visiting.  She kicked our asses AGAIN at blackjack...I don't know why we invite her over if she is gonna be so poorly behaved ;)  Our piggy bank lost some weight in pennies yesterday...
ANYWAY, she started working in a commercial bakery quite young, and comes from a family of bakers AND she is a restaurant critic for the Cornell Sun. So, young, but experienced, a foodie.

She knows this recipe too.  I was telling her "this is good with the cocoa powder, but they are a little more crumbly than they should be, cocoa powder is drying things a little" and she tells me what I should have guessed myself "melt some chocolate and mix THAT in!" and it is like AHA! A nice way to add moisture and stickiness. Then these peanut butter cookies would be triple chocolate.... I'll let you know how it turns out when I get to it next week...

(note:  alert dog trying to steal cookies down there)

babied...

You will remember that I have been babysitting Yogi since he was a puppy.  Judging by his size, I don't have to tell you that it has been awhile since he was a puppy.  He is Penny's best friend, and isn't it lucky to have a dog you babysit who is also besties with your own dog?  Esp. since we have a fine fenced in yard for them to play in!  I will admit, when I talk to him it just comes out "Oh Yogi baby" or "Yogi booboo".  Maybe you have to have pets to understand the affectionate ways you talk to dogs...even other people's dogs!

I woke up Monday and was like "OMFG IT IS NICE OUT".  Remember, we have had off and on snow for over a month and most recently the coldest days in 20+ years, below zero f....so, a week of 30s-40s, yesssssssssssssssssss... what it does for your mood!

The other reason I had a big kick in my step was my first glance at the load of pots I had fired...oh MY.  You see me babying this cookie jar below...you can see it is a large jar for coffee or sugar or a small cookie jar....
remember I was telling you yesterday, about the blue decorations under the glaze?
a)  I used it here, and tried it in a way that makes it a little more fuzzy and melted in...
b) as you see in the header, I have added more color schemes, not just greens! and
c)  there will be more color schemes and once I have finished the glaze test tiles I will
d) use them on my kitchen wall....the first ones are lined up now and HOLY CATS it looks GORGEOUS!

24 years ago and today....

OK, you keep hearing me discuss pottery ideas for 2014.
I am just so excited!
Other than the usual chaotic different directions, I am ready to charge ahead in 2 big ways this year.
One would be using those slashes and squiggles, as you see above.
The other would be these blue decorated pieces.  I have more colors working with the blue underglaze loops. a few greens and more to show you later this week.  They make for a pretty set of test tiles, which I plan to use in our kitchen.
ANYWAY, it is not such a new idea for me.  There is a photo below, a white teapot next to a light green one and a Godzilla teapot.
I made that white teapot back around 1990, when I first started messing with the blue underglaze, the light green one in 2000, Godzilla last year when I came BACK to the idea, and that pitcher on the right last month.  YES, I have been experimenting with that same idea, trying to get it right for 24 YEARS...and feel like I am starting to get it right!



There were a couple of items in this last glaze firing for US.  The wife does NOT like to use saucers for eating.  I am lazy and I like multipurpose items.  Like, having an orange or a cookie?  Grab a saucer instead of a big plate.  SO, I made a couple of saucer size plate for cookies or whatever...2 wee bowls for cooking and snacks too, as you see...
have an awesome Monday!

(pottery by Gary Rith)

the elephant in the room...

Funny expression, isn't it?  The elephant in the room:  what you say, for example, when you havn't seen a cousin for a year and she is there chatting and seemingly has a basketball under her tee shirt....
the VERY BIG and VERY IMPORTANT issue that is both obvious but nobody is talking about it:  the elephant in the room.
Or like in our case, the wardrobe I told you about yesterday, smack in the middle of our life and our living room...we walk around it and someday soon, perhaps, it will move upstairs to its permanent spot.
In the meantime, Spike likes it where it is, and doesn't our living room look fun?  Like party central?
Have a great Sunday!

the lion the witch and the wardrobe...and the BEAGLE

Or through the looking glass?
The wife has always wanted a wardrobe.
Our county DUMP has a wonderful job training and recycling center store called Finger Lakes Reuse.
Yes, the county DUMP.  It is nowhere near the dump, and I guess it is simply the county.

ANYWAY, this laptop I have been using the last 3+ years?  It is a mac from them, used and refurbished, going strong.
My kiln????? DITTO!
Can you believe I got my dream kiln and laptop both used, from the county dump?
With a huge university population here people are always coming and going, and donate items to the Reuse center, which is a really fun store.
The wife saw this wardrobe, in good condition, about 100 years old.
Old enough to be TOUGH as nails but not so old it is an expensive antique.
I surprised her Friday by buying it and having it delivered (to the, um, center of the living room, for now). It counts as an early Valentine'sbirthdayeastermother'sday gift...
The dog and cat spent the day playing with it...

"she wasn't flirting with you"

I was walking Nook, the fuzzy white dog of a friend of mine in Ithaca yesterday (you KNOW Nook) and had 2 fun incidents before meeting up with the wife at her office, so she could walk with us.

The first amusing moment inspired a haiku:

Used pregnancy
Stick, sidewalk near bar, two lines.
How did he take it?


I have been imagining inside the bar the previous evening "hey, let's go out for a smoke, I have something to tell you"
"mmmm"
"I did the pregnancy test, I'm late!"
"mmmm"
"here it is!" shows the pee stick test
"mmmm"
"what are we gonna do? Cause I don't wanna be married to YOU all my life"
"mmmm"
"plus you're ugly and stupid"
"mmmm"
"man, don't you have ANYTHING TO SAY?"
"mmmm"
"fuk you, Jack!" (throws pregnancy stick at ugly and stupid father of her unborn child)
dude mutters "I did, didn't I...."

A short time later another dog is coming along at the end of a leash, another well-bundled dog walker.
Nook wants to do nosies with it, they are friendly.  I am scratching the dog's nose and say to the stranger
"nice to have some sunshine!"
she "You said it, I was in bed all week!"
"Rats! January sux!"
she "you said it!"
"so long!"

And I wander off to get the wife from her office.  I tell her of both moments.

Me:  guess what?
Wife:  Hmm?
Me:  A woman FLIRTED with me!
Wife:  Oh?
Me: Yeah (repeat dialogue above)
Wife:  she wasn't flirting with you
Me:  ah, but the tone in which she said "I SPENT A WEEK IN BED" huh?  She totally wanted me!
Wife:  yeah, I don't think so.
Me:  It was the WAY she said it...
Wife:  Sure it was...don't step in that pile....

Oh well.  Truly, considering my parka, red runny nose and the rest, who the heck would want to flirt with me?  My wife, bless her...

Hey, I told you yesterday that I had a terrible overfiring in the kiln.  Thankfully, only one piece was ruined, the rest came out either the same as usual OR ....................................BETTER.  I will never overfire pieces on purpose, but I was pleasantly surprised...this teapot is like, wow.  I won't tell you what it is s'posed to look like....


Plus I made a hippo teapot yesterday!  Have a great Friday!


(teapots by Gary Rith)

the wife puts up with my GORILLA home decorating tactics....and the WAY forward in 2014?

First off, sure, it is early, but potters will know:  I had a jammed kiln sitter, apparently, last night and my kiln overfired 30-50 degrees at least, egad!  I had a quick glance inside:  could be a lot worse, but will I be scraping glaze and TEAPOTS off my shelves later?  If you are a professional potter, you obviously have to be consistent and make it, fire it, sell it to stay in business but there is no getting over this simple fact:  pottery is a fragile medium and your beautiful piece can be ruined or broken at every step.

ANYWAY, that is for later.

I feel like Icarus:  he flew so close to the sun his wings melted...but in my case, it is a temporary thing.
Because I feel like I am onto some GOOD IDEAS for 2014....

I have various notes floating around the studio on envelope backs and such.  See the doodles in the middle of the page below?  THAT is what I am up to.  Fat, round pots with these blue squiggles under the glaze.  I am so excited by this decorating scheme that I am trying to convince the wife we should use the test tiles on our kitchen wall.....



I told you last week this last pitcher fired in 2013 was IT, the idea (well, one of them) leading me into 2014..


Like I was saying about the kitchen wall....would look good, hmm?
(the cat, dangit, jumps up on the counter and chews the pineapple, as you see....)
Have a great Thursday!


 This color scheme makes me HAPPY :)

the macho man makes molasses muffins...

Ever wanted to use that expression with DEFINITE KNOWLEDGE?  You know, "slower than molasses in January"?
Cold cold cold windy day Tuesday where it feels like an ACCOMPLISHMENT merely taking the dog out for a tinkle.  So cold your rambunctious little beagle runs outside looking for fun and within a minute she is shivering at the back door, a VERY RARE moment.

I was outside all morning, at the store, getting the haircut, going to the county dump then working on pots in preparation for a bisque.  It was a different matter in the afternoon.

Other than taking the dog out and vaguely feeling like I was slacking because the studio is so cold and the outdoors so cold and it is so hard to do anything other than drink tea in bed and read a mystery, MAKING MUFFINS feels like a very big accomplishment.

These are my favorite muffin of the moment, so simple, gluten-free, no dairy, based originally on another recipe, I have made adjustments so they are more moist, tasty and fun!  Makes 6 BIG muffins, easily doubled!*



*Gary's version of rice flour muffins

-preheat to 425, prepare 6 muffin tin with either paper liners or a little oil..the older I get, the more I like the NO FUSS no mess of paper muffin/cupcake liners

Ingredients:
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup soy milk
2 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs canola oil
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In large mixing bowl, stir the egg to beat it, then add the rest of the ingredients in order, stirring them in.  Then when it is all nicely stirred, add 1/2 cup, more or less either chopped apple or cranberries, blueberries, raisins, or craisins plus a half cup of nuts...whatever you like!
Bake about 17-20 minutes, when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, you can sprinkle the top with cinnamon or nutmeg sugar then let muffins cool a minute or 2 then pull out to cool on wire rack.

You can slice them and eat them after 15-20 minutes, yummo! FINALLY, let's warm up with one of my favorite tunes EV-AH... Chrissie Hynde = Smokin' hawt...

 

"its not a flannel lined emergency..." (but today is!)

The wife was talking about the weather Monday, calling it "not a flannel lined emergency", which means she would not need her heavy pants lined with flannel.  It was 52 degrees then, well below zero, yet windy!  Just plain January :)

Every day Spike cat and Penny wrestle and play.  I promised the people at the senior center I would get a video to share of her playing with him... have a great and awesome day!

 

Robert: They do say there's a wild man inside all of us. Violet: If only he would stay inside

  Alfred: Suppose someone comes in?
Jimmy: They'll find a man sitting in an armchair. They'll survive it.

When it is the bleak midwinter, you crawl into bed with your warm beagle and DOWNTON ABBEY..... 

testing, testing, one two....

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot



I tell people that I have 7 green glazes....I really like some of those 7 with blue patterning underneath, in theory.  So I tested all of them.
These 4 are WINNERS, the latest celadon I have been fiddling with is a dud and I refuse to show it to you.  At its best, it would look like lower right, so why bother eh?
Other experiments in the studio below....
Catcha Monday, have an awesome SUNDAY!

stately toes

Snow flakes.

 BY EMILY DICKINSON

 I counted till they danced so
 Their slippers leaped the town –
 And then I took a pencil
 To note the rebels down –
 And then they grew so jolly
 I did resign the prig –
 And ten of my once stately toes
 Are marshalled for a jig!


 

The guy on the radio said that Friday's high was ten below. Plus the wind, made it feel like 26 below.
I loved the sunshine!
But the chickens I was caring for? Their water froze solid and I worried terribly about them.  Their family came back from Puerto Rico *safely and without delay and took over, thank goodness! Those chickens were so friendly, you wouldn't want them to suffer. *PR 80 degrees, here -10 is a 90 degree difference, WHOA.
I did not go out much, myself, which is VERY unusual.
Penny can't understand why we didn't walk, just stepped out and back in quickly.
Today, a more temperate 19 degrees, and Sunday, 30s, what a relief!'
But they tell us even colder starting Monday...AH, January in upstate NY....thank goodness I don't live in North Dakota!

Pen and ink and pencil drawings of my girl...have a great Saturday yourself!

(drawing by Gary Rith)

It flings a crystal veil...

Sure, we're getting some snow today, a foot, more or less, unusual in that usually it is either very cold or very snowy and this is BOTH very cold and very snowy....

L. Snow by Emily Dickinson

It sifts from leaden sieves,

It powders all the wood,

It fills with alabaster wool

The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face

Of mountain and of plain, --

Unbroken forehead from the east

Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,

It wraps it, rail by rail,

Till it is lost in fleeces;

It flings a crystal veil

On stump and stack and stem, --

The summer's empty room,

Acres of seams where harvests were,

Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,

As ankles of a queen, --

Then stills its artisans like ghosts,

Denying they have been.


We have an old cemetery just down the street...WOW is it pretty in snow....



In other news, you might need a pair of goblets, a pair of panda mugs, or some other groovy item for your, um, Valentine! Shop with me at my etsy gallery!

new year part TWO with the black eyed peas and drunken noodles

I was talking yesterday about a couple of amusing new year good luck type habits, but what to eat?
The wife is southern, if you consider Missouri southern, which it is, also western and mid-western, and on New Year you want the black eyed peas.  Tradition probably involves hamhocks and collard greens, neither of which are going anywhere near MY lips.
I was in the mood to pay attention to the tradition, but in a whole different direction, and spent the day simmering an Indian black eyed pea curry dish, mighty simple, and HOLY CATS wicked tasty (click here!) involving merely tomato, black eyed peas, onion and a boatload of spice and for greens watercress on the side....

BUT instead of ordinary rice, I remembered the wife talking of drunken noodles last week.  The story is, roughly:  in Thailand (or was it Korea?) a man was out drinking, came home with his ten drunk buddies and demanded his wife awaken and prepare them a midnight supper of noodles.  She was SO ANGRY she made the noodles...with ten times the amount of chilis!
The men ate them and they were a HUGE hit and they all sobered up feeling GREAT.
So, that is drunken noodles :)  which is probably better than having a DRUNKEN NOODLE (as in head)


(click here!)

Obamacare, rabbitrabbitrabbit and broken pots...New Year part ONE!

OK, so the other day?  I was dreaming about a teapot with, I dunno how to put it, slashes down the side?  This cup is a stab at that idea....I had to figure out how to try to do the slashes in a particular way before going larger...and then this vase?  I was making I don't even remember, but I grabbed it and began squeezing it in, to narrow it, as you do, and it had all these spiral grooves and I was like HAHA leave it!  Just some funny serendipity or wabi sabi, un-selfconscious pottery, made simply and humbly, right?
MY POINT?  With those 2 items?  The last 2 I made in 2013...and will be fired in 2014!  The cup is part of a new idea...so, carrying forth clearly one year into the next...

In other news, it is thrilling that Obamacare is finally and completely law.  Its about fukkin' time.  I moved to Chicago when I was 22, no health insurance, and worked on a paint crew all summer, 50 feet up in the air on a 12 inch wide ledge.  New day, new ledge, new building, NObody to help my ass if I fell off.  We all have health, we all need this law.

I definately clear the deck on old years and move into new years, clean the house both literally and metaphorically...

 The wife tells me that in Sicily, where she once lived, they throw old broken furniture out the window and have bonfires (hilarious!)...the idea being to clear out the old...Finally, have you heard about the broken pots on New Year?  People in Denmark save old crockery all year to smash on New Year's.  Maybe they are getting rid of the spirit of the old year? I think it is hysterical, as a potter.

BUT, yesterday?  Spike the cat is in the kitchen wanting his breakfast and...smashes my favorite tile.  I have others like it, but this one is MINE.  3 pieces!  I like it so much I am saving it as it is, but dang, couldn't he have broken something I didn't like?

And speaking of rabbits, you say rabbit on the first day of the month for good luck...but why not the first day of the year, too? Happy new year to you, and check back tomorrow for more!



(pottery by Gary Rith)