• Handbuilding in the Kitchen

    With only two or so weeks until Christmas, I wanted to get in one more batch of pottery for the year. Since the pottery wheel is currently covered in Speckled Brownstone clay, and all I have left to use is Little Loafers, which is a white clay, I’ve moved back to handbuilding inside. I know I could just clean the studio, but baby, it’s cold outside! After glazing 75 ornaments in the last batch, I wanted quick, less tedious work…

  • Making Ceramic Ornaments with Cookie Cutters

    For several years now, we have made Christmas ornaments from clay. Last weekend I brought my supplies into the kitchen to finish up a couple requests from friends, and my kids descended on the makeshift workspace and demanded clay and all my tools. After a morning of wresting on the living room floor and failed attempts at controlling the noise level in the house, the silence that their focus on the clay brought was amusing, even if it took me five times longer than…

  • Frosty Garden

    It was a frosty morning in the garden! I guess it is time to start popping the D3 supplements because it is way too chilly to sit outside with my sleeves rolled up. Pictured below are oregano, some type of choi (bok? pak? I dont’ know), and triple curled kale. Last week, the basil, beans, peppers and cherry tomatoes (the last bit of summer still holding on) permanently bit the dust, so now there’s a good bit of open space on the…

  • Pottery and Pinguecula

    About two months ago I tried my hand at the pottery wheel after not working with clay for nearly eight months. The next week my eye flared up. After a busy summer and fall at the wheel in 2013, my eye had given me trouble but had cleared up when I quit working with clay. Steroid eye drops helped during that season, but the flare-ups only went away after extended time away from the wheel. After having it flare up again at the end…

  • Making a Bead Tree for the Kiln Part Two

    I posted “Making a Bead Tree for the Kiln” back in March. It worked pretty wonderfully until my three year old broke it, twice over, by knocking it off the table and onto the garage floor. It is still usable, but with that long span between the remaining supports, the nichrome wire tends to sag. I decided to build a new one, and it’s currently waiting to be fired. One of the troubles with the last design was that it required loading…

  • This Friday’s Open Studio Event and October Updates

    This Friday, October 2 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm, I’m hosting a little event at my house (see the FB event listing here). You are welcome to come shop for pottery and/or prints and place an order for personalized Christmas ornaments. I’ll be sure to have a bottle of red and something to munch on. October 10 and 24, I’m hosting a two part class at Gather. There is still time to register! Go here to register. I’m also running…