Author: mud&string

Mother, daughter, wife, grandma, friend, animal lover, potter, knitter, Catholic and finally, retiree. Will work for yarn and/or clay and tend to geek out on any and all the above at the drop of a hat, provoking glazed expressions from family and anyone I can buttonhole after hello.
Family · Knitting · pottery

Betcha Thought I Forgot About This Old Blog….

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OK, at 63 (!) I’ve been been trying on a few different personas, just one more sign of my decision to never grow up, but here I am once more, an amalgamation of several whos and whats, as reflected in my new title, Mud and String.

As I type this, I’m en route to Bangkok, Thailand again, accompanying Big Mommy and the three grands, the Papoose, the Sprout and the Peach. All growing up so so fast and leaving me in the dust regarding what’s cool and what’s not. Anyhow……..

This trip has been very crazy, beginning with the first leg of the 30 hour trip being delayed an hour in Little Rock due to weather in Dallas, setting off a chain of situations like dominos falling. First, we missed our connecting flight to Hong Kong and so were stranded in Dallas for 24 hours, waiting for the next plane to Hong Kong. An adventure unto itself…More on that later.

So here we are, 32000 feet in the air, five hours into a 16 hour flight, with the outside time showing as -43.6F, wearing clothes that were fresh yesterday – Wednesday morning around 5 a.m. –  closing in on 48 hours. The time is 4:49 pm on Thursday, according to my ipad. I pity our seatmates! 🤭🤭🤭🤢🤢🤢

We made it to Hong Kong! Here’s the view from our gate waiting area-

Before I close this out, a few pics of recent projects

Ninilchik Swoncho

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.

 

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Everything Else

Etsy Preview

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Here’s a sneak peek at the newest additions to my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery. I hope you like them!

2019-51HF

2019-52HF

Details can be found at https://etsy.com/shop/claydreamspottery

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.  Oscar Wilde

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Everything Else

I’m Back!

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Hey everyone! Remember me? Well, here I am, still an insomniac and getting over a back issue.  Actually, I developed back pain about a week ago that kept me from wheel and kiln until yesterday. Anyhow, I’m much better and eager to get back in the studio. 🙂

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of things I was able to finish before my back turned on me.

First up is a  medium sized sized, textured vase –

Next, a sweet little ring bowl –

I especially love the green shades inside this little bowl!

These will be going up in my Etsy shop,ClayDreamsPottery in the next few days, as soon as I can take a breather from playing pottery catch up!

Knowledge is addictive. Keep it up.  Teresa Sjoquist

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Everything Else

This Week’s Sneak Peek

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Here’s a look at a couple of projects I’ve been working on this past week………

 

I’ve added some high fire clay and glazes to my supply of low and mid fire glazes and such and am thoroughly enjoying playing around and experimenting with layering glazes. I think this little vase turned out really well, don’t you?

Miss Dixie got a shiny new bowl this past week, thanks to my glaze experiment.  I had marked the new bowl in my head as a new bowl for her, then, when I pulled it out of the kiln, I had second thoughts because of how pretty it was. In the end, though, I stuck to my original plan, and Dixie has a new, pretty bowl.

 

Meals are serious business in Dixieworld!

 

The pretty vase will be added to ClayDreamsPottery by the end of this week, along with some other beauties still in progress that I think will be a hit so keep an eye out for these newbies.

Nothing happens unless first a dream.  Carl Sandburg

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Everything Else

Meyer’s Shino Try Out

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A few weeks ago I was poking around in the glazes at the Art Center pottery studio and came across one that I wasn’t familiar with – Meyer’s Shino.  In keeping with my “I’ll try anything once” personality type, I grabbed one of my bowls that was glaze ready and gave it a dip.  I had no expectations, I hadn’t used it and neither had anyone else in the studio that day.  So, to satisfy my curiosity, I dipped.

LOVE!!!

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One dip Meyer’s Shino

Fired to cone 10

Looks a lot like a soda firing, doesn’t it?  All who saw it in the studio yesterday asked me the same question: Soda?  Nope.  Just glazed and fired as usual. I love it when the clay gods smile down upon me!

The years teach much which the days never know.  Ralph Emerson

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Everything Else

Hoosier Facelift

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I’ve been very neglectful this past week of just about everything while dismantling, cleaning, painting and reassembling this old hoosier cabinet –

I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the colors Henrietta on doors and drawers and Emile on the rest.  Oh, and see those yucky brownish hinges?  Those are the original hinges, I couldn’t find any new ones that fit.  Those old hinges?  That’s what color the whole thing was before the new paint job. Gross.  This is my workspace and storage for my pottery.

After the cabinet was squared away I was able to think about clay again and finally ran a glaze kiln today.  Here’s a first look –

Way too hot to get close, but they look like a success so far!

Be sure to look for these in my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery!

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate. Thornton Wilder

Everything Else

A Promise Made Good- Claydreamspottery Update!

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My Claydreamspottery Etsy update is finally complete as promised.  If you’ve been waiting, thank you for your patience.  Please take your time and enjoy your visit!  Happy shopping!

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Everything Else

Rain and then more rain

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Last post, I mentioned wanting to do an Etsy shop update last weekend, which obviously did  not happen.  I grossly underestimated how busy Mother’s Day was going to be and then there was the rain. Nothing dried enough to even think about running the kiln, leaving me champing at the bit, frustrated and  more than a little bit impatient.  I finally just went ahead and candled most of the still wet pots in my kitchen oven so when the rain finally quit they’d be ready to fire.  Guess what…… it’s raining again and it doesn’t look like it’s going let up anytime soon. 😩🌂⛈☔️ But I have bisqued and glazed pots ready  for the kiln so I’m good. 🙂  On the bright side, I’ve gotten a lot of knitting done while waiting for the sun to come out. ☀️

Ninilchik Swoncho

Caitlin Hunter, Designer

NEWS FLASH ……

My partial Etsy shop update is live, with the remainder to be listed this evening, as soon as it’s cool enough to handle.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie

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Everything Else

Rain and then more rain

mud&stringLeave a comment

Last post, I mentioned wanting to do an Etsy shop update last weekend, which obviously did  not happen.  I grossly underestimated how busy Mother’s Day was going to be and then there was the rain. Nothing dried enough to even think about running the kiln, leaving me champing at the bit, frustrated and  more than a little bit impatient.  I finally just went ahead and candled most of the still wet pots in my kitchen oven so when the rain finally quit they’d be ready to fire.  Guess what…… it’s raining again and it doesn’t look like it’s going let up anytime soon. 😩🌂⛈☔️ But I have bisqued and glazed pots ready  for the kiln so I’m good. 🙂  On the bright side, I’ve gotten a lot of knitting done while waiting for the sun to come out. ☀️

Ninilchik Swoncho

Caitlin Hunter, Designer

NEWS FLASH ……

My partial Etsy shop update is live, with the remainder to be listed this evening, as soon as it’s cool enough to handle.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie

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pottery

Clay is NOT dirt!

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Even so, it’s time for this potter to do some clean up…..

Clay is NOT dirt!

I hope to have a shop update this weekend so stay tuned!

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#ClayDreamsPottery

Everything Else

Well, It Held Together

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WHAT I DID TODAY

Quite a while ago, think years, I came into possession of an old Hoosier cabinet which was just sort of pushed back against the wall and forgotten about. When I decided to set up my studio and started cleaning, guess what I found!!!!  That’s right, the old Hoosier came out of hiding.  It was a bit dirtier than before – it’s been in the garage after all and the evidence of a failed attempt to antique it was still there.  Whoever painted it painted EVERYTHING, the hinges, the latches, everything within reach.  Anyhow, I’ve decided to clean it up, repaint it and use it in my studio.  It has at least 50 years of grime built up – seriously – that has to go before I can start it on it’s road to recovery.  First things first…..knock as much gunk off as I can.  So, out comes the pressure washer, off come the doors, out come the drawers and off come what looks like 20 years of kitchen grease and grime.  Yay!  My biggest fear that it would explode into a million toothpicks didn’t happen.  Everything withstood the pressure washing with no problem.   Great – half the first step – done.  One more wash with a bit of Mean Green detergent should do the trick and I’ll be on to the second step – paint – soon.

Here’s a before photo –

Sorry for the bad focus,  but you can see the shape it’s in. Yuck!

After first pressure wash.

ON THE WHEEL

This week I threw a couple test batter bowls, one of which I promptly broke off the handle, I tried something new I saw in  Pottery Making Illustrated, Throwing in Two Parts and threw a sweet little rounded pitcher.

Crap

I threw a flashlight!!🔦🤨

Sweet

Be a good listener.  Your ears will never get you into trouble. Frank Tyger

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Knitting

I Think It’s Time to Fish or Cut Bait

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Yep, I think it’s time.  First of all, I’m not breaking up.  I just need to get it together and hop back on   my post schedule starting now.🕰🕰🕰

ON MY NEEDLES

Alas…..many starts, no finishes.  Have a look:

Droplet Shawl

Knitpicks

Airy

Unique Chic Studio

80% Tussah silk/20% Merino

 

Ninilchik Swoncho by Caitlin Hunter

Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Tweed

Good thing this is for next fall/winter, I’m as slow as molasses on colorwork!

 

Color Affection

Some random sock yarn I found on a deep stash dive.

These are just three of I don’t know how many wips that live in a bag by my chair.  Next time, I’ll include a few sock UFOs.

ONE MORE THING

I’ve started a new blog, The Insomniac Potter, along with an etsy store as my house was reaching critical mass potterywise.  I’d be honored if  you would take a few minutes to pay us a visit.

You teach best what you most need to learn. Richard  Bach

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