Tag: Craft

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Show and Tell, More Proactive Changes and What’s On My Needles

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SHOW AND TELL

My sweet son in law has been requesting a pitcher for I don’t know how long.  Being a pastor, he wanted something he could use for baptisms and communion. After many unsuccessful attempts, I finally came  up with one that passed muster.

Clefton’s Pitcher

Inside glazed with Spectrum Cinnamon Ripple

Outside glazed with Amaco Seaweed

 

Test Bowl

Outside glaze Amaco Seaweed PC-51

Inside glazed with Mayco Stoneware Glaze

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Galaxy

Here’s a better look at the inside –

 

TODAY’S PROACTIVE CHANGE

This one is turning out to be the most difficult – putting all my devices aside 30 minutes  before bedtime. Yep, this one is by far the most difficult.  There’s always just one more thing I want to  check on, which leads to another page, then one more site and then just one more peek at Facebook. Putting it all aside 30 minutes before bedtime gives my brain enough time to calm down and I fall asleep faster and stay asleep. 🥱😴

ON  MY NEEDLES

 

Shibui Sock

Colorway unknown

100% Merino

Petty Harbour by Rayna Curtis

 

We are limited,  not by our abilities,  but by our vision. Anonymous

 

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Monday in Bangkok

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ON MY NEEDLES

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Ariel Socks

So far, the Ariel socks are playing nice, but they’ve been slow going.  Things are looking up since I purchased a nice, bright headlamp at Decathlon, a store similar to Academy Sports. I actually was at Decathlon to get a new water bottle, which I did, but apparently the placement of impulse items is universal – right next to the cash register.  That bit of extra light has made a big difference, I got through the first pattern repeat last night without problems.

I’m also working on a Leksak sweater, though I find the rows and rows of stockinette boring.  It makes for great plane knitting, I’ll give it that.

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Leksak

ON THE WHEEL

Not a thing.  While I’m in Bangkok, I have to be satisfied with surfing Pinterest and making endless lists in my head of glazes and techniques to try.  That reminds me, I need to order clay.  I’m thinking that if I order now, it will arrive in Little Rock about the same time I do.

FIELD TRIP

Here are a few photos of Iconsiam, a new mall here in Bangkok that has a replica of a floating market on the bottom floor, with traditional Thai food and crafts vendors, most wearing traditional Thai clothing.  Really, the photos don’t do it justice………..

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FYI – This is an escalator!

Action is the foundational key to all success.  Pablo Picasso

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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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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

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

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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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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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Everything Else

Lather Rinse Repeat/4 a.m. Is Better Than 2 a.m.

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THURSDAY MORNING

So – it’s been a busy few weeks. I set up an Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery and have been putting a lot of hours writing and rewriting, tweaking and retweaking my shop stuff, working at getting more pots photographed and listed.  This is much harder than it should be since I’m a bit technophobic, computer illiterate and way out of my comfort zone when I encounter something unfamiliar computer wise. I have to reinvent the wheel over and over again. I’m figuring it out slowly but surely.

Today, I’m running a full bisque kiln this morning, then tomorrow or Saturday go into a glazing frenzy, then finally run a glaze kiln. I guess one good thing about insomnia is that I can start all this  2 a.m.

I’m anxious to see how the spiny things turn out.  I plan to stain them, fire them and then lace them back together with a thin leather thong.  I hope it’s going to match the picture I’ve been carrying around in my head for a long time.

FYI – The spiny things behaved exactly how I’d hoped (for once)!  The toothpicks burned away, leaving perfectly shaped holes for lacing them together later. I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

SATURDAY

Wow, I slept late this morning – til a whole 4 a.m.! If you guessed this week wasn’t exactly a good one sleepwise, in other ways it absolutely rocked. Let’s see. What happened this week? OK, got it.

  • Mr. Insomniac had cataract surgery on his right eye on Wednesday morning and is doing great! He is seeing better than he’s ever seen, 20/30 on the right about 24 hours after surgery.
  • I sold a pot in my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery
  • I’ve had time to work on several knitting projects that have been languishing for what seems like forever. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I also have a knitting blog.  You can check out this particular alter ego at http://iknead2knit.net.
  • Filled a pew at Mass last Sunday with nearly the entire fam, three grands, a son, a daughter in law that I love, my bestie, who happens to be dear d-i- l’s mother, me and Mr. Insomniac.
  • Successful glaze firing of pots to restock my Etsy shop.  Shop update is tentatively scheduled for April 22.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on man unless they act. G. K. Chesterton

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Everything Else

True Confessions

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Happy 4:44 am! Sigh………….

I really do have a confession and here it is – I absolutely hate throwing mugs.  Hate it.  I hate it because I have trouble throwing such a small amount of clay, give me 2 pounds to start with and I’m good to go.I don’t enjoy pulling handles and attaching them, kinda fiddly and they never look quite the way they should. Yada Yada Yada as Seinfeld would say. 🙂 They’re not my thing I guess.

What brought this on?  I recently started an Etsy shop and have been working to get it stocked.  Well, I thought it needed a few mugs and spent most of a morning trying to get at least a couple to add.  That’s when it hit me – I don’t like throwing mugs, so why am I so bent on adding them to my inventory?  This is MY shop.  I provide the inventory – which really is a labor of love – so why can’t I fill my tiny corner of Etsy with things that fill me with happiness from beginning to end? Why can’t I fill it with bowls and plates, bottles and vases and anything else that catches my fancy?  It’s decided, no mugs for me. 👏👏👏

I have several pots in progress and my kiln (almost) runneth over this morning.  Be on the lookout for a shop update in the next week or so.

One more thing:  I’m thinking of changing my shop name.  Potshards just doesn’t seem fit.  A few I’m considering are:

I Dream of Pottery

Dream Come True Pottery

Happy Place Pottery

Any suggestions out there?  I’d love to hear them!

I’ll leave you with a peek at my “studio” also called a garage.🙂

Success is the maximum utilization of the ability you have. Zig Ziglar