Tag: pot

Random

Surprise!

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Ever glazed a bowl or knitted/sewn a project that you had such high hopes for that, on completion, was so ugly it was a real challenge to NOT throw it in the trash or banish it to the recesses of
of your darkest closet?  Let me tell you about my latest bowl of shame………

There was nothing wrong with the naked bowl, one of my better ones IMO.  Sorry guys, I took no photos of the first glazing. Too painful. 😜

The first glaze consisted of Toasted Sage poured into the bowl and swirled to cover, followed  by Oatmeal brushed on the rim x3.  I laid a band of Textured Turquoise below the Oatmeal rim inside.  I then brushed the outside with Spectrum Cinnamon Ripple x3.  When the glaze was dry, I fired this bad boy to cone 5. All I can say about the final result was YUCK and double YUCK.  I tried to console myself by saying we can’t all be beautiful and made up my mind to keep it around for a little while; sometimes a glaze combination will grow on me. Not this time.

I decided to refire it, using a new glaze I got for Christmas, a Hot Pink by Spectrum.  So, I just sort of slapped a few coats of this pink on it all over and fired it again.  BTW – all glazes are Amaco Potter’s Choice unless specified otherwise.  This glaze was a cone 9/10 and since I like to live dangerously, I fired to cone 10. 🥵

Here’s the surprise:

 

 

Love this!!

I’m so glad I gave this pot a second chance!  Forrest Gump’s mama was right:

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

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Knitting · pottery

Monday

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Hi ya’ll!  Here it’s come around Monday again and I have a couple of things to show you. I hope everyone’s weekend was a good one, mine was super busy which is a good thing in my case.  When I’m bored, I tend to get into trouble – think shopping, think junk food, think hours of Pinterest or Facebook. Does this sound familiar?  OK, enough of that.  Here are a few things I played around with over the weekend.

My Gray Day Gansey is STILL on my needles, due to a mistake (dropped stitch) that I was unable to make peace with.  So, I put in a lifeline and ripped  back a good six inches of cabling and fixed it. Much happier!E16E9B0A-C169-4D92-A5C4-7D9900950992

I also managed to finally get ClayDreamsPottery, my Etsy shop, updated.  Hit the link and see what’s new. I also got a bisque kiln fired, which unfortunately did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. One of the pots exploded early on but luckily, nothing else in the kiln was damaged. 😨

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Monday’s child is fair of face.  Anonymous Nursery Rhymes

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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

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!!!

B clay no grog

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

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

Everything Else

A Bit of Shameless Self Promotion

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Hi ya’ll!  Here’s what’s new……

As a crafter, I wear several hats, but my faves are knitting and pottery. To be honest, I’m a potter whose creations have reached critical mass.  So much so that after a couple of weeks mulling it over and researching it to death, I opened an Etsy shop called Potshards and this is an invite to hop over and check it out. I’m slowly but surely getting it stocked and organized. There’s definitely a learning curve so any gentle constructive criticism would be appreciated. TIA. 🙂

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it. Toni Morrison

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