oldlady

covered in a transparent green glaze this will be a great pot. the dragonfly will be different, maybe purple. MAY 6 UPDATE. came out with lumps in several places. have to suspect leaf bits that my needle did not lift off. ruined. oh, well................

some came off easily and the rest fought all the way.

this pot was put on a shelf to dry a little so i could remove the leaves that i had just covered with slip. i usually get the leaves uncovered right away but that was a bad day and the pot just got pushed to the back of the shelf and i missed it. so, always willing to experiment, i bisque fired the pot with the leaves still in place. IT WORKED! i was able to needle the leaves off the pot and now i can glaze the whole thing in one color with the leaves distinctly different from the background. this is not something i will repeat with this type of leaf, it was a lot more work to get all the edges correct. much easier to lift the entire thing with a needle at the point where all the stems join. doing it when the pot is only damp is simple. if..............you remember to do it on time.

works for both butter dishes and cracker trays, my most popular items. the original is made of bisque, cone 04. it is large enough for me to make each impression just different enough that buyers cannot tell the item came from this "mold". hate that word, what would you call the original?

these "flowers" are made up of single leaves from a tibuchina plant. a local nursery knows i won't hurt them so allows me to cut a few leaves from a lot of their plants.

last "garage" at end of house has a dirt floor and unfinished walls, perfect kiln room. all dead kilns have plywood on top so i can stack racks of pots ready to fire. notice blue jeans leg over the control panel on L&L to keep dirt, dust, whatever from falling in. removed when kiln goes on. posts on rack hanging on back wall. shelves stacked flat with spacers within easy reach, not much lifting, just twirling with shelf in hands. anyone want some dead kilns to convert to gas?

she draws cats with underglaze pencils and they are so cute that i had to make some. i asked her permission and they are not as darling as the ones she does but i like them and will do more. the pale blue one is my design from years ago. the cat is cut from Pellon, an interfacing for sewing. it softens and shows fuzzy texture that says "pet me, i am a cat".

it was another fun event with hundreds of people selecting bowls from the 7 or so long tables covered with our bowls. some are held back because the crowd comes through for over an hour and the first ones through always ALWAYS go for the biggest bowl they can find. no matter what color, design, skill level, they go for BIG. then the next bunch is more selective. the little boy in his mothers arms insisted on the "purple one" and clutched that rock heavy thing during the trip past everything else. mama kept suggesting others but he wanted HIS PURPLE BOWL so she gave up and he walked off with it

these squares are about 5 inches each dimension. so GREEN! trying to figure out other colors other centers.