Spiffy and Sparkly

 This is a statue I made just for my own amusement.  It's about 6 inches tall. I threw it on the wheel as a thick-walled enclosed shape. Once it got to be a soft leatherhard, I carved away the excess clay to reveal this figure. I carved a space behind the hands to put a crystal or a tiny bowl for an incense cone as shown here. The sparkly robes are are from Cosmic Tea Dust glaze by Amaco. I used it 3 ways: alone, layered over a black glaze and over Iron Luster glaze (Amaco). The glittery glossy black finish is my favorite. The others resulted in a dark brown glittery finish which works well in texture and adds depth and interest to another wise dark piece. 

Happy Halloween 🎃

 Photo credits go to my daughter who inspired me to make her a pumpkin that uses a tea light to heat scented oil.

I Made 2 But I Have 3

 I completed my 2 pumpkins before Halloween.  Yay! I used Spectrum Saffron Shino glaze to get a realistic satin finish. It's exactly what I was hoping for. Now the third pumpkin is a furry one. She is a very sweet neighborhood cat that comes to visit me in the garden. I named her Pumpkin and she comes when I call her. 

Power to Pumpkins

 I recently enjoyed creating two small pumpkins. Many Halloweens have come and gone and this is the first time. Before I throw at the wheel, I find I am more successful if I make a little sketch. It usually winds up on the back of a junk mail envelope. Of course, that's when I wished I had worked in my sketch book to save for future reference. Especially when I include notation of  measurements. 

Anyway, the one with the thicker, cup-like stem is an essential oil burner and the other one will be for a tea light or incense cone. I made a hole in the stem to act like a chimney to funnel the hot air or smoke. A lot of adding and subtracting of clay to the fish bowl shapes, that I threw on the wheel, was necessary to achieve realistic looking pumpkins. There's lot of detail to a simple pumpkin.  🎃

Deer Feeder?

 I made this feeder awhile ago to feed the local chickadees that nest in a nearby hedge. Of course it's fair game to any wildlife that finds it. I happened to hear clicking by my front door on my front porch. Well not one, but three big bucks were hungry. The fact that it was a small bird feeder or a small front porch didn't matter.

An Order For A Friend

 Two smaller sized mugs were requested for a friend. Both are for her grand kids.  Custom made mugs ordered by grandma. How cool is that?! I like the idea of introducing young people to the arts and crafts. You never know what might enrich someone's life or spark a new hobby or even a career. I hope they like them.

 I haven't traveled much lately, in fact, not at all. But my mug made a trip. It went camping in a ruggedly beautiful and remote area of southern Utah. It sat on a rocky precipice to enjoy the views. It felt the wind on its handle and soaked up the warm sunshine. It even cozzied up to the campfire to watch the fire flicker. It had a great time so I've been told.