Busy Hands Homestead

I etched my last tumbler.   This one has bunches of beets on a plaid table cloth. Tomorrow morning it is off to the clay studio to throw a few more cups.

AH!!!!! I am about ready to scream!!!!!  I have spent the last 45 minutes trying to get one text box onto an image and I can not figure it out. I have focused on it so intently that my coffee is cold. Cold. I don't have time for this!!!! And then I accidentally saved it like this: I can't figure out how to undo it.  Anyway that last bullet point is supposed to say that I added 3 double crochet into each stitch for the bottom half of that corral shape (it appears denser).  A few months ago I watched this:  The beautiful math that links coral, crochet and hyperbolic geometry: Margaret Wertheim  I finally sat down and made myself a "stitch library".   Why?  Well, for years now I have been telling myself that I am going to combine all those craft skills that I love: knitting, crochet, sewing and pottery.  And then I fall short of that goal. I like the ceramic pieces too much on their own...  or I make up s...

After many, many more hours of work and a treacherous fall that put me flat on my back with this thing on top of me the clay component of my sculpture is finally built.   It is slowly drying, covered in plastic and hopefully no cracks develop.  This sculpture will be my first attempt to combine the many hand crafts I enjoy.  I hope to incorporate fibers -  sewed, knitted and crocheted - in the final piece.  (I like this form so much it will be hard to make myself take that next step.)  

We have one giant kitchen window.  It happens to face our neighbor's yard.  It also happens to be across from the bathroom door and thus makes running through the house in our underwear, well, a little too public.   Friday Adam came home from work early, and while my two little ones were asleep, I took the opportunity to run to our local YWCA thrift shop Secret Seconds .  I scored! I found a brand new curtain rod and a dark green, sheer curtain for $16.   But, after hanging the curtain, it was a little to dark and bland.  I took it back down and headed into the garage to see if I could find the left over kitchen paint (light yellow and orange).  I found it and decided I was going to use it to spruce up the curtain. So, here is what you need if you want to sponge paint a curtain: 1 large sponge (or more) scissors latex paint  a plastic plate big sheets of paper (to protect the surface you are working on) a cu...

So, I did try a few of the things that I mentioned in my previous post Process .  I have been experimenting with atmospheric firings (anagama cone 10 and soda cone 6, 10) playing with slips, altering my vessels through pleating and tried to throw big! Really Big!! (for me anyway).  Well, here are a few pictures.  His and Her's Mugs These were intended to be a wedding present, but then the firing was postponed and postponed and the unloading of the kiln didn't take place until I had already flown half way across the country.  I suppose I will just have to work up the courage to post them in the near future.   Stacking Plate, Bowl and Cup Set I have been trying to alter my thrown shapes, pleating them by either cutting out small slivers of the rim or by just indenting the edges.  I would like make a large plate, small plate, bowl and cup set that, when stacked looks like basal rosette or a flower.   Large Bowls  More pleati...

Interwoven  Wally's Blush Archie Bray Clay  Soda Fired Cone 6 (no glaze) wheel thrown pieces altered and assembled 8" x 8" x 8"   Cocoon    Porcelaneous Stoneware Soda Fired Cone 6 Red Flashing slip on the interior and recessed surfaces wheel thrown pieces altered and assembled 10" x 6" x 4" Emergence stoneware  Anagama Fire Cone 10 Red Flashing Slip  wheel thrown pieces altered and assembled  6" x 6" x 8"