Busy Hands Homestead

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...

March is over.  March is OVER!  The last weekend finally wrapped up a few of the months activities, and of course, it was also Easter.  Three weeks ago I watched the flames fade into the lightening sky.  The wood kiln crackled and popped.  And then we waited.  The door was finally un-bricked and all the ceramic wares were still warm to the touch. We unloaded  scraped and stacked.  I frantically wrapped sculptures, mugs, cups and bowl into pieces of newspaper.  I still had to drive home, pick up the kids, shop for the Easter goodies (last minute - of course) and drive down the Bitterroot valley to our weekend destination.  I checked my email when I got home and found out the results of another of March's projects - the winners of the Second Annual Bathing Beauties Bead Challenge .   Check them out.  The first place winner is AMAZING! I packed the car. Loaded up the kids, the dogs and two sto...

I love mornings. I love my first cup of coffee. I love breathing the dark aroma and sipping the smoothness of cream as I sit and pretend that we have absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day.  I breath in and pretend that everything is calm and peaceful while in reality the kids are running across the house from kitchen through dining room and into the living room. The pretense of a leisurely moment is furthered by the fact that I am not actively cooking breakfast. We cook breakfast every day, but I have discovered the joys of baked breakfast. We often eat Puff Pancakes , but recently I added baked oatmeal into the rotation of family breakfast.  Just like the Puff Pancakes, the baked oatmeal is a baked dish that allows me to just sit and sip and breath for twenty minutes. Baked Oatmeal 1 cup oatmeal  3 Tablespoons brown sugar 2 Tablespoons coconut flakes 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup walnut pie...

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.)  

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"